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KINGS AND QUEENS
I HAVE KNOWN
 I'lioto hy Miindy, I'ucliaicst

HELENE VACARESCO
KINGS AND QUEENS
I HAVE KNOWN

BY

HELENE VACARESCO

WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON AND NEW YORK

HARPER ^ BROTHERS
45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1904
)n i !
•»
PO
TO THEIR IMPERIAL AND ROYAL MAJESTIES
THE KINGS AND QUEENS, TO THEIR
IMPERIAL AND ROYAL HIGHNESSES THE
PRINCES AND PRINCESSES WHOSE NAMES,
VISAGES AND WORDS ARE HERE CELE-
BRATED I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN TOKEN
OF DEEP GRATITUDE FOR ALL THE
PERSONAL KINDNESS THE AUTHOR HAS
RECEIVED FROM THEM

HELENE VACARESCO
 CONTENTS
Queen Elizabeth of Roumania (Carmen Sylva) ''agi

King Edward VII.

Queen Alexandra .

The Emperor of Austria

The German Emperor .

The Czar and Czarina .

Margherita di Savoia, Dowager Oueen of Italy

King Victor Emmanuel III. and Queen Helena

......
Queen Maria Christina and King Alfonso XIII. of
Spain

Wilhelmina I., Oueen of the Netherlands

The Sovereigns of Servia

The Pope Leo XIII. ....

Queen Victoria .....
Index .......
 ILLUSTRATIONS
Helene Vacaresco . . . . , . Frontispiece

Queen Elizabeth of Roumania (Carmen Sylva)

King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra

The Emperor of Austria ....

The German Emperor ....
The Czar and Czarina ....
Margherita di Savoia, Dowager Queen of Italy

King Victor Emmanuel III. and Queen Helena

Queen Maria Christina and King Alfonso XIII. of

Spain ......
Wilhelmina I., Queen of the Netherlands

The Pope Leo .....

XIII.

Queen Victoria ......

QUEEN EI.IZA]!ErH OK ROUMAMA (CARMEN SVLVA)
QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
(CARMEN SYLVA)

As far as the other Queens and Royal Princesses

mentioned in my writings are concerned, I have had
the honour of approaching them only at times when
prepared for any striking impressions they might
make. I carried into their presence a heart eager to
receive all the emotions of the moment and a spirit

aglow with desire to note as much, hurriedly as

possible, from what might pass during such thrilling
interviews. I have met almost all the reigning
sovereigns of modern Europe and their Consorts,
and have much to relate about them, since 1 soon
became a keen observer of every Court I stepped
into ;
yet, whatever I have said or thought of Kings
and Queens I have known is derived from the
experience of some transitory event, and gathered in

the strained mood into which we are apt to fall when-

ever something extraordinary happens to us.
On the other hand, the image of the Queen of
Roumania has shed a radiance over my whole life.

From my earliest childhood, all that is good and

 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
noble and true I have learnt to revere from her words
and in her eyes. The beauty of nature and of
human labour, the careful study of my own soul,

piety, the joy dwelling in forms of harmony and

grace, I have gathered from her as with generous
hands she threw her thoughts like flowers in my
path. To her I am indebted for my brightest hours,
as for the love that lies hidden in days of gloom.
Were " Carmen Sylva " only a Queen and not a poet

too, the study of her personality would prove a diffi-

cult task even to me who have spent so much time by

her side and who am more intimately acquainted with
her ideas and pursuits than her other biographers can
be. These last are innumerable, but, different as each
appreciation of their wonderful subject may appear,
though they have seen her from widely varying
standpoints, the same enthusiasm, sincereand thrilling,
animates all their descriptions. And every one of
these images is true, because Elizabeth of Roumania
is an individuality so multiplex that almost any his-
torian can offer at least an acceptable clue to the
problem presented by such a soul. For instance,

some are used to considering her in the light of a

romantic Princess whose mistake it is to be, in our
matter-of-fact century, a dreamer and a theorist as

elusive as her own tales of the fairies that haunt the

vine-clad mountains near the Rhine. Others have
been accustomed to compare this all-absorbing
Queen with the refined, cultivated ladies of the Italian
Renaissance who still enthral our imagination as we
 OUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
read about their grace, their love of beautiful poems
and pictures ; the fluent talk and harmonious
verse whereby their Courts were rendered centres of
intellectual activity. There is a third picture of her,
where she is depicted in a wild yet familiar attitude,
scouring the wide forests of the Karpathian moun-
tains and listening with mingled delight and awe to the
torrents amidst the rocks. And not one of these
sketches, not one of these interpretations is untrue,
because the Queen of Roumania in some degree re-
sembles them all ; she might even suggest a much
larger number of illustrations and prove each of them
to be a genuine portrait.
No living Sovereign may be said to fill the modern
world with so much curiosity and admiration as does
the Crowned Poetess, who will always to herself
as well as to others remain a startling and divine
enigma, a sweet and dolorous mystery. Endowed
with every virtue that soars high in the domain of spi-
ritual strength, the Queen is yet weak as a new-born
infant when she has to struggle in the realms of
reality. Thence terrible misunderstandings are apt to
arise between her and those who judge her after
their own custom of reducing spiritual processes
to material action. The Queen is supposed to be
good by nature, blind to evil by instinct, generous
and forgiving in a spontaneous, facile way few guess
:

the real grandeur of such goodness, or from what

warm source of human love and celestial aspirations
the blindness and forgiveness spring. Every heart
3
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
lies bare before the clairvoyant eye, the quick, obser-
vant spirit, and severe struggles and long reflec-

tion are necessary for one who can succeed in

giving to the result of moral labour so much

apparently intuitive candour that it passes for that
inborn, unvi'itting kindness to which no gratitude
seems due. Every human soul may be called a
silent battle-field ; the artist's duty is to find the
victors and the dead ; and in my survey of the
Queen's inward conflicts I have ever found indig-
nation and desire of vengeance defeated, while
sympathy, pity, and every quality that can make
a woman royal daily triumphed in her breast.
The existence of Carmen Sylva in every moment
of her busy days is divided between two conflicting
forces, for ever waging war as to which shall obtain

the upper hand. First, her calling as a poet with

the fervent attachment she feels for every art

and for an artist's life, then her duties as a queen.

Hence while endlessly craving after leisure and day-
dreaming, she is obliged to bestow unceasing atten-
tion on her words and smiles, her every gesture ;

full of desire to run headlong in the track of her

imagination, she chafes under the necessity of
restraint and must show indifference to all that most
attracts her. And this everlasting strife, this

enforced duality, has always prevented complete

adoration from being accorded her by those who
want her to be a perfect queen, as by those who
wish her to be wholly given up to poetical talent.
+
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
The freedom of her tastes and opinions is in violent
contradiction with the quiet manners, the subdued
tones she is obliged to assume, and thus, bound to con-
trol the strongest and most audacious emotions, the
Queen of Roumania is a living prey to the mingled
elements of Fate.
No one will ever be able to tell whether queen or
artist has suffered the more in this extraordinary
blending of situations. Does the crown, besprinkled
with a shower of rubies and diamonds, which once
belonged to Josephine, wife of Napoleon I,, weigh
too heavy on her head, that she should take it off^

with such a sigh of relief, passing her slight hands

through her hair as if to remove all trace of the
massive symbol while yet her forehead is flushed
from the exertion of wearing it ? How often have
I seen that crown rest on the bureau in her dressing-

room, after an official dinner-party or ball ; how

often have I wondered whether its owner reproached
it for keeping her so long from the cool peace of her
private apartment ! And then I have imagined the
Queen also at times turning her wrath on the
white sheets of paper and the long slender pen, of
whose beckoning she has been aware while occupied
in distributing her smiles amongst the expectant
crowd gathered to witness one of those spectacles of
pomp and dignity which they are ever happy to gaze
upon. How often have I seen that splendid crown
and the humble pen lie side by side in companionship
so close that I could scarce remember they were
5
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
bitter antagonists, whose imperious demands filled

a Queen's soul in turn with anguish and with awe.

One special evening the Queen said to me :

"Oh, if that crown could only speak, what tales

it would tell of the brief but splendid reign of
Napoleon the Great, and of the thoughts of his
Creole Empress, as her coquettish fingers lifted the
"
ruby circlet to her brow !

" Nay," thought I, " if that crown could speak it

would forget Josephine Beauharnais and the Tuileries

and entertain us with tales of Carmen Sylva. Then
perhaps we might realise that the artist would have
been less ardent in the end had she not as Queen
been perpetually conscious of robbing the hours that
might have been given up to the pen ; that the Queen
would have possessed less grace and majesty, were
not her every endeavour stimulated by the know-
ledge that in accomplishing her task she was sacri-
ficing a part of her very being."
The Queen's childhood was indeed a sad one, and
on this period of her life she is apt to dwell, the
tears often streaming down her cheeks as she recalls
those dark days of trial and despondency. Weary
years of seclusion by the side of her sick brother and
her dying father did much toward developing the
faculties of her wonderful imagination ; but the
anguish, the feverish expectancy of joys that never
came, all the glory and trials of a crowned consort,
all the secret drudgery and apparent triumphs of her
exalted place — none have been able to work an essential
6
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
change in the mind of the Queen. She remains still
the impetuous, dreamy girl she was in her native
castle by the banks of the Rhine, the childish prin-
cess who ran on the career of her fancies as fast as
the waters carried past the windows of her palace
the fleet boats whence laughter and music floated on
the wind. To this moment the light in her eyes is

as fresh and pure as in those days when her mother

called her " my wild rose," and marvelled to discover
how far the daring young spirit had travelled into
the realms of fairy lore or history, and how glowing
were the impressions caught by her youthful love of
poetry and research.
The early home of Princess Elizabeth of Wied
was, as I have said, darkened by the shadow of death.
Her little brother Otto was slowly fading before her
eyes, cut off from all the joys of his age by the awful
malady with which he was born while her father,
;

the last roselike tint that dulls the sky before the sun
is set, lingered on, and though growing more weary
and feeble every day, still poured upon his child
the treasures of his clear intellect and gentle heart.
The soft splendour and hidden martyrdom of his
gradual decline overspread all the days of her youth.
" The image of my father," says the Queen, *' stands
immortal in the memories of every hour ; when I

remember my girlhood I cling to him yet. I cannot

turn my head towards the past without seeing him.
I thrust aside the branches of the big trees that sur-
round our summer home. I perceive the big white
7
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
house as it glimmers amidst the foliage, and I am
ready to run from one open window to the other and
cast a hungry glance into each familiar room but ;

there is one window where I must ever stop, one

spot to which my glance is chained. My father's

window — my father's room ! There he sits ; his

thin bluish hands are resting on his knees or on an

open book, but his eyes wander far away or look deep
into my own. The image of my father fills all the
past for me. He was so learned that he believed
many extraordinary things which make the ignorant
man shrug his shoulders and laugh. He believed in
miracles because creation and humanity were alike
miracles to him. He
humbled and dazzled
felt

before the power of life and the power of God, and,

like a man seated at the confluence of two dashing
rivers, he was placed between life and immortality,

and looked upon everything with serenity and faith.

At twilight the mighty forest would endeavour to
sleep and forget the departure of the sun : then it

was that he would call me to his side and talk to me.

I watched his pallid face become whiter and whiter,

like a cool stream where the moon is about to rise.

On each of his sunken features death's sign was
announcing that his frail being belonged to the
tomb ; but the calm strong spirit triumphed openly
over death. How distinctly one could note that my
dreamy, delicate Father came from an ancient race
who thus completed in a being rich in thought
and dreams, its long lineage of those who had won
8
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
distinction through great actions and gallant deeds.
His blue eyes and his movements, graceful and
flexible as those of a reed, revealed that he came

from those old Border families who embody in their

members all the strength and charm of their native
Rhine. And his soul also resembled in beauty and
vigour the light vine-crowned hills whose harmonious
lines are reflected in the glittering river. My father
was a real Rhenan Prince — not one of those princes
history loves to celebrate, a lord eager to conquer
and possess, but a prince who desired the realms of
Heaven beyond good or earthly ambitions.
all earthly
In a land where the past survives only in the form
of the horizon and the cities spread among the hills,
he was like the last tendril of that past, and on
the summit of his soul he bore the supreme flowers
whose soft perfume had been accumulated by
generations of heroes. In the wide range of thought
he produced what his forefathers had produced in the
domain of action."
Princess Elizabeth's motherwas the eldest daughter
of the Duke of Nassau, and sister to the present
Duke of Luxembourg and the Queen of Sweden.
Pretty, lively and intelligent, she had been brought
up in the gay Court which flourished in that smiling

land justly called the Garden of Germany. Its

remains may still be found in the castle of Biebrick,

a kind of German Trianon, once the centre of lively
parties and entertainments; but since the departure of
its sovereigns it rises like a phantom, and seems to
9
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
weep on the border of a deserted park, relating to
the Rhine, that sighs in turn, all the festivities of the
past. Very soon after marriage the life of pretty
Princess Marie of Wied knew sorrow and trouble.
After the birth of her eldest son and daughter
Elizabeth, another son was born, a charming child,
who from the hour of his birth was claimed by pain
and suffering : he bore on his frail body an ever-
open, ever-bleeding wound, and frequent operations
were needed to prolong his martyred life. Queen
Elizabeth has written a few tragic pages in which
she relates the short life of the little Prince Otto,
and the simple pathos of the narrative has given the
book a high place amongst works dear to humanity
as well as to art. Surely Prince Otto was a little

saint. In all that Queen Elizabeth recalls when she

tells of his oft-repeated tortures, his blankets ever
soaked in blood, and his frame always shivering from
contractions and pains, there is not a word which
does not speak of patience and The reader
faith.

vibrates with revolt against Nature who could so

cruelly mingle the sound of repressed sobs and deep
grief with the gentle prattle of an infant over his
first toys ; who could bid the age of careless pleasure
and happiness be for him the age of despair, though
the child himself never despaired nor murmured
reproach against his fate or his God.
Princess Elizabeth thus saw citadels of grief rise
one after another and wall her in on all sides. She
contemplated them with eyes full of eagerness and
lO
 1

