Banquet/Formal Dinner Menus - Royal Research

Menu for 1909 Nobel Prize Banquet
Photo Credit: By Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, Sweden [CC BY-SA 2.5 ], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most important parts of any dinner is the menu. You will find that nowadays formal dinners usually consist of 3 or 4 courses. Whereas a half a century ago, they were normally 5-7 courses.

3 Courses

• Nobel Prize Banquet (1982)
• Nobel Prize Banquet (2000)
• Sri Lanka CHOGM Banquet (2013)
• Colombia State Visit to UK (2016)
• Nobel Prize Banquet (2017)
• Nobel Prize Banquet (2018)

4 Courses 

• Queen Juliana of the Netherlands vist to USA (1952)
• King Hussein of Jordan State Visit to USA (1974)
• Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla of UK visit to USA (2005)
• Wedding of Prince William & Duchess Kate (2011)
• "Breakfast" menu
• Prince Charles & Duchess Camilla of UK Visit to Denmark (2012)
• Wedding of Prince Carl Phillip & Princess Sofia of Sweden (2013)
• Singapore State Visit to the UK (2014)
• China State Visit to the UK (2015)
• Netherlands State Visit to Denmark (2015)
• Queen Margrethe of Denmark's 75th Birthday (2015)
• Denmark New Years Banquet (2016)
• Belgium State Visit to Denmark (2017)
• Crown Prince Fredrik of Denmark's 60th Birthday (2018)

5 Courses 

• Nobel Prize Banquet (1901)
• Prince Charles & Princess Diana's visit to New Zealand (1938)
• Prince Philip's Visit to New Zealand (1973)
• China State Visit to Denmark (2012)

6 Courses

• Nobel Prize Banquet (1921)
• Princess Elizabeth (Now Queen) visit to USA (1951)
• Queen & Prince Philip's Visit to Australia (1954)

7 Courses 

• Nobel Prize Banquet (1902)
• Nobel Prize Banquet (1909)
• Nobel Prize Banquet (1925)

10 Courses 

• Banquet to celebrate Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) appointment into the Order of Bath (1897)

Resouces: 

• Royal Menus (Blog) - A Private Collection of Historic Royal Menu Cards
• Nobel Prize (Website) - They list the menu for every Nobel Prize Banquet from 1901-present
• Bush White House (Website)- Menus from the Bush administration (2001-2009) 
• Jimmy Carter Library (Website) - State Banquet Menus (1977- 1980)

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Character Development Worksheet - Writing Research

Identification key for "Queen Victoria & Royal Family". Photo Credit: M.W. Ridley. 
Illustration from Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, v. 44, no. 1137 (July 14 1877). 
 Converted to vector by Offnfopt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

What your character says, what they do, how they react, etc. in certain situations is all based on who that character is. I personally have an easier time writing a scene when I have a good sense of the different characters, both who each character is and who is "in the room" during that scene.

A while ago, I created a little character development template for myself, that I thought I would share with you. You can find it here. (You can either print the document, download it, or create a copy to use on Google Docs.)

I like to print the pages off, handwrite my notes, and put them in a binder. This makes them easy to add too and flip through the different characters. But you can do it all on your computer if you want.

---
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15EsiVI71RlG3AIdd98qMM6OkrN0i_jl_FHw0aSeMavU/edit?usp=sharing

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One Way to Start Writing Your Novel - Writing Research

Photo Credit: pixabay.com

What is the best way to start writing a novel? There are hundreds of different ways to begin and no one way is better than any other. The secret is you just need to start writing and keep writing. 

Some people are Plotters, who like to plot out their novel first.

Other people are Pantsers, who like to "fly by the seat of their pants" and just begin writing.

I'm a combination of them both. I like to do some planning in my novel document. I usually start by opening a new document and create headings for 15 or so chapters. I will then start filling in some of the plot where I think it will fall in the novel. Obviously, as you write you can add chapters, move things around, etc. as your story idea evolves.

I like to give each chapter a title, instead of a number. This way I don't have to re-do the numbers as things move. The titles also help me quickly identify each chapter as I search through the document. (You can take the chapter titles off latter or change them. But right now, they are helpful tools.)

I feel like starting with a bit of a form, with 15 chapters, and my ideas roughly in their proper place give me a bit of plan. But I don't have to have everything figured out right away. It's okay for some chapters to be blank when I begin.

