The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-01-01
IN FIFE QUEENS PRESENCE.


10 Their SovcrciGn-The Ceremony.
But The ladies are waiting all this time in
the pens. The presence chamber is arrang-
ed as for levee, only that the queen, and
not the prince Of Wales, is al the center OF
the line next are the ladies of her family.
and then the herapparcnt and his brothers.
or any royal strangers Her maicsty wears
black gown and widows cap. Over
the cap is usually placed small diamond
crown, while the ribbon of the Garter and
similar orders are on her breast. as well as
the Koh-i-noor and other jewels worthy
of queen. The princess of Wales and
tie other prineesses are in full court dress
-petticoats, trains, feathers. and all Be
hind them stand their attendants. male
and female, as the court circular some
/ times disdainfully describes them
When lie diplomatic corps has made it's
reverences and taken its place, the English
ladies follow, and as each enters the throne
room with her train over her arm. two gen
| tlemen in waiting deftlY seize this appen-
dage and spead it behind her till it hangs
like a peaeoek's dropping tail Then tie
lady, handing her card to the lord in wait
ing, passes up toward the lord chamber
lain, and stands till he pronounces her
name. Upon hearing il, she prostrates her
self in front of the queen so that one knee
nearly or quite touches the floor. If it is a
presentation, her majesty extends her hand
with the back upward and the neophyte
placing her own hand transversely under
that Of the sovereign, raises the royal cx-
tremity to her lips When the lady is of
the rank Of an earl's daughter, the queen
bends slightly forward to kiss the check of
her subject, and the homage is complete:
but there have been occasions when the
novice was insuffieently instructed in adj
vance and kissed the monarch in return,
very much to the disgust Of her majesty
and the horror-Struck amazement of tile
eourtiers After the obeisance to the
queen, another must be made to every one
in tie royal circle in turn. the depth of the
courtesy beng graduated according to the
rank Of the parsonage; and as the last pros
tration Is performed and the subject rises
to her natural position in life again two
other watchful lords or gentlemen, as skill
FIJI as the first, catch up her train and throw
it once more over the lady's arm, and She
slowly stumbles backward out Of the room
having been at court.
1t took hertwo hours. suppose to dress,
and she sat in evening costume two hours
moro in line in her carriage before she en-
tered the palace: then she was at least an
hour in the pens, and She was two minutes
in the presence Of royalty. Now she must
probably wait an hour or so fer her ear
rage and she has been at court If she is
young She has practiced her obeisancc for
days in advance, and the backward step as
well, and is delighted that at last she is in
the world. If she is an aspirant after
social honors. Becky Sharp working her
way upward, Thackeray has told rs of her
sensations. If she has gone through the
ceremony forty times before, She throws
herself back in her carriage and cxclaims,
like the eockney who had seen the Apollo
Belviderc; Thank God! That's done. -
.4dan7 Badedu. IN " Y. San.