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA

tender curiosity, just as she watched the Rhine, and
regarded the tall forests and the beautiful legends of
their soil. But the accumulation of early sorrows
in a youthful soul is like the mass of leaves that
covers the ground in autumn : under the thick
stratum of dead foliage, the sap of hidden plants
is fermenting, waiting to spring forth in stems and
blossoms. The perfume of spring mingles with the
moist dull odour of decay, and when the April wind
brings sunlight and shower, the dead leaves are
pushed aside by the vigour of the blossoms that
have grown under them. Thus a gush of sunlit
breeze swept through the existence of Princess
Elizabeth, and darkness and despair were for a time
forgotten while her energy awoke to new life. Her
maternal aunt, the Grand Duchess Helena of Russia,
suddenly decided to take care of the distant young
niece whom she equally pitied and admired.
" Send me your dear child," wrote the Great
Duchess to the Princess of Wied. These words
proved the Open Sesame which revealed a new
world to Princess Elizabeth, and bore her far away
from the dreary circle of home troubles.
*'
I cried bitterly as I took leave of my father, and
he also shed tears, but mine were tears of hope,
whereas he well knew that he would never see me
again on earth. He liked the Great Duchess Helena,
and he was charmed with my prospects of seeing new
places and new faces ; but his eyes looked a last

farewell upon me as I tore myself from his trembling

1
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
arms, and a long time passed before I could get over
the sad impression."
But afterwards the flashing splendours of the
Russian Court, the attraction exercised on a glowing
imagination by the fresh beauties and vanities which
every hour brought under her eyes, chased the dark
phantoms from her memory. She wrote to her
father letters so cheerful and vibrating with life that
when the dying Prince replied his daughter little

guessed how high his pulse beat or how dizzy his

brain felt while he was penning words of encourage-
ment and wisdom.
"This Russia is such a dazzling, interesting
country ; the light of Asia seems to dwell upon the
Imperial Court," wrote the Queen, in speaking of the
two winters she spent in Petersburg. " The fairies
and the moon-clad elves I loved so much appeared
too shy to haunt my sleep while my waking hours
were filled with such visions of magnificence and
power. My aunt lived in her dead husband's beau-
tiful palace, the Palais Michel, and entertained some
two thousand persons under her roof, many of whom
she had never even seen. The immense luxury with
which she was surrounded in no way altered her
simple tastes or the easy refinement of her manners, and
she held that high personages should live with much
outward pomp, since brilliant pageants and solemn
ceremonies give pleasure to the public, counting
as favours bestowed upon them by their sovereigns
and princes. But it was the Great Duchess who
12
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
taught me to discover all the misery hidden under
the folds of ermine-lined purple, and so convinced
did I become of the truth of what she said, that had
I then heard a prophetic voice say *
You will be a

Queen I should have wept and trembled in despair.

!
'

I know some of you may doubt or smile, as you

perhaps believe that young Princesses fill their day-

dreams with bowing multitudes, triumphal arches,
crowns, sceptres, and royal trains. But you are mis-
taken. We possess an instinct that bids us beware.
We know that these things may come, and we are
afraid. But in general it is not Kings' daughters
who become Queens. On the contrary, the less con-
spicuous among Royal Princesses are perhaps most
exposed to the perilous fate. The Great Duchess . . .

Helena, the Northern Juno as she was called, was a

singularly strong-minded, good woman. All the
practical qualities which I acquired and have since
tried to display, I owe to her patient teaching ; for
instance, the unfailing interest I can show in and

extract from individuals whose mere aspect repels

and checks good-will. She has convinced me that
no human creature exists who cannot be induced to
speak eloquently, or perform good deeds. When she
travelled, our temporary home at once became a
centre of intellectual company and congenial spirits.

With her I visited Paris and the French Court,

Napoleon III. being at that time in the full glow
of his splendour. 1 attended a great ball at the
Tuileries, and saw the lovely Empress enter the great
It
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
reception-rooms by the side of the Grand Duchess,
who, though already an elderly woman, looked more
regal in her simple attire than the beautiful woman
who walked arm-in-arm with her while murmurs of
adulation and enthusiasm excited by her beauty fol-
lowed her every step. '
You are exactly like a rose-bud,'
said the Empress to me in passing, and although she
repeated the compliment to every young girl present,
the amiable words sent a thrill through my heart, as
they reminded me of my mother's endearing name,
'
My Wild Rose.' The French Empress left in my
memory a vision of harmony and youthfulness which
not all the following days, when I have thought with
pity of her woes, have been able to efface. . .
."

On her return from Russia Princess Elizabeth of

Wied found a tomb under the glossy lime-trees on
the hill overlooking the Rhine. Her beloved father
was dead, and from that moment the pain of his
loss has been intermingled with every moment of
her life ; she has never kneaded anything with her
hands as an artist which tears for her father's loss
have not impregnated.
If I were writing the Queen of Roumania's whole
life instead of trying merely to give a correct idea of
her personality, I should be obliged to follow her
step by step. This I have promised her majesty to
do one day, and then I will tell you all that she has
endured, and many things I have heard her say. At
Venice one evening while we were both gazing upon
the dim lagoon whence the last slanting rays of the
H
 " :

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA

sun were fast departing, the Queen stretched out
her arms towards the horizon, and said suddenly
" No, no, no one knows, no one could tell like

you what my my
heart and No
thoughts contain.
one has seen all and felt my sorrows as you have
done. The story of my life, divested of the errors
entwined around it by others, my soul whose emo-
tions and impulses you can note, and whose past I

have —
shown you promise me that they will be
revealed by you one day, when the propitious hour
arrives. You promise ?
" Yes, madam, be assured I will obey you, so help
me God."
Like a blood-red necklace the purple tinge that
darkened the twilight sky was sinking into the
water, and the broad lagoon closed upon the setting
sun. Thus do the waves of my heart hold enclosed
the sacred promise which will one day spring to life

and vigour.
I am convinced that Carmen Sylva's biographers,
past, present and future, will one and all be angry
with me for now destroying one of their favourite

illusions, an innocent error, but still an error, which

has been again and again recorded. The Queen of
Roumania's marriage was no love affair. It is

understood, of course, that all royal marriages are

brought about by and when some one dares to
love,

assert the contrary he or she is at once accused of

heresy. No sooner is a royal marriage announced
than newspapers and magazines start a regular
15
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
steeplechase amongst them in associating the projected
union with a medley of anecdotes, and they vie
with each other as -to which shall be most fortu-
nate in securing thrilling accounts of the mutual
love binding the happy couple. Why this absurd
habit has taken hold of tradition I have never been
able to find out. Do nations really desire to be
ruled only by happy sovereigns and loving husbands
and wives .''
If this idea does indeed exist, why not
rather credit their kings and queens with virtues
or qualities sufficiently attractive to render them
capable of acquiring in the course of their married
lives the love that it is not their lot to gain when
they exchange their rings ? I can truthfully assert
that I do not know of more than one or two real

love marriages between royal pairs, whereas I have

seen many royal couples become extremely attached
and even devoted to each other in the end, and in
my opinion this result is more to their credit than
if all the legendary romances which are circulated on
the slightest rumour of an illustrious betrothal were
true. The Queen of Roumania herself is always
willing to relate how she became acquainted with
her future husband, and how her marriage, without
being in the least a romance, was from beginning to
end treated in a very matter-of-fact way.
" I am afraid some writers have tried to make us
out a very idyllic and rather ridiculous couple, and
I still shudder when I read that old tale of the stair-
case, as worn and haunting now as a ghost story. I

i6
 —

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA

have quite lost the courage to deny it, as it has been
repeated so many, many times ... At Berlin, while
!

on a visit to the Queen of Prussia, afterwards

Empress Augusta of Germany, I had just caught a
glimpse of the Prince of HohenzoUern, who is now
your King and my husband. Then many years went
past, finding me sad and despondent. My youth
had been blighted by the presence of suffering and
death, but my soul felt warm and rich with such
impulses of self-devotion as would have made me
an excellent nurse or an excellent mother. I longed
to find some means of employing my suppressed
energies, and lived on in the hope of seeing more of
the world and its struggles. Many princes proposed
to me at that time, but only one amongst all the
potentates who hand tempted my fancy,
sued for my
though I had never seen him. He was a widower
and the father of many children. Many children
I could immediately satisfy my heart's desire . . .

But my mother was against the match, and the

whole affair was dropped. . . . The Great Duchess
Helena often wrote to my mother, and I learned
afterwards that together they had laid out many
plans for my future of which I was kept in complete
ignorance. One day at Cologne, where we had gone
to spend a few hours and listen to a Beethoven
Festival, we met, by mere accident^ as I was hastily

informed by my mother, the reigning Prince of

Roumania, Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigma-
ringen. We were staying that afternoon at the
17 B
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Hotel du Nord which can be seen as the train crosses
the Cologne station —
I never pass on my way to

Germany without remembering vividly every word

of the interview there which settled my fate. I was

very glad to meet the Prince of Roumania again, as

he had been much talked about in my presence of

late, and I knew he had won his way to the throne
among political perils almost as great as the perils

of war. He had crossed Austria in disguise because

the Austrian Government had objected strongly to
his election. In the small garden of the Hotel du
Nord, where the beautiful towers of the cathedral
threw their shadows upon us, I poured eager ques-
tions into his ears without even casting a glance at
his refined and regular features, and he patiently
answered every one of my inquiries. He told me
about his difficult task, and about the exotic country
that had become his own, its wide plains and savage
mountains, its white-clad peasantry, frugal, grave,
and endowed with weird powers of untaught
eloquence and poetry. He spoke long and well,
while I listened breathlessly, rapt in astonishment
and delight. He described the great masters of the
land, those boyards, cultivated yet barbarous in mind
and customs, whose souls were alive with the blended
charm of the Byzantine influence and the hot blood
of old Latin descent. I envied the young sovereign
who had taken up a sceptre whose maintenance
required as firm a grasp as a sword, and I said to

him openly :
'
You are a happy man.'
i8
 '

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA

" *
And the concert ?
' asked my mother as we
went up to our rooms. '
You were so impatient to
go to the concert before we met the Prince.'
" '
The concert .?
' I repeated in utter amazement.
I had forgotten all about the concert !
'
O Mother,
you can't guess how deeply interesting, how thrilling

is the conversation of the Prince of Roumania, and

how I envy him his beautiful task ! Just imagine,
he rules a nation quite new to the world, but at the
same time ancient in blood and history and he has ;

to understand them and to make them happy. A

splendid mission indeed !

" *
Well, my child, that task, that mission, might
be yours also. The Prince of Roumania wants
to marry you. He has come here with the sole
purpose of meeting you. This is no chance en-
counter, as you believe. You have but one word to
say
" I remained perfectly bewildered for a fewseconds,
then, as if urged on by the resistless impulse of my
destiny, I answered :

*'
' Yes, I will marry him. I will help him and
follow him to that wonderful land.'
"Half an hour afterwards the Prince of Hohenzol-
lern came up to our private sitting-room. He kissed
my hand as he entered, and my lips trembled timidly
for one moment on his bowed forehead. Then he
knew that he was my accepted future husband. This
time he did all the talking himself : I was abashed
and silent, but still intent on his every word. Not
^9
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
one syllable of love, not one stray compliment, was
uttered during those hours whose meaning has since
thrown a light over my whole existence. Ours was
no love marriage, but it was a union based on self-

devotion, duty, and a fervent desire to do our best

towards each other and towards the nation that I

already loved.
" That very evening the Prince went back to Rou-
mania ; he was to return in three weeks and then
take me back with him as his wife. Once he had
gone, the spell was broken. I passed sleepless nights
and restless days pondering upon the step I had so
rashly taken, and wondering what the future would
be by the side of one all but unknown to me in an
unknown country, far from all my relatives and
friends — so desperately far ! I had seen so little of
him. In my memory even his face and his voice
were not clearly engraved, and for hours I studied
his portrait and tried to read his soul in his eyes.

What would the descendant of the stern Hohenzol-

lerns be like in feelings and opinions, and would
not mine startle and even offend him.^* In secret I

was a poet already, and I had acquired, by frequent

communion with clever people in my own home and
the home circle of the Grand Duchess Helena, the
liberal ideas of equality and democracy which now-
adays bear the name of Socialism. I understood
how startled the Prince of Roumania might be when
he realised all this, since the chains of tradition
were strongly entwined about his principles and the
zo
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
traditions of his race, so that these reflections
well-nigh appalled me."
But, had she reflected more deeply than she did
at that period of her betrothed life, Princess Elizabeth
of Wied would perhaps have discovered that there
must exist in the soul of Prince Charles ground open
to the influx of democratic feelings. She would have
remembered that he was not only of a lineage high
among the highest and proud among the proudest,
a family made glorious by the great events of history;
he represented not only the Hohenzollerns stern and
brave, but also the glory and lustre gathered on
modern battle-fields by warriors of humble birth if

splendid renown, and that the strain of commoner

French blood flows in the veins of Roumania's King.
Only a few years before the beginning of the nine-
teenth century, his French great-grandmother, Fanny
Mouchard, played a conspicuous and not always
dignified part in the French Revolution, being mixed
up with all the riotous people of the time. Her wit
and amiability, however, withthe fact of her becoming
related to the Emperor through Josephine's marriage,
won for her a position such as her birth and conduct
alone could never have acquired. She often drove
Napoleon wild with her off-hand manners and ivapori
airs, with her habit of writing verse of her own
compositioo, such as this :

" Egle belle et poete helas ! n'a qu'un travers

EUe fait son visage et ne fait pas ses vers."

