ABSTRACT
The Coronation procession itself they saw, after an early breakfast in Swan Walk, Chelsea, where they were staying, from the window of an office in the Admiralty belonging to their naval friend William Fisher, whose Coronation duties were so heavy that his health suffered. Jelly recalls the effervescent smartness of that period, and the impression made on her by enormous house parties at Alderley Park in Cheshire. House parties were not at that time mere weekend affairs. Few hosts and no hostesses had offices on Monday mornings. When the men returned and had had too convivial an evening, they sometimes got out of hand. One guest, for a bet, or a boast, jumped off musicians’ gallery. He did no damage to himself but ruined the floor. The Aranyis all danced as prettily as anyone else. It so happened that they were friends with both political parties, conservative Balfours and liberal Asquiths. In which two milieux they made other people dance.
