Everyone makes some blunder in the company from time to time. And this will not dress properly, say something stupid or inappropriate. Most of such faux pas can be dismissed with laughter or disguised with a joke. But what if the president is making a blunder? Or the wife of a foreign minister?
There are various reasons for committing tactics. Sometimes it is a failed attempt to be courteous, other times ignorance of the language or mere ignorance is to blame. In order not to offend anyone, you need to know social norms, be able to apply them in practice and… have a bit of luck. Because sometimes the first two conditions are not enough.
About the dog and the crowned hairdresser?
The wife of Józef Beck, the minister of foreign rights, found out about it. Mrs. Jadwiga was elegant, ambitious and cultural. She did everything to ensure the best public image of her husband. She broke at European and national salons. However, even attention to detail did not always protect her from making blunders. Here are the funniest two.
When Jadwiga Beckowa and her husband were in Yugoslavia, she was honored by the local queen with an invitation to tea. As you know, visiting a crowned head requires certain gestures of respect, including a bow. Beckov - well acquainted with the binding etiquette - obviously made such a bow. Deep enough that her dress was sweeping the floor.
Confuse the hairdresser with the king? It can happen to anyone.
This moment was used by the queen's favorites, i.e. little amused dogs that ran onto the material. They stood on the dress, which prevented the minister from getting up. What to do in this case? Drive away the monarch's pets? It does not fall out! Take in your arms? It is not known if it is allowed ... Waiting in a strange position until the animals get bored? How long can it take ?!
Another time, the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs and his wife visited Spain. Mrs. Beck, answering the phone in the place where they were quartered, heard that Alfonso was calling. She was very happy, convinced that her hairdresser was calling about that name.
Without thinking, she started making another appointment. There was silence on the other side. After a while, the confused man began to explain that there must have been a misunderstanding. However, the minister was constrained. After all, before visiting the royal court, she needed a new hairstyle!
As it turned out? It was Alfonso who did call. THIS Alfonso, or His Majesty the King of Spain Alfonso XIII. When Beckova understood her terrible blunder, she tried her best to apologize. It was impossible, because on the other side she only heard some strange, inarticulate sounds ... the king lay down laughing.
Presidential castles
A few minor mishaps, however, do not prove anything. Jadwiga Beckowa was a seasoned salon lioness and performed her duties as a wife of a minister of foreign affairs excellently. The head of the Polish state was a bit uphill. Stanisław Wojciechowski, the son of a Kalisz prison guard, did not really have anywhere to be polished, so necessary to be the first person in the country. I think that we should blame this on us for such a serious ignorance of the diplomatic protocol that he revealed on the occasion of one of the parties ...
During an event organized for the diplomatic corps staying in Warsaw, the president made a nasty blunder. When the tables were prepared before the arrival of the guests, and the appropriate vignettes with the names of individual diplomats were placed in individual places, the president decided to secretly introduce his own tidying up . Wojciechowski rearranged the cards as he saw fit, thus breaking the diplomatic protocol.
President Stanisław Wojciechowski, in turn, did not care about the diplomatic protocol.
In the place of honor, next to him, he seated the French ambassador, with whom the visible wanted to discuss. At the same time, somewhere at the end of the table, the senior of the diplomatic corps (the ambassador who has stayed at the post in a given country for the longest time), i.e. a representative of sunny Italy, was moved away. Polish-Italian diplomatic relations hang in the balance! Signore Tommasini left right after the meal, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to explain itself extensively ...
Is the Netherlands standing with cows?
Another time, the lack of tact, or rather the lack of perceptiveness and vigilance, was shown not by a sociable person, but by a radio station.
The Wesoła Lwowska Wave was probably the most iconic radio program of the interwar Poland. In 1937, in order to amuse her listeners, she broadcast an "interview" with a Dutch high-milk mug. As Maria Barbasiewicz, the author of the book "Dobre maniery w pre-war Poland" writes, the reporter asked meaningless questions in the field of agriculture and breeding, and the cow shouted at various tones, answered .
How gigantic it was to be unlucky to broadcast such a program on the day when Krynica was visited by the heir to the Dutch throne, who was a honeymoon traveler, and the prince consort? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must tremble.
Such a scandal! Insult to majesty! Of course, the director of the Polish Radio Lwów broadcasting station was found guilty for committing such a non-act. The tensions were alleviated by a criminal transfer from Lviv to Vilnius. Only the fact that the "culprit" took the same position there was omitted.
Such blunders amused or irritated, depending on who's distance to himself. When committed absolutely without premeditation, they sometimes insulted the living. If this happened, sometimes reference was made to the code of honor, reissued many times in the interwar period, written by a certain Boziewicz. All that was left then was to demand satisfaction ...
Sources:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on:
- Maria Barbasiewicz, Good manners in pre-war Poland , Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, Warsaw 2012.