That this bizarre heroine should have become the

21
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
mother of a line of Kings is one of the marvellous
incidents of the epic-comedy played in France by the
Revolution and the First Empire.
Again, the King, through his paternal grand-
mother, belongs to the stalwart peasantry of France,
whence her finest His grand-
heroes have sprung.
mother was a Murat, sister of the gallant King of
Naples who, as every one knows, was once a stable-
boy in a country inn of the Aveyron department.
That inn still exists, and many are the travellers who
stop there and dream about the wondrous fate of
the stable-boy who became a King, only to die the
death of a forsaken man at the Calabrian wells.
Thus the Queen might have been almost sure of
her husband's sympathy. The great-grandson of
Fanny Mouchard could not but love poets and poetry;
the great-grandson of the Aveyron stable-boy must
have inherited from his ancestor the democratic ideals
which changed a Revolution into a Republic and
then into an Empire.
Has Elizabeth of Roumania kept the promise
registered in her heart on that early autumn day
when she was first acquainted with her future husband
and her fate ^ Now that so many years have gone
by, her subjects, without a dissentient voice, can
answer 'Yes.' From the moment of her arrival in
her new country to this hour her life has been a
constant effort, a constant labour of love on behalf
of her people. Patiently and without ceasing she
listens to the throbbing of their veins, to the wants
22
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
and aspirations of a race she has tried so hard to
understand that she has almost become a Roumanian
herself. When she reached the banks of the Danube,
when before her dazzled sight white-clad peasants
made their appearance, wearing carved silver knives
and big peacock feathers on their high
in their belts
fur caps ; in brilliant costumes the women
when
rushed forth to meet her, veils thin as the mountain
mists floating round their proud features, and dis-
taffs trembling on their bosoms ; when the gaily
attired village beauties danced the national dances
before her to the sound of a rude violin ; when dis-
hevelled and ragged tziganes played tunes a thousand
years old, yet fresh with the eternal youth of inno-
cence, then Elizabeth believed her own life would
be like an eternal pastorale. And at once she gave
her heart to the rustic crowds whose welcome was
showered upon her, who blessed her winning smile
and her ready curiosity to learn more about them
and their village homes. Remembrance came to her
of the fair and simple Queens of the Iliad, who,
seated in the midst of their waiting-maids, kept vir-
gins and young matrons aloof from evil company or
bad thoughts, by teaching them to weave, to spin,

to twist golden and silken threads and sew stirring

devices on banners destined for brave warriors or
the altar. She bore in her mind that thus the ancient
Roumanian Princesses and wives of illustrious boyards
had reared around them damsels and dames of gentle
blood, that while the spindle flew and the wind
as
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
carried the sound of bugle and church-bells, they
had chanted ballads and had kept alive the memory
of their glorious dead ; and her poetic soul found
joy in the resurrection of a noble past. No one will
ever know or appreciate the whole extent of the
labour that from morning to eve made her stoop
towards the from which she drew the secrets of
soil

the race, or raise her head to the sky whence faith

and inspiration descended upon her sacred toil.
When I met the Queen for the first time, or
rather when I first approached her, I was quite a
child. I had often seen her in the streets of our
capital, and on such occasions, though only five
or six years old, I felt a sharp sensation, as of
mingled pain and joy, and all my small being
vibrated to the shock. The flashing smile, the
tender and compassionate blue eyes, the thick wavy
mass of hair whose movement was as eloquent as
the surging tide, and perhaps also the big white
plume of the chasseur seated at the back of the
carriage, floated before me like a vision of gran-
deur and delight, whose tracings left deep golden
furrows in my mind. Children sometimes adore
secret idolswhose forms loom high above their play-
things and dolls, and when playthings and dolls are
quite forgotten, thought of the ruling god or goddess
thrills their memory. At the dawn of my eighth
year, having just escaped from an illness so dangerous
that the doctors had given me up and I had remained
as one dead for some hours, the Queen expressed a
24
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
desire to know the little girl who during six weeks
had filled her parents' souls with fear, and interested
the whole of Bucharest society, which at that time
formed one large family. With shorn hair and trem-
bling knees that could scarcely bear the frail load of
my meagre body, pulling hard on my mother's hand,
I mounted the great staircase of the Palace. I had
completely forgotten in delirium and fever the
radiant image which had enchanted my childish
drives. How often now do I live again that happy
moment when with panting breath and wild and eager
joy that must have transfigured my pale face, I found
the idol and I recognised the object of my earliest

dreams. How clearly I can stir the chords of dor-

mant sensations and revive the moist perfume of
those vast rooms with green plants climbing along the
golden trellis of a screen, or the soft murmur of the
water splashing from a fountain whose waves rippled
into a stone vase and fell among the leaves. But all

the vivid hues of hangings and foliage seemed to con-

centrate themselves in a tall, slender form that stood
in their midst. The Queen wore a moss-green velvet
dress, and along the bottom of the skirt and round her
sleeves and neck ran a trimming of downy grey
feathers which trembled with every movement, every
breath — I can see even now the fluttering of those sil-

very plumes. The radiant face stooped towards me ;

she opened^her arms and I flew to her bosom like a

young bird to its nest. Ah ! had we known then what

a pledge of deep affection was thus exchanged between
*5
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the royal lady and the child that death had almost
carried away, — had we known all the love and the pain
lurking in the dim future, would the grasp of my little

hands round her neck have relaxed, would she have

ceased kissing my thin cheeks ? Notwithstanding all

the pain that that future has brought, I can with truth
say, No ! and the Queen's answer is the same.
I remember every word of that interview, and how

charmed she was because, when she wished to stop

the fountain in order that I might hear the birds
sing better, I exclaimed :

" Oh, please don't ! I suppose the dear birds sing

only to please the fountain, and they would feel
wretched if its waters were hushed."
Then the Queen caressed my shorn head, and I

told her with tears in my eyes how my long hair had

been cut off with big scissors that made a shiver run
over my skin ; that mother had put them under my
pillow, and how I caressed them.
'*
Never mind," answered Carmen Sylva, " you are
a good little girl, and good little girls' hair grows
very fast. You will soon get your long hair back
again."
*'
But I love it — I won't have any other long hair
because the hair that has been cut off might be
grieved to see me loving other long hair."
The Queen laughed softly at these words, and
murmured *' She is indeed a poet's grand-daughter."
:

After this visit a long time elapsed before I saw

the Queen again ; we went to Paris for my education,
26
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
and there several years were spent. When I had
arrived at the age of sixteen, however, every
summer found us spending three weeks with the
Queen in the Castel Polesch at Sinaia, a mansion
built by the King, whose aspect presents a startling
contrast to the surrounding landscape. The stern-
looking German schloss looks like a challenge thrown
defiantly to the mountains, whose dazzling heights
overtop its turrets. The heavy edifice of grey stone
and red brick proclaims that a strong will rather than
artistic taste has been at work in the depths of the
dark Karpathians. Like some mad anachronism,
Castel Pelesch rises in the forest, a seal of taciturn
power affixed to the wild beauty and primitive glory
of its surroundings, the seal of the Middle Ages and
the burgraves from whom the King draws his descent.
In the interior the same silent war is waging between

the decorations of the rooms and the personages who

inhabit them. The contrast is such as the Crusaders
must have created when in the sunlit palaces of Asia
they strode through glittering halls to the silvery
note of a hundred fountains in their steel armour
and tall white plumes.
At that time a sense of logical and refined art was
not mine, and to me the loveliness of the Sinaia
summer dwelling was unsurpassed. Even now, when
I can judge of all its defects, I cannot dwell upon
the sweetness of the spot and the spell it threw upon
my mind without feeling again the thrill of pleasure
and gladness with which 1 traversed its rooms and
27
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
gazed upon the rich Rembrandtesque colouring
of wood and velvet. On the windows ballads and
fairy talcs appear in the deep purple and azure of
stained glass ; near by a high waterspout rises and falls,
whose voice is associated with so many emotions and
dreams that it seems to sing its answering song to
me. The Queen loved her mountain home, and
lightly paced its crimson-carpeted corridors, lit up
here and there with the twinkle of a golden star on
wall or ceiling ; her white veil trailing behind her,
beautiful and serene, she would talk in gay tones of
the latest wish of her poet's or her Queen's soul.
At the age when youth leads us to the brink of
every desire, at the age of ardent labour and gentle
idleness, at the age when every event sinks into the
depths of our being, I became the Queen's lady-in-
waiting and companion chosen from amongst a large
number, and beloved from that hour as if I had
never been beloved before. This implied almost com-
plete separation mother and family, to whom
from my
I was fervently attached, yet I scarcely wept, though
I saw them weep, for the Queen's society, the Queen's
words, the Queen's smiles meant all to me. Num-
berless are the entertainments, numberless the ties,

the aims I have willingly given up for her, and never

have I grudged the moments snatched from what

others thought my duty ; I have regretted nothing,
for to see and hear her, to have taken an active part in
the activity of such a life, to this day forms the
pride of my existence.
28
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
Many have loved the Queen —some for mere joy
in receiving favours from a queen, some for her clear
intelligence, her kindness, her gaiety. I loved her
and love her still for the many hours I have spent
listening to the outpourings of her spirit, watching
her daring mind as it soared from one summit to
another, borne on the wings of an imagination vivid
and varied as the hues of a gigantic rainbow. At
that time she led an existence which literally over-
flowed with activity and of which she lost not a
second : and her splendid health allowed her to
indulge in an exuberant extravagance of labour.
"But your Majesty is an intellectual ogre," said
the great German sculptor Begag one day to the
Queen, and in those few words he expressed the per-
petual cravings for art and emotion which devour
the Queen.
At Sina'ia the quantity of work, and especially of
writing, she would achieve far surpassed what even
the keenest amongst us could attain to. Many a time
have I found her, at eight in the morning, seated in
her dressing-room before a bureau covered with a huge
heap of sheets whereon her bold writing had traced
close lines, the lamp she had failed to extinguish at

sunrise still burning by her side. Near the manu-

script twenty letters would lie filling the grey enve-
lopes on which, disdainful of royal crown or arms,
the simple words " Carmen Sylva " were engraved in
White and slim in the
glossy black letters. folds of

her snowy garments the Queen would rise, pass her

 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
hand across her brow, as if to chase away the visions
that had arisen there, and with a quick, impatient

gesture, open the double doors that led to the balcony,

letting in the fresh morning breeze, laden with sun-
shine and pine-wood fragrance. Wide awake to her
duties as a sovereign, she would eagerly plunge her
hands into thick masses of paper newly strewn on
the sofa — requests, entreaties, desires, passionate
demands for help, pity, or favour that like a flood —
mounted each morning from the bosom of the nation
to the heart of the august lady who was its ruler's
spouse. With a look of scrutiny and unwavering con-
cern she would examine and enter into all the details
of the different matters presented for her decision.
" What did the two women you received yesterday
afternoon want from me ^ Have you been able to
discover why one of my ladies looked depressed while
we were having tea, and did you inquire whether the
medicine I had prepared myself and sent to the second
footman, who seemed so fagged, has done him any
good .''
And the porter's little boy —does he still

suffer Here is a book with large pictures and nice

.'*

fairy tales for him —

wait, I will write my name upon
—
it let him know it comes from Mama Regina —
Mother Queenie. ... I should just love to play
one or two of Bach's preludes now, and even to
sing a little, but we have so much work here, and it

must be attended to. See . . . what does this poor

prisoner require ? Liberty, a breath of fresh air, I

suppose. Oh ! to think that there are captives on

30
 —

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA

such a day as this, when we drink so freely of the
balmy air And
! . —
. . from widow
this this is a
so wretched, so poor — and she has children five

they actually
are starving — children
"
five !

A sigh,
and the Queen turns her head away. I
read her thoughts " Five children and poverty, and
:

I, who possess palaces and millions, had only one little

child, and it was taken away from me."

But the saddening reflection is checked, the burning
desire crushed, and the Queen toils through the
morning's work with earnest care. Then suddenly
she rises and steps across the compartment and comes
back again —almost the only morning exercise in
which she indulges. And while thus going to and
fro, she stops from time to time, urged by her

artist's instinct to move here a fold in the drapery,

there a pillow on the arm-chair, or a picture in a bad

light, with the result that every day her apartment

wears a different aspect though the furniture remains

the same.
A tray laden with grapes and figs lies on the corner
of a massive bahut. The Queen would sometimes
pull one or two out of the crimson or golden bunches
and ask " Don't you want some
: They taste so .''

fresh and are quite ripe." Then she returns to her

literary pursuits, in which the thought of making
Roumanian folk-lore and Roumanian valour known
all over the world is uppermost.
" I am about to compose a ballad, and think I have
caught a beautiful idea. ... A young girl embroiders
31
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
a red sash for her betrothed, who has gone to the war.
The sash must be so red that nothing in nature can
be redder than it. So she takes the juice of all the
red fruits, and the colour of the flames, willingly
yielded up to her. At night an old woman comes and
offers her a liquid as red as the flame and as the juice

of fruit. She drinks it, but lo ! at that very hour

her betrothed is killed. The old woman was none
other than grim Death, and it was the life-blood of

the brave soldier she gave. But what shall I call the
young girl ? Dimistra, or Stana, rather. I cannot
find quite the right name for her. Do search in an
almanac, or in Alexander's legends. ." . .

" Pardon, Madam, but your Majesty will be late.

It is almost one.'* These words are demurely said by

the Queen's first maid, as the worthy dame lifts up
the heavy curtains separating the boudoir from the
bed-room.
" Nearly one, and we have such a lot of people to
lunch ! This is distressing. Run and dress, little
girl, and tell all the others to dress quickly, as I shall
myself" ; and the Queen disappears in haste.

Through the wide corridors there is a rush and a

scurrying, and we do not stop to breathe till we
reach our chambers. Without a second's hesitation
our maids dash forward, undress and dress us again
in the space of a few minutes. They do their office
so nimbly that the intricacies of Roumanian costumes
are speedily vanquished, and we are amazed to find
ourselves fully dressed before the mirrors in the
3*
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
brilliant garb of village maidens, with spangled skirts
and blue necklaces, while many-coloured flowers
dance in our tresses.

We had scarcely taken our places in the large

reception-room when the King and the Queen enter,
the Queen dressed in the rich costume of a rustic
matron, but on her lithe form the vestments took
on an appearance of Byzantine pageantry, and she
looked more like an Empress than a wealthy Rou-
manian dame. No one would guess that her day's
task was not begun at thatmoment, nor could she
have seemed more animated, more interested in the
conversation of her neighbours at table, had she,
instead of being awake with the lark, but just finished

her toilet and commenced the irksome duties of

hostess and Queen.
Two hours later, dressed in a short mountain
costume of dark green velvet, she is scouring the
pine-clad heights around the castle, running along
the steep paths with step so light that it sometimes
proved difficult to follow her. She would wander
along the deep arcades of fir and hazel-trees, try to
run as fast as the torrent, and taunt its laughing
waters ; then, when her forces were well-nigh spent,
she would sit down on a well and gather us around
her. Then she would open wide the portals of her
soul, and speak of life and of all the people she had
known and loved. Once I remember she told us
about her first meeting with the Empress Elizabeth
of Austria, who afterwards became her close friend.
^
33 <?
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

" I was newly married and very shy. We went
to pay a visit to the Emperor at Buda Pesth, in the
old castle he inhabits when in his Hungarian capital.
1 was feeling quite miserable at the prospect of
meeting the lovely, brilliant Empress, and I dared
not lift my
up eyes when her husband took me to
her. When at last I did look, I discovered that the
beautiful lustrous eyes were gazing into mine with an
expression of timidity and distress equal to my own,
and we smiled on guessing our common plight, and
at once fell into easy talk. I liked her strange words
and her strange ways, and she came to see me here.

