The Shadow of Great Britain

She has feelings towards him typical between different sexes, although she herself does not know it.

— ”Greville Memoirs” by Charles Greyville (Secretary of Britain’s Privy Council from 1821 to 1859)

For the British upper society, a dinner party is never just about dining; as a social mechanism, it inevitably requires guests to abide by various intricate rules and etiquettes.

British court dinners, to some extent, differ little from other grand banquets, only that dining etiquette may slightly vary.

At most noble dinners, the entry order begins with the highest-ranking male, accompanied by the highest-ranking female, followed by the second highest-ranking male and female, and so forth.

However, in the court, since Victoria’s status surpasses all, and the royal guests may not necessarily know each other, an Attendant is present to instruct who accompanies whom once everyone gathers.

To avoid awkwardness, Victoria typically arrives a bit late, so although the royal dinner is nominally at 7:30, it usually starts when the Queen arrives around 8:00 pm.

The diners usually first gather and chat in the reception room, then the Queen is led in by the Marquis of Cunningham and several Inner Court Gentlemen. Victoria shakes hands with the ladies, bows to the gentlemen, and then everyone tries to form a smooth procession into the dining hall to be seated.

Similar to how the Shandong people like to arrange order while dining, distinguishing between main, higher, and lower seats at the table, the seating arrangement at a British court dinner follows a similar importance.

During the reign of George III, male and female guests would typically sit in separate rows, but entering the 19th century, alternated seating arrangements were more common, with men and women sitting interspersed.

Court dinners come with many rules, thus making it challenging for people to dine comfortably.

Regarding the dinner atmosphere, it must be acknowledged that, although Victoria tried her best to display a cheerful, friendly, and unpretentious nature, compared to her two uncles, George IV and King William IV, her dinners seemed too dull.

Perhaps due to the influence of the Kensington System, she developed a habit from childhood of keeping her thoughts to herself, and now, she bore the pressure of making older and more experienced ministers look at her in a new light, hence, since becoming the Queen, she consistently adhered to talking only about the most mundane topics in social occasions.

As a result, her dinners naturally could not compare to those of George IV, who had diverse hobbies and extensive knowledge, or King William IV, who was experienced and adept at enlivening atmospheres.

Guests who have attended the Queen’s dinners generally comment that the atmosphere is only more relaxed when the Duke of Wellington is present.

This hero of Waterloo incurred hearing damage early from testing new artillery, and as he aged, he inevitably became somewhat hard of hearing, so he would often speak in a loud voice, not only discussing state affairs loudly but also speaking so loudly about other guests’ gossip that it was clearly audible.

Such behavior often left other guests not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and even Victoria frequently had to loudly shift the conversation to prevent the Duke of Wellington from ”broadcasting” others’ private lives.

Of course, this does not mean that Victoria disliked the Duke of Wellington.

In fact, she had great respect for this national hero.

After all, she had mentioned to Arthur more than once, that on the day she ascended the throne, seeing the Duke of Wellington kneeling to swear allegiance, she could hardly believe that the amiable old gentleman before her was indeed the hero who defeated Napoleon; she was deeply moved by this.

If one were to name a Conservative Party member Victoria trusted, that person would likely be the Duke of Wellington.

After all, among Britain’s many dukes, the Duke of Wellington is the only one whom Victoria refers to distinctively as ”the old Duke,” rather than using his title and name.

Whether at court balls or military parades, as long as the Duke of Wellington was in attendance, she would always arrange for the old Duke to be nearby and ensure to converse with him.

Regrettably, due to the fifty-year age difference between Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, they had very few common topics to converse about.

However, the Duke of Wellington acknowledged the Queen’s courtesy.

Because of this, when Peel was repeatedly enraged by the Queen’s preference for the Whig Party, he advised his old friend: ”Her Majesty may be young, but she is wise and courteous. Towards Her Majesty, one should be patient and not try to persuade through pressure.”

Nevertheless, despite the mutual respect between Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, the one who truly made the Queen feel at ease at dinners was Viscount Melbourne sitting beside her. However, at today’s dinner, there was clearly more than just that Whig Party figure to entertain the Queen.

For Sir Arthur Hastings had returned from Paris.

Most of London’s upper society, to some extent, had heard of how devotedly the Secretary of the Police Commissioner Committee had worked for the Queen’s Buckingham Palace concerts.

He traveled almost every theater in Paris, utilizing all his resources in the European music world, to bring pianists like Chopin, Liszt, and Talberg to London.