Ladies in Waiting: From Tudor Times to the Present Day by Anne Somerset (betcha she made that name up LOL) was not quite what I expected. I thought it was going to entail stuff like what the ladies-in-waiting did, as all you ever see in novels or films is Catherine of Aragon making hers pray a lot, or Jane Seymour slipping off to sit on Henry's lap....enquiring minds wanted to know what they DID all day. Like, you know, Henry's minions bundled off his skidmarked slops LOL or handed him his cup at state banquets & such. Apparently ladies-in-waiting, not so much  This was mostly about how peeps would connive to get their female relations posts with the queens by shamelessly bribing them with goodies & delicacies. In Tudory times, there was the tale of Anne & Catherine Basset, who were the daughters of Lady Lisle by her first marriage (her second was to Henry's bastard uncle Arthur). Lady Lisle sent all sorts of stuff to Anne Boleyn trying to get her daughters a place at Court (& technically, being unmarried, they would've been maids of honor, not ladies-in-waiting) but alas, there was that whole nasty headchopping thing & all the gifts went for naught. So she tried again with Jane Seymour, tempting the queen with fresh quails, which Jane was know to have a thing for, & Jane (this type of story makes me like her even less) had the young Mistresses Basset come to Court even though she only had room for one of them, so she could decide which one she liked the best. Methinks that was rather mean of her but pffft what do you expect from a chinless queen? She picked Anne & was not amused with her "French" wardrobe....you know how fond Jane was about setting English fashion back about 50 years with her insistence on gable hoods LOL....but since apparently the queen's ladies had certain things provided for them (like lodging, meals allowance, & clothing, & a pittance in cash), ol cheeseparing Jane decided to let Anne wear her gowns until she outgrew them rather than stuffing her into ugly Seymour style. I'm sure Anne was grateful, as I've read that she may have been a GF of Henry's at some point, so it serves Jane right  Other than mentioning about ladies having to squat under the table to serve at Anne Boleyn's coronation banquet & getting gussied up for the parade to Westminster Abbey behind her, there wasn't really a whole lot in the book about what they actually did on your usual day, alas. Twas mostly anecdotal material from peeps who kept diaries or letters for centuries. There was lots about Arbella Stuart, for example, as she's fairly well-documented, who was forever begging Elizabeth & James for an increase in her allowance being an heiress-presumptive to Elizabeth & a royal cousin to James; & Arabella Churchill, who ended up as a longtime mistress to James II; & the whole big deal that Catherine of Braganza made about not wanting Barbara Castlemaine hovering; & Queen Anne's main squeeze....o what was her name again, was that Sarah Churchill?....because the Mrs Morley/Mrs Freeman correspondance was largely extant. Apparently the Duchess of Marlborough did NOT know her place after a while, & the queen was not amused with her trying to get goodies for her rellies. In the olden days they were at Court all the time (when there was a queen with her head in place, natch) until the queen jolly well gave em leave to depart. Peeps were not amused with George Is estrangement from his wife, left behind in Hanover whilest he brought his mistresses with, nor George IVs infighting with Caroline of Brunswick, as then there was no room for ladies at Court sans a queen or at least a nice Princess of Wales. George I wasn't fond of George II & actually cut off his allowance (& therefore that of his wife) a few times; George II wasn't fussed at all over the rival court of HIS son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, & was just as unpaternal; George III, as we all know from the nice movie, was largely mad as a hatter & Queen Charlotte didn't hold with a huge circle of ladies (prolly because her hubby had that mad attachment to one of them), & with "Prinny" despising HIS wife, & then remaining a widower, generally the Hanoverian years were no fun for the ladies at all. Gradually it evolved to being on duty perhaps one week out of four instead of at the queen's pleasure, & nowadays the current Elizabeth only trots her ladies out for state occasions, & they don't have to hang out with her at the palace anymore. They get a much nicer stipend for doing nothing much, though. There was a ton of stuff about Queen Victoria arguing with Whigs & Tories about which politician's wife would take precedence, so I am guessing it was quite the power trip to be selected & for what position, Mistress of the Robes being the most coveted. There was much ado about the famous diaries of Fanny Burney, one of Victoria's peeps. Because she was in perpetual mourning for Albert, they didn't get to dress nicely in those Victorian days, either, & there was not much of a social life to be had. They all dreaded having to go to Balmoral LOL because then there was not only no escape, but they were mired in the Scots countryside even more bored. Don't get me wrong, twas an interesting read, but I am not much further enlightened as to what they did all day besides say rosaries with Catherine or sew baby clothes when the queens were breeding (Queen Anne's ladies must've had bleeding fingers with the many times the poor woman was breeding  ). |
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