Part 16 (1/2)
Invitations to a ball should be issued in the name of the hostess only.
When the host is a widower, with a grown-up daughter, the invitations should be issued in their joint names.
When the host is a widower, or a bachelor, they should be issued in his name.
Invitations issued by officers, members of hunt committees, bachelors, etc., to their b.a.l.l.s, either request the pleasure or the honour of Mrs.
----'s company; but this formula should not be used by ladies when issuing invitations; the ”at home” card should simply bear the word ”Dancing” on the bottom of the card, the hour and date filled in in the allotted s.p.a.ce, the name of the guest written at the top of the card.
In the case of a written invitation, it would be correct to use the words ”ball” or ”dance” when alluding to the entertainment about to be given, in a friendly note.
A lady or gentleman might ask for an invitation for his or her friend to a ball given by an acquaintance, although the acquaintances.h.i.+p were of a slight character; but a lady or gentleman should not ask for an invitation to a ball if unacquainted with the giver of it. The fact of mutual friends having received invitations to a ball gives no claim upon the hospitality of a stranger, therefore such requests are inadmissible.
The proper course for a person to pursue in the event of desiring an invitation to a ball given by some one with whom he or she is unacquainted, is to request some mutual friend to obtain one; and this course is always followed.
=Cards should be left= by the guests present at a ball within the current week if possible. (See Chapter III.)
=Gratuities= should never be given by the guests to the servants of the house where a ball is given.
=State b.a.l.l.s.=--Two State b.a.l.l.s are annually given at Buckingham Palace during the London season by command of His Majesty. Invitations are issued by the Lord Chamberlain, but His Majesty previously revises the list.
When ladies and gentlemen attend a State Ball at Buckingham Palace they make their way to the ball-room _unannounced_; and there is no official reception accorded to them, either by ”Royalty” or by the Lord Chamberlain.
Dancing does not commence until the arrival of the royal party, when the guests rise and remain standing while the Royal Quadrille--with which the ball opens--is being danced.
The King and Queen act as host and hostess on these occasions, but confine their attentions to those with whom they are personally acquainted.
Ladies attending a State Ball at Buckingham Palace should wear the usual full evening dress; but they should not wear Court trains, or plumes, or lappets.
Gentlemen attending State b.a.l.l.s should wear uniform or full Court dress--dress coat, breeches and silk stockings, shoes and buckles; trousers can only be worn as part of a uniform, and not with a Court dress as generally worn at a levee.
A gentleman intending to dance should remove his sword, otherwise he should not do so.
When the Court is in mourning, ladies attending a State Ball should wear mourning according to the official notice which duly appears in the _Gazette_.
Gentlemen should wear c.r.a.pe on the left arm, which is supplied in the cloak-room of the Palace to those who have forgotten to provide themselves with it, as it is imperative, when the Court is in mourning, that a band of c.r.a.pe should be worn at either State Ball or State Concert.
The b.a.l.l.s given by the princes and princesses of the blood royal are not State b.a.l.l.s, therefore Court dress is not worn by the gentlemen present.
They act as host and hostess at the b.a.l.l.s given by them and receive their guests, shaking hands with them as they are announced.
Ladies and gentlemen do not take their cards of invitation with them to Buckingham Palace.
CHAPTER XIII
DINNER GIVING AND DINING OUT