The trial opened on 1 June 1891. Ticket holders began queuing at 9:30 am, and the court was full half an hour before its 11 am start time. The prince sat on a red leather chair on a raised platform between the judge and the witness box; his appearance was the first time since 1411 that an heir to the throne had appeared involuntarily in court. "The Pall Mall Gazette" stated that "the court presented an appearance which, save for the dignity of its own fittings and its rows of learned-looking law books, might have been taken for a theatre at a fashionable matinée", with society ladies watching proceedings with opera glasses or lorgnettes. The correspondent of "The Manchester Guardian" described the opening of the case as being "in the presence of a carefully selected and fashionable assembly", while Clarke later wrote that "the court had a strange appearance. Lord Coleridge had appropriated half of the public gallery, and had given tickets to his friends".