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                                ROYALTY
                              IN ALL AGES

                    [Illustration: text decoration]

                   T. F. THISELTON-DYER, M.A. OXON.

                    [Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH]




                                ROYALTY
                              IN ALL AGES

           The Amusements, Eccentricities, Accomplishments,
                          Superstitions, and
                       Frolics of the Kings and
                           Queens of Europe

                                  BY

                   T. F. THISELTON-DYER, M.A. OXON.

                    _WITH SIX ETCHED PORTRAITS FROM
                       CONTEMPORARY ENGRAVINGS_

                                LONDON
                          JOHN C. NIMMO, LTD.
                   NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
                               MDCCCCIII

                  Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
                        At the Ballantyne Press




PREFACE


It has been remarked that to write of the private and domestic acts of
monarchs while still alive savours of scandal and bad taste, but when
dead their traits of character, however strange and eccentric they may
have been in their lifetime, at once become matter of history. Adopting
this rule, we have confined ourselves in the present work to dealing
with royalty in the past; and, in a field so wide, we have, as far as
possible, endeavoured to make each chapter concise and representative of
the subject treated. The following pages, whilst illustrating the
marvellous versatility of royalty, when seriously analysed tend to show
how vastly superior the latter-day sovereigns have been when compared
with those of earlier times, many of whose extraordinary freaks and
vagaries as much degraded the throne, as the refined and cultivated
tastes of her late Majesty Queen Victoria elevated and beautified it.

                                                  T. F. THISELTON-DYER.




CONTENTS


 CHAP.                                                              PAGE

    I. ROYALTY AT PLAY                                                 1

   II. FREAKS OF ROYALTY                                              10

  III. ROYAL REVELRY                                                  37

   IV. ROYAL EPICURES                                                 57

    V. CURIOUS FADS OF ROYALTY                                        85

   VI. DANCING MONARCHS                                               99

  VII. ROYAL HOBBIES                                                 120

 VIII. THE ROYAL HUNT                                                135

   IX. ROYAL MASQUES AND MASQUERADES                                 152

    X. ROYALTY IN DISGUISE                                           168

   XI. ROYAL GAMESTERS                                               184

  XII. ROYALTY ON THE TURF                                           204

 XIII. ROYAL SPORTS AND PASTIMES                                     223

  XIV. COURT DWARFS                                                  239

   XV. ROYAL PETS                                                    247

  XVI. ROYAL JOKES AND HUMOUR                                        264

 XVII. ROYALTY AND FASHION                                           288

XVIII. ROYALTY WHIPT AND MARRIED BY PROXY                            306

  XIX. COURT JESTERS AND FOOLS                                       313

   XX. ROYALTY AND THE DRAMA                                         334

  XXI. ROYAL AUTHORS                                                 357

 XXII. ROYAL MUSICIANS                                               376

XXIII. SUPERSTITIONS OF ROYALTY                                      395

INDEX                                                                433




LIST OF ETCHED PORTRAITS


QUEEN ELIZABETH                                            _Frontispiece_

EDWARD I.                                              _To face page_ 46

EDWARD III.                                                  ”       136

CHARLES II.                                                  ”       210

CHARLES IX., KING OF FRANCE                                  ”       240

LOUIS XIV.                                                   ”       348




ROYALTY




CHAPTER I

ROYALTY AT PLAY


The great Mogul Emperor was a chess player, and was generous enough to
rejoice when he was beaten by one of his courtiers, which was the exact
reverse of Philip II. of Spain, who, when a Spanish grandee had won
every game in which he had played against the King, could not conceal
his vexation. Whereupon the skilful but injudicious player, returning
home, said to his family: “My children, we have nothing more to do at
Court. There we must henceforth expect no favour; the King is offended
because I have won of him every game of chess.” Napoleon did not like
defeat even at chess, for, if he perceived his antagonist gaining upon
him, he would with one hasty movement sweep board and pieces off the
table on to the ground.

In some cases, however, if we are to believe the traditions of history,
chess has been responsible for some serious fracas. Thus a story is told
of William the Conqueror, how when a young man he was invited to the
Court of the French king, and during his stay there was one day engaged
at chess with the King’s eldest son, when a dispute arose concerning a
certain move. William, annoyed at a certain remark made by his
antagonist, struck him with the chess-board, which “obliged him to make
a precipitate retreat from France to avoid the consequences of so rash
an act.”

A similar anecdote is told of John, the youngest son of Henry II., who
quarrelled over the chess-board with one Fulco Guarine, a Shropshire
nobleman, receiving such a blow as almost to kill him. John did not
easily forget the affront, and long after his accession to the throne
showed his resentment by keeping him from the possession of Whittington
Castle, to which he was the rightful heir. It is also said that Henry
was engaged at chess when the deputies from Rouen informed him that the
city was besieged by Philip, King of France; but he would not listen to
their news until he had finished his game. A curious accident happened
to Edward I. when he was playing at chess at Windsor, for, on suddenly
rising from the game, the next moment the centre stone of the groined
ceiling fell on the very spot where he had been sitting, an escape which
he