The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-15
NORWAY COURT LIFE.
King Oscar Dares Go About
Without q Body Guard.
ETIQUETTE or THE PALACES.

Swedish Uniform. DistastefuI to the
People OF Christiania = The
Homely Royal Family.
CHRIsrIAHrA, March 1.-TSpecial Cor
respondence. being personally acquaint-
ed with his majesty King Oscar H., am
perhaps better able than many an outsider
to initiate the reader into the mysteries of
court life in Sweden and Norway. In the
first place there are but few court scandals
and but scanty opportunities for arousing
popular passion, except in one instance.
and the occasion for it might easily be
avoided. Whenever King Oscar II. visits
Norway he is accompanied by Swedish
escort who wear Swedish uniforms,
and the ''yellow" lining of their
coats IS standing grievance
in the eyes of the Norwegian people. Were
King Oscars attendants attired in court
costumes with "red' lining, all would
60 well; the crowd would be delighted.
But as it is, whenever those officials APP
pear in the streets with their saffron lapels
the national honor is at stake and the
people exclaim, "Why are we to be in
suited with the Yellow" The fact is that
great rivalry exists between the two coun-
tries, and q mistake is made in thus bring
ing Sweden to Norway; it creates, as I
have said, an ill-feeling that cannot be
got over.
The royal palace at Stockholm and
Christiania are very different. That at
stockholm is an imposing edificc, built in
the Italian renaissance style; while the
palace at Christiania is a square block of
uncertain architecture, but possesses, how
ever, the advantage of finer site than any
in Europe. The rooms in the palace in
Stockholm are probably second to none,
not even those at Versailles they are most
tastefully and elegantly decorated. In the
Christiania palace the ballroom is fine, but
the whole aspect of the place induces an
impression that the building was never in
tended for royal residence
An invitation to private dinner at the
latter palace affords me an opportunity of
depicting high life in Norway At the APP
pointed hour, from fifteen to twenty guests
assemble; they are received by the austere
chamberlain and the mistress of the robes,
or one of the head maids of honor The
guests, including these functionaries, may
be of any rank, and are invited by express
order of the king. The officer commanding
the guards attends, as a matter of course.
About twenty minutes or so after meeting,
the king makes his appearance. The in.
voluntary expression which comes to
every ones lips is: "What a splendid
manp His handsome, ford face is set off
by gray hair and beard; but age only
seems to add grace to his person. His
broad shoulders, tall and erect figure well
become his Office. He is every inch king.
When Oscar IL. enters the grand hall,
where the guests are assembled, he con-
verses for time with each person, then
dinner is announced. The guests file off
into splendid room and seat themselves
at a we'll furnished table. Towards the
end of the repast the king calls upon one
or another to take glass of wine. Nat
urally his guests all rise, but it may so
happen that some uncultured individual
from the rural districts remains in his
seat. Some time ago it CHANGED that the
king wished to drink glass of wine with
newly appointed chamberlain.
"Your health!" graciously said his
majesty.
"Your heaIth!" responded the chamber
lain, without rising from his chair.
Your healthn again repeated the
king.
"Your health 7" CURLY rejoined his sub
ject, who remained sitting; whereupon
King Oscar put his glass down without
drinking and turned to other guests,
speaking on various topics. 1t is but a
few years ago that one lady, who had been
appointed maid of honor, or to some other
similar post. forgot herself to such an ex-
tent, or did not know manners, that the
queen, it is said, told her point blank to go
and be instructed by the mistress of the
robes in etiquette before she again ven
tured to come in her presence.
The Norwegiaps are in many ways
peculiar people, owing to the fact that the
customs of the country permit of one
brother possibly being poor village
blacksmith and another minister of state,
so that their manners are either exagger-
ated in would-be politeness or coarse in
their notions of ideal personal superiority
or equality to king or authorities. The
Swedes, on the other hand are refined
people, and have gained for themselves the
proud title of being the gentlemen" of
Northern Europe. Some French writer
wittily summarized his appreciation OF the
Scandinavians when he said: 1.-THE Swedes
are the gentlemen, the Danes are the
bourgeois, ana the NOrWeSlduS tue idDOEcTS
OF Scandinavia"
In one sense the sturdy ''laborers" may
lay claim, if not to manners, at least to
personal respect in a rough way. The
Norwegian peasants are fine. hardy race
of men, who, in their own country, are to
be admired as honorable, kind-hearted
people, even if considered somewhat
"slow" and boorish in their bearing. They
are however, vastly different now from
what they were twenty years ago, and
contact with the outside world has
taught them many things. They
have gradually grown to be extor-
tionate, and often exact unreason-
able sums from rich travellers for
lodgings and food. These people, too,
imagine that king is made for their espe-
cial benefit. He is not, to their minds, an
object of respect. They know that King
Oscar III. is the grandson of French law
yer, and this deadens their enthusiasm
and Difference for royalty, the more SO as
some of these poor people can date their
descent from the earliest times in Nor
wegian history, and claim lineage with the
old Morse kings; while they live like their
fellow peasants, and with them, they are
proud of their antique stock, and look
down on a man, their sovereign, who can
only point back to some two generations
and is not of royal blood on the fathers
side.
1t thus happened in Norway, when the
Storthing, or parliament is invited to
soiree at the palace, that you see number
of the members attend in frOck coats OF an
Y,pkpoUp ooo Uhila tho dISfpnsinn of the