New-York tribune., 1902-05-25
PAGES Of HONOR.
WILL FURNISH ONLY YOUTHFUL ELE-
MENT AT CORONATION OF KING
EDWARD IN WESTMIN-
STER ABBEY.

Since It has been determined that peers Of the
realm who minors, and peeresses in their
own right who have not yet attained the years
OF discretion. are to take part in the coro-
nation ceremonies. youth WIFI be represented in
Westminster Abbey June 26 only by those
boys of gentle birth who in attendance upon
the sovereign and his consort. upon the great
dignitares of the realm. and upon certain mem-
bers of the royal family. pages Of honor.
They will constitute a picturesque survival Of
medieval times. when the pretty page with
the dimpled chin" so often formed the theme of
the poet.
In the procession into the Abbey each peer
figuring therein will 49, his coronet borne by
his page Of honor behind him. and il is worthy
Of that earls present. namely, Lord
Nelson and Lord Leicester. attended the coro-
nation OF Queen Victoria sixty-four years ago in
the capacity OF pages Of honor. Lord Nelson
had already succeeded to the peerage but. as
he mere boy at the time. he Of course re-
ceived no summons to the ceremony in the ca
pacity OF a member of the upper chamber Of
the national Legislature. and had TO content
himself with the office Of page of honor, car
rying the coronet of a brother peer of more
mature years. The costume which these pages
will wear at the coronation will he identical
with those Of the pages of honor to the King
and Queen familiar to every American who has
been presented at of the drawing rooms
courts at buckingham Palace 1t is sort of
LOUIS XIV of blue and silver with lace
ruffies at the throat and wrists. with white knee
breeches white silk stockings and pumps
Pages of honor still figure a feature Of the
household Of the sovereign at several monarchi-
cal courts in Europe. Their ages range from
twelve TO sixteen years. They are appointed
by the monarch, enjoy pay. prerogatives and
uiSfta do he
on royalty. and for them prescribed certain
definite duties. These latter possibly less
important than in the days Of yore, when
there postal service. and the lovelorn
princess was forced to depend on the secrecy
and loyalty Of her page for the conveyance of
messages TO her knight or troubadour. But tact
and discretion in performing them are prob
ably more necessary to-day than ever. owing
to the popular craving for Information con
cerning the personal and home life of emperors.
kings and their consorts. and attempts are
often made to extract revelations of this kind
from the pages by persons who imagine that
because they are young their tongues are likely
TO be loose.
Gentle birth is the first qualification for the
post Of page of honor TO royalty. and at the
courts of Vienna Munich and Berlin an an
cestry of several generations free from any
bourgeois strain either father or mothers
side is required as a sine qua Hoh' lHCeeu
within the last few years all sorts OF influence
have been brought to bear without avail upon
the court of Vienna in order to obtain the ap
pointnent as page of honor OF pupil at the
Theresanium whose father Is an Austrian
bleman OF ancient lineage, we'll known in this
country. but whose mother, great heress, is
the daughter of German American tobacco
merchant a self made man in every sense Of the
word
It is from the Theresanium the Imperial Mill
tary School at Vienna. where the present Khe-
dive of Egypt and his brother, as we'll the
late King of Spain and a number Of princes of
the royal house OF Bourbon, received their edu-
cation that the imperial pages selected
whenever their presence is required at any
great court ceremony But the choice. as stated
above is limited TO pupils possessing the neces-
sary ancestral qualifications. Much the same
rule prevails at Berlin. the cadet schools at
Potsdam and Lichterfeld furnishing the pages
of patrician birth who figure at all state func-
tions The pupils of these two schools like
those of the Theresanum, receive commissions
in the army on graduation. At court they usual
~ bear the trains of the royal and imperial
orally stand behind the chairs of the princes
the table often address few kindly words 70
the boys, sometimes presenting then, with
sweetmeats from the epergnes. Indeed the late
Emperor Frederick. when Crown Prince was
wont 10 amuse himself by examining tbAi,
mouths full of bonbons until they could not