As I write I go through each chapter of my novel and expand them little by little: from a sentence to a paragraph to a page, etc.

But as your novel starts to take form, you do want to start filling in those blank chapter. And I know that can be a hard thing to do. Just remember novel writing is 75% making things up. If you aren't sure what to do in a chapter, just write something, anything. You can throw it out later if you want. But writing is often the best way to come up with other ideas because you are already thinking about the novel and how things work.

And don't worry if what you write conflicts with something else you wrote in a different scene. That happens. Your novel will evolve and change over time. Everything can (& will be) re-written, edited, or revised.

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Letters to a Young Writer - Book Review (July 2018)

Disclosure: This blog post contains some links to books on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

For our July Book Review, I once again ventured to the "new book" section of my local library. I had a mental checklist of what I wanted: relatively new, non-fiction, on writing fiction, not too familiar with the author, something you and I would both find interesting, etc.

Given that I basically choose this book at random, I didn't have the highest expectations. But surprisingly, I found this book to be a real gem. I thought it was fantastic and one I would highly recommend for new writers.

Letters to a Young Writer 

by Colum McCann 

Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann is a series of 52 letters (or essays if you prefer) on writing. I think McCann best describes this book in the introduction:

"This, then, is not a Writer's Manual. Nor is it, I hope, a rant. It's more a whisper while out walking in the park, something else I like to do with my students at times. I imagined it as a word in the ear of a young writer, though it could, I suppose, be a series of letters to any writer, not least myself." (Pages xvi-xvii)

The book's 52 letters are filled with imagery, poetic language, thoughts, contradictions, and musings, as McCann tries to explain the writing process. Each letter is aptly titled and gives a different thought on writing: Your First Line, The Terror of the White Page, Carry a Notebook, How to Get An Agent, To MFA or Not to MFA, etc. 

The letters are short, easy reads that range from 3 words long, to 7 pages. The letters can each be read individually. This is a great book to get, read a little, put on the shelf and pull out when you need a bit of inspiration or have a question about a specific writing issue.

The book is great for "young writers" (i.e. beginner writers of all ages) who are just starting out. It offers the encouragement, explanation, advise, insight, etc. that beginner writers need to get over those mental and emotional stumbling blocks of the writing process.

For more experienced writers, you may find that this book is filled with things you've already heard before. But MaCann present these old ideas in a humorous, hopefully inspiring and motivating way. Just because we've heard it before, doesn't mean we listened the first time. This book has a lot of offer even the experienced writer.

Some takeaways from: 
Letters to a Young Writer 

With each month's book review, I share with you some of the things from the book I thought most interesting, thought-provoking and inspiring, that will hopefully help you with your own writing. (And things I certainly will be thinking about in my own.)

Every letter has a helpful bit of advice

I originally wanted to compile a list of the letters I thought were most helpful, useful or said the same thing I've been saying for years. But it got to the point where I was basically just listing the table of contents. 

I can't really summarize a few takeaways because the book is overflowing with helpful advice. (And certainly, different parts will be more or less meaningful to different writers.)

So all I can say is, pick up a copy from your Local Library or Amazon. It will be worth the read. 

McCann's Poetic Inspiration

Photo of Rainer Maria Rilke

This book was inspired, in part, by Letters to a Young Poet (original title, in German: Briefe an einen jungen Dichter). Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of ten letters written by the famous Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus, a 19-year-old officer cadet at the Theresian Military Academy.

In the letters, Rilke shares advice on writing poetry and how life inspires one's poetry. 

In the introduction to this book, McCann talks about how he personally had been inspired by Rikle's writings and how he uses it in his writing classes. And, we see a lot of Rilke's poetic writing style in McCann's own writing.  

Certainly, you don't want to copy someone's writing completely. But it can be helpful to take inspiration from another writer's narrative, form, or style. Some of the greatest works of literature are highly influenced by and derivative of other great works. 

This is part of the reason why I wanted to share a monthly book review. One of the biggest sources of inspiration and guidance as writers is other good books. So, read, read, read. 

Epigraphs

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the use of epigraphs at the start of each letter. (Epigraphs are short, little quotes or poems at the beginning of a chapter or section. The epigraph usually comments on that section's theme.) 

With non-fiction, epigraphs can help to bolster the writer's creditability, trustworthiness & authority (AKA the writer's ethos). They can affect two things: how we view the author, and how we view their content. 

