KING EDWARD AND SOCIETY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 879, 27 July 1910, Page 3

KING EDWARD AND SOCIETY.

From a small, exclusive,'and'somewhat narrow-minded circle (say's,, tho "Lady's Pictorial") King . Edward broadened.out British society- into the great, wide, immense, tiling that it now is. Everything that is of ithq best for. tho comraonwe.il is embraced'within its evor-broadening scope. From his early manhood an enormous influence .was exercised by the late King; until lie ascended the throne it. was ever a circle more or less circumscribed.

. Almost the first 'public "action performed by his .late Majesty was to make' the Queen Lady of-the Most Noble Order of the darter, the oldest and. the highest Order of Chivalry in the world. In every way has the.Queen been hoii; oured; not' in the smallest degree was she ever treated as . Consort. The Royal Standard floated over, her. residence.'ashore or afloat, whether the King was there or not. It is said thatwhen, soon after the Accession, an official went to lower the Standard from the peak'of the yacht when the King loft it for somo 'hours, the ■■ Queen remaining •ou board, words- were said to him which prevented any similar occurrence. Although his lato 'Majesty mingled peihaps more freely' with his subjects than any other English Sover'eign, it has. been seen that the Queen was apart; the woman to : be : enthroned and honoured oven by the"King. Society in. England has passed through a.critical time; womanhood has been abused,.and opprobriuin has been showered, rightly, or wrongly* on that of the fast set. The : Queen, has been set above it all by the place in chivalrous regard made for her by King Edward. Genial, friendly,, human; and urbane as, he was, the knighthood- and the kingliriess in him-, were chief characteristics where-her Majesty was concerned. A special dress was worn by men when the.Quberi was present. 1 Once a guest at Sandringham came; down to dinner wearing,it, and was genially greeted : by his.august host with "We don't' wear those.things when the Queen "isn't here," meaning the knee-breeches and silk stockings, with .the. usual, evening coat. With regard,, therefore, to'thc honouring of wife and of womanhood the late King led the way in society. - Doubtless liis Majesty's chief influence was seen in the widening of' society, the placement of it on highroad' lines..: well remember that.the Victorian 1 drawing-room's were''/meeting-'-places' year after year for the same ladies. , Fresh faces were mostly those of debutantes, .who reappeared oil-,-their, marriage, and afterwards'attended once a year as their mothers had .done before them.'. In such wise' the .^social'harriers, as recognised by the Court,/n;erb keptnarrowed chiefly to the nobility. Many habituees were haughty and exclusive, and,] to be paradoxical, ill-mannered iu their consciousness of high birth'which' alone .en titled them to free access to the Court:. ..There, was. positive dismay among the .mighty .when one of tho regulations for their Majesties' Quirts .ran: "It is not according to.rule, unless under exceptional circumstances, for ladies to -attend Court more'than 'once in three years." Attention to the rule •has resulted happily;'the horizon of the Court circle is -greatly widened. ; The date. King: inado it much .easier for any woman of good position to.be presented, and by so doing- he. conferred a biiort on those who desire entry into the best society abroad, and made Englishwomen in European circles far-indre representative of the country than were the haughty, exclusive, and often stiff, formal, and rather stupid ladies of the more closelly restricted. Court circle. It continues to be useless.for any/lady to request to be presented at, Court. The only desire'-than-.can-, be-gratified is/that expressed by-a woman' who has been presented to present someone else. Even with, that-stipulation a Court, of to-day.is;far more widely representative that any. Victorian drawing-room.: At each Court about'two' thousand hive been ani frmi at lea.st have been held each season. Presentations in a .season ;were restricted to eight ■hundred. ..Those were not, however, kept in ' a certain set,-,but were scattered over, several. Visitors from our younger -nation's across seas, Americans and foreign visitors, all /nvn our/Court rairly easily accessible. ..- <-./...- 'flie' lato King instituted three H.V.O. Orders. One is tho. Imperial. .Service, .another the. Order of Merit. Both' are aviyfable for women; hero again, is "the ■social-.-influence of his Majesty ■in honouring womanhood. There are three ladies- who have' the Imperial Service Order; which is for tho Civil' Service, two hundred and fifty for'the" Home service, and one hundred and sevehtyhve for.that m'Colonies and Protectorates. The Order of Merit-is a smal-ler-one, consisting of twenty-four Or- . dmary Members. At present there are also, among them two women, Florence Nightingale and Mario Louise Albam.