Etiquette according to Barbara Cartland

I was doing a little tidying up and found this:

Barbara Cartland's Etiquette Handbook. Image from Amazon.ca

Yes, romance author, dresser-in-pink, Princess Diana’s step grandmother Barbara Cartland. It was published in 1962 so that’s 50 years ago. The book covers everything from the wifely allowance to dinner to bedroom etiquette. I’m going to post a mini section three times a week but first a quote from the first chapter, Good Manners:

“To be a gentleman in its finest and best sense is the ambition of every Briton and the standard he desires to attain. Perhaps it is on a par with the Frenchman who often makes fun of nuns and priests because he is innately religious.”

Good manners in the bedroom (page 30.)

Good manners in marriage means not taking all the bedclothes in a double bed, not reading if the other partner wants to sleep. The man should open the windows before he gets into bed. A wife should see that the clocks are right so there is no rush in the morning. She should also see that her husband has a clean, aired shirt and fresh socks ready to put on the next day.

It is bad manners for a woman to go to bed with her face covered in cream and equally bad manners for a man who grows hair very quickly to kiss unless he has shaved.

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