Just imagine, when she arrived at the station and saw

the crowd that was waiting for her, she would not
alight from the train ! She hated fuss, and the King
had to insist. Then when she saw our little horses
—you know the dear yellow creatures that look
exactly like the palfreys of Odin and Thor —she
exclaimed
" am go with those
' I'll go on foot. I afraid to
horses ; I am afraid of driving in a carriage.'
" '
But the castle is a long way off.' . . .

" '
It does not matter.'
" I smiled to see this brave horse-woman terrified
of my sturdy ponies, but on foot we had to go, fol-
lowed by all the people, and feeling quite dismayed
at giving our Imperial visitor such a welcome. Yet
she liked it better than she would have done a
gorgeous train."
After the strolls in the mountain forests we would
34
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
return to the castle, and then the Queen would
assemble us in the music-hall, a lofty chamber,
solemn and peaceful as a cathedral, where she read
verse or prose aloud to us, and made the organ
thrill beneath her fingers. Her ladies in dazzling
attirewould sit in an erect yet dreamy position on
the high wooden chairs, listening till the rich sounds
entered their hearts and made them images of fervour
and rapt attention.
"To-day I will have nothing to do with all the
others to-day I belong to Beethoven," she would
;

say. " Can you understand his remaining so open

"
to human passions when he was so near to God ?
Then after Beethoven had given us the keenest pangs
of his genius, Carmen Sylva would take up a book,
and in her mellow, harmonious tones let stanza after
stanza drop on our delighted ears. And the evenings
of these glorious days were calm and sweet. They
brought us moments Carmen Sylva consecrated
specially to each of us in turn. She encouraged us
to speak of what was nearest to us, our homes, our
family affairs, our hopes and difficulties ; she guided
and counselled us she drew us out so that each in
;

turn could have sworn that the Queen had been

peculiarly touched by her conversation.
Court life and society have such an established
reputation for scandal and intrigue that they seem
beyond redemption, and this much I must admit,
that in Carmen Sylva's entourage falseness, back-
biting and ill-will are ever at work and ever finding
35
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
a new victim. Carmen Sylva is perfectly aware of
everything that takes place around her ; she awake
is

to the slightest manifestation of spite amongst her

companions, but she holds her head high above the
abyss whence the angry murmurs arise, and by dint
of appearing to ignore the presence of evil, she
succeeds in destroying its near effects. She is by
no means naturally of a forgiving disposition, but
her reason and the rectitude of her heart have taught
her that a Queen cannot exhibit rancour without
descending to the same level as those who have
merited her anger. She has achieved a victory over
herself in never punishing an offence inflicted by
jealousy amongst those she loves, but she tries hard
to enlighten the weakened conscience as to its failure
and to punish the guilty only by showing them how
disgraceful are their faults. In acting thus. Carmen
Sylva seems to indicate that she has to deal only with
refined natures and high characters merely a little

spoilt by pride or envy. This, alas ! is not always

the case.
Accustomed to find her own emotions in the pure
domain of spirituality, the Queen imagines that in
inflicting spiritual punishments or granting spiritual
rewards she has done her best towards ensuring
justice. I have often been the mute and amused
spectator of such deeds as have proved the grandeur
of her nature but sorely disappointed those who
expected some material recompense. In the same
manner she would act when displeased. One time
36
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
a young girl amongst the maids of honour had won
from her Royal mistress, who had been almost a
mother to her, marks of disapproval, and I had often
noticed how worried the Queen felt by the conduct
of the unruly damsel. She did not scold but looked
grieved, though this did not suffice to keep the
culprit away from the forbidden ground.
" Oh, I am going to punish her I have found —
such a punishment for her. I am going to be a
wicked, wicked Queen." These words, though said
in mellow tones, made me tremble, as I had never
heard her speak thus, moreover, her Majesty went
about with such a mysterious air that I more than

once begged her to spare my young companion, but

she only went on saying tenaciously to the tune of a
nigger song: "A wicked Queen, a wicked revengeful
Queen." My curiosity and my anguish increased.
I could not discover what the terrible vengeance was
to be or when the dreadful day prophesied by the
" wicked Queen " would come.
And when it did come, oh, shall I ever forget the
humiliation of that hour ! "Here is my vengeance,"
said the Queen, and she raised in her uplifted hands
a large sheet of paper. " A letter," I thought to
myself, " a dismissal, cruel indeed, and harsh," and
tears rushed to my eyes as I thought of the rash
girl, a lonely orphan, who would be torn from luxury
and affection, and sent out again into the dreary
world. I waited in dumb silence.
" I have been sitting up for twelve nights to get
37
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
it ready sooner and make it more beautiful. Look."
And she placed the large paper on was my knee. It

an immense piece of parchment on which she had

daintily painted miniature pictures representing
scenes from the New Testament : these formed a
frame round the text written in golden letters.
" Oh how she will feel the scourge and bitterness
of my wrath," said the Queen, " and how she will
repent when she finds out that while she was giving
me such dire trouble was working for her, I was
I

toiling for the benefit of her soul. This will prove

her greatest treasure on earth. It is the Sermon on

the Mount, the Divine lesson preached by our

Saviour himself. But why do you kneel ? Yes, the
pictures are small, you are short-sighted."
" Very short-sighted, Madam, and I must see
every one of them," and I went on looking at the
beautiful painting and the gilded text. The Queen
little guessed that I was kneeling before her own
beautiful soul that now stood revealed in all its

splendour before me.

Carmen Sylva, who sometimes laughingly calls
herself " Donna Quixota," takes a real pleasure in
humiliating her enemies by the generosity of her
forgiveness. Thus she says " I am not as good as :

I appear, I assure you. I am exactly like the Pope's

mule in that charming little tale of Alphonse
Daudet. The mule only kicked her foe seven years
after he had inflicted bitter injury upon her. I

kick — after seven years' silence and sometimes

38
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROU MANIA
more —but I never kick vigorously. My favourite
vengeance is a very harmless one, I force people to
act as they speak, to live up to their principles ; I

take every word they say for a sincere expression of

their desires. This means some cruelty on my part,
because in our presence they don not only their best
dresses but their most high-flown sentiments. They
give vent to a lot of noble aspirations which are
carefully put aside in everyday life. The most
frivolous young dame pretends she loves solitude,
books, and the company of her husband and children;
the ambitious tell me that they simply desire modest
incomes and a place of quiet retirement when-
; so
ever I am able to do so I give the giddy young
woman an excellent opportunity of looking carefully
after her home and spending studious afternoons I ;

force the ambitious man to content himself with the

joys of the existence whose charms he described to
me." But the Queen makes a great mistake when
she declares herself capable of hurting a human
soul ; this I have never seen her do either by act or
word, and she is absolutely good, good to such an
extent that those who feel really attached to her are

often wont to be more indignant with her equa-

nimity than moved by her unspeakable kindness.
The Queen's constancy to her friends is absolute,
no one can undo her attachments, and she remains
faithful to those she loves even when she has not
seen them for years. One of the great secrets of
her deep affection for —
me an affection which the
39
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Queen has been pleased to call one of the most
fervent in her life — lies in the comprehension I gained
of her peculiar habits of mind. From the very
beginning of our intercourse I understood that the
only means of keeping up the w^arm interest she
showed me lay in the trouble I took to put aside all

personal animosities and never to mention any one

in her presence as having done a bad deed or as
being distasteful to me. She has never been able to
suspect me of a pang of jealousy or fit of ill-vi^ill

towards my equals or my inferiors. For this effort

to resemble her in some way, for the perpetual strain

imposed on my feelings and aversions, I have been
thanked and rewarded a thousand times by the
acknowledgment and appreciation of the Queen.
" I bless you, my child," she said one day, and
she crossed her slim fingers upon my head, " I

bless you because you have never cut off a single ray
of warmth and light that I have poured out of my
heart." And of this I may truly declare that I am
proud, for have I not respected in the Queen's soul
all the errors of her beautiful altruism, all her ideals,
however dangerous I may have found them, however
certain I might have felt that they were being
imposed upon her by impostors and mischief-doers .''

In every life there is generally one predominating

misfortune, one ruling pain in which all other mis-
fortunes take their source, and by which every
intervening pain is fed. The tragedy of Carmen
Sylva's life dates from a day when the winter dawn
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
was about to gild the roof of [the Royal Palace in

Bucharest, The oppressed city was not sleeping, it

felt an infant's heavy breathing lie on its bosom and

the breasts of thousands heaved with fervent prayer, i

All the land was praying that the Royal child might
be saved, and the parents spared the awful anguish
of losing her. And in the room where the first

glimmerings of the March morning penetrated, by

the bedside of her darling the mother knelt and
whispered :
" My God, my God, can'st Thou not
spare me the bitterness of this bitter hour ? I know
that this is Passion Thursday ; all over this land,
with the prayers that go up to Thee for my child's
life, we pray Thee to remember that on this very day
Thou suffered for us and now weep, and wept as I
'wiped the drops from Thy brow as I now wipe them
from mine. Wilt Thou take her from me ? Must
I lose her .? My God, my God, Thy will be done,
~"
and yet, and yet it seems too hard."
And as the mother spoke, the dying child mur-
mured softly :
*'
It is so sweet, so beautiful. Mother
dear. I see a garden and all the gardens I have
loved, all the gardens of this darling land, I see

them .... am so thirsty bring me water from

I —
Sina'ia —
show me the tapering towers of the Cotrocius
—
Church they are like spiders .... I am so happy.
O my darling, darling Roumania " And the child !

went forth into the gardens that she saw and drank
from the source of Eternal Life the cool mountain
water for which she thirsted.
41
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
The dawn had now spread its
red tinged hour of
glory over the bewildered city. The day was indeed a
\ Passion Thursday, and the nation who were mourning
for their God mourned also over the little child they
had loved so well that no other Royal child will ever

reign in our people's heart with the same supremacy

as did " Little Princess Marie." The small vivacious
body, whose lightness and glee had been in the eyes

of all like a sun-ray dancing on the water; the pure

angelic head where masses of golden hair rippled ;

the fragile dwelling of a marvellous bright soul, were

laid to rest on the summit of a hill within Cotrocius
where she had loved to play. There in the
Park,
bosom of the earth, whose slumber is ever lulled by
the distant murmur of the town, a chapel was built
wherein a marble statue reposes showing the rounded
limbs, the small feet whose steps wandered such a

short time in the gardens of life, the eager little hands

which gathered so few flowers among the flowers of
earth. On the grassy mound outside a white cross
throws its straight shadow, and on the shadow of that
cross Queen Elizabeth's heart is crucified. Like the
green mould cut in twain by that shadow, her heart
is cut in twain by the form of that simple cross. Her
bosom bears the load of that stone, and the little

mound of Roumanian soil where her child is buried

rises high before her eyes, higher than the highest
mountain, till it has hidden all the future from her
view.
But, armed with desire to be stronger than the
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
Queen has lived on and done
strength of her fate, the
her duty as from that hour all her hours had not
if

been void of hope and light as if the smiles fond ;

mothers lavish upon their children and receive from

them again did not sink as deeply into her wounded
flesh form of that heavy marble cross which
as the
lies so cold upon her life. She to whom such a por-
tion of human bliss has been denied, has at least
tasted all the savour of heroism and mute despair.
Sometimes it seems to have made her seek the means
of suffering more and more.
" Oh, the first children's ball at which I presided
after her death — scarcely one year after ! Oh, the
music of that ball — my memory.
it whirls yet in
The pattering of the little feet struck on my heart
like a rain of fire. And I held my arms open and
the little children came to me and nestled in my
bosom. Each of them reminded me of her one —
had her way of kissing, another almost spoke with
the accents of her voice yet in each of them I missed
;

her grace, the smile, the vivacity which were her own.
Oh, I was meant to be a mother ! I was created to
create a human creature, to sustain and love a human
soul derived from my own soul. I see nothing in
nature or in living beings that is not destined to be
continued and to love itself in another being born
of its own essence."
We often spent hours, the Queen and I, at the top
of the small hill where the chapel rises, above the
gardens open to the last dying blasts of winter winds
43
 I

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

or the first warm breezes of summer. On such
occasions the (^ueen would silently point out a bench
to me, whilst she stayed beside the mound cut in
twain by the shadow of the cross. The crows
shrieked madly around us, the din of the city mounted
like the murmur of a lazy sea, and the fitful clamour
of bugles and trumpets rose lightly on the air. In
the circular path that winds thrice round the tomb
the Queen walked slowly, looking into her own heart
and unravelling the Past.
'*
To think that I have been that happy woman who
was a mother while she lived. To think I was almost
the same as I am to-day, and I walked towards her
with these same feet that now carry me to her tomb,
that I held her little neck with these same hands that
now stoop towards the dust where she reposes. To
think I was that woman I see in the Past who held
her little girl on her knees and showed her the sun
and the moon and the carriages in the streets —
was that woman, and I did not scream aloud with
joy ! . . . Oh ! I know she is not here — she is

where mystery abides and supreme bliss, and yet

she is here with me, she is in me as much as in
the days when I bore the happy weight of her
unknown sweetness."
Apart from the sadness ever reigning in her soul,
Carmen Sylva is cheerful, while the force and resis-

tance of her nerves is astonishing. She brings to

bearupon everything that comes in her way a most
astounding amount of interest, pity or enthusiasm.
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
In a word, she represents the most constant human
vibration that womanhood may boast of. Her
powers of absorption and production are equal.
When she listens to music
wonderful to note on it is

her face the sensations roused in her soul by the

different instruments till she herself becomes a part
of the harmony expressed.
Most of the Queen's misfortunes have been due
to her ignorance or disdain of the rude realities of
life ;
yet whenever she has had to face them, she
proved a match for circumstances whether dreadful
or pleasant. During the 1877-78 Russo-Roumano-
Turkish war she proved an admirable sister of
charity, tending the wounded with the same care as
the professional nurses who aided the surgeons in the

dreary hospital wards. One bright autumn after-

noon, as we were sitting round the Queen while she
painted some Biblical scene in a small prayer-book,
she was brought to talk of the days when she first

began her apprenticeship as a nurse.

