Etiquette
Dear Mary
From Lady Antonia Fraser Q. I enjoy getting readers’ letters, but there is one category I am at a loss…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I will shortly be attending a major social gathering in London at which I can look forward to seeing…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. During lockdown I made good friends with a neighbour who I would never have met otherwise. This man lives…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. An acquaintance suggested organising a celebratory dinner in honour of some mutual friends. He asked my husband and me,…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I have recently become a widow. Since my son is away at university, I had the idea of charging…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I never lie about my age but I try not to think — or talk — about it. Now…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. We have had some rather rich Argentines to stay. No one was able to come in to help before…
Dear Mary
Q. A very old friend has rented a holiday house and invited my husband and me to stay. The property…
All the rage
Why have we become so quick to anger?
Dear Mary
Q. Passing Buckingham Palace in a taxi the other day, I saw the ceremonial wing of the Household Division prancing…
Dear Mary
Q. My beloved wife has been studying Chinese metaphysics for 18 months. Our house and garden have been badly neglected…
Dear Mary
Q. I live in a row of town houses with a communal strip of garden in front. Three of the…
Dear Mary
Q. The other night, while hosting a house party, I was one of only three people still chatting by the…
Dear Mary
Q. We have old friends who live in the northern hinterlands and have a property in Provence where they normally…
Dear Mary
Q. Last night I went to dinner with people I had never met before. Because the host was a friend…
Dear Mary
Q. At a lunch party, I was getting on so well with someone I had not met before. She knew…
Polite reminder
Why rudeness doesn’t pay
Dear Mary
Q. Once restrictions are lifted, our annual walking group has planned a week’s walk with after-walk gatherings in a different…
Dear Mary
Q. We have been invited to a virtual wedding. Is it correct form to send a present?— P.F., Barrow Street,…
Dear Mary
Q. I’ve recently been approached by a very good friend who — with genuinely admirable candour and tact — pointed…
Dear Mary
Q. I am placed in a social dilemma due to a proposed visit on the last weekend of June by…
Dear Mary
Q. Since the relaxation of lockdown, my brother and his wife have started coming to our garden for takeaway meals.…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have started receiving invitations to large summer events scheduled for after 21 June. We have…
Dear Mary
Q. Our neighbours have a tennis court which, under the property’s previous owner, we enjoyed playing men’s fours on. The…
Dear Mary
Q. I have just been invited to a wedding where the groom will be the only person I know. Much…
