COURT LADIES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 85, 20 January 1928, Page 8

COURT LADIES.

QUEEN'S MAID OF HONOUR. TREASURED SYMBOLS OF OFFICE

The establishment of Maids of Honour to attend on the Queen is generally ' attributed to a French Queen, Anne of Brittany/ wife of Charles VBLL, in •', the latter part of the fifteenth century. She had in her household several girls of high rank in whom she took special interest. It is also said, however, that Margaret of Austria in 1484 had maidens about her in a similar capacity. In feudal days girls of noble fanuiy were, like youths of high rank, sent to attend upon the Sovereign to complete their education and to be instructed in good manners and deportment. Therefore the post of Lady-m-Waiting is one of the oldest offices in history. . „ ' Perhaps the most romantic figures were the maidens .attendant upon Mary Queen of Scots. These ladies all had the same name as the Queen, and were chosen for. their beauty. It is said they took a vow that none would marry until her Sovereign chose a consort to share the throne of Scotland, and each kept her vow. Queen • Elizabeth was always supposed to be very angry when her maids left her for marriage. The ladies of the Court to-day consist of Mistress of the Robes, Ladies of the Bedchamber, 'Women of the Bedchamber,, and Maids of Honour. Queen Mary has four Ladies of the Bedcainber, four extra Ladies of the Bedchamber, six Women of the Bedchamber, and one Maid of Honour, the Hon. Jean Hamilton-Bruce, who has succeeded Miss Lawley, who was recently marreid to Colonel George Gibbs, M.P. Four of the Women of the Bedchamber act as. private secretaries of the Queen. A knowledge of language is naturally essential to Ladies-in-Waiting, for they -freoliently have to assist_ in entertaining 'members of the suites of distinguished foreign visitors to the Court. , When the Court is at Windsor the Ladies-in-Waiting lodge at the castle, but in London they are not required to stay in Buckingham Palace. t _ Queen Victoria gave to her Maids of Honour a miniature of herself sur- ' rounded by diamonds. This was worn oir a red ribbon of the same shade as that of the Order of the Bath. To her LacKes-in-Waiting, Queen Alexandra gave a Danish cross in diamonds ou a ribbon of the Danish colours, red and white. She used to send her miniature set in diamonds to her Maids of Honour in little white satin boxes, accompanied by. a card bearing the name of the recipient written in her own handwriting, Ladies-in-Waiting t& her Majesty wear a diamond "M," this being the gift of the Queen.