The Queen's Drawing Room May 1816

As promised last time, here are the particulars of the Drawing-Room held by Queen Charlotte just days after her granddaughter's wedding:

 

 

 

A Drawing-room of 1809

This account of the social event of the 1816 season comes from the popular journal, La Belle Assemblee, for May 1816. The exact date of the Drawing-room is not provided. There are long lists of the presentations made at the event, and even longer lists of the ladies' gowns. Please leave me a comment or send me an email letting me know if you would like to see those lists posted here. I don't feel confident of their general interest, so your input would be appreciated!

'Til next time,
Lesley-Anne

"Dresses of Her Royal Highness The Princess Charlotte" -- the 'trousseau' of a princess

Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales was married on 2nd of May, 1816. The wedding and the royal couple's relationship was subjected to a scrutiny very familiar to us--the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge endure the same press attention every day. 

After the wedding, La Belle Assemblee, the premiere fashion magazine of the day, published--in addition to the report of the wedding--the following article on what today we might call Princess Charlotte's trousseau. The dresses sound astonishingly beautiful, and I hope you enjoy this account of them.

above  The happy couple returning from the Altar after making their marriage vows. This picture appeared in La Belle Assemblee in June of 1816.

A few days after the wedding, Queen Charlotte, the Princess's grandmother held a Drawing-Room. I will blog with La Belle Assemblee's account of the event in a couple of weeks.

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

By the way, do join my author friend Jana Richards for her birthday giveaway. You could win one of my books or one of many others!

Dottator et Lineator Loquitur

I just came across this most interesting illustration and poem in Ackermann's Repository of Arts for February 1817, and I just had to share it.

Click on the illustration to open a large version so that you can read the words under the charming stick figures.

The artist of the plate, and the composer of the accompanying poem are given no credit or identification. You must read the poem to make sense of the intention of the illustration.

This is what might be called, I think, a charming conceit, and I hope you enjoy it!

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

Ackermann's Repository of Arts 1817 available from archive.org