The Washington herald., 1912-03-20
IN BUCKINGHAM PALACE

WHICH King george OIL GREAT 6rltaln heiu
two weeks ago to-day IN the throne room
at Buckingham Palsce, proved to be one
Of the largest ceremonials of this class
that ever took place there. 1t included
the recipients of the numerous decora-
tons which have been conferred during
the past four months. as all the new
knights were Summoned to attend. In
stead of the inyestiture being limited to
the two higher classes, as is usually the
case-knights grand crosses and knights
commanders-the companions OF the va
rious orders also were received by the
sovereign.
The programme of an investiture al
ways Is very carefully drawn up in ad-
vance in order to avoid blunders which
quite frequently occurred at these cere-
monials. such as the King knighting
man by mistake, or conferring the wrong
decoration. or. II the right decoration.
giving him the wrong class. II was King
Edward who commenced to hold these
investitures at buckingham Palace,
changing the hour from O'Clock to noon.
This time the ceremony began still earl
Ter. Queen Victoria used to hold the
investitures always either In the white
drawing-room IT Windsor Castle or In
the couHcil room at Osborne House, a
luncheon being served to all the company
an hour before the beginning Of the
function.
The first courts Of season, as a rule.
are very courtly. that IS mainly of an
official character. the precedence of pre-
sentation being given to the corps
and their ladies, to the
wives Of high dignitaries, and to those
connected with the court. But what took
the people mostly by surprise was the
new Instructions sent out by the court
chamberlain with regard TO the court
dress, which, II may be stated. in future
must be uniform and quite regardless
Of the fashion OF the moment.
The narrow. transparent. fshtail trains
that are the rage are not permitted at
court by decree of Queen Mary, nor is
the immensely long train. that for 30
many years has been considered chic"
Trains, says the e-lord chamberlain. acting
under direct instructions of the Queen.
must be no more than three yards from
the shoulders and at the extreme end
must be ffty-four inches wide at least
The skirts of diaphanous material. that
heretofore have cleared the ground. so as
to show the dainty satin shoe and silk
hose. are allowed to do so no longer.
Lord Sandhurst. the new lord chamber
lain. commands that they shall be four
inches on the ground at least. in a style
that Is dowdy. to say the least. The veil,
too. which lately had reached gargan-
tuan proportions. now Is limited to forty
FIVE inches. little more than a yard In
length, and the feathers. in the wearing
OF which a great deal OF license has OBJ
tained. henceforth are to be worn ac-
cording to pattern.
II must not be forgotten-I add this for
the bene1t OF the fair Flaneur readers
who. when abroad. attend these func-
tions-that by special order of Queen
Mary from now on a court official al
ways is TO be posted outside the throne
room to inspest the gowns of the ladies.
So there is no possibility OF evading even
the slightest OF the foregoing somewhat
stringent and rather old-fashioned regu-
lations.
While on the subject of decorations and
investitures. I must confess that the
sending OF the most important Turkish
order to King George-he received two
at the same time. which I~spoke about
the other day-seems to be a somewhat
embarrassing compliment. No doubt the
padishah of the sublime porte expects
his courtesy TO he Acknowledged by his
being created a knight of the Garter.
when the former Sultan. Abdul
Hamid. visited London in 1857. il was
proposed to decorate him either with
the Grand Cross of the Bath or the
Grand Cross of the Star OF India.
Upon hearing OF the arrangement, the
ruler of the faithful quite heatedly
and emphatically remarked that his
predecessor had received the Garter.
II was then decided to give him the
blue ribbon" Il being quite obvious
that he was angry and determined TO
decline any other decoration. no mat
ter how high and dIgnlfied. In fact, IL
was Queen Victoria herself who in
vested the Sultan with his new knight
ship.
I find that several London society
journals, which ought to be posted on
such matters at least. appear to be
under the impression that 1t is the
King himself who decided upon the
arrangements OF the Duke of Fife's fu-
neral. This is erroneous. The King
gives the orders only upon the death
of aSmember of the royal family. but
the late Duke of Fife was not even
born royal. He became related to
the reigning house by marrying. as
MacDuff. Earl of Fife, a sister OF King
George, the princess royal
when the Duke OF Sussex died in
1s43. he left directions that he should
be buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
This caused a discussion between the
Duke of Wellington. Sir Robert Peel.
and the Duke of Bedford as 10 whether
his wish should be carried into effect.
as IL had been suggested by members
of the royal family that the Queen
should command his burial at Wind
sor Castle. 1t was decided finally to
respect the wishes Of the dead duke.
Abouty thirty years later Queen Vic
toria drove to Kensal Green for the
purpoe of inspecting her uncle's grave,
over which she had placed a monu-
ment. She was rather disguised with
the shaft and ordered an investigation
of the whole business. TO ascertain
who had been responsible for the in
artistic design. But in the end she
wished that she hadn't. for when the
archives of the lord chamberlain's Of
fee were searched, a sketch of the
same monument was discovered. mark
ed with the talismanic words, "Ap-
proved, Albert" 1t appears that this
was one occasion when her beloved
consort had slipped up"
st. Georges Chapel. at Windsor.
where the obsequies of the late duke
were held. is pre-eminently regal in
its appointments. Even Westminster
Abbey must yield to st. Georges, since
the British kings have ceased to be
buried in the chapels of Edward the
Confessor and of Henry VII. In some
respects st. Georges is older than
Westminster Abbey. The latter was
not a chapel royal until after the abo-
lition of the Abbey and its practical
reconstruction as collegiate church