Lady Greville's Account of the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 Ball in the Graphic

Logistics

"Devonshire House Ball," The Graphic Saturday 10 July 1897: 15 [of 24]: Col. 1A–16, Col. 1C.

The account of the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, 3 July 1897, in the Graphic was written by Lady Violet Greville. This is one of the important newspaper accounts.

This story was printed over several pages with photographs of the costumes and a moment of people bowing before Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and the royal party.

The descriptions of the photographs in the story that were printed underneath the photos themselves are probably not written by Greville, as they appear in a number of places at the same time, suggesting they were released to the press at some point.

Actual word count: 1356 (minus title, byline and captions to the photos, which are not Greville's, but including headings).

"Devonshire House Ball"

<quote>The Devonshire House Ball
By Lady Violet Greville

A fancy ball conjures up images of fun and beauty to the youngest debutante, but such a ball as the one given last week at Devonshire House, not only delighted the tyro, but proved interesting and attractive to the philosopher and the student of history. The fine old house, itself a historical relic, with its state rooms, with

[photograph] (As a Knight and a Lady of the Days of Chivalry)

Lord and Lady Ampthill

Photo by Lafayette

[back to the story] heavy gildings, its old-fashioned crystal chandeliers, its marble staircase, and its illuminated garden, an oasis of peace and verdure in the centre of the busiest London streets, lent itself admirably to the brilliant scene in which even the servants, some attired as Egyptian footmen, some, negroes themselves, in their own quaint and barbaric Eastern dress, carried out the illusion of antiquity to their knee breeches and white wigs. The costumes, most of them archaeologically correct, and copied from old pictures, permitted every licence in point of expense and magnificence, and ladies and

[photograph] (Late Elizabethan Period)
The Duke and Duchess of Fife
Photo by Lafayette

The Duchess of Fife ... The Duke of Fife ... [15, Col. A/15, Col. B]

[back to the story] gentlemen both freely availed themselves of the opportunity. The jewels were a sight worthy of the court of Elizabeth and the reign of Catherine de Medici. Her beautiful daughter, so pleasantly named “la Reine Margot,” being represented by H.R.H. the Princess of Wales. Dress at that period had reached the zenith of magnificence, while Marguerite herself — who, as she proudly says, was the daughter of a King, the sister of a King, and the wife of a King — was noted for her beauty and for her art in dress and her rare invention, inasmuch as she was the wonder of all who beheld her. Bantome speaks of her as “robed in cloth of silver with long sleeves, her hair richly dressed and her whole appearance of such grace and majesty that she resembled more a goddess from heaven than a Queen upon earth.” Another time she is described as wearing a red velvet gown much embroidered with gold and silver, and a cap of the same laden with so many plumes and jewels that Ronsard compared her to Aurora in a poem he composed for the occasion. Nevertheless, she committed some faults in taste, for she covered her beautiful black hair with fair wigs, and bedaubed her face with so many cosmetics that she finally ruined her complexion.

All the celebrated and important personages in London, from Sir Henry Irving to the Royal Family, Mr. Arthur Balfour or a Judge of the High Court to the various beauties of society, jostled and moved in a scene of unvarying gaiety and brilliancy. In fact, the disguise was often so complete that it was with difficulty friends recognised and greeted one another. The handsome cavalier and Tudor dresses, vying in splendour with the dainty Louis XVI. powered courtiers, and the barbaric splendours of the Court of Russia, contrasted with the mediaeval elegance of the Italian Renaissance, formed the most dazzling of living pictures. The whole thing was a study in costume and colour, theatrical to a certain extent, yet so artistically contrived to possess an air of reality that

[photograph] (As George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, and a Princess in the suite of Marguerite de Valois)
The Duke and Duchess of York
Photo by Lafayette

... Duke of York’s dress ... The Duchess of York ...

[back to the story] the tawdriness and staginess of the mask and buskin were absent. Men forgot for a minute their nineteenth century brusqueness and curt fashion of speech, while the stateliness of their robes and ruffles, the delicacy of their powder and patches revealed itself shyly in their gait and demeanour. The cardinals and the doges walked in superb majesty, the knights in armour glistened in silken mantles and diamond decorations, the very Roundheads and Puritans strutted bravely as to the manner born.

As usual, the most beautiful women did not look their best, but the plainer ones had an instantaneous success. When one adds that a sermon on the iniquity of spending so much money on clothes was duly preached in a fashionable church, that the embroideries, as perfect as the needle could produce, were many of them made in the distressful country of Ireland, that dressmakers and costumiers were for weeks before nearly driven off their heads with work and anxiety, that hairdressers distractedly rushed to and fro with tongs and hairpins for twenty-four hours consecutively, that some of the costumes cost 1,000l.,and that the jewels amounted to several millions, it may safely be inferred that the ball was a gigantic, satisfactory, and soul-stirring success.

