Court mourning Prussia 19th century / Austria 1818Archived Message
Posted by mauriz on October 19, 2014, 6:34 pm, in reply to "Re: Jet"
Rudolf von Stillfried-Alcántara: Ceremonial-Buch für den Königlich Preußischen Hof I-XII, Berlin 1877.
Chapter XI deals with court mourning and states that the "Neue Trauer-Reglement vom 7. Oktober 1797" remains basis for court mourning throughout the 19th century. Similar to the regulations in Brunswick it stipulates mourning periods of three months, six, four, three or two weeks, or merely eight days, depending on the rank and nationality of the deceased (the death of a foreign king or queen > 3 weeks, the death of a grandduke or grandduchess > 14 days, the death of a foreign prince or princess > 8 days)
Again most of the regulations deal with attire (for instance not only the shape and size of caps and hats but also the materials to be used, varying from week to week), but there are some rules regarding jewellery as well:
Three months period of mourning: Week 1 - 7 no jewellery Week 8 -10 black headdress, black gloves, black fan, black jewellery Week 11 -12 white headdress, white or light grey gloves, white fan, pearls Week 13 coloured headdress, light grey gloves, coloured fans, coloured jewels
Six weeks period of mourning: Week 1 - 4 no jewellery Week 5 black headdress, black gloves, black fan, black jewellery Week 6 white headdress, white or light grey gloves, white fan, pearls
...and so forth.
To be honest, whith all those different rules and subtle differences regarding status and nationality of the deceased and considering that even the deaths of foreign princes/ses were observed it's somewhat surprising that there were times *without* any degree of court mourning in Prussia...
The "Österreichische Beobachter" from 1818 reports on July, 22nd that the court in Vienna will obey court mourning for a period of six weeks for Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz: black headdress and black jewellery for the ladies during the first two weeks, during the following four weeks white fans and shoes and "echten Schmuck" (real jewellery).