In this book, McCann uses epigraphs to show that there are other people (all experienced writers, in various stages of their career, and through history) that have commented on the same topic and share the McCann's ideas. And therefore, this is not just some of McCann's personal theories, but there are support and agreement from other expert writers.

McCann also uses epigraphs to show he is well versed in literature and creative writing, which helps to bolster his authority to speak on this topic. For example, McCann quoted Anne Lamott in his epigraphs. Lamott's book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, is a classic writing book that is often required reading for creative writing classes. (Lamott's chapter title "Shitty First Drafts" is one of my personal writing mottos.) Lamott & her book is the kind of thing that any good teacher of creative writing should be familiar with. And McCann proves that he is. 

McCann also quotes Annie Dillard, whose book, A Writer's Life, is another popular required reading. And many of the other writers, McCann quoted, are fairly well-known, instantly recognizable names (e.g. Virginia Woolf, Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway). 

Of the names I didn't recognize, a simple google search showed that they are also experienced, successful writers. Many were fairly new writers, who only just published their best-selling work in the last decade. So, McCann also shows he's very up-to-date. And the fact he's quoting people I'm not familiar with, but are successful writers, is definitely a plus. I can't help but feel like he's better read than me. And that is exactly the kind of person you want giving you writing advice. (It also helps that McCann has written a number of award-winning books, and has been teaching MFA Creative Writing for over a decade.)

Speaking of Epigraphs

Our last Royal Novelist Adventure focused on the importance of research. And as we just talked about how McCann used quotes from other authors to support his claims, I thought I would share one from McCann on the topic of research:

"We must give ourselves access to more than one voice. And we must do so honesty and fairly. But how do we write about lives that are, at least on the surface, very different from our own? How can we create experiences that are imagined but true? How do we get outside of ourselves?

Some of the answer lies in proper deep, moral research." (Pages 66-67) 

While this is a Royal-themed writing blog, I'm sure most of us live very different lives than the Royals. Part of the reason I have this blog is to share my research with you so you can use it in your own writing. We do, after all, hope our writing can be, in the eyes of the readers at least, "imagined, but true."

He vs. She

As a bit of the feminist, I have to take a moment to point out one of McCann's writing choices. Historically, the gender-neutral third-person pronoun has been "he." But, there has been a growing movement over the last century to use other pronouns (he/she, she, they, zhe, E, etc.) so that the gender-neutral third-person pronoun isn't male by default. In this book, McCann alternates between using "he" and "she" as a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. For example:

McCann describes "the writer" as a "she" throughout his book: 

"A writer is an explorer. She knows she wants to get somewhere, but she doesn't know if the somewhere even exists yet. It is still to be created. A Galápagos of the imagination. A whole new theory of who we are." (Page 11)

McCann then uses "he/his/him" to describe a (literary) agent:

"Your agent should be on your side. If he is not, then remember that you are his employer and fire him. Excuse me? Fire him, I said, fire him. (But not untill you've found another agent.)" (Page 104)

Wheather you decide to alternate between "he" and "she," use "they," or some other pronoun, be conscious about what you do. 

HSH Princess Grace of Monaco 
(AKA Grace Kelly)

Photo Credit: By Hans Peters / Anefo

While I wasn't expecting to find a book on writing with a royal connection, McCann actually has a connection to the Monaco Royal Family. In 2002, McCann received the inaugural Ireland Fund of Monaco Literary Award. The award was created in Princess Grace's memory to mark the 20th Anniversary of Her Serene Highness's death. The award includes a month-long residency at The Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco.

McCann was presented the award by HSH Prince Albert II (the monarch of Monaco and Princess Grace's only son) at a special gala dinner. 

Princess Grace's paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants. And Princess Grace had a strong love of Ireland. McCann was born in Ireland, and definitely has an Irish influence in his book if you look closely. 

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Who is that Royal? - July Writing Prompt (2018)

Photo by Raph_PH (CC BY 2.0)

For this month's Writing Prompt we are going to think about Character Development. Royals tend to have a large extended family. While the public may be familiar with the senior royals, they can be a little fuzzy on the who's who in the extended family.

Pretend you are a reporter writing an article on one of the members of the extended Royal family. (You can make up your own royal a fictional royal family, or practice with a real person.) Explain:

• Who your character is
• Their job or hobbies
• How they are related to the Monarch
• Their place in the line of succession
• What type of royal duties they do
• Etc. 

