Podcast Wine and the White House
Wine has a long and important history in the White House, playing a unique role in entertaining, public ceremonies, and...
The Butler's Role at a State Dinner with Royal Visitors
Prior to the 1939 visit of the queen and king of England, Eleanor Roosevelt received a State Department memorandum, listing various rules of protocol. Mrs. Roosevelt became concerned about the order in which the Roosevelts, and the queen and king, should be served at the state dinner honoring the royal couple.1
"I told Franklin," Mrs. Roosevelt recalled, "that British protocol required that the head butler, [Alonzo] Fields, stand with a stop watch in his hand and, thirty seconds after [the president] and the king had been served, dispatch a butler to serve the queen and myself.
. . . I [mentioned] the White House rule that the president was always served first."2
The president declared, "We will not require Fields to have a stop watch. The king and I will be served simultaneously and you and the queen will be served next."3
Fields did not use a stopwatch. The evening was a success, but the armchairs ordered for the occasion were apparently too low for the queen. Fields recalls that, after she was seated, she requested her favorite cushion. Fields sent for it, and, as the queen lifted herself up, the head butler "gently slipped the pillow on the chair."4
Visit of Their Britannic Majesties, June 8, 1939.
You Might Also Like
-
-
Collection The Hospitality of Diplomacy
The White House has hosted many important heads of state over the years. Typically, the President and First Lady join...
-
Collection The White House Social Secretary
For more than one hundred years, White House Social Secretaries have demonstrated a profound knowledge of protocol and society in...
-
Collection Truman White House 1945 - 1953
President Harry S. Truman was close to his friends and associates, had a grin for strangers, but could be less...
-
Collection Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day"
The White House Historical Association and the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project present this collaboration in an effort to open a...
-
Collection "The President's Own"
On July 11, 1798, Congress passed legislation that created the United States Marine Corps and the Marine Band, America's oldest professional musical...
-
Podcast Life at Camp David
Camp David has provided presidents and their families with a recreational retreat from the White House, as well as a...
-
Collection The Working White House
For more than two centuries, the White House has been the home of American presidents. A powerful symbol of the...
-
Collection Italy in the White House
Long before the emergence of the United States and Italy as nations, close connections between our two peoples influenced political...
-
Collection Roosevelt White House 1933-1945
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to office at the height of the Great Depression. He ushered in an environment...
-
Collection The First Ladies
Biographies & Portraits
-
Collection By Land, By Sea, By Air
Whether by hoof, air, waterway, road, or rail, the President’s access to reliable transportation is essential during their time in...
