Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-26
THE TOPICAL TALKER.


How Visitors Are Entertained In the Rsval
Palaces of England.
THOUGH Pirtsburg contains wonderful
variety of men, you would hardly expect to
find anyone possessing an intimate knowledge
of the ways OF English royalty. Strange as it
may appear, however, I chanced to meet man
yesterday who was just chock full of such
peculiar Information.
At this particular time, when the papers are
full Of the grand doings of Prince Russell har-
rison, as all good Democrats love to call him,
at Windsor and Sandringham, when the polite
ness of Queen Victoria to the Presidents son
and the well-aired condition of the beds at
Windsor are a leading topic of conversation in
this land of the Free it may not be amiss to re-
peat some of the points about palace life in
England as they were given to me by a British
subject yesterday.
How the persons to be honored with an invi-
tation to the royal presence are selected de-
pends upon circumstances. tmay be taken as
general rule that a suggestion is made to
Queen Victoria by some Minister of hers or by
one of the Princes of the royal family. The
selected individual receives an intimation that
the Q ueen is graciously pleased to invite HIM
to dine, or seay, as the case may be. This init
nation" is almost equivalent to a command,
and very few can afford to disregard 1t. A
story is told of an English peer, recently de-
ceased, who one night while starting out to
jovial party with some boon companions, re-
ceived a message from King George w. re-
questing ais presence at one of the stupid
royal feasts, which in those days were little
better than orgies. The daring peer, deter
mined not to lose his nights amusement and
knowing that an ordinary polite apology would
only irritate the King, hit on a happy expe-
dent He scribbled on piece of paper:
Lord B., would feel happy to accept His
Majesty's kind invitation, but he happens to
be going to a much jollier place"
The very audacity of the message quite dis
armed Georges wrath; and the end of the
matter was that the King gave up his own
party and carried off his guests en- masse to
the much jollier place" in question.
But, of course, no one would think of writing
such n note to the prim puritanical Queen who
row sways the scepter All engagements must
give way before the mandate of majesty. If
the invitation be to Windsor. carriage meets
the visitor at the railway station, and he is
whIrled into the castle courtyard. If
he be q visitor of great importance,
he is Immediately brought before the
Queen; but with visitors of lesser
degree, the hour of arrival determines the
time of introduction. Should he come in the
morning he will meet the Queen before lunch
con; should his advent be in the afternoon, he
must perforce put off that pleasure until
o'clock tea, or even until dinner hour.
sx%
In all cases. however. the tyro is first closeted
with the equerry in waiting-the indispensable
SIR Henry Knollys who gives him full and
complete instructions regarding his behavior
in the presence of ''the little great lady," as
the English Radicals call Her Majesty.
When the ordeal at last arrives he is letter
perfect and makes his bow and pretty speech
quite as well as anyone could have expected.
The Queen asks a few questions. and just as
the newcomer fondly imagines he has begun to
interest her with his replies, he finds himself
interrupted and his place usurped by some
other notability, who has also got to be intro
duced. Unless he be a very big man, indeed
like the Shah, for instance-he will not sit near
the Queen at dinner. When dinner is over the
gentlemen do not remain over the wine, but all
follow the Queen to the drawing rooms.
Dinner begins at $50 P. M. and the Queen
has barely time for a short desultory converse
tion with her guests in the drawing rooms
afterward, before it is her time to retire.
Everyone ostensibly follows her example; but
Sir II. Knollss knows how to take care of the
men, and very few of them get to bed early.
Sc
THERE is often good deal of secret in
x
the Queens right or left hand during dinner
Not many years since an Oriental Ambassador,
in England for the first time, was placed during
his first Windsor dinner on the Queens left
Next day. however, NJ. Waddington, the French
Ambassador. arrived, and it was felt that he
ought to have his turn in the seat of honor.
But what was the CONSERVATION of Sir Henry
Knollys when the Eastern Minister-who, by
the way. had some of the notions of our friend
Hassein Ghooly Khan-came to him and re-
fused point blank to cede his place to anybody.
Questioned as to his reasons for such a rude
course, he replied that when he entered the
palace he was given place in accordance with
the rank of his sovereign master. and that
yielding up of that place to any other am
bassador would imply the superiority of the
other ambassadors nation. The affair was
Settled through the civility Of NJ. Waddington,
who declared that the honor of his country
Was too assured to be put in jeopardy by the
position of its representative at a dinner
table.
TtIE Queen very seldom appears at
Windsor breakfast; but in her Scottish home
Balhoral-she is always one of the first at the
matItinal meal. This is accounted for by the
air, and by the fact that an early
start if necessary for those mountain excur-
sions she loves SO much. 1t is well known that
those ldng, dreary drives, with Her Majesty as
ciceron4 have scared countless visitors away
from a1moral.
At thetPrince of Wales houses no ceremony
Is observed, beyond the ordinary rules of
English tociety. Sandringham Hall-the
Princes Ntrfolk seat-ls just like any other
wealthy mol Aleman's residence. In the Irish
viceregal IPdge, or in Dublin Castle, very
little Of the tourt is kept up. The levees and
drawing rooit which are held in the castle,
are about tie last shreds of the old vice
royalty. EvV Vn the ancient-and extremely
snviable-priV lege formerly enjoyed by the
Lord Lieutenant, Of kissing every young lady
presented to htn, upon the right cheek, has
been allowed tov van into disuse within the last
lew years. 1t iSonly in the Queens house
hold that the old Worms and regulations sur
rive in all their po, ppous entirety.
No Ca Pc for Alarm.
Prom the Washington Press.l