*'
I was at home anxiously waiting for news from
Plevna. All at once some one rushed in and said :

'
They have arrived !
'
'
Who New soldiers
? going to
Plevna No, the wounded, those who have been
.''
'
'

cured and those who must die.'

" I immediately understood that my help would be
necessary. In a few moments I had caused all the
wine that was in our cellars to be taken to them, and
had my own sleigh piled with counterpanes and
pillows and all I could secure in the way of wrappings.
45
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
It was a bitter afternoon. The snow fell in large heavy
flakes as our horses travelled swiftly, and the blast
cut our eager, trembling faces. . . . Oh, the fright-
ful scene that we saw when we reached the hospital !

All the yard was full of carts whence the poor

sufferers were being borne up-stairs — some of them
lay on the steps and moaned — blood was spreading
over the newly fallen snow. Surgeons and nurses
went from one group to the other. I followed them.
... A little later we had succeeded in establishing

a long row of beds in the upper hall, and here I

worked as hard as the others, so that the wounded

soon considered me as a nurse. Rank and eti-
quette were quite forgotten. Very often my dress
was stained with the same blood that had been so
freely spilt on the Bulgarian plains, and my shoul-
ders were often sore from uplifting the heads of
the dying. O poor, poor children ! How many of
them I saw depart ; and while I gently crossed their
hands on their bosoms I would think of the anxious
mothers and wives awaiting them in the snowy vil-

lages afar off and with weary fingers counting the

days of that woeful winter which took so many
heroes away."
While Queen was speaking, the glorious beauty
the
of that autumn afternoon had reached its climax.
All around, as far as the eye could see, light danced
upon the sunlit branches and into the dazzling
mountain wells. A strong perfume came from the
earth and the trees, and the force of the Roumanian
46
 QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ROUMANIA
soil was in that perfume, and while the Queen spoke
it seemed to answer :

" Blessed be thou, O Queen !Can my children

ever forget those days when thou wert a mother to
them ? Wilt thou ever cease to be thy people's
Mother, a Queen beloved amongst all other Queens ?

Blessed be thou for the red drops that decked the

snow-white purity of thy dress, blessed be thou for
the sacred bruises the heads of the dying pressed into
thy gentle bosom. What Queen of the Past or what
future Queen will be through history alike unto thee,
"
O blessed Queen !

4-7
 Photo /'I' /)<>7(';/<f

KING EDWARi; VII. AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA

 KING EDWARD VII

The arrival of a Royal visitor at a foreign Court

is always an event of much importance, especially
if, as in the case of King Edward's visit toRoumania
a few years ago, the illustrious guest be unknown to
the august couple who are to entertain him during
several days. Moreover, the Prince of Wales, as he
then was, had chosen a season when the presence of
foreign Sovereigns at our Court was unusual, and
the problem was a hard one —how to make him spend
his time pleasantly in the summer residence of the
King ? Of course, the usual official programme
would have to be adhered to, but our Queen felt
strongly that the Prince of Wales should be received
with some novel form of entertainment, so that he
might carry back with him a pleasing recollection of
a country whose situation and destinies had hitherto
been so widely different from those of all other
European nations. Besides, her Majesty was always
anxious to spare her fellow sufferers — that is to say
Royal Princes and Princesses — the monotonous pro-
cess of seeing the same festivities everywhere, and thus
gathering from their travels little genuine delight.
51 D
 KINGS ANH QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
On we did not know much about
the other hand,
the Prince of Wales, although we had read frequent
descriptions of his tastes and habits. But as we were
all aware that a Prince's character is familiar only to
those who approach him daily, and that there is little

reliable information to be gathered on this subject

from newspapers and reports, the heir to the English
throne was quite a stranger to us. No one could tell

what kind of entertainment would be most agreeable

to one who had seen half the world, who had visited
India, and spent several months every spring in the

French capital. When asked to give my opinion of

the arrangements made for the Prince's visit I was
much perplexed, and I was reduced to declaring that
to my mind nothing seemed more natural or more
courteous than to pursue the usual course — that is,

to offer his Royal Highness as many excellent

dinners and gorgeous luncheons as he could swallow
during his short stay, show him a fair number of
military pageants, take him for as many walks and
drives through the beautiful forest as he would care
to undertake, and then close the whole series of re-
ceptions by a big party. Moreover, the weather was
sultry, though October was at hand. The Prince
would certainly feel grateful for not being put out
by new arrangements, and would no doubt prefer
the familiar, though monotonous, formalities with
which he had been acquainted since his childhood.

The Queen looked daggers at me as I wound up

by saying that we should probably discover also that
5*
 KING EDWARD VII

we were all incapable of inventing anything new or

attractive enough in the way of theatricals, dances,
or picnics. Her Majesty immediately arose and
declared that, if the heat had deprived us of all our
initiative and courage, she herself was not disposed
to fall asleep or to allow the Prince to find his
sojourn in Roumania dull and tedious. In vain I

argued ; in vain I pointed out that the date of the

Royal visit came upon the day when the Queen
close
was due at the manoeuvres, where the King specially
desired her presence ; in vain did I try to prove how
delighted the Prince would be by the surrounding
landscape, by the wildness of the rocks and moun-
tains under their floods of golden sunshine. The
Queen's face wore a look of determination whose
meaning I could guess.
I did not, therefore, feel astonished when next
morning, a few minutes after sunrise, I was sum-

moned to her apartments. For these early inter-

views the Queen was in the habit of striking a few
notes on the piano, and, as my sitting-room was
situated just above her Majesty's boudoir, I imme-
diately obeyed and ran downstairs. The Queen was
standing in the middle of the room, her face full
of joy.
" Eureka !
" she cried. " Oh, I am so pleased. I

have hit on such a beautiful idea ! And without

your help, too ! On the contrary, you lazy thing,
you tried to thwart and discourage me. But now I
will have my own way."
S3
 "

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

" And what is this marvellous idea, madam, may
?
I ask
" Tableaux vivants."
" Tableaux vivants ? " I repeated, in a subdued
roice, yet in tones of respectful criticism.
" Yes, tableaux vivants."
" But the Prince of Wales must have seen thou-

sands of tableaux vivants in his life."

" Don't be silly These tableaux vivants will be
!

quite unlike any he has ever seen, or any one else

either."
I failed to understand and said so.
" Wait till I explain. The tableaux will represent
a charade, and the initials of the words of the charade
will be our guest's own title
— ' Prince of Wales.'
The subject of each tableau will begin with one of
the letters of those three words. There are thirteen
letters in the words ; therefore you will have thirteen
tableaux, and a fourteenth which will represent the
Prince of Wales himself, or one of his predecessors,
because all the subjects of these tableaux will be taken
from the history of England or from English fiction.
Now go back to your room and let me work."
In the calm solitude upstairs, where I could look
out upon the neighbouring forest, whose dark green
foliage was already reddened by the twofold colour
of the autumn leaves and the sunlight striking softly
down the sloping glades and pathways, my first care
was to take down the two volumes of Macaulay's
" History of England " and cast a glance over their
54
 "

KING EDWARD VII

engrossing pages. But my search, though careful,

was without result, as I could find no personages
who seemed suitable for parts to be played in our
projected tableaux. As I let the books fall upon
the carpet, and was about to turn to some other
occupation, the Queen, whose light tread I had not
heard, appeared at my side, holding in her out-
stretched hands a heap of papers on which her firm,
bold writing had traced something which resembled
nothing so much as a plan of battle.
" Look here Each tableau will represent an
!

episode from one of Shakespeare's plays. See ! All

the initials of the names will form the letters of the
three words *
Prince of Wales ' : Perdita, Richard III.,
Imogen, and so on. Now, telegraph to all the people
who are likely to accept our invitations. Here is

also a list of the people I want you to ask to help us.

Tell them to come to Sina'la by the next train.
There is no time to lose."
" And the manoeuvres, madam ? 1 suppose your
"
Majesty intends to give up the manoeuvres ?
" By no means. I never give up an iota of what

I deem my duty —we shall be able to arrange every-

thing beautifully, I assure you."
" And what says the King ?

" The King allows us to arrange the performance,

but under one condition — rather a severe one. He
must totally ignore our doings ; the official life of
the castle must remain perfectly undisturbed, and
when the Prince of Wales arrives, should he feel at
55
 ;

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

all fatigued, the representation must not be even
mentioned. The tableax vivants are not to be put
down in the programme.
official Dura lex, sed '

lex,' " said the Queen and she sighed softly.

;

I was quite taken aback, not to say terror-stricken,

at these words. If the Prince's curiosity should fail
to awakened, our plans, our labour, which I
be
imagined might prove hard, would be perfectly use-
less, and I vowed to myself that in some way such a
catastrophe could and should be avoided. The great
day was fast approaching. First was to come the
Queen's visit to the vast plain where the manoeuvres
took place. Then the King's intention was to pro-
ceed to Bucharest and show his capital to the Prince
of Wales. Afterwards the Prince was due at SinaYa,
where our grand reception was being prepared.
While the train was briskly carrying us to the field
of the manoeuvres we were — both the Queen and
myself —absorbed in thought, deep and serious in-
deed, but in no way connected with military pursuits.
On one side of the carriage stood the King, sur-
rounded by generals, colonels, and equerries-in-
waiting, expounding the merits of a new cannon or
a new gun. On the other side, but a few steps apart,
the Queen was exchanging with me such typical
remarks as these *' Has Mr. V received his
:

wig ?
" " Miss Z does not hold her head well
and the flower in her hair should be red, not blue."
" We must tell Othello to look just a little bit more
savage."
56
 KING EDWARD VII

A couple of minutes in a swift landau brought us

on to the plain, where bayonets and sabres were
glistening under the glare of the scorching sun.
But neither the sound of trumpets echoing from
hill to hill, nor the mad rush of cavalry, nor the
roar of the cannon could divert our minds from tlieir

preoccupation. Flags waved, shrill commands pierced

the sultry air, regiments were poured like water

from the distant horizon till they reached the landau

where the Queen sat waiting and waving her hand-
kerchief, but we saw nothing before our eyes save
the little theatre where, even during our absence, the
improvised actors were busy. Even when the Queen
followed the King along the pathway opened for the
Royal pair amid the cheering soldiers, the Queen,
without ceasing for one moment to bow and to
appear interested in everything she saw, turned to
me and muttered :
" We have no Falstaff yet. Do
try and discover among your acquaintances some one
who might be a good FalstafF. I am afraid we shall

not be back before evening, but hope they are I

doing their best without us. But it is annoying to

have been compelled to leave the castle on the eve
of such a day. Now, I suppose, we shall be obliged

to sit up the whole night."

Towards twilight the Royal train bore us back to

the castle, while the King proceeded to Bucharest.
Slowly in the soft haze of the evening light we
ascended the steep route a cool wind was rising,
:

and the new-born moon floated in the gorgeous

57
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
autumn Between the station and the castle,
sky.
notwithstanding the pace at which the postillion was
driving his four stalwart horses, we found the road
long, and gave a sigh of relief as the castle, illu-
minated like some fairy vision, at last burst upon
our sight. The postillion sang a wild song, and
joyful greetings came from trumpets and voices to
tell the sleepy mountain forests that their Queen
was returning to them under the rays of the young
moon.
We stop upon the threshold — the huge doors are
wide open — the Queen suddenly arrests her steps,

and an exclamation of amazement and delight falls

from her lips. I follow quickly upon her heels.

The sight she beholds is a glorious one indeed, and
one which I shall never forget. There in the high
hall, where knights in armour form a range of spec-
tators against the gilded walls, all the glory, all the
glamour of the past seems to rise before our dazzled
eyes. There is Mary Queen of Scots, and quite
close to her, heedless of all anachronism, seeing that
she is but the daughter of a poet's dream, there is

Perdita. Here Richard III. stands grim and resolute,

while Shylock turns a friendly smile upon him.
Cleopatra, in gorgeous robes of purple and yellow,
walks hand in hand with Oberon ; the gay group of
the Merry Wives of Windsor round King cluster

Lear, and Cordelia leans upon the arm of Mary

Tudor. In the case of two of the tableaux we have
been obliged to abandon Shakespeare for Schiller
58
 KING EDWARD VII

and Victor Hugo ; thus is explained the presence of

Queen Elizabeth, Mary Stuart, and Mary Tudor.
As " Carmen Sylva " had foretold, we slept very
little that night. When I went up to my room,
instead of seeking repose after the awful fatigues of
the day, I had to sit down and compose the French
verses to be recited before each tableau ; and the
first grey streaks of dawn decked the sky before the
final stanzas were committed to paper. Overcome
by weariness, giddy and dazed, I fell asleep and
dreamed of a vast battlefield, through the expanse of
which a man dressed in glistening red armour rode
at full speed. I awoke to hear bugles and trumpets

sounding a shrill march under our windows. The

troops in the castle were now astir. Already in the
hall my companions, dressed in crisp white muslin,
were awaiting my arrival, and were afraid that I
"
might be too late. " Make haste ! make haste !

they cried " we are soon going to the station."

