So you have something for court…
I’m primarily a court and voice herald, so, after quite a gap, I’ll start by looking at court and voice heraldry stuff. I’ll start with some of the basics of court. This time some tips for those who have business for the court.
Let’s start with rule 1: NO SURPRISES!
This has been a standing rule of every single Baronial couple and it’s a good one. What it boils down to is that before a court, they need to know everything that is going to happen in that court. Essentially, court is about theatre. The Baron and Baroness are the main players on the stage, everyone else is supporting cast. For this theatre to work the main players need to know what is happening.
Less prosaically, a poorly chosen ‘humourous’ presentation can wreak havoc on the theatre of court by embarrassing those on the thrones, or breaking the mood of the court. It could even mean that the court is remembered for the ’surprise’ rather than, say, someone’s peerage ceremony. So, no surprises. If you are wanting an expression of surprise, it can be arranged.
Anyway, moving on from that, my first question for anyone who has business for court is, do you need to do it in court?
Many things work better outside court. Presentations are a good thing to do outside of court. In court they are another item for business among many. While some presentations can really make a court memorable, most get lost in the midst of the other business. If you have a truly spectacular presentation, or way of presenting it, then doing it out of court can make it even more memorable. Even simpler presentations can work well if done outside of court. At any rate, they are more likely to be remembered than something buried among the rest of the court business.
After this, it’s then a case of looking at what the item of business is and how it should be done in court. This is a juggling act, as the flow of the court needs to be moderated both for staging - giving people time time to return to their seat after being called up and for those behind the thrones to put a presented item somewhere safe, etc. - and for the best impact of each item. The latter is easy to overlook, and hard to get right. It’s particularly important when we look at giving out awards. Let’s face it, if the only awards given out are a Burly Griffin and a Laurel, we’ll know who gets remembered! Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that the recipient of the lesser award is remembered - they earned it! So in court I tend to suggest spacing them out with presentations and announcements. This means that the BG is not immediately ‘drowned out’ by the peerage.
I’ll finish up by mentioning one tricky one: announcements. It’s one of the more common things to happen in court, and indeed I think that, with some exceptions, it’s the sort of thing that should be in court. The trick is keeping them short and snappy. Generally there are two options for how an announcement can be presented. The most common is the person who seeks it to be done is called forth and makes it themselves. The other is that they get the court herald to announce it on their behalf. Both work, and it’s nice to have variety.
Where the first method falls down is if the presenter is not prepared. I’ve often seen someone come forward to make their announcement, only for them to start rambling on once the critical information is out. This can be very embarrassing if we have to cut you off. The solution here is to have your statement ready. Some have even handed a prepared statement to the herald to read on their behalf. That works, but then you start moving into the second method. At that point, why not give it to me before court and I’ll save you the effort of standing up in front of everyone. An interesting variant on making the announcement yourself is to get your own herald to present on your behalf. If well done, that’s theatre!
Personally, I like it if I can make the announcement on their behalf. This is good for me as it makes excellent filler while things are being sorted out behind the thrones and people are seating themselves after being in front of the thrones. It also speeds court up as we’re not waiting for someone to come forward to make the announcement. I’m already up the front and ready to go. It also gives their excellencies a chance to relax and have a drink while the focus is elsewhere.
So I say to you, if you’ve got an announcement in court, consider having the form of words ready for the court herald to read on your behalf. Many will thank you for it. (Plus you don’t have to stand up in front of all those people wondering what you were going to say)
Anyway, until next time, I’d love to read some comments on this or maybe questions you’d like answered. So write away…
Chris