Courts Imperial

There was a nagging drizzle from the dull skies of a late and soggy London afternoon. Hundreds of smart motors idled in a line extending from Admiralty Arch to the gates of Buckingham Palace, which were locked. For rather more than an hour sopping but irrepressible plebeians wandered up and down the sidewalks of Pall Mall commenting audibly upon the personal appearance and regalia of helplessly belimousined princes,* peers, ambassadors, dowagers and debutantes. Finally at 8:30 p.m. the gates of Buckingham swung open. Exhaling sighs of relief, nearly 1,000 guests stepped through the Palace door, prepared to genuflect.

His Majesty George V, by the Grace of God King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, had donned the uniform of a colonel-in-chief of the Royal Horse Guards. Her Majesty the Queen-Empress shimmered majestically, clad in a gown of silver tissue overlaid with tulle embroidered with pearls, wearing a tiara of diamonds, the blazing Order of the Garter, many another twinkly gem of price and a train of Irish point lace. As the supreme moments ticked on, many of the 300-odd female presentees glanced nervously at the back of a court bouquet. Therein had been embedded against ultimate emergencies a tiny mirror. The curtsying began....

Mrs. Alanson Bigelow Houghton, wife of the U. S. Ambassador, was of course responsible for the presentation of U. S. maids and matrons, daughters and wives either of members of the diplomatic corps or of intrinsically potent fathers, husbands. By special dispensation of the Lord Chamberlain, these gentlemen were permitted--for the first time--to peer from the door of an anteroom upon the ceremony. None were themselves presented.

Mrs. Houghton, gowned in bois de rose embroidered with dull gold sequins and having a train of rose and gold broche lace, led forward, at the first or "diplomatic" Court last week seven ladies of the diplomatic circle, and the following whose presentation had been determined by other considerations:** The Misses Alice Lee/- Eva Wise/-/- and Mildred Tytus of Manhattan, Miss Lorrain Liggett of Boston, Miss Caroline Patterson/= of Dayton, Ohio, Miss Henrietta Johnson of Paris, Mrs. Wilson Pritchett of Philadelphia and Mrs. Curtis Brown of London.

At the second Court, held at 9:30 p.m. next day, nine additional U. S. citizenesses were presented. The guests again numbered roughly 1,000, but the circle of royalty surrounding the King and Queen was considerably reduced. Her Majesty appeared in a cream and silver gown, wore a diadem of pearls, a train of silver brocade and old point de Flandres lace.

The Soviet Charge d'Affaires, M. Rozejolev, attended wearing satin knee breeches and a jeweled sword. Ambassador Houghton was clad in ordinary evening dress.

Ambassador and Mrs. Houghton gave a ball before the first Court. First to dance with bobbed-haired Matilda Houghton was Edward of Wales. Chichibu of Nippon, Gustaf of Sweden, followed. Colonel and Mrs. Edward M. House looked on. Present was almost everyone of note then in London except Their Britannic Majesties.

Among persons unofficially but forcibly presented to their Majesties was Miss Jessie Betts, 17, with whose bicycle the imperial motor collided early in the week at Cowley, Middlesex.

As the girl gazed wildly at her ruined bicycle, the King cried: "Never mind about that as long as you are unhurt!" "B-b-but--I'd only borrowed it!" wailed Miss Betts.

The Queen, unvexed, suggested that they take the still dazed girl home in the imperial motor. With gentle but resolute firmness, His Majesty negatived this proposal, hailed a passing motorist who, overwhelmed, obeyed with alacrity a royal command that he convey Miss Betts to her residence in Uxbridge.

*Japan was represented by Prince Yasuhito Chichibu-no-miya, second son of the Mikado; Sweden by Prince Gustaf Adolf, eldest son (20) of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Skane (now in the U. S.).

**Any U. S. citizen may, with entire propriety, address a request to the U. S. Legation at any capitol, intimating a desire to be presented to the local sovereign. Such requests are honored if pressure from Washington does not squeeze them from the presentation quota, as it usually does.

/-Daughter of famed Ivy Ledbetter Lee, Cedartown, Georgia-born publicity man for John D. Rockefeller Sr., the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Bethlehem Steel Co., etc.

/-/- Listed by the U.S. Social Register.

/= Daughter of Robert Patterson (National Cash Register).