Loretta reports:
This is one of those odd little notes one comes across while looking for something else. “The Royal Dance of Torches,” performed at a royal wedding on this day in 1821, was all new to me, and precious little could I find about it online. The illustration is of a scene a few decades too early, and we see no torches, but it is a royal wedding in Berlin (of the Prince Royal's mother?). For the dance, we must exercise our imaginations.
Clicking on the captions will take you to the online material. An easier-to-read version of the Hone entry is
here.
One of us -- 
6 comments:
The first thing (besides the torches) that is different is that the bride asks the king and princes to dance. Then, it almost sounds like a dollar dance to me, without the money, but with prestige maybe.
The wedding shown in the illustration is Queen Louise's with Friedrich Wilhelm, then crown prince of Prussia, who later became King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Queen Louise is the most famous Prussian queen - she pleaded with Napoleon and died while Prussia was still occupied by the French. Her second son went on to become Emperor of Germany after the Franco-Prussian war and went to visit her grave often. I visited her grave a number of times over the years, and there are always fresh flowers. She is still much loved in Germany.
This is a fascinating detail! Thanks so much for sharing. It's amazing how things totally unexpected pop up when you are researching, isn't it?
THIS IS THE FACKELTANZ, DANCED AT ROYAL WEDDINGS IN AUSTRIA AND GERMANY. YOU CAN FIND VERSIONS ON YOUTUBE UNDER THIS GERMAN NAME--HAVE FUN.
ERIKA W.
Thanks for the clarification about the queen. Erika, thanks for providing the terminology. Youtube has quite a few, and they definitely give us an idea of what might have been danced at the wedding.
Concerning the dance itself: It's similar to a polonaise. The first round is danced by the bride and the groom, the second by the bride and the king, then by the bride and the other lords only then the groom dances the next rounds with the queen, then with the ladies.
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