Presentation, and What It Means - The Necessary Preparation - Preliminary Instruction - How to

Make a Court Curtsey - A Presentation Lesson

Presentation to the reigning Sovereign is one of the greatest events in a girl's or a woman's life.

It is an honour and privilege conferred by the King on his subjects, this entrance into the Throne Room, and formal presentation to their Majesties.

Presentation of ladies takes place at a reception known as a Drawing Room. Several are given in each season, and those to whom the honour of presentation has been accorded go to Buckingham Palace and curtsey before their King.

To be presented is the ambition of most women. Sometimes girls are presented soon after they "come out " ; sometimes on their marriage ; or, again, on the receipt of any special honour or title by their family or their husbands.

This formal presentation to Royalty takes place either at St. James's Palace, where a levee intended for gentlemen only is held,

Fig. 1 How the debutante should enter the Throne Room and present her card to the Lord Chamberlain, represented at the rehearsal by the figure on the right. Her train is shown as it would appear after being spread at the entrance by the pages

Photos, Stephanie Maud or at Buckingham Palace, where, at a Drawing Room, both ladies and gentlemen appear. It is difficult in the present year of grace (1911) to define exactly who may or may not be entitled to this honour ; but anyone who has once been presented is entitled to appear at any future levee or Drawing Room without a new presentation. The whole arrangements connected with presentations are under the supervision of the Lord Chamberlain, in whose office in

St. James's Palace full information is given to all those desiring to be presented. The names of ladies and gentlemen desiring presentation, and of the ladies, noblemen, and gentlemen who are to present them, have to be submitted to the Sovereign for approval.

Fig. 2. Rehearsing the first curtsey to the King. In the class the seated figures represent their Majesties. The debutante should hold her bouquet in her right hand just beyond the right knee as she sinks gracefully down in her obeisance

Presentation can only be made through a lady who has already been presented, and anyone who has thus appeared at Court is at liberty to " present," in her turn, any friends who have the right to this Royal favour.

The Origin Of The Levee

Court dress and official uniforms must be worn at a Drawing Room, and the expense entailed sometimes prevents many who have a perfect right to be " presented " from entering the presence of the King in this manner. A British subject who has been presented at the Court of St. James's may, on any after occasion, claim to be presented by the British Minister at any foreign Court.

Levees and Drawing Rooms are quite apart in England, but both have their origin in the reception by the Sovereign of his subjects. In olden days this took place in the morning soon after rising, and the word came from the French levee. Under the ancien regime in France the levee of the King was regulated - especially under Louis XIV. - by elaborate etiquette, and the various divisions of the ceremonial followed the stages of the King's rising from his bed, from which it took its name.

The petit levee began when the King had bathed and said his daily offices. To this were admitted princes of the blood, certain high officers of the Royal household, and those to whom a special permit had been given. Then followed the premiere entree, to which came secretaries and other officials, and those having the entree to the Royal presence. These were received by the King in his dressing-gown. Finally, at the grand levee, the remainder of the household and the ladies and the gentlemen of the Court were received by the King, who by that time had shaved, changed his linen, and donned his wig !

Nowadays, the King's levee is restricted to men only, in contrast to the more elaborate Drawing Room, wherein ladies figure so charmingly. Presentation was as much desired in bygone years as it is to-day. In ' Marriage a la Mode " an inducement to wed is the promise, " You shall be every day at the King's levee, and at the Queen's ; and we will never meet but in the Drawing Room."

Queen Victoria's Drawing Rooms

In "The Beaux' Stratagem" the heroine reflects thus : ' Whereas, if I marry my Lord Aim well there will be title, place, and precedence ; the park, the play, and the Drawing Room ! " Truly a fine array of possessions.

In Queen Victoria's reign Drawing Rooms in London always took place in the afternoon, and crowds would gaze with envy - and pity - at the lines of shivering debutantes in low-necked dresses waiting in their carriages in the Mall. In a volume entitled " Queen Victoria's Tours in England and Ireland " occurs an interesting reference to Drawing Rooms : " At 8.30 we drove in to Dublin for the Drawing Room. It is always held here of an evening, and one thousand six hundred ladies were presented." The present arrangement of holding presentations at night makes the whole function more enjoyable, and much more like attending a dance or reception, besides allowing the participators to go on to other functions if they wish.