(1-3 Pages)

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Essay Genre - Writing Research

Cover of Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
Image by Theresa LaBrecque
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

An essay is a short literary piece that gives the author's own point of view on a topic. An essay can be arguments, observations, recollections, reflections, etc. 

As essays are usually relatively short, non-fiction books often feature a collection of essays, either by one or multiple authors. (Although, an essay can be book-length and published by themselves.) 

Most modern essays are written in prose, but they could also be written in poetic verse. We also sometimes see essays written in the form of an open letter. 

(Note: Publishing personal, originally private letters in book form is a different genre.)

Essays Genre Book Reviews:

• Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann
• Reviewed July 2018

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Royal Barges - Royal Research

Gloriana, Royal Row Barge
Photo Credit: Robert Pittman (CC BY-ND 2.0)

A barge is a flat-bottomed ship, which is mainly used in river and canals. Barges can have an engine, or they can be powered by rowing. Barges vary in size, from small ships used for short trips to larger ships with overnight accommodations.   

UK:

The British Royals don't have any Royal Barges in active use anymore. But the Royal Barge was once a popular means of transportation for the Royals as many Royal Palaces were built on the River Thames: Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Palace of Westminster, etc. In the 1800s, as trains and then cars started becoming widely used, royals stopped using barges for day to day travel and started using them more for ceremonial events and pageants.

• Royal Nore (1971-2017) - While in use, this barge was owned and maintained by the Port of London Authority. It was the official ship used whenever a member of the Royal Family traveled on the river Thames for an official engagement. Today, it is part of the Britannia Trust and can be seen while visiting the Royal Yacht Britannia.  

MV Spirit of Chartwell 

Photo Credit: PO Phot Terry Seward, Crown Copyright

• Gloriana (2012) - This Row Barge was privately commisioned in honor of the Queen's Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in 2012. It is now owned by the Maritime Heritage Trust and used for various public events, and school trips. It is occasionally used for Royal Events, but as an event space, not transport. 
• When not in use, the row barge is kept at St. Katharine Docks, in London.

• MV Spirit of Chartwell - The Spirit of the Chartwell was a luxury Thames river cruise ship. The owner donated the use of the ship to the Queen for her Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, during which the ship was dubbed a Royal Barge. The Barge has since been sold to a Portuguese company and can be hired for cruises on the Douro River in Portugal and Spain. 

• Royal Barge of HMY Britannia (?-1997) - The Royal Barge was used to get to and from the mainland and the Royal Yacht Britannia. 

Crown Princess Victoria & Prince Daniel of Sweden 
on Vasaorden after their wedding
Photo Credit: By Atlantic Chef [CC BY-SA 3.0], 
from Wikimedia Commons

Denmark:

• The Royal Barge is used to get to and from the mainland and the Royal Yacht. 

Norway:

• The Royal Barge is used to get to and from the mainland and the Royal Yacht. 

Sweden: 
Sweden's capital, Stockholm, is made up of 14 islands, with 50+ bridges. As such, boat travel is especially popular, especially in historic times.

• Vasaorden (1923-Present) - This Row Barge is mainly used for ceremonial use as part of a procession (state visits, weddings, etc.).

Resources

• Royalty on the River Thames - (Article) by Port of London Authority on the British Royal use of Barges.
• Gloriana (Royal Row Barge) (Website) - The site has some information on the history of Royal Row Barges. 

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Royal Novelist Adventures - Part 2

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Today, I'm going to talk about Research, Research, Research!

And as you might be able to tell with this blog, research is very important to me. There are a lot of reasons why you need to do research: it helps you understand things and how they work, helps you understand the scope and different points of view, it backs up your argument, helps establish your credibility, etc.

But most importantly, it helps you not sound like an idiot. In the world of fiction, authors often write about topics they are not experts in. This is allowed and there is always this suspension of disbelief where readers allow for a little creativity and impossibility.

But at the same time, the more a reader's bullshit meter goes off, the more your reader might think you are full of it. And it could affect their judgment of your work, your ability, etc.

Today, I am going to share three examples where a lack of research hurt the author.

Balcony at Trooping the Colours

Photo Credit: Cpl Paul Shaw, MoD/Crown copyright 2016 

I remember a few months ago, I was talking with a "Royal Watcher" about Meghan Markle (who is now the Duchess of Sussex) and what we thought might be her 1st balcony appearance. I had talked to this person a bit over a few months about different royal things. They had a royal blog and positioned themselves as an "expert" on the royals. They gave a lot of opinions on this and that. 

