QUEEN VICTORIAS GUESTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XII, 20 March 1897, Page 362

QUEEN VICTORIAS GUESTS.

Concerning Queeu Victoria's entertainment of * dine and sleep * guests at Windsor, a London correspondent writes: — * These visitors, who are invited by the master of the household, arrive about 6 o'clock in the evening, and they assemble in the corridor (every one in full dress) at 8.30 o’clock, when the lord-in-waiting settles the order in which the company are to go in to dinner. The Queen enters from her own apartment exactly at 8.45 o’clock, with the Princesses and lady-in-waiting, and the party at once proceed to dinner in the oak room, which adjoins the coiridor. The conversation at the banquet is not lively, Her Majesty strictly confining her remarks to general subjects, snch as art, literature, music and scenery. Any allusion to political or personal topics is absolutely prohibited. After dinner the Queen and ladies retire to one of the drawingrooms (there are three—the white, the green, the red), which open out of the corridor, where they are speedily joined by the men of the party. Formerly the Queen went round the circle, saying a few civil and pleasant words to each person, but now Her Majesty does not leave her seat, and the guests are taken up to her in fours by the lady-in-waiting and the lord inwaiting, after which she retires to her rooms with the Princesses (if any are present), and the company finish the evening with music and whist. The guests’ apartments are very comfortable, with large baths and capital fires. Smoking is strictly forbidden except in the smoking-room, which is far removed from the Queen’s own part of the castle. In the morning guests breakfast either in their own rooms or with the household-in-waiting.’