Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1Tytler, Sarah
History
Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1
Tytler, Sarah
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
The princes of the blood royal were reduced to two. The Duke of Cambridge,
in his robe of estate, carrying his baton as Field-Marshal, his coronet
borne by the Marquis of Granby, his train by Sir William Gomm; the Duke of
Sussex, his coronet carried by Viscount Anson, his train by the Honourable
Edward Gore.
The High Constable of Ireland, the Duke of Leinster; the High Constable of
Scotland, the Earl of Errol, with their pages and coronets. The
Earl-Marshal of England, the Duke of Norfolk, with his staff, attended by
two pages; the sword of State, borne by Viscount Melbourne, with his page
and coronet; the Lord High Constable of England, the Duke of Wellington,
with his staff and baton as Field-Marshal, attended by two pages. The
sceptre with the dove, borne by the Duke of Richmond, page and coronet; St.
Edward's crown, borne by the Lord High Steward, the Duke of Hamilton,
attended by two pages; the orb, borne by the Duke of Somerset, page and
coronet. The patina, borne by the Bishop of Bangor; the Bible, borne by the
Bishop of Winchester; the chalice, borne by the Bishop of London.
At last the Queen entered, walking between the Bishops of Bath and Wells
and Durham, with Gentlemen-at-Arms on each side. She was now a royal maiden
of nineteen, with a fair, pleasant face, a slight figure, rather small in
stature, but showing a queenly carriage, especially in the pose of the
throat and head. She wore a royal robe of crimson velvet furred with ermine
and bordered with gold lace. She had on the collars of her orders. Like the
other princesses, she wore a gold circlet on her head. Her train was borne
by eight "beautiful young ladies," as Sir David Wilkie called them, all
dressed alike, some of them destined to officiate again as the Queen's
bridesmaids, when the loveliness of the group attracted general attention
and admiration. These noble damsels were Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Fanny
Cowper, Lady Anne Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Lady Mary Grimston, Lady Caroline
Gordon Lennox, Lady Mary Talbot, Lady Catherine Stanhope, Lady Louisa
Jenkinson. The Ladies of her Majesty's Household came next in order, the
Duchess of Sutherland, the Mistress of the Robes, walking first, followed
by Lady Lansdowne as first Lady of the Bed-chamber. Other ladies of the
Bed-chamber, whose names were long familiar in association with that of the
Queen, included Ladies Charlemont, Lyttelton, Portman, Tavistock, Mulgrave,
and Barham. The Maids of Honour bore names once equally well known in the
_Court Circular_, while the office brought with it visions of old
historic Maids prominent in Court gossip, and revealed to this day
possibilities of sprightliness reined in by Court etiquette, and innocent
little scrapes condoned by royal graciousness and kindness. The Maids of
Honour at the Queen's coronation were the Honourable Misses Margaret
Dillon, Cavendish, Lister, Spring Rice, Harriet Pitt, Caroline Cocks,
Matilda Paget, and Murray. One has heard and read less of the Women of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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