"PRESENTED AT COURT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 85, 11 April 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

"PRESENTED AT COURT."

PALACE SPLENDOURS. ROUTINE OF presentation. (By HORACE WYNDHAM.) 4 There must be few people in England jusfc now who receive a bigger postbag than the Lord Chamberlain. This is because half the dowagers and all the debutantes in London are writing to him for permission to attend one or other of the coming "Courts" at Buckingham Palace. . As a rule, five of these functions are held during the season and each is attended by an average of 1500 guests. Yet the number desirous of attending is always three times as large. The result is, the Lord Chamberlain has to say "no" much more often than "yes." Every application is subjected to a rigid scrutiny; and if the slightest blot is discovered on the applicant's "past," the glories of the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace are not for her. All who receive the coveted "command" must be sans peur et sans reproche, or ' at any rate as nearly so as it is possible to be in this difficult world. There is an unwritten (but closely observed) ban on actrcsses, and none are eligible for a ''presentation" while they are still employed. If, however, they have retired from the theatrical calling, the ban is lifted. In only one instance has an exception been made. This exception, moreover, was in favour of an American actress, Miss Ruth Draper, who attended a 1928 "Court." Preparing for the Palace. Where visitors from the overseas Dominions and the United States are concerned, the practice of the Lord Chamberlain is to require the wives of their High Commissioners and Ambassadors in England to vouch for them. As the lists at the disposal of these ladies are necessarily restricted, there is always tremendous competition to figure on them. Would-be debutantes, anxious to be first in the field, have heen known to pursue these official chaperons as far as Paris and Monte Carlo. When the longed-for invitation has arrived, the recipient has to get busy. Every moment until that of the eventful evening is fully occupied with visits to modistes, hairdressers, florists, and jewellers, etc.; and sheafs of good advice descend upon her from mothers and aunts and eider sisters, who have themselves received the Palace imprimatur, telling her exactly what she must do, and what she must not do. The latter is perhaps the more important. But the great thing for a girl to remember whan she enters the Throne Room is to keep her head. If she has too much of a modesty complex, she had better stop at home. ,

Pomp and Circumstance. The first "Court" of the season is always a "Diplomatic Court." This is because the opportunity is then taken to introduce to the King and Queen the wives and daughters of the Ambassadors and Embassy staffs in London. After wraps have been deposited in a ground floor cloakroom (where, by the way, deft maids are in readiness to perform any running repairs that should happen to be required), the company assemble in the hall and mount the Grand Staircase, lined by Yeomen of the Guard, in Elizabethan ruffs and Tudor hats, and veteran members of the "Honourable- Corps of Gentlemen -at-Arms." is slow, for the throng is always dense, and any 1 pushing or struggling to get ahead of an earlier arrival would be a serious slip of Palace etiquette. But the top is reached at last; and all who have got so far without mishap to trains and fans and feathers (and tempers) are ushered into a drawing-room, to await their turn. They may have to wait an hour. This is tilled in agreeably enough, chatting to friends, comparing notes about dresses, and listening to a string band, i Presently there is a move. "Pleaee have your cards ready, ladies," says a resplendent official, in a much-em-broidered tunic, knee breeches and silk stockings, as he signals to those occupying the nearest row of chairs to get up and follow him. In response to the summons, a fluttering group of debutantes file out into the adjoining Picture Gallery, at the end of which is the door of the Throne Room. There they are marshalled in line by gentlemen ushers. At a given signal the line moves slowly forward. As each member of the queue approaches the head, she hands her card of admission to the Lord Chamberlain. He gives a swift glance at it, and then nods meaningly to the bearer. Before she quite realises what is happening, she is following her predecessor through the carefully-guarded door, and wondering what awaits her there. This is the great moment of the evening.

In "The Presence." In the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace on a "Court" night it is a case of "Royalties all in a row," or rather, in a circle, for the King and Queen, on their gilded chairs, are surrounded by Princes and Princesses of "the Blood." Just behind them stand a group of peers of the realm, ambassadors, Cabinet Ministers, diplomatists, and high naval and military dignitaries, with "gold 6tick" and "silver stick" and officers of the Brigade of Guards in personal attendance upon the Sovereign. Everywhere brilliant uniforms, clanking swords, glittering medals and decorations, colour and pageantry—an unforgettable scene. The actual ceremony of "presentation" is extremely simple. All that it implies is that the Lord Chamberlain calls out a name; the bearer of it ad-, vances three steps and curtseys to the King; then another three steps and curtseys to the Queen; and then walks across the Throne Room and leaves by another door. From first to last, the debutante is not in the presence of Royalty for more than a minute. Once, however, it was really something of an ordeal, since eight separate curtseys had to be made, after which a girl was required to leave "the Presence" by walking backwards in a dress to which five yards of train were attached.

Her "presentation" completed, the debutante, flushed and happy, rejoins her chaperon for supper. This is set out at small tables in a suite of rooms opening off the Picture Gallery. It is a thoroughly pleasant "clou" to an ever memorable evening. ; To be "presented at Court" is emphatically "the thing." It confers real advantages on those fortunate enough tc have experienced it. Among such are eligibility to attend State balls and Palace garden parties; to be put on the invitation lists of ambassadors and Ministers in foreign capitals, and the Governors of overseas Dominions; and to secure admission to the "Royal Enclosure" at Ascot, and" "the Lawns" at Co wee. Altogether,- and apart from the honour of meeting Their Majesties, an unmistakable cachet.