I suggested Meghan's 1st balcony appearance would be Trooping the Colours (The Queen's Official Birthday). And the Royal Watcher said something like: "What balcony appearance? The Queen stands on a platform during Trooping the Colours at Horse Guard Parade, not a balcony." 

Immediately I said to myself, "Wow!! This person has not been seriously royal watching for a year." As there is no way someone can experience Trooping the Colours (the biggest British Royal Event of the year) and not know about the iconic balcony scene at Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Family comes out and watches the fly past.

Photo Credit: Cpl Scott Robertson, Crown Copyright 

In fact, given that the BBC doesn't make Trooping the Colours at Horse Guard Parade freely available to watch outside the UK, the balcony at Buckingham Palace is often the only part people really see.

While I'm not faulting a normal person for not know this, this is something anyone who claims to be an expert in the royals must know. It is one of the pretty basic things.

In addition, to not knowing about the Buckingham Palace balcony scene, they didn't understand what happens at Horse Guard Parade either. At Horse Guard Parade, the Queen does stand on a platform, but the Royal Family watches from the windows of the Horse Guards Building. While it is not technically a balcony, it is sort of. The Royals stand in the large open windows that are draped in red and gold, like the Buckingham Palace balcony. 

In my head, I immediately pegged this person as a newbie and they lost their credibility as a "Royal expert." Any future opinion they gave had to be fact-checked, which of course lead to me spotting more errors and solidified their status as a newbie royal watcher.  

Faulty Book Proposal

As part of my real-life job, I was recently asked to review a proposal for a non-fiction, academic book and recommend whether it should be published, or not. With non-fiction, you often write the proposal and get the book accepted, by a publisher, before you actually write it. (Although you may write a sample chapter to be included with your proposal.)

A book proposal is a very important thing for academic books. It is what sells your book to the publisher. And proposals are often sent out to be reviewed by other people in that field, or related fields, to see whether this is a meaningful addition to the literature in that field.

So, academic book proposals are read by a number of smart people, some of who are experts in that field. Obviously, this means your book proposal should very be well-written, convincing, and correct. 

As I was reviewing the book proposal, there was something that just stood out to me as incorrect. I pulled out my phone and did a simple google search. And just by looking at the search results, I could see this person had messed up.

Library at Drottningholm Palace in Sweden
Photo Credit: Erik Liljeroth [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

I won't go into detail about what exactly they messed up on. But one of the questions I had to answer for my review was: "Is this person qualified and the right person to write this book?" 

The whole book and its premise is that the author is an expert on their topic, and so they have the authority to talk about it and give instruction and advise. But when you make mistakes someone in a different, but related, field can easily spot you don't come off as an expert. It hurts your credibility and authority. And of course, once I found one mistake I was on the lookout for others. (No way I was going to risk my own credibility with the publisher by recommending a bad book.)

I said in my review of the book proposal, that this was an important topic and there was some stuff that would make a meaningful addition to the literature in that field. But for a number of reasons, I could not recommend this book for publication in its current state. (& I gave a list of my issues with it).

Based on all the reviews for this book proposal, the publisher ended up asking the author to re-write and re-work their proposal and sample chapter. The author agreed and spent some time doing more research and carefully working out their ideas. When they submitted their new proposal I was asked to review it. While it wasn't perfect, and I certainly had a list of new issues, I did finally recommend publication.

This was a very knowledgeable author, who definitely had a good book idea. But because they didn't originally work out their ideas well, it almost cost them a chance to work with that publisher. 

Scottish vs. Irish Bagpipes

I was once working on this novel idea that took place in Northern Ireland. It was going to be very Irish, with a lot of culture and heritage. And in the first scene, I was going to have a funeral procession. As I knew Northern Ireland/Ireland, like Scotland, has its own bagpipes, which are used a lot in their traditional music, I had this guy walk in the funeral procession playing the bagpipes. I thought it was a great scene.

