Event Comment: By Command of
Her Majesty. [This was
the first time that members of
the royal family had appeared in public since
the beginning of
the King's illness (his first attack of insanity) in November 1788. See also 21, 24 Apr.]
The drop curtain with
the King's arms on it shown when
the front curtain first rose was
the "original curtain exhibited on
the opening of
Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre [in 1714]...It has lain by in
the scene-room of
Covent-Garden theatre nearly seventy years, but was rescued from oblivion, retouched, and
the appropriate ornaments added for
the occasion" (
Public Advertiser, 16 Apr.). On
the Queen's entrance "
the house called for
God save the King, and
the theatre being prepared,
the song was immediately sung by
Bannister,
Johnstone, and
Darley,
the house joining in
the chorus. It was encored...At
the end of
the play [it] was again called for, and again sung twice. At
the end of
the pantomime it was again called for; and
the theatre not sending forward
the performers,
the audience cheerfully sung it for
themselves; and having sung,
they encored
themselves; so that altoge
ther it was sung six times in
the course of
the evening. Her Majesty had a bandeau of black velvet, on which were set in diamonds
the words 'Long live
the king.'
The princesses had bandeaus of white satin, and 'Long live
the king' in gold" (
Universal Magazine, Apr. 1789, p. 218). Receipts: #388 16s. 6d. (385.12.0; 3.4.6)