King George V’s Silver Jubilee Ball

Foreign Royalty and the British Aristocracy joined the British Royal Family as King George V and Queen Mary hosted a magnificent Ball for 2000 Royal and Noble Guests at Buckingham Palace on this day in 1935, 90 years ago, during King George V’s Silver Jubilee Celebrations.

There are no images of the Ball from inside the Palace, and thus these are from other occasions from the mid to late-1930s.

The Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent joined King George V and Queen Mary for the first of the two Silver Jubilee Balls at Buckingham Palace.

One of the most brilliant gatherings since the war was held at Buckingham Palace on May 14, when Their Majesties gave the first of the two Jubilee balls. The King and Queen, surrounded by 30 members of the Royal Family and foreign Royal personages, sat on golden in chairs on a crimson velvet dais watching the guests dancing in the mellow light of crystal candelabra in the white and gold ballroom, which was decked with pink azaleas and other blooms.

After the stately ceremonial procession had entered from the White Drawing room, the Artillery String Band played the National Anthem and sub sequently played in the musicians’ gallery. The Royal Family took the floor alone for the first dance, after which the guests danced waltzes, fox-trots, and polkas, the soft hues of the gowns blend ing with the scarlet blue and gold of the uniforms and the black and gold of Court dress.

Gold plate decorated the tables in the supper-room and the green drawing room. In the household dining-room a golden scent fountain ornamented with ebony negroes and horses of pure gold perfumed the air. Their Majesties and the Royal Family had supper separately after leading the procession from the ballroom. The scarlet-clad Yeomen of the Guard and servants liveried in scarlet and gold were in keeping with the general splendour.

Two thousand guests danced beneath the golden light shed from the crystal candelabra, the scarlet, blue and gold of the men’s uniforms contrasting with the hues of the women’s gowns against the background of white a gold

The State Ball given by the King and Queen as part of the Silver; Jubilee celebrations will prove an unforgettable experience; to the lucky 2,000 guests who attended it. Imagine the white and golden ballroom, blazing with exotic azaleas mixed with other perfumed blooms, its approach lined with scarlet liveried flunkeys. A fountain of pure gold played jets of exquisite scent, and magnificent crystal chandeliers shed radiance on the scene.

Women had chosen white and silver as the dominant fashion note, in honour of tho occasion, with resplendent jewels. Even so, the men eclipsed them in sheer magnificence, for, in addition to all the wonderful uniforms, gold, lace, and orders, there were the Oriental princes-colourful figures dressed in gloaming cloth of gold and silver, and with turbans draped with untold fortunes in the way of emeralds, rubles, and diamonds.

At ten o’clock that vast glittering assembly hushed in awe and anticipation as the double doors at the end of the ballroom were flung open and with the Royal Household official walking backwards before them, the King and Queen led the Royal Family to the scarlet velvet dais at the end.

Queen Mary wore the Vladimir Tiarawith theDelhi Durbar Necklace.

The Queen, in her pale-blue lace gown, glittering with diamanté embroidery, was a figure literally blazing with diamonds und emeralds: Six diamond necklaces and another one of emeralds hung round her neck; contrasting the vivid blue of the ribbon of the Order of the Garter, and on her head was an enormous tiara of diamonds and emeralds. Among all his splendour there nestled the Order which the Queen treasures above all others. It is actually a small miniature of the King, surrounded in diamonds, and she wears it with a bow of ribbon the Royal colours on the left side of her corsage, just over her heart. She calls it the King’s Order.

The Duchess of York wore her Turquoise Parure.

The Duchess of York, in her full-skirted gown of beige lace over satin, and splendid array of turquoises, led of the dancing with tho Duke of York, for, contrary to expectations, there was no Royal Quadrille, and the King and Queen did not take the floor.

Princess Marina wore her Diamond Fringe Tiara and her Diamond Bow Brooch.

The Duchess of Kent, who danced very little during the evening, and for the most part remained chatting to other members, of the Royal Party on the dais, looked very elegant in her simple frock of white satin, with a diamond-bow and ends at the waist, and the same starry diamond tiara she wore at her wedding.

The King was resplendent in the uniform of Colonel-in-Chief of the Black Watch. He wore a kilt, as did the Prince of Wales as colonel-in-chief of the Sea-forth Highlanders, and the Duke of York as Earl of Inverness. The Duke of Gloucester wore a hussar uniform, and the Duke of Kent a naval uniform.

Queen Marie of Romania wore the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik, as her daughter later recounted:

I lent it to her to wear at the Jubilee of King George V of England, and she left it in her bank in London because of unsettled conditions at home. After her death I had no small trouble in claiming it, but I got it away from England just before World War II actually began.

Dancing on the crowded floor was no simple matter for the women, with their, bouffant skirts and flowing trains. A feature of the dressing was the number of capes of white ermine and ostrich, of ruffled net and lace and sequins.

Lady Londonderry’s famous diamonds glittered against the background of a white tulle frock with off-shoulder décolletage and short puffed sleeves.

Another Mayfair beauty, Lady Weymouth was in sea-green net entirely embroidered with diamanté and green crystal to match her priceless emeralds, which she wore with ropes of pearls. The Dowager Lady Swaythling’s picture gown was of duck-egg blue moire and Mrs Neville Chamberlain was in gold brocaded lace over a foundation of gold lame.

At 11pm, the supper procession began to form, the Royal Family retiring with the most distinguished guests to private apartments, while the others were regaled at five different buffets with the rarest and richest of foods, including caviar and hot-house strawberries, the famous small mutton-pies of which only the King’s chef knows the secret, and champagne and other rare vintage wines.

Two notable features of this State Ball were the fact that no rumbas were included in the programme, and that throughout the entire evening no one smoked a cigarette. One young girl attracted : the lynx-eyed attention of officials because she had come in sandals, stockingless, and with toenails varnished bright red. A few tactful words, and she retired to the cloakroom, to be provided with a pair of stockings – which seemed to arrive miraculously from nowhere. The Queen’s dislike of such unconventional dress was too strong for the incident to pass unnoticed. She is known to have an aversion to brilliantly, coloured nail varnish, so women guests had compromised with faint coral, pink, or even paler shades.

Lady Astor loaned her Cartier Tiara with the Sancy Diamond to her niece Nancy Tree Lancaster, the influential tastemaker, for King George V’s Silver Jubilee Ball at Buckingham Palace, apparently during the middle of a rift, she she recounted:

Nannie loaned me some of the Astor diamonds for the ball. We were in the middle of one of our fracases then and I was not speaking to her, so when she very kindly offered to loan me the diamonds, I said I would wear them only if it meant a temporary truce and did not mean I would have to speak to her afterwards. Magnanimously, she agreed, and I sallied forth wearing a huge tiara which had the famous Sancy diamond at its center.”