:

It was even warmer than yesterday the night had ;

brought no coolness. How we pitied the unfortu-

nate Prince, who had to travel and perform so many

wearisome details of etiquette in such a furnace! "It
will remind him of India, perhaps," we said. " Let
us give him flowers and look our gayest ; the sight
of white dresses, joyous faces, and bright flowers may
refresh him."
The arrival of the Prince took place in the usual

manner, to the accompaniment of music, military

salutes, speeches, and official greetings. We were
59
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
all presented to the heir of Queen Victoria, and wc
noticed that he looked courteous and pleasant in

spite of the circumstances. Then we were imme-

diately told that the Princewould lunch and take
tea with the King and Queen, and that we should
see nothing of him before dinner. So we had the
whole afternoon to ourselves, and great was our
delight when we returned to the quiet of our cool
apartments and felt free to taste a few hours of well-
earned repose.
My dog, a beautiful yellow setter, lay stretched
on the carpet at my feet, and my mother was sitting

on the threshold of the balcony, intent on a piece of

dainty embroidery. Ada (that was the dog's name)
did not inhabit the Royal stable, but was a daily
visitor there. We were now, however, anxious to
keep her from running about the staircases and
perhaps meeting the King, to whom her presence
might cause annoyance. But on that particular
afternoon Ada looked the picture of utter laziness
and comfort, and her golden eyes gazed at us with
an air of perfect tranquillity and content. We little

guessed the important part she was to be called upon

to play, and were chatting about the reception and
the Prince of Wales, wondering whether in the end
he wouldexpress any desire to seethe tableaux vivants.
" It is a shame," I was saying, " that the Prince
should be unaware of all the worry the rehearsals
have caused. I am convinced that he would insist
"
on seeing the representation if he only knew
60
 KING EDWARD VII

I had not time to finish the sentence before Ada

darted towards the door, pushed it open, and rushed
along the corridor, followed by our distressed but
vain appeals. " Ada, come back!" we cried " come ;

back instantly " ! We dared not call too loud, because

the castle was plunged in absolute stillness ; but we
followed the truant downstairs, and arrived in time
to see her throw herself down at the feet of a gentle-
man dressed in a plain grey suit, who was smoking
a cigar at an open window, and whom I mistook for
one of the Prince's equerries. The dog began to
overwhelm the unknown gentleman with caresses,
and I must say that her impertinence seemed to give

him pleasure. Suddenly he cast a glance upon us

as we stood panting and aghast before him, and he
immediately took in the situation.
" You want to get this beautiful creature back to
her room, do you not ^ Please let me help you.
Dogs are fond of me, and perhaps even this one will
obey me better than you."
There was so much easy grace and composure in
the tone in which these words were spoken that I
felt startled, lifted my eyes to the stranger's visage,
and recognised the Prince of Wales !

I made a low curtsey. " Miss Vacaresco, if I am

not mistaken," said his Royal Highness " and this ;

is Madame Vacaresco, your mother, I am sure, for

you are so very much alike."
And as I expressed my surprise that the Prince
remembered my name, which he had heard men-
6i
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
tioned only once that morning at the station, he said,
*'
I have an excellent memory — a real treasure for a
Prince. Now, Ada, go back with your mistress.
You must go back ; I am accustomed to be obeyed.
You have seen me, caressed me, delighted me — you
are one of the smartest
young ladies I have met. Is

not that compliment enough ? Now go back." And

with quiet authority the Prince touched the dog's
collar. Ada, as if mesmerised by the words and
action, crept back to her place by our side and
seemed willing to follow us. So we had nothing
more to do but to thank and curtsey, and leave the
Prince to his reverie and cigar. He extended his
hand, and we were on the point of retiring when,
with some hesitation, the Prince advanced again
toward us.
"
There is something I want to say to you," he
said. —
" This is I must call it so a most fortunate —
incident. I see you love dogs. I have a dog here

with me —my little Beatie, whom I call Beatie '

the
Traveller,' because he always accompanies me on my
journeys. But now the poor little thing is an invalid.
Will you come and see him .''
He is lying in my
sitting-room. His paw was caught in the door of
the railway-carriage, and he has suffered dreadfully.
He has had to be left a good deal alone, and he
loves society."
The Prince opened the door of his large, com-
fortable sitting-room, and here little Beatie came to
meet us and make friends with Ada. The animal,
6a
 "

KING EDWARD VII

a charming white lupetto, limped badly, and his paw

was carefully bandaged.
*'
Could you not let Ada stay with him while we
are having tea ? " inquired the Prince.
" Certainly, sir," answered my mother. **
Besides
I can remain here with them, as I do not care much
about functions and official receptions."
" Ah " replied the Prince, " What would you
!

say if you were in my place .^

Beatie was now on my knees, and feeling quite at

home with us. A sudden inspiration seized me, and
I began to talk to the dog. " Does Beatie know
that we have prepared a beautiful series of tableaux
vivants for Beatie's master to enjoy, and that, if
Beatie's master does not express his desire to see
them, the tableaux will not be represented, and we
"
should feel very disappointed indeed }

These words, apparently idly said, seemed to be

as idly listened to, but when, a few hours later, we
saluted the Prince of Wales downstairs, I noticed
that the Queen's brow wore a gleam of triumph,
and she said " You know, my children" (she always
:

addressed her young maids-of-honour as '* my chil-

dren "), *'
the Prince says he has brought a very
clever little dog called Beatie to Roumania, and
Beatie has asked the Prince, *
My master, how are
you going to spend the evening of your first day in
Sina'ia }
'
And this question the Prince has repeated

to me. I suppose you all guess what I have answered,"

The witty and delicate way in which he had arranged
63
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
matters at once made the Prince dear to all the
juvenile party assembled round him.
The famous tableaux vivants proved an immense
success, themore so because his Royal Highness,
who almost from the beginning had guessed the
words of the charade, graciously pretended to be at
his wits' end and completely puzzled. At last the
closing scene brought FalstafF and the Prince of
Wales (afterwards Henry V.) under his eyes, and
the following lines were recited ;

"Toi qui comme ton peuple en buvant dans son verre,

O Prince alligre et sage, O vainqueur d'Agincourt,
Regarde un autre Prince, espoir de I'Angleterre,
Ainsi que toi digne de son amour."

The Prince was deeply moved and thanked me

heartily.
"I will never forget you," said he; "you have
loved my dog, and you know the proverb, Love
'

me, love my dog.' And the lines in which you so

strongly bring out a resemblance between myself and
one of England's most glorious Kings appeal so
strongly to my soul that I should like to keep them
as one of the best omens I have ever known. Please
write them down for me. I must have them written
in your own hand, and I will show them to my
mother and to the Princess; they will both be as
grateful to you for them as I am. You are well
aware, you have heard anything of myself and my
if

character, that these words in my mouth are not idle

64
 KING EDWARD VII

words." In fact, the very next day, during a long

walk we took in the mountains, the Prince more
than once came and walked by my side, me
asking
many questions about my country and my own
pursuits, and telling me a good deal about himself
and his own experiences as a traveller and as a Royal
heir.

"Yes," he said, "I have been a most fortunate

man — heir to a great throne and yet able to enjoy
liberty. I have an admirable mother, an exquisite
wife and charming children, a whole nation — nay,
many nations in one — to love and please. I some-
times wonder how
manage not to become
I selfish

and hard-hearted. I pity misery and want, and

Yet
when I have seen an anxious and worried face I cannot
sleep before I have inquired into the cause of the
poor creature's distress. I catch very vivid impres-
sions when I travel, and I daily write to the Princess
such descriptions of landscapes and people as I can
well cram into a letter of reasonable length. She
keeps these, and could one day make a book out of
my travelling notes. I wish you could see the Prin-
cess. She possesses a soul as perfect as her face,

which you must know is very sweet and beautiful."

How strenuous would prove the efforts of the new
King in the interests of his people, how high his ideal
of a monarch would rise, 1 was able to discover in
the course of many conversations with his Majesty.
" No one can tell," he said, " the vast difference which

the change of position must create between an Heir-

6S
 —

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

Apparent and the Sovereign he afterwards becomes.
I feel persuaded that even my face will change when

I become a king. I fervently desire that the moment

will be long in coming. Iknow I am in many ways
rendering real service to my country as Heir-Appa-
rent. I thus become acquainted not only with the
people of England, but with all the interesting
people abroad. I have learnt the organisation of
every State, and many a foreign politician has de-
veloped his plans and methods and views in my
presence. There is nothing like travelling to form
themind of a Prince, and I have always loved going
from land to land. How your country has reminded
me of India ! The feeling that I shall never go to
India again is very strong within me, and it saddens
me. You cannot imagine, even in your dreams, the
beauty of India and its lasting splendour. My
mother, the Empress of that marvellous Empire,
first

has never visited it, though in her heart she has

often desired to do so."
Then, while the Prince thus spoke, I put a sudden
question which somehow seemed to startle him :

" Sir, dare I ask your Royal Highness to tell me

"
this : are Princes happier than other men ^

"What is your own opinion.-*" he replied.

" Before I answer I should like to hear it."
*'
O sir, I am convinced they are a thousand times
happier, though, of course, grief must come to them
through the same causes as to others. But the cares
of the Crown and the people are not, I am sure, a
66
 KING EDWARD VII

load added to affliction. On the contrary, greatness

helps to bear affliction. Greatness brings with it a
strong desire for life, a keen enjoyment of its cares
and toils."
" You are perfectly right," answered the Prince.
" I do not think that Princes are more liable to feel

grief than other mortals ; nor, indeed, to feel it to

the same extent. You see, if we are really awake to
the calls of our position and its innumerable duties,
we have no time to nourish our emotions ; and then
there is a great consolation in the certainty that so
many share your sorrows or your joys. For instance,
I have on the whole been a very happy man — a per-
fectly happy man yet this does not mean that I have
;

not often mourned and grieved."

These and similar reflections revealed King
Edward's strong and cheerful mind a mind which ;

openly rejects hypocrisy, cultivates gaiety and self-

possession, deems the best courage to be that kind of
moral courage to which every hour and duty of the
day is precious — the highest quality of a Sovereign.

The Prince left after three days' sojourn among

the Karpathians. " I shall never forget you," said
he again, before he mounted the steps of his railway
carriage ;
'*
I shall never forgot your words and their
good omen."
The remembrance of these scenes, to which
memory clings so warmly, was strong upon me when
I saw the King and Queen enter the choir of West-
minster Abbey on the glorious morning of their
67 E
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Coronation. As I stood there and gazed upon the
admirable scene I prayed with fervour for the happi-
ness of both Sovereigns, while the august and radiant
pair received the blessings of Heaven on their bowed
heads, and while the mingled voices of cannon, bells,
and organs were bearing the good news from village
to borough all over the land and beyond the seas.

68
 QUEEN ALEXANDRA
Almost all Europe possess an indivi-
the Queens of
duality of their own, are celebrated for some peculiar
quality which springs up before the mind as soon as
their names are mentioned. Unfortunate indeed is

that sovereign lady who takes her place in history by

virtue of her office alone, who has not succeeded in
winning the real popularity so lavishly accorded a
Queen or Queen Consort of essential beauty or indi-
viduality of character. Whatever may be her official
virtues, her private merit, " for her no minstrel's

bosom swells " : she has no hold on the imagination

of a people.
We accustomed to connect with the late Em-
are
press of Austria her wild desire for liberty and space,
her solitary walks through glades and mountain paths,
her love of the sea and of castles lost amid parks as

wild as those which protected the unhaunted slumber

of the Sleeping Beauty. The name of Queen Eliza-
beth of Roumania can scarcely be mentioned without
its recalling the tall white form of a Royal poet,
awake from early dawn to gather material for her
songs by long gazing on the towering heights of the
69
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Karpathians, that encircle her beautiful dwelling.
Maria Christina of Spain, again, is the sagacious,
prudent Queen, the devoted mother, the resolute
Sovereign of a land difficult to rule. It would, in-

deed, have been impossible to trace a portrait of her

without some touches of austerity had we not found
she presented such a contrast between the smiling
gentleness of her eyes and speech and the iron fetters
which Fate has bound around her, that all we had
heard about her was instantly forgotten in the pre-
sence of the radiant vision upon which we gazed one
summer day at Miramare. Again, the name of
Queen Margherita of Italy suggests at once beauty
and grace. She has become the very symbol of that
sunny land where her first appearance was greeted as
the vision of a fair-haired Madonna.
Some of the younger Royal consorts, such as
the present Empress of Russia and Queen Helena of
Italy, have not as yet acquired a hold of the public
imagination : they do not enjoy the power of em-
bodying a legend. This must, no doubt, be attri-

buted to their youth, and perhaps also to the retiring

nature of both. Yet one of them, the Empress of
Russia, is Princess of the Rhine — a title worthy of
any ballad and one which in itself lends attraction to

itsowner while the second, the young Italian

;

Queen, was born and bred in a poetic ^home

hidden amongst the rocks of the wild Tchernagora.
The Queen Consort of Greece is celebrated for her
boundless generosity to the poor, and the young
70
 —

QUEEN ALEXANDRA
Queen of Portugal for the tender care with which
she tends little children. Her Majesty has, in fact,
given and collected the means wherewith to build a
large hospital, where she spends a few hours every
day, and at times, being herself a clever and experi-
enced physician, even takes an active part in surgical

operations.
Queen Alexandra of Great Britain and Ireland is

celebrated throughout the world for her rare beauty

and for the love which she has been able to kindle
Though a number of
in the hearts of her subjects.

them have the honour and pleasure of frequently

approaching the presence of their lovely Queen, and
even to some extent of sharing her existence, it was
my lot —and one of which I feel especially proud
to become an immediate object of interest and sym-
pathy to her from the very moment of our first
encounter. This interest and sympathy, I am happy

to say, her Majesty has continued to evince, rightly

guessing how deep and fervent a worshipper she had
found in the young Roumanian girl who was first

presented to her on a rainy autumn morning in Queen

Victoria's sitting-room at Balmoral. I remember
how startled I then was to discover that the lovely
youthful face, the luminous blue eyes —blue the as

water of fjords and mountain lakes — the slim form,

and the indescribable grace belonged to one who was
the mother of grown-up children. Her very speech
was full of that glee and curiosity so rarely the ap-
panage of maturer years, since in the autumn of life
71
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the soul loses its eagerness for new impressions and
new experiences.
How charmed the Princess declared herself to be
that day, when she heard we had come to Scotland
for the first time, and with what gracious sympathy
she began to describe the customs of the Highlands.
From one window to the other she led us, pointing
out all the details of the landscape as it lay before us,
clad of purple heather, veiled by thin
in its glory

bluish mists, weird with the magic of unknown,

mysterious influences.
" I can hardly imagine," said the fairy of the land,
*'
that your Karpathians, gorgeous though they be,
are ever clad with such a rich mantle of violet and
dark red, or that your trees can rustle so gently as
ours to the tune of the swift, clear river. But the
Prince has told me of the dazzling sunshine as it

rests on rocks and forests, and how strongly the

colour of the Roumanian sky, the blinding whiteness
spread above its azure depths, reminded him of
India. The Prince always gives me such a vivid
account of his travels that ever since his return
I have been dreaming of your Queen's visit to
England and to us, and, somehow, I was sure you
would accompany her. I know all about you and
about the tableaux vivants in Sinaia. ... I hope

you will like your room here we have paid special —

attention to its situation. As you are a poet you
will delight in the fine view it commands. You will
soon be able, even without going out, to become
72
 QUEEN ALEXANDRA
acquainted with our woods and glens, and perhaps
some day you will give us a description of them.
Oh, if you would write a poem here Doesn't I

inspiration come when you call her, like one of

those tame godmothers we read of in fairy-tales,
who at the touch of a magic wand appear upon
the threshold and scatter jewels and flowers as
they walk ? Oh, please just send a message to
me when you feel disposed to work, and I will
sit by very quietly and watch you, as quiet as a
mouse. I should love to sit by a poet when she is

writing."
" Then I need not wait for inspiration," I replied,
" and I want no magic wand. Your Royal Highness
would represent the fairy, and I would gather the
flowers and precious gems that fall from a Princess's
eyes and tongue."
Although this sounded very like a banal Court
compliment, the Princess's aspect, the bright gaze
of her tender blue eyes, the easy harmony of her
every gesture as she stood there, leaning a little out
of the open window, made a true comment on my
little speech. The voice of the river mingled with
the soft rustling of the trees below, and to me it

seemed as if the sweet feminine vision had risen from

among them to complete the glamour of the hour.
She was gazing far ofi^ to the distant hills, tracing
their curves with hands so soft and supple that no
thought could come of the day when they must hold
the triple sceptre —heavier far than the wand of
73
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
beauty they waved that day over the heaving forests
of the Highlands,
" You will wear your Roumanian costumes to-
night at dinner? " continued the Princess. " I shall

be so glad to see them. We once found a doll at a

fancy fair dressed in Roumanian costume ; but we
could not tell whether the costume was really like

the picturesque garb worn by your peasants."