The Duchess of Devonshire set an excellent example to aspiring millionaires who spend thousands on floral decorations. Her handsome rooms were only adorned by flowers — chiefly roses — sent from [15, Col. B/15, Col. C] the Duke’s own gardens of Chatsworth, so justly famous for their beauty, and not a single flower was bought for the occasion. The wanton waste of orchids and other lovely blossoms at many of the balls given during the season is truly deplorable. They are scarcely noticed in a crowded room, and die rapidly from the heat, while lavishness and display in these matters is really bad taste. In the best and finest houses very little extravagance in flowers is ever permitted.

[photograph] (As Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra)
The Duchess of Devonshire
Photo by Lafayette, Dublin

[Duchess of Devonshire's costume]

[back to the story] Some of the Costumes

At the best it is only possible, in the bewilderingly dazzling spectacle constituted on these absolutely authoritative [?lines?], to take a bird’s-eye view of the constituent elements; the mythological goddesses — where all were goddesses; the heroes and heroines or romance, knights and dames of King Arthur’s

[photograph] (As the Queen of Sheba)
Princess Henry of Pless
Photo by Lafayette, Dublin

[Princess Henry of Pless's costume] [15, Col. C/16, Col. A]

[back to the story] Court and Round Table, of chivalry and conquest, the makers of empire with the Queens of wide kingdoms and of hearts alike, the muster-roll of Queens alone, as is fitting, forming a vista of ancient history concerned with the personal charms of Cleopatras, of glorified Queens of Sheba, and the like. The Ducal hostess herself elected to appear as Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, with lavish magnificence, and wearing a corruscation of jewels which must have eclipsed the state of even the all-subduing majesty the Duchess impersonated. Each respective Court, procession and quadrille, self-contained and complete alike in classification and delicacy of detail, appropriately surrounded an Imperial or Royal Sovereign lady; the glowing and richly coloured Oriental groups, such as the Duchess’s Court of resplendent Palmyra, the Queens of Egypt and of Eastern Empires, through the mazes of ancient history, down to the solid magnificence of Tudor Queens, with, as a glorious standpoint, the Court of Elizabeth herself. There, also, were the Courts contemporary with the Virgin Queen’s era of sumptuous costume — of France, Spain, Italy, Germany; the glories of Venice, when East and West met in one rich pageant under the Doges; of Florence under the splendour-loving Medici Princes; of Catherine II. of Russia, of the Empress Maria Theresa, of Marguerite de Navarre, and the brilliant Court of the Valois Princes, down to the luckless Queen Marie Antoinette, with her friend the Princess de Lamballe, and ending the procession of Queens with the Imperial Josephine.

The Royal party arrived as a Court; the Princess of Wales, a regal Marguerite de Valois, escorted by the Prince of Wales, who was most becomingly attired in the costume of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, temp. Elizabeth; the Duke of Connaught in martial panoply, as Queen Elizabeth’s Commander of the Forces; the Duchess of Connaught as Anne of Austria; the Duke of York as Elizabeth’s champion knights, George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, wearing as the jewel of his hat his fair sovereign’s glove as a gage of the honour he was bound to defend. The Duchess of York and the three Princesses, daughters of the Princess of Wales, were in the train of “La Reine Margot.” The noble host, who appeared to dignified advantage impersonating the great Emperor Charles V., of wide-spreading dominions (his dress accurately reproduced by M. Alias after the portrait by Titian), came forward to receive his Royal guests, and the Duchess of Devonshire, to whose taste and enterprise this enchanting spectacle was due, received the Royal group at the grand staircase in all the imposing splendour of her assumed character as Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. The exalted guests, at the head of the first procession, entered the brilliant ballroom, being conducted to their places on the daïs. The respective Courts then unwound their ever-changing dazzlements in processions admirably organised and arranged, and these, in turn, were presented to the Prince and Princess of Wales, made their obeisances to the throne, and made way for fresh Courts and processions.</quote> (Graphic 1897-07-10)

Notes and Questions

Where did the descriptions of the costumes that were printed below the photographs come from?

Bibliography

Greville, Violet, Lady. "Devonshire House Ball." The Graphic Saturday 10 July 1897: 15 [of 24]: Col. 1A–16, Col. 1C. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000057/18970710/019/0015). [Graphic 1897-07-10]