Wichita eagle., 1889-08-17
9ai1u eagle
STATE BALL IN ENGLAND.
THE ROYAL ENTERTAINMENTS AT
BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

n Lively Description Oh the ceremonies
Which Are Necessary Before Princes and
Princesses Can Have a Good Time-Only
the Very Elect Are Present.
Invitations to state functions are eagerly
coveted and are distributed with eccentricity.
Foreign ambassadors and representatives are
hidden 10 all state festivities, viz, to two
balls and two concerts every season. These
Invitations include the ministers In Office,
with their wives and daughters, and the
higher nobility Then there are less exalted
dignitaries who are invited to one ball and
one concert only, and smaller personages still
who are only hidden to one ball or even to
only one ball IN every two seasons. The
humblest Of these, however, must be COM
paratively high on the social ladder. To be
Of old family, land owner, wealthy, Ct ir-
reproachable character, possessed of a seat
in parliament diligent in attendance at levees
and drawing rooms-all of these may not
qualify for entrance into the magic circle.
Yet many with fewer qualifications step in.
HOW GUESTS ARE INVITED
What exactly is required is underlined and
practically unknown. How the blanks OBJ
tain card, and why the dashers are system
aticany ignored, affords an inexhaustibls
subject Of COW ersatien. Those who are for
tunate enough to be on tho list of guests which
is submitted TO her majesty for approval re-
ceive plain card On which the lord cham
berlain intiuaates that he is commanded by
the queen to invite l1r. So and So 10 ball"
on a given date at 10 O'Clock. At most social
entertainments it Is fashionable TO be late, or
to be hurrying TO and from some smarter or
more select assembly. At the state ball, on
the contrary, 1t is correct TO appear before
the time specified, that you may yourself re-
ceive your royal hosts when they deign to
shed upon you the light Of their august pres
ence. The longer you elect to wait the greater
is presumed to be your loyalty. If at quar-
ter past 10 you arrive at Buckingham palace
you find slreadya brilliant throng assembled.
At the palace door servants receive you who
combine the utmost brilliance of rainent with
the utmost Difference of manner--a combina-
ton too rarely seen. No cards are asked for,
no inquiries are made. For the queens in
vited guests the state rooms are las ishly deco
rated and lighted. There is no dragoon to
guard the portal, and all you have to do is to
enter and enjoy. This is delightful
SCENE IN THE BALLROOM
1t is in the ballroom that life centers. I'M
agine an immense gilded hall, along the sides
red satin, and rising tier above tier. At the
bottom Of the ball is high gallery for the
musicians; at the top is dais raised foot
above the floor, on which gold chairs are
ready for the princesses and potentates.
Within the walls of that room are collected
Che rank, the beauty and the fashion of the
'snartest" capital in Europe. The light of
electric lamps is flashed back, soft, yet bright
by glittering jewels, and shows tho sheen of
satin robes.
About IL O'Clock the band strikes up the
national anthem, and the royalties enter in
solemn procession. The queen is rarely pres
ent. The Princess Of Wales fills her place
and is the center of air eyes as she glides in
under her tall diamond crown, and takes her
seat In the center Of tho dais. The Prince of
Wales throws an cir of jollity over all this
splendor. His children follow him, with such
other royalties as happen to be in London.
Tho ballroom never looks so well as when
three royal princeSseS sit alone upon til dais
with three diamond crowns, like the fairy
tales of childhood. The princess and young
l1rincesses do not sit in state, but hover round,
and chat and joke with each other; while the
ladies in waiting form long, duh row be-
hind, withor a spark of interest in their
faces
In the ballroom two circles are formed for
lancing-one in front Of the royalties, and the
other lower down. IN tho former only those
are supposed 10 dance who are in the princes
set, or who claim his acquaintance Before
each dance the royalties hold a family con-
sultation to select their partners, and literally
lav their heads together as they glance round
she favored circle When the choice has been
made the lord chamberlain comes down with
a message to the honored guest; the partners
selected for the princesses come up and wait
upon the floor till the royal ladies descend
and accept their guidance. The princes step
down and approach their partners who await
heir coming near at hand. Royalties, how
ever, dance very much with each other. The
square dances are much curtailed; IN these
the Princess of Wales never walks backward,
but merely pauses until the music sounds
another advance. Round dances have a
charming effect. When the royal personages
Join in the yalse all the other airy whirling
figures melt suddenly away, while the princes
and princesses circle round alone with their
partners in the cleared space. Should you
know a royal parsonage it is necessary to be
on the alert lest they should look your way,
when the lady must at once bend the knee
with a swift duclnng gesture. A man merely
passes Oh rarninds one of a gust of wind
bending a field of flowers.
REFRESHMENTS FOR GUESTS
All this time refreshments are served to
guests in out Of the way corners. But soon
after II O'Clock the doors of the great supper
room are thrown open, and the Princess of
Wales rises to head procession of royalties
which files down tho ballroom between two
lines of bowling guests. If you have been
overlooked by roysl eyes now is your oppor-
tunity Watch closely rs they pass, and you
may yet touch q royal hand. Loyal souls
accompany the princes and princesSes into
supper, and stand at q respectful distance TO
see them eat Ii is not etiquette 90 touch food
until the greater personages are satisfied
These are very merry, particularly the Prince
end Princess OF Wales, who seem full! Of talk
and airy Jokes: with their children around
them they give n pretty fah1ily feeling to
the scene. The supper room is an interesting
sight in itself. with solid gold plate Of i'm
n.ensa value ar-rncei on anG over the side