A few hours later, as we were about to prepare
for dinner,we were having a lively discussion with
our maid as to which among the numerous costumes
—
we had better wear the maid, of course, proposing
the most showy, the one that sparkled most and was
decked the most heavily with gold and spangles- I

had suggested that we should refer the question to

ourQueen, and had written a note asking her Majesty's
advice on the subject, towhichthe Queen had answered:
" I consider the white and silver one is the prettiest
you possess." A soft knock at the door interrupted
our survey of the different belts and aprons. I went
myself to open it, expecting that the Queen had sent
a second note, when I saw a slender form, clad in
a plain, tailor-made blue serge dress. Seeing that I

failed to recognise her in the rather dim light, the

lady advanced into the middle of the room, saying

quietly: " I am the Princess of Wales. You know me
now, don't you .''
I have come to see all your cos-
tumes, and to find out whether you are comfortable
in your rooms, and to watch how you arrange the
different parts of this glistening attire," and she
74
 " —

QUEEN ALEXANDRA
pointed to a large divan on which in splendid array lay
all the pride of Oriental embroideries and colouring.
One after the other the belts and veils and skirts

were handed to the Princess, but when she perceived

that this was no easy task — they were so numerous
—she said :

" Please do not take the trouble of showing them

to me, I will look over all these bright things by
myself —indeed, I prefer doing so, but you must give
me all the explanations I want." And many and
eager were the questions she asked.
" This veil —
do you wear it round your shoulders
"
or on your head ?
" I do not wear it at all, madam ; in fact, I could
not do so. The veil is a symbol, the sign of the
dignity to which a woman rises by marriage, and the
sign of slavery, too. A married woman must cover
her hair — no man may ever see her hair except her
husband. They are very strict about this in our
villages."
" Indeed " answered the Princess
!
;
" but I do not
approve of the restriction —they must look so fascina-
ting with the veil. I suppose that it is a precaution

against coquettishness and vanity. And this belt

"
why, how long it is !

" The village girls wear it twisted twelve times

round their waists."
" Which is the costume you intend to wear this
evening .?

" This one, the white and silver, madam."

75
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
" It is very beautiful indeed, but rather heavy and
gaudy for you," said the Princess, lifting the red
skirts and snowy bodices one after another and
holding them up, with exclamations of amusement.
Then she uttered a cry of admiration, " Oh, how
nice ! Why do not you wear this ? It is so simple,
yet so tasteful. I am sure this coarse red skirt
embroidered with thick yellow flowers, with a gleam
of gold thread seen only here and there, must bear
some charming meaning. There is something in this

costume that appeals to my imagination."

" Your Royal Higness has guessed aright. This
is the costume sometimes worn in our country by the
wandering Tziganes. The rough linen, the coarse
tissue of the skirt were once woven on purpose for
the reckless girls of those strange tribes who may be
seen at sunset lighting their fires before their ragged
tents, which before daybreak will be carried away
by their possessors, who know and desire neither
rest nor settled home. Once upon a time the Tzigane
beauties were accustomed to make themselves look
dainty as they traversed the broad roads leading from
one village to another ; but now they do not care
for any other dress than such as are, like these, made
up of scraps of coloured finery. This garment,
which interests your Royal Highness, is very old
indeed ; in fact, it was found buried in a green wooden
box at the foot of a forest tree some fifty years ago,
and no one can tell how long it had remained
underground."
76
 "

QUEEN ALEXANDRA
" How exciting !
" exclaimed the Princess, as with

breathless attention she followed my narrative.

" Please go on. Is no one aware of the cause that

forced the possessor of the Tzigane dress to bury it

"
underground ^

" No, madam ; on that point legends and popular

imagination are allowed full sway. Some assert

that the damsel who thus concealed her finery did

so from despair — a love affair, of course. Others are
convinced that she had made a vow to abandon all

she held most precious in order to obtain a favour

from the mysterious deities of the Tzigane race.
But, however that may be, I prefer this costume to
all the others. And if your Royal Highness will
deign to look more closely, here in the belt is the
little pocket where the young Tzigane kept a shell,

and here the pocket for her little flute, and there a
pocket again where this small dagger lay."
But what did she keep a shell for
*' .''

" Ah That requires an explanation. Every

!

Tzigane is a sibyl. She reads the future in the stars,

in the summer foliage, in the sound of the summer

streams she listens, and voices heard by herself

;

alone speak to her. But most of all do those mys-

terious voices sing to her in the depths of sea-shells.
Thus no real Bohemian worthy of the name can go
anywhere without a sea-shell. To tell the truth,
madam, I secretly desired to wear this particular

costume at dinner, but on reflection I feared that

it was hardly suitable — it lacks decorum."
77
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
" But what if I forbid you to appear in any other?"
said the Princess.
" I willobeyyou with the utmost pleasure, madam."
So delighted did the Princess seem with all that
was novel to her in our conversation that she prolonged
her visit, astonishing us by her deep knowledge of
English and Scottish popular lore, and giving such
advice about our trip to Ireland as proved how well
she had learnt to know the Green Island which it

was our intention to see.

It was growing late and the Princess still stood

among the Oriental ornaments spread around her,
while the mountain twilight was falling fast in the

small sitting-room, where her figure now formed

the one luminous point.
You must come to Abergeldie, our Highland
*'

home, to-morrow," said she " but first I will tell

;

you all about Abergeldie and the quiet, refreshing

life we Refreshing is the real word to
lead there.
express our autumn stay amongst these dear purple
hills, where we seem to forget completely that we

are Royalties, and only remember the fact when we

discover the pleasure our presence bestows upon the
people here."
But these records of Abergeldie I was destined not
to hear, for at that moment a slight knock was heard
at the door. I rushed to prevent the invasion of an
intruder, and as I pulled the door open found myself
confronted by a footman.
" Hush " said I, without allowing him to speak,
!

78
 QUEEN ALEXANDRA
" The Princess of Wales is must attend to
here ; I

her Royal Highness. Any message you have to

deliver must wait."
But the undaunted footman simply said " The :

Queen desires you to go to her immediately."

" Oh, I see. Then kindly tell her Majesty that
I cannot obey her for the moment, as the Princess

of Wales is giving me the honour of her presence in

my room."
The footman stood perplexed, then made a move-
ment to retire, but the Princess now stepped to my
side.
" You are making a terrible mistake," she said.
" You believe he means your Queen, the Queen of
Roumania, and I know she would be willing to dis-
pense with your company in my favour. But this
man means Queen Victoria. There is but one Queen
— to us, at least, there is but one Queen here, the
Queen of England, and she can brook neither delay
nor excuse, so run quickly." Then, noticing that
the footman had vanished, she added, " Oh, do not
give him time to forestall you. Can you change
your stately Court step into a good run } Here,
give me your hand, I show you the way,"
will

and with a swift, graceful motion the Princess

moved beside me, holding my fingers between her
own till we reached the doors of Queen Victoria's
apartments.
When I found myself face to face with the aged
Queen I could speak of nothing but the Princess of
79
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Wales, and her Majesty stood nodding in pleased
appreciation of my enthusiasm.
" And you have seen only one side of her various

gifts : you should follow her life step by step. For

many years the Princess has tried hard to spare me
the strain and fatigue of great functions. She opens
bazaars, attends concerts, visits hospitals in my place,
and she always gives me such full and vivid accounts
of people and places that I almost seem to have been
present. I sometimes laughingly tell her that she is

a dictionary in which is inscribed every variety of

adjective connected with the words good and 'true.'
' '

However terrible the load which I lay upon her

slender shoulders, she not only never complains, but
endeavours to prove that she has enjoyed what to
another would be a nuisance or a tiresome duty. She
even declares that a Drawing Room is a most enter-

taining sight, and that it does not make her feel dizzy
or distressed when she glances from one face to
another, without ever overlooking one of them. For
my part I must own how interested I felt in my early
youth in young faces and fresh debutantes ; later on
matrons and maturer ladies were the great point of
attraction to me ; and now I do so pity old ladies
who have to wear the three feathers and go through
the tiresome ceremony which, notwithstanding its

irksome length and etiquette, I love to witness, as it

is one of the characteristic English traditions, and

must always remain dear to the hearts of British

Sovereigns. . . . Princess Alexandra holds a Drawing

80
 QUEEN ALEXANDRA
Room beautifully, and I am gratified to feel secure

that, when I am no more, a Queen of England worthy

of England's throne will grace it."

That very evening, in honour of our Queen, a

Highland reel was danced in front of Balmoral
Castle. The spectacle was new to us and somewhat
bewildering. The glare of the torches, whose flames
were shaken by the strong north wind, the loud, gut-
tural sounds that escaped from that group of wild
men, clad in the picturesque costume so often de-
scribed by Walter Scott, sent a thrill through our
imagination as we stood there on the stone threshold
with the illumined hall behind us. Tartans flew
high, andfrom head to foot the wild dancers appeared
to be seized with a frenzy of cadence and clamour.
Our Queen had insisted on getting as near the dance
as possible, and presently, to complete the weird
poetry of the scene, the gentle wail of distant bag-
pipes floated from the neighbouring hills, as if a
chorus of mysterious and invisible beings were send-
ing forth the welcome of the dim Highland glades
to the strangers entranced by their pathetic charm.
A lady, enveloped in a plain grey woollen mantle,
was standing by the side of our Queen. In the dark-
ness, when the red streaks of the waving torches
traced long furrows of flames, I could scarcely discern
her form, and her face was hidden by a grey cap

which descended low on her forehead. The cold was

bitter, but we scarcely felt how sharply the night
breeze blew, penetrating the thin tissue of our evening
8i
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
dresses. We should indeed have felt our light
summer cloaks unable to protect us from the biting
atmosphere had we bestowed a thought upon our-
of remaining entranced, with eyes and
selves, instead

ears intent on losing not a movement or a sound.

Presently that silent lady in grey, whose form seemed
to mingle with the rising mist, glided softly away,
and I had forgotten her when the slender figure again
appeared by the side of our Queen, and, raising her
arm to the shoulders of the Royal guest, wrapped
round her a fleecy white shawl, which I guessed to be
welcome, and which I heartily envied. But I had
barely time to do so before the graceful apparition had
performed for me the same silent kindness. I lifted
up my eyes and recognised the Princess of Wales.
She had no leisure to listen to my grateful thanks, as
her arms were laden with shawls, which one by one
she deposited in the hands of the ladies present. Then
quietly the gentle benefactress resumed her place,
which she left only now and again in order to explain
to us the different meanings of the words and dances-
. . . The tartan flew, the bagpipes moaned and
twittered, the torches spread their flames abroad in
the dark night and the humid scent of the heather
air,

mingled with the smell of the river and the trees.

That moment will remain alive in my memory for
ever.
When we returned to the hall, where the Royalties
had preceded us, the Princess of Wales was seated on

a bench against the white stone wall. Her woollen

82
 QUEEN ALEXANDRA
cap lay on her knees, and she had clasped her hands
around it in a reverie which no one dared disturb.
Then she rose and said :
" Did you not love to hear
those distant bagpipes ? — did it not seem to you as if

upon us from
the spirit of the mountains breathed
afar That was my idea. Oh, try not to forget our
?

Highland songs and dances " And fervently in my !

heart I declared that I could never forget them, and

that one of the impressions of that wild scene which
I should most vividly remember would be the form
of the shadowy lady in grey who stood so long by the
side of our Queen.
believe that amongst the many qualities ascribed
I

to Queen Alexandra the one which she possesses in

the most conspicuous degree is the quality which we
are accustomed to admire in the heroines of history,
whose valour, purity, intelligence, or grace have
attracted the worship of multitudes —a knowledge
which no learning can bestow the secret, the magical —
power of being in sympathy with the souls with
whom destiny connects them.
My destiny it was to meet the Princess again and
again, in widely differing circumstances. In Rome
one day in the gay bustle of a Sunday crowd, when
the scent of crushed flowers and the odour of sur-
rounding gardens rose in the sunlight and blue air,

I met a figure so sweetly wrapped in sadness, so

"
immersed in grief, that the cry of " Mater dolorosa
rose to my lips. No stronger image of maternal
desolation, none more thrilling, could have struck
83 F
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
upon my sight than did the set expression of pain
which paled the lovely vision of the northern fairy
whom I had once seen so smiling, so light-hearted.
Not with the hour of gaiety under the bright splen-
dour of the Roman sky was Princess Alexandra in
harmony that day, but with the hour which is filled

with the dying perfume of crushed flowers — the hour

which had bruised her soul and robbed her of her
eldest born.
Later, again, we met at Marlborough House.
The smiling Princess, the sorrow-stricken mother,
had become Queen, and a new majesty adorned her.
a

Do you
" remember Balmoral " she said. " Do .''

you remember Rome ? And now I am in black

again —
and black would be for ever in keeping with
my thoughts if the people of this land were not so
close to my heart. Then I have the comfort of my
faith ; I have my husband and my children. But,
oh, at first I thought that I should never overcome
my grief ! Then I lost my own mother. We were
not only mother and daughter, but such close friends.
Then Queen Victoria " And in low, subdued
tones she told me of the days of gloom, of the day
that preceded Queen Victoria's death, and the last

hours of that glorious life.

