Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-02-20
Court Etiquette.

Court etiquette is the code of rules
which encloses the sovereign and keeps
the subject at proper distance from
him. Itserves to keep the King from
becoming familiar with the people, and
it prevents the people from getting SO
near the monarch as to realize that he
"isn't anything but common man af-
ter all. : Three years. ago, during a
garden party at Buckingham Palace
an American couple caused quite SEN.
sation by breaking through the court
etiquette. They pressed forward and
shook the Queens hand, instead of
waiting to be presented and then kiss.
ing it. s..as--
Prince Gortschakoff, who for many
years was the Prime Minister of Rus.
sia, was noted for his observance Of
minutest points of etiquette in his rela-
tons with the late Gear. Lord Duffer-
in. the English ambassador, once ask
ed him if the Emperor's cold was bet
ter. Bending his head and half closing
his eyes, Gortschakof answered in q
reverent tone. ~ /
His majesty has deigned to feel a
little better this morning."
It was the characteristic obsequious-
ness which provoked the Duke de Nor
ny to say "Gortschakof purrs when he
speaks Of any creature at court, even if
it he the Grand Duchess. Olga's
monkey"
The Spanish court is noted for its
punctilious observance of etiquette.
''They kissed the feet of his majesty
and Withdrew" said Madrid paper,
reporting an interview of the town
council at Servllle with King Alfonso.
The councillors did not really get down
on all TOURS and kiss the kings boots.
But as members of the cortes kiss the
royal hand, etiquette demanded that
those on lower level should be report
ed as kissing the royal feet. The fol-
ing extract from q foreign periodical il
lustrates how costly it is to offend
Spanish etiquette:
One of the chief reasons of the Duke
of Aosta's unpopularity during the brief
reign and before his abdication, was
that he would take no pains to study
the complicated etiquette of the Escuri-
al. He sought to introduce simple man
ners, in q country where even beggars
drape themselves proudly in their tat.
tered mantles and address one another
as "Senor Caballero."
He one day told muleteer with whom
he had stopped to talk on a country
road under broiling sun, to put on his
hat. He forgot the fact that by order
ing subject to cover himself in the
royal presence, he created him gran.
dee.
Marshal Prim, who was standing By,
hastily knocked tho muleteer's head
dress out of his hand, and set his foot
upon it, at the same time offering the
man some gold.
But the muleteer, who was MORALLY
offended, spurned the money. A few
dayIlater, when Prim was assassinated,
q rumor was circulated among the peo-
ple-but without truth, it seenls-that
the mortified muleteer who had narrow
~ missed becoming grandee was an
accessory to the crime.
At another time, King Amadeo incon-
siderately addressed groom of his in
the second person singular as tn. Hap
PLY, the man was an italian, for, as a
\ court chamberlain represented to His
Majesty, a Spaniard spoken to with
This familiarity might have claimed that
the monarch had dubbed him cousin
that is had ennobled him.
Another thing which the MUCK wor-
ried Italian Prince had to learn, was
chat Spanish King must not sign any
letter to a subject with any friendly or
complimentary formula, but must sim"
ply write, ''Yo III Reg" Ct, the King).