"Coming Out" was female rite of passage for English upper classes [audio 8min]

50 years ago, when you talked about coming out and queens in the same sentence, it meant something quite different from what it does today."Coming Out" was a female rite of passage for the English upper classes, which involved going to Buckingham Palace to curtsey to the Queen. It marked the emergence of the virgin out of the schoolroom and into society at the marriageable age of 17. In 1958, after 200 years, the last of the debutantes made that journey. Fiona MacCarthy took part in this final ritual of aristocratic power and her book Last Curtsey: the End of the Debutantes is published this month by Faber. She and fellow debutante, Elfrida Eden, join Martha to talk about their experiences.