At some point, I thought maybe I ought to look up the difference between traditional Scottish and Irish music because the two are a little mixed up in my head. And I looked up the difference between the two types of bagpipes as well. And this is what I found:

Photo Credit: Mac MacKenzie (CC BY-ND 2.0)

The (Scottish) Great Highland bagpipes are:

• Played standing or walking
• Played solo or in a group
• Often part of a military band
• You have to blow into them
• Limited scale

The (Irish) Uilleann pipes are:

• Played sitting down
• Usually played solo
• You don't blow into it, air comes from a bellow under the arm
• Sweeter sounding

Well, in my scene I had described the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe, which is a horrible way to start a novel that you want to be very Irish. It immediately tells any person in the know I don't know what I'm writing about. While I was able to fix this before anyone saw it, because I did do the research, just imagine if I hadn't. 

It's okay not to know things. But take the time to research the things you don't know. Don't just make assumptions or use your faulty logic. Your writing will be much richer if you include authentic details. So my advice is to Research, Research, Research!

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Etiquette Guides - Royal Research

Disclosure: This blog post contains some links to books on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Jackson,  Official White House Photo

Proper royal etiquette varies greatly across the different royal families, generations, type of event, etc. In some ways, the Royals are stuck in the past with their centuries-old royal traditions. But, they are also very modern, as they try to stay relevant, with each generation doing things differently. 

While etiquette often seems like a very strict thing, it can actually be quiet fluid. None of these resources are going to be perfect, in fact, some will contradict each other. Some may be too formal and stuffy, others old and archaic, or too everyday and simple. 

There is no one good, authoritative resource on proper Royal etiquette. My advice, look at a wide variety of etiquette guides, from both now and the past. Pick and choose your rules (and with-in your story, vary how strict and proper people are).  

Resources

• Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette (or Amy Vanderbilt's Etiquette) - This is my go-to etiquette book. It was originally published in 1952 and has had a number of editions showing the progress and change of etiquette in the American upper-class over the decades. I have an edition from each of the authors (1972, 1978, & 1992).
• 1952-1972 editions - written by Amy Vanderbilt until her death. 
• 1978 edition - revised & expanded by Letitia Baldrige (former White House social secretary)
• 1992 (50th Anniversary) edition - revised & updated by Nancy Tuckerman (former White House social secretary) and Nancy Dunnan (Business women)

Photo of Emily Post from 1912

• Emily Post Institute (Books, Podcasts, Courses) - Emily Post is a famous etiquette writer & novelist from the early/mid-1900s. Since her death, family members have continued to promote etiquette through the Emily Post Institute. 
• Etiquette (with a number of subtitles over the various editions) is Emily Post's 1st and most famous book on etiquette. Later editions, were edited and updated by her descendants. 
• 1st edition (1922) by Emily Post 
• 19th edition (2017) by Lizzie Post and Daniel Post Senning (Emily's great-great grandchildren)
• Other books by Emily Post
• Current Emily Post Institute books (Topics include: weddings, business, children, etc.)
• Awesome Etiquette podcasts - by Lizzie Post and Daniel Post Senning (Emily's great-great grandchildren)
• Debrett's (Website, Books, Courses) - This is a British professional coaching company, publisher, and authority on etiquette. I find at times they can be a bit more formal than the royals themselves. But they are a good resource because they are British and specifically cover some Royal Things. 
• Books
• William Hanson (Articles, Podcast, Courses) - Hanson is a British Etiquette excerpt. I disagree with him from time to time. But, he is a good resource on very modern, contemporary etiquette. And as a Brit, he does comment on the Royals from time to time. 

• Articles for the UK's Daily Mail

• Project Gutenberg - This is a free, online collection of books, which are in the public domain. Each book in the collection has been digitized by a volunteer and is free to view, print, distribute, etc. Since these books are all in the public domain, most of the books are rather old (pre-1930s). Here is a selection of the collection's books on etiquette.
• George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior by George Washington (Circa 1740s/50s. Published in 1888 after Washington's death)
• The Gentleman and Lady's Book of Politeness and Propriety of Deportment by Elisabeth Celnart (1833)
• This is a translation from Celnart's original French text (6th edition)
• The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness by Florence Hartley (1860)
• Routledge's Manual of Etiquette by George Routledge (1860)



From American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness







• Other Books on Etiquette
• Smithsonian Libraries - The Smithsonian Libraries' 20 locations comprise a physical collection of over 1.5 million books and manuscripts, as well as other types of media. A large part of that collection had been digitized and is free to view online. Since these books are all in the public domain, most of the books are rather old (pre-1930s). Here is a selection of the collection's books on etiquette.
• American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness by Walter Houghton (1883)
• Other Books on Etiquette

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