What to wear whan presented to Royalty

What were the Court Feathers?

This is one of the more unusual items that we have ever come across and it took a little research but what a great story.

Lady Mary Clough Taylor Court Feathers, July 1297, from Wooland Bros Ltd

What we see here are court feathers worn by an aristocratic lady when presented to royalty, in this case it was Lady Mary Clough Taylor. Court Drawing Rooms were held in Buckingham Palace at four stated periods every year, when the date of a Drawing Room was announced, letters poured into the Lord Chamberlain, suggesting names of ladies for presentation. The list underwent careful scrutiny and only those who “wore the white flower of a blameless life” would be invited. Summonses were sent out three weeks in advance, allowing ample time for the excited debutante or newly married lady, to practice the complicated court curtsy and order the regulated costume demanded for presentation, as laid out, via the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, in Lady Colin Campbell’s Manners and Rules of Good Society, 1911 edition. It was compulsory for both married and unmarried ladies to wear plumes. The married lady’s Court plume consisted of three white feathers, as we see in this example. An unmarried lady’s of two white feathers. The three white feathers should be mounted as a Prince of Wales plume and worn towards the left hand side of the head.

So here we have a three white feather plume worn for the presentation of Lady Mary Clough Taylor at Buckingham Palace. It is still in it's original box from Woolland Brothers and with a card label. The plume is attached to two lengths of gauze and has a small metal hook at the base. A fascinating and extremely rare piece of history.

Lady Mary Clough Taylor was born in 1870 and died in 1967, she was the second wife of Edward Harrison Clough-Taylor and daughter of 5th Earl of Castlestuarta. This photo' portrait of her hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London

Lady Mary Clough Taylor, National Portrait Gallery, London