Evening star., 1901-02-16
YEAR OF MOURNING.
How the Death of Queen Victoria
VIII Affect Social London.
From the London Express.


From the London Express
over sixty years have elapsed since the
last mourning for a sovereign in England.
and precedent. therefore, can be no guide
in the matter, especially as modern ideas as
regards mourning very different from
what they were at the beginning of the
last century. The court mourning for Will
lam " was only of four months duration,
and even during that time his successor
held one or two court functions. But in
the present sad case the mourning is not
only for national loss, but for the mother
| of the sovereign, and, given the high place
that queen Victoria held in the hearts of
her people, a years court mourning will
not be considered excessive
Society, so called, is now a very much
| larger body than it was at the beginning of
| the last century, and the effect of a period
| or mourning will be more felt by trade. es-
| peclally coming as it does after what has
| Deen TO all lntentS and purposes a year OF
| mourning owing to The disastrous war in
| South Africa For this reason it is conf
| IDENTIFY expected that the royal family who
! have always proved themselves ready to
sacrifice personal feeling to the well being
| of the nation, will not either encourage or
| desire a too strict observance of the ma
| tional mourning-a fact which has already
been shown in the matter of the opening
| Of the theaters before the obsequies of her
majesty
| There will, of course, be a few functions
| before the end of the court mourning, and
| 1t is expected that the coronation of King
| Edward will take place at the end of the
| general mourning, after which there will
be levee, a reception of the corps diplo-
matique and, though it Is very unlikely
that there will be a drawing room, a
| court" which is an official as opposed to
a social function. may be held. All public
functions with which the royal family are
connected will be performed long before
n Yl-iIr 70 ypy,,n mt rn
| by the sovereign or the court.
There will be no balls and no entertain
| Ing will be done by any one even indirectly
connected with the court, but in the inter-
est of trade it is probable that there may
be later on certain amount of more or
less informal entertaining.
| The only form of social entertainment
which will take place in London is the
| opera, which Is always, for some reason
| or other considered an exception in case
of this kind. No members OF the royal
family, however, will attend the perform
| ances, and the appearance of the house,
with everybody in mourning, Will be far
from brilliant
OF all the racing fixtures for the season
Royal Ascot will suffer most socially, be-
ing function so intimately connected with
the court. There will be no royal process
sion, and the same procedure will be OBJ
served as last year, when the court was IN
mourning. The royal stand will be closed,
and will also be "n mourning King Ed
ward has already withdrawn all his horses
entered for this years races, and several
| fixtures in the near future have been aban-
doned, notably the Windsor and Gatwlck
| races
Court mourning, In a case like the pres
ent, means exactly the same as would be
observed for deep family mourning, with or
without crepe, according TO personal incli, 1nta,
nation, for six months, after which colored
ribbons, flowers, etc, may be worn Inc
court in this includes only those
who actually hold posts about the court
Ind a
hold of the late queen Queen Victoria
was exceedingly conservative and punctll-
ious in matters relating to mourning OUT
Queen Alexandra, who is more modern IN
her ideas regarding 1t, does not care iof
prolonged mourning.
The term general mourning implies that
everybody must show that outward respect
to the dead sovereign implied by the ADOPT
ing of conventional mourning attire and
not, as has been stated, only those who
are liable to meet any member of the royal
family in the course of their soclai uutles.
Not only are the various tradesmen eA-
pecting a season which will be disas-
trous climax to the past year, but at pres
ent the various restaurants are doing only
half the business which they usually do al
this time of year. On the nlght OF nef
maiasty's death not only were all the pub
lie dining rooms and restaurants empty OF
outside visitors, but at the Carton, Car
idge's the Savoy and others even people
staying in the hotels had their dlnners
served in their own rooms as mark OF re-
spect to the sovereign who had achleVec
so unique place in the affection and re-
spect of the inhabitants of five continents
Even now there is no music in any or the
restaurants, and though, town pelhS SO uli
tbere arc a certain number of diners, there
| Is no entertaining.
All the social fixtures for the next month
or so have been abandoned and most OF
the public fixtures have been postponed IN
definitely until after the funeral NO alter'
alton is to be made in the date of the mar
riaee of the Duke of Westminster and MISS
CornWallis West, but the ceremony, Wh1cf
takes place on February IA, VIII De very
o1Iiet one and only near relatives will be