ROYAL RECEPTIONS. Tedious Drawing-Room Delays.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 211, 16 July 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROYAL RECEPTIONS. Tedious Drawing-Room Delays.

Her Majesty's drawing-room of Mny 20th was the last one of tho formal ones. Nearly 500 ladied attended. The Queen did not receive at all, greatly to the disappointment of a number who had deferred going until, the last drawii ■;■ room, believing that' it would be ' ';« I most brilliant. The Princess of Y^k-* Received for her. Of the four drawing-rooms of the year some 1,500 or 1,600 ladies Jm\e j been presented. The English papers con- i tinually misrepresent the scenes a I cmi tho palace. On the presentation day theyaie fond of portraying women in the ino-l indecent of decollete dresses, fchwerrig under the insults and ribald remaned a gaping crowd for hours. A writer to tho " New York World " says : " Much fun has been poked at the Lin' l ot carriages employed. Last Wcdi'e-duv ! drove around from the end ot tho jy.Lu grounds, among the vaiious lin - oi carriage", taking the entire muni er i' ( ii« ing people, who were presented latv. i im tl" afternoon. The carriages were arran . c<t ai divisions. There was the iirst di. i~i r n>, "\- tending down the broad carriage di iv ot t IO mall. The next di\i,«ion was on the i'^ml of Buckingham Palace, extending towaid the west, to the back of the giound. Tin n theie was a third division on 'the ojijio'-ito line on the mall that was given precedence Tho tide-walks were crowded along thi-Jinc of carriages, but owing to the mm, which fell at different times, ,the crowd v:\mmi as great as usual. The line of ca.a.y*.^ in the mall stood in the centre ot t! al broad way. Thcic was a line of polu en .n wiiich kept the road clear, and all- > '.< <l :><> caniages except those going to the {^:n< c to enter. There were none of the -!>-'< l.itorswho could come nearer than hiVe-iov twenty feet of this line of caui.'iL-cs. If was only when the caniages I>l<_ vi t<> leach the palace that the spectator ):'»! ."u oppoitunity of being close to i !< un. Throughout the entire line of m^cUiUm^l paw no sign of rudeness. "The people clustered about k.okinc; otthe beautiful di esses through th" own windows of the carnages in about <l.c -'miv way they would look at picui">s in a gallery and in the same spirit. In e^ery cairiage theio were two ladit -. Tintiain of their court dresses mas-t-1 m fiout of them made a billowy heap ot -lli^ nut laces which reached nearly to their chin-. Occasionally there would be s-onic fuiU.in man sitting upon the inside of a fi< nt 0.-it in the carriage. The sight of I in-. a\.'i-, nearly always, the subject of quid i idi< nle by the crowd.' No man, howe\cr finuciou-s or distinguished, could look anythii"j: ! ut sheepish and out of place with hi-, h' a«l }n^^ sticking out above the fri/zcry of th" c • nt dresses. I saw no evidence of indtc i<s, so dwelt upon by some newspaper, vi tnc-' 1 court dresses. "The ladies' dresses were ju-t «urli a-, would be seen at an average e^eniM^ rai I \ in New York. It was certain that- u \..is not obligatory to have them dit '< übreasted, but majority of la<! c- L.n\ their dre&fces cut most mode&tlj-, and \n mi instance was any lady obliged to subimu to tlie exposure of her chaims before the spectators, because a majority of them v, oie wraps about their shoulders. Th<<-c v, h-i did not and sat >\ ith their bare dmi'ldi iand arms in face of the gaping crovd pu - bably did so as a matter of choice. This evening costume in the glare of imddti\ <q>peared incongruous. That is the onl> < > iticism that could be properly diiccted ul..u:i t the style of dressing. "I noticed that the ladies who au.ic the most decollete dresse? were old and rho-e who had the least reason for an exhibition. Those who had handsome figures -were nm t modest in displaying them. The nu^x, extremely reckless and liberal were the J.'il dowagers of 50. One of the featuic- ot the performance was the fact of luncheon. Along the line some ladies had brought their maids a\ ith them, and even a Lcap^t with a spirit-lamp. 1 saw one maid pieparing a pot of tea and serving lujh h to her veteran mistress, who was ouipo; through this dawing-room wait like an old campaigner. Some of tho waiting ones rolled themseh es in their fms and -wMl'Mi away the time reading novels. Other.-, kept to tho newspaper?. It was over m\ hours from the time the carriages tii-t formed before the occupants were inched and sent home again. Not one of tlu.> long line were in the throne room, vlu'io this reception took place, over iiifeen minutes."