"flummery"

This ones a toughie.

I'm recovering from a cold so my brain is a bit groggy. Everytime I think I can make out this one, it kind of slips away from me.

I'll give it another thought later.

thank you all the same, tsarstepan.
have a good rest first

Flummery is nonsense or a waste of time and energy. He doesn't like Court Balls, and considers them 'flummery', perhaps because everyone who attends is posturing or looking for a mate, that kind of thing. They're a waste of his time because he's just not interested in that sort of activity. He's a serious, clever dude, and you got a lot of phony chitchat and meaningless social talk at these things. They're beneath him.

The word has a special meaning for people here in the United Kingdom. Numerous British people (including this one) consider that many of our instititutions are full of outdated flummery. To us the word implies unneccessary and empty ceremony and formality - all the stuff to do with the Royal Family and judges wearing robes and wigs, the State Opening Of Parliament, etc. I know foreign tourists pay money to come and look at it, but it isn't a lot of fun living in a theme park. A Court Ball would have been full of what I am referring to.

Flummery, as a British person understands the word...

It holds that same special meaning for a lot of others too, C, including your apt descriptions of the very flummery that you describe.

EDIT: Didn't see the pics at first. Yup, that's flummery.