The Regency House Party 1815

The Regency House Party at Mt. Amelia in Norfolk was a success! Not only was the area lovely, the house tasteful and elegant but the company was fantastic! I, myself arrived late Friday afternoon via London, and to say I was delighted is an understatement! As instructed, all the guests had created a regency identity for themselves, to be acted on during the house party. My own role was partly fictional and partly historical namely; Baroness Eleanore van Breuning, the pupil of Herr Beethoven, twin sister to Baroness Leonora van Breuning and the fiancée of Sir Matthew Blakeney.

The night during Friday the 8^th of May and Saturday 9^th of May, time jumped 200 years back and froze to allow a small company to enjoy the delights their counterparts did in 1815, including dancing, balls, visits to local sights and lots and lots of enjoyable company. 

A look into my own pretend 1815 diary for the house party:

Mt. Amelia 1815
Dear Diary,

It is early morning at our first day at the house party. Leonora is still sleeping, and I am about to get up. A short time later, Leonora and I were ready; we met up with Lord and Lady Farr with whom we made our way up to Mt. Amelia during the wooded path. We ate breakfast with most of the other guests including our host and hostess Lord Christopher and Lady Ellen Carnaby; over breakfast conversation once again flourished as everybody got further acquainted before the days visit to Sandringham Castle. Inside the castle, there were several pictures of Danish Royals including; All of Europe’s father-in-law King Christian IX and his wife Louise.
The grounds were delightful, and we learned that the house normally was used as the royal families Christmas residence; and that it is now the home of several of His Majesty’s race horses.

After the visit to Sandringham Castle, we stopped on our way back to Mt. Amelia for a late lunch at a local pub, where the talk jumped up and changed subject every few minutes. Leonora did famously, not that I was surprised at all! Her disposition makes her friendly, and easy to talk to, even if she is a little shy.

When we got back to our cottage, Leonora and I sat down with a cup of tea to discuss the day and the sights and spend some sisterly time together before we got ready for the evening’s soirée. My own thoughts tend to drift quite a lot today, between the pleasure of the house party, and Matthew who remains in London because of family obligations.

The evening’s soirée was a good laugh, as some of the gentlemen was quite in their cups it seemed, and the ladies gossiped and had a good laugh at the gentlemen’s expense much to Leonora and my own amusement, especially as the men kept making toasts through dinner; to king, country, name, Waterloo, the host, dessert etc! It was quite amusing.

Not only was the day’s filled with new experiences and intelligent conversations, but it was also highly entertaining. We relaxed, went sightseeing, danced, talked, ate good food, had great company, good laughs, and lots of wine was involved! Also we stepped a little out of roles and had many a good discussions about our ‘real’ lives in America, England, Denmark and Sweden. We had all been involved in the different universes of the early and late 1800s in our respective countries, including Victorian tea and dancing and the Jane Austen societies of Europe and Denmark.

The balls were definitely my favourite part of the house party, as our dancing experts from California taught us to dance the Spanish Waltz and the Congress of Vienna waltz. Besides the more modern waltzes we were also taught to dance several Regency dances from our dancing master Andrew Rawe, who were a very patient teacher. We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and experienced what our counterparts did in 1815.

All in all, a huge success and great fun! I hope it will be repeated!