Levee (event)

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The levée was a ceremony commonly held in European high society, constituting a morning assembly or reception given by kings and important nobles.

During the 17th and 18th centuries it was customary for the French monarch to hold an audience while he sat up in bed (hence the name, which comes from the French work lever, to rise).

In Britain levées took a somewhat different form; the sovereign would hold afternoon levées at St James's Palace to which only men were admitted. The Speaker of the House of Commons would also hold levées. This custom was abandoned at the start of World War II and was not revived subsequently.

The term has more recently been applied to a public event held on New Year's Day by a town's mayor and council to greet the townspeople. Levées are also held by the Governor General of Canada and Canadian lieutenant governors.

In literary fiction, levées form an important background to plot development in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy.