|
Lady
Dorothy Urqart was not comfortable, in fact she was feeling very
uncomfortable, she had been traveling across Riyadh for what
seemed like an hour on what was supposed to 15 minute journey and
with the temperature at over 110º Fahrenheit and dressed as she
was, she was very uncomfortable indeed.
The
year is 1955 and Dorothy and her husband Tony or Lord Anthony
Urqart were in Riyadh, so that Tony could attend the signing of
the a multi million pound armaments contract with the Saudi
government. The contract had taken months of negotiation and as
Tony had told her many times, it was key to the future of Vickers
Industries of which he was chairman. The successful signing of
this contract would guarantee Vickers future and as such Tony’s
substantial wage, which was very necessary, to support Dorothy’s
very lavish lifestyle.
So
far Dorothy’s actual presence had caused the most problems with
the visit and it would have been far simpler had she had stayed in
London. But after Tony’s little aside with a dancer in Paris, 6
years ago she always insisted that she accompany Tony on all
overseas trip.
But
as Tony had repeatedly told her, when she had offended Prince
Fezak in London last year she had put the whole contract in
jeopardy, Tony was not sure how much influence Prince Fezak had on
the contract, as different Saudi Prince’s had turned up at
different times to the negotiations in London to be wined and
dined at Vickers Industries expense. But when Dorothy had asked
Prince Fezak to leave a party at the Urqarts London house, Tony
had been livid. Dorothy still felt she was within her rights, as
the Prince had offered to buy her niece Lavinia for 10 camels. How
was she supposed to know the Prince was joking and by the time she
had been told, the Prince had stormed out. As far as Tony could
find out Prince Fezak was still very angry with Dorothy for
embarrassing him and he felt that they were very lucky that the
contract was still going ahead.
Before
the trip was planned, Vickers Saudi agent Pascal had visited Lady
Urqart and advised her on her outfits for the visit. Tony had
insisted that nothing she wore would cause offence and Pascal had
said that to be on the safe side, all flesh should be covered from
the neck downwards. With that in mind for the formal events,
Dorothy’s dress maker had created an evening outfit with a high
necked collar, long tight sleeves, tight skirt with a wide floor
length flounce sweeping out from her below her knees, Dorothy
considered it to be decorous while still fashionable. For the
visit to Royal palace where the contract would be signed by the
King she was advised to show no figure and to wear a full veil. So
over the top of the evening gown, she had decided to wear a full
length pleated evening cape buttoned from floor to a high fitted
collar. |
| It had all seemed
so sensible in England, Dorothy had asked that the dress and the
cape be made of silk taffeta that would be very modest and it was
also fully lined, which was not a problem in cold old England. She
had also specified that the dress was to be an ‘evening’ dress
as she intended to wear it to the ambassadors dinner as well.
Dorothy had always been proud of her figure and even at age 45 she
corseted hard to keep it. Now if she had specified a day dress her
dressmaker would have made the waist 24”, but as an
‘evening’ dress it was made to fit her normal ‘evening’
22” waist.
All
this made the dress a trial to wear in the over 100º Fahrenheit
temperatures, but to make matters worse all her limbs had swollen
in the heat and she had struggled to get into it earlier this
morning. In a day dress she could have managed with a light girdle
and a small cincher, but an evening dress required her heaviest
long line girdle with a built in boned corset. The thick padded
girdle reached down to just above her knees was so tight her knees
were forced together. Usually in England Abby her
maid could lace her waist down to 22” in half an hour, but this
morning she had only Tony to lace her, and as her body had
swollen,
it had taken over an hour and she had nearly fainted twice. Then
she had put on a long line padded brassiere, seamed stockings, a
calf length fitted shift and squeezed her now swollen arms in to
the tight sleeves of the dress. Her face and neck had swollen as
well and Tony nearly strangled her making the hooks of the high
stiff collar meet. |
 |
 |
At least her shoes
would be comfortable as they were open sandals with a 2” block
heel, Dorothy was totally against the current fashion of stiletto
high heels and pointed toes and she made it known to all and
sundry that the fashion would ruin women’s feet. When they were
ready to leave the hotel, Tony had helped her on with the floor
length cape and complained at the delay while he had to button up
each of the 30 buttons from neck to hem. After that with the
addition of gloves, a pill box hat and a thick shoulder length
veil, she was totally enclosed and had been gasping for air even
before they had left the hotel, which at least had ceiling fans to
move the air. |
As
they sat in the car Dorothy gasped for air and felt a river of
perspiration running down her neck and down between her breasts and
dripping down her legs, she felt so hot and sticky. She had slid forward
in the seat of the limousine so that she could straighten her body to
try and keep the crushingly tight corset flat, so that it did not dig in
and restrict her breathing even more. She was getting very disturbed,
engulfed as she was in so much material, she could not even bring her
puffed-up arms up to lift the veil as they were held tight as sausages
in long sleeves of her dress and she could not get her hands through the
low, tight openings of her evening cape.
“Dorothy
will you sit up straight, what will people think !”, said Tony in a
harsh voice, “We have not got the contract signed yet and I don’t
want people getting a bad impression and”, (as
he told for the 5th time that morning) “I have heard
that Prince Fezak will be there, and if he asks for anything, I mean
anything, do exactly what he says, Pascal has informed me that he has it
on good authority that Prince Fezak will probably be overseeing the
contract and he could mean the difference between break even and a lot
of profit, so do not offend him in any way”
Tony
was being very serious and Dorothy just gasped, “Yes dear”.
At
last they arrived at the palace and Tony struggled to help Dorothy to
her feet, as she could hardly bend to get out the limousine in the tight
laced corset. The full heat of the sun hit Dorothy and she wanted to get
inside as fast as possible, but she could only make tiny steps, hobbled
as she was by the long skirt and weighed down by the mass of fabric that
surrounded her. As they made her way up the palace steps, they were met
by Pascal.
“There
is a problem, the people here say that the Chief Imam will be present at
the signing and as such they say that Lady Urqart must wear the
traditional full burkha if she is to attend.”
Tony
looked furious, more delays and problems caused by Dorothy.
“But
I am fully covered from head to toe, what can the Imam see”
Pascal shrugged, “They say it must be a traditional
full face burkha, they are finding you one now, they say that they do
not want to offend you by keeping you from the ceremony, but Lord Urqart,
we can go in, they are still discussing the final draft of the contract,
if you will wait here Lady Urqart “. Pascal led Tony into the palace
and he gave not even a backward glance to Dorothy, who was left outside
on the palace steps being baked in the midday sun.
|
