Protocol is a term we tend to associate with the complex noble behavior of times gone by. Adopted by the nouveau riche of the Dutch Golden Age, it mirrored the courtly behavior of Louis IV in France, offering these parvenus a safe system of routines and rituals to dictate their comportment and ensure they were doing the right thing. A blatant love of art in all its forms belonged to these behavior patterns. Protocol and all it signifies is something we appear to have outgrown these days. Individualized and globalized society requires that “anything goes” in our patterns of behavior. And yet, there is a hankering for the comfort of ritual. The question is then how new and creative rituals might help us in this highly individual and global age.

No coincidence

As a student of art history, and in my very early professional life, I made a study of court life in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century under William III and Queen Mary, king and queen of Great Britain and Ireland. My studies resulted in the book The Royal Progress of William and Mary which took a close look at the palaces and stately homes—their decoration, furnishings, the art selected for display—of the court circle in the Netherlands and Great Britain. It soon became clear that there were numerous similarities in all the residences. It was apparent that amongst all that pomp and circumstance, nothing was there by coincidence. Everything in those houses was placed there by design and had a specific ceremonial function or significance. It was all about covert storytelling. About lineage—showing aristocratic status; about ambitions —showing power play; about virtues — putting the ownerinhabitant in a good light; about belief—in God; and about loyalty—to the king. The houses were there to receive visitors and those crossing the thresholds knew exactly how to interpret the allegory all around them. Likewise, they were fully versed in how to behave in these same surroundings. Protocol, or etiquette, was the order of the day and behavior towards one another in strict accordance with the rules was expected.

In the footsteps of the French aristocracy

During my research on William and Mary, I found a handwritten document in the royal archives giving precise instructions for the handling of the Prussian ambassador's visit to Windsor Castle in 1695.