" And I have to leave this dear old place, though
I cling to it as I clung to my title of Princess of
Wales, which I bore through so many happy days.
As Princess of Wales I was a young wife and a young
mother and a young figure to the people, and 1 shall
84
 ;

QUEEN ALEXANDRA
remain to them and to myself the Princess of Wales
long after being a crowned Queen. There is so much
to achieve and to cherish," she continued, " in the
paths of duty and love. And who can deny the
blessings of prayer ^ . . . Now tell me all about
your work — I love poetry. Speak, and I will

listen."
And the moments glided by while I spoke and
the Queen listened ; then again light came into the
beautiful, unchanged face as she unravelled the
skeins of memory, through the melancholy of
till

her tones faith and hope shone like stars amid dark
foliage.
I had completely forgotten how long I had been
there when an equerry or usher stepped forward,
and in a respectful whisper reminded her Majesty
of the hour. " Ah yes," and the Queen rose to
!

her feet, " I have quite forgotten the time. It is,"

and she turned to me, " a deputation from the town

of Chester, which gave me a casket containing an
address of loyalty on the day of our marriage — and
now they come to congratulate us on our accession.
But where are your books which I asked you to
"
bring .?

I pointed to a low stool, and with a swift and

graceful movement the Queen knelt before the humble
volumes.
Oh, thank you, thank you
*'
! I shall love them
you may be sure 1 shall."
And thus I left her. She rose to say good-bye
85
I
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
again, the trembling green shadows poured upon her
form by the great trees encircling her head like an

aureola of emerald, a wreath of hope.

And, though since then I have seen England's
Alexandra again — seen her in the glory and emotion
of that Coronation hour at Westminster Abbey whose
surpassing greatness held enshrined all the hours
of her illustrious existence —that image of the new
Queen in her old Marlborough home remains with
me one of unrivalled beauty and sweetness, an image
harmonious, fair, and dazzling, like the name and
title of the exalted lady whose rank is eclipsed by
virtues as countless as the gems of her crown.

86
 riioto hy C. l'iet'-.ncr, lieiinit

FRANCIS JOSEPH, EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA

 :

THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA

It has been the destiny of few human beings to drain
to the dregs so many varied cups of misfortune as
the present Emperor of Austria. Few men have
known as he has all the troubles that fate may pour
on the head of a chosen victim. Whenever thought
of the venerable sovereign arises within us, wherever
his name is mentioned, it is not the image of his
greatness, not the light of his benevolent smile nor
the clear depths of his gentle blue eyes that appears
before the interior gaze of our imagination. Instead
of seeing him enthroned in a palace, surrounded bv
a throng of adoring nations gathered to greet their
beloved lord and master, we find him encircled by a
crowd of shadows, a funereal throng, each figure
bearing a black urn filled with ashes and tears. Dark
mourning garlands of dead flowers hang heavy on
their brows as they advance with slow and faltering
steps, and Dante on the threshold of Hell
like
questioning the mighty Poet whose white garb was
the only ray in the thick darkness, we murmur to
ourselves
"Whence come these women so sad and so
89
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
distressed ? Whence the wounds and the blood we
behold ? Why does that man whose looks betoken
goodness bear a gap in his side ? And the Royal
Lady who walks not far from him, why has she
stains of blood on her bosom and about her dress,

though her demeanour is free and proud and her

beauty more wonderful than the first dawn of day
upon the sea ? Who is the young man in the glow
of youth whose features are gory and red as the sun
at its setting, and why do we see knives in the air
around him with all their points at his heart ? Who
are they ? And whoform standing out from
is that
the others in the mournful pageant, whose every
gesture betokens a madness as sacred and mysterious
"
as that of Hamlet ?

When our gaze has rested fully on the be-

wildering scene, like Dante again we question the
Past.
" What was their story ? Itmust have been sin-

gularly tragic and thrilling ? Lay your hand on that

lady's shoulder ; touch her long hair that she may
turn her head and show us those eyes in which one
may read all the horror of despair, all the beauty of
heaven and earth. Stay for an instant that other
one, that illustrious sister of Hamlet, while she
speaks to us of the distant land where her beloved
spouse perished at the hands of those who should
have sheltered and protected him. And if, O
luminous guide, thou canst give tongue and speech
to the most mute of all the taciturn throng, let that
90
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
young man reveal the terror of the hour when he
'*
stood face to face with death !

They belong to us, each one of these phantoms.

They belong to the poets, and we alone have the
right to read their hearts. They are ours, and the
greatest creations of our dreams would fall to dust

did they appear in our songs. From the days of

her early youth we have recognised as our own the
radiant Empress who came from the dim Bavarian
forests bearing in her disdainful heart a thirst for
pain and for happiness. She turned her eyes from
all joys but those which nature affords, the rising of
dawn upon the silence-wrapped sea, the noble calm
of high peaks when the last rays of the sun strike
them with purple daggers. And he, the ardent son
of the wild Empress, he belonged to us, he belonged
to the poet who loves brilliant accesses of force and
desire, passionate thrillings of souls ever ready to
court peril. From his mother he inherited a craving

for liberty which conventional restraints turned to

rebellion and desolation. From her came his strong
spirit ever ready to conquer or perish. Even before
his birth it seems as if he were dedicated' to some
frightful destiny whose vengeful power would drive
him to his fate. She herself once compared him
to the son of Thetis and she wept over him in the

same way as the Queen of the Sea wept over her

hero son. In remembrance of her grief she had a

statue of Achilles erected on the banks of the Greek

Sea, where among myrtle boughs and roses Thetis
91
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
lives again in the waves and mourns for ever the lost
warrior and king.
Ah, what a throng of shadows, what a murmur
of sobs and distraught words follows the gentle
Emperor ! Yet his step is firm and his smile as
unvarying as if he heard and saw them not, while
the benevolent light in his blue eyes gains every
heart. Those who approach him say with truth that
he is a very miracle of fortitude.
When, a few centuries ago, the German Emperor
Maximilian fled like a hunted animal from province
to province of his vast realm, ever pursuing a wild
chase with hounds and horn, he was in reality en-
deavouring to escape from his own terror-haunted
soul. He suffered from what we should now call a

nervous complaint only to be relieved by violent

exercise. When Juana la Loca — mad Queen Joan
—wandered all over Spain in her huge black coach
of ebony and velvet drawn by stalwart black horses,
she said she was fleeing from the grasp of death that
she feared would snatch her handsome young hus-
band from her arms. He had long been dead but
her fond madness found relief in the hallucination.
Her son, Charles V., feeling across his life the dark
shadow of his mother's madness, retired to a con-
vent. He thought to escape the dread inheritance
by seeking that comfort and repose that prayer and
solitude alone afford.
Thus many sovereigns of this fated race have fled
before visions and fears that made the blood curdle
92
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
in their veins. Franz-Josef, Emperor of Austria,
has never entertained the idea of flight. He has
not felt the strange desire to carry with him into
the depths of a desert or into the silence of a tomb
the shadows whose wailing voices he
must have ever
in his ears. He bravely and resolutely bids them
follow and even help him as he struggles along in
the path of duty. They sit at his table and dwell
under his roof, never leaving him for a moment,
yet cheerfulness and conviviality reign at his meals
and labour and unwavering attention to the cares of*
State fill his hours. Like an untamed captive,
chained yet unconquered, the Emperor takes a pride
in bearing his misery lightly. He allows no one to
guess how much he when, amid the dazzling
suffers
splendour of Royal functions, he sees the empty
places once graced by the presence of his beloved
ones. What effort must be required, what terrible
strength of will, to bring a smile to those lips which
have been so often pressed to the cold cheek of the
dead, and to those eyes in which the image of death
has so many
times been mirrored Once he was !

indeed happy man.

a Though the mysterious
Empress sometimes deserted his home for even —
before her great misfortune she showed a taste for
—
roaming she would return to Vienna from time to
time and even make her appearance at State balls
once or twice in the year. Upon such occasions
the proud husband never left her side and seemed
happy in watching the effect created on all beholders
93
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
by her beauty. The Empress used to wear her long
hair loose on her shoulders and the young Heir
Apparent, a boy in his teens, notwithstanding the
strictness of Austrian court etiquette and the
solemnity of the occasion, would tease his mother
by stepping on the rich waves of flowing gold, at
which the Emperor scolded a little and laughed
much, while the proud Imperial lady gazed dreamily
on the dancers or went from one noble guest to
another, letting the words fall drowsily from
her lips. For her own particular use she invented
a manner of speaking afterwards imitated by the
Austrian Archdukes and Princesses, which reduced
the tones of the voice to a sort of muffled cooing
sound. The Empress aff^ected this peculiarity be-
cause, detesting the pomp and ceremonial of pageants
and State functions, she declared that was not it

worth while to take the trouble to speak when she

was only permitted to say meaningless nothings.
In private she became less reserved, but the habit of
speaking in a low tone is a family tradition with the
Bavarian Princesses. The sister of the deceased
Empress, Queen Sophia of Naples, whom I saw
lately in Paris, never raises her voice above a whisper,
which peculiarity renders her resemblance to the
Empress still more striking.
Three or four years before I met the Emperor of
Austria at Vienna, had the opportunity of spending
I

an hour in the company of his only son, Archduke

Rudolf, a circumstance which I remember the more
94
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
vividly because it clings to me with the strong hold
which events of our childhood take upon us. I was
then a little girl, occupied by turns with books and
butterflies. Sometimes on a Sunday to reward us
for steadfast obedience during the week our Queen
would invite us —my sister, a few companions of our
—
own age and myself to the royal palace at Bucha-
rest, where we were allowed to chat and play under

her Majesty's indulgent eyes. But on the particular

afternoon of which I am speaking I was alone, I

had been taken to the palace by my governess for

the special purpose of reciting some childish verses I

had composed. Although the heir to the Austrian

throne was then on a visit to our court, yet the
Queen found some minutes to spare for me. She
had been warmly interested by hearing that on
moonlight evenings I used to stroll about the
grounds of our country house and climbing on a
swing sing long ballads to the moon, while the swift
movement bore me high into the air or brought me
down again to the level of the silver bespangled
sward. In vain my parents remonstrated with me
concerning this dangerous exercise. I cried and
begged to be allowed one hour for solitary dreaming
after the twilight had set in, and to this day when
the sense of soft cadence flutters through my soul,

I around me again the balmy radiance of the

feel
evening hour and hear the creaking moan of the
swing as it nestled for one swift second in the top-
most branches of the tree or came down to rest in the
95
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
grass where the moon's rays lay like the wings of a
dove. The Queen was most curious and impatient
to judge of my early inspirations, and I had scarcely
entered her gorgeous apartments than she took my
hand in hers, saying :

*'
Now be a brave girl. You are not afraid of me,
are you ? I want to hear your last poem, the one
about the nightingale who quarrels with the moon
because sheis mute and the nightingale sings with
all

his might to force the moon to sing also."

" Yes, madame, they quarrel all through the
night, but at morning the sun settles matters by
chasing away the nightingale and making the moon
so pale that she hides herself in the sky."
" What a shame both for the nightingale and the
moon " said the Queen. " Don't you pity them ?
!

But I cannot stop long, so please begin," And

swinging myself to and fro in the big chair I de-
livered the innocent speech, the colloquy that on
my childish lips took such deep import. The Queen
seemed delighted. It was a clear day at the be-
ginning of spring. The palm trees in the neigh-

bouring conservatory seemed to gasp for a breath of

the fresh air that brought perfume and coolness from
the garden. " Stay here a moment," she said. "I
am going to find something that will give you plea-
sure. go and fetch it
Stay here while I for you from
my dressing-room." was well acquainted with
I

her Majesty's apartments and felt pleased whenever

the opportunity was afforded me of wandering
96
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
amongst the costly furniture and precious objects
they contained.
" Please don't touch my desk nor approach my
writing table, but you may run about till I return,
and then —then I will show you my parrots. One
of them is such a queer, weird bird. He mopes and
frets from morning till night. He is a beautiful
creature, so gaudy and yet so prim, with plumage
like stained glass. He seems to hate every one. I

call him the unlucky parrot. You shall see him and
all my other birds."
The Queen was gone and with thoughts intent
upon the cheering promise I crossed the long music
gallery that looked dark and severe because the
folding doors opened into the green conservatory
where the huge palms longed in vain for liberty to
sigh and wave like the happy trees in the garden.
Suddenly the sound of breathing caught my ear. It
was regular and loud as if the bosom from which it
issued were oppressed or very full of air. I entered
the conservatory and my light step did not disturb
the unknown, who was reclining in front of me in

one of the easy chairs under the quiet palms. His

arms hung lazily and his hands seemed almost to
touch the stone pavement. His image rises before
me as I saw him then, his face set in an expression of
firm resolve and nervous restraint. His was one of
those faces to which even a smile brings no relief.

His head was upturned so that I could only perceive

the close reddish beard round his cheeks and chin.
97
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
How thrilling and terrible appears to us, looking
back into the past, the moment when unwittingly we
broke upon the solitary reverie of a being whose
story has since been steeped in blood, to reflect that
perhaps we disturbed their silent converse with self
just at the time, the exact second when some glimpse
of the future might have risen before them, when
some voice from the depths of the abyss cried
" Beware " !

These reflections which lead me now to consider

that day with awe and solemnity did not trouble the
happy young girl who listened under the palm trees
that clear afternoon in an atmosphere of peaceful
luxury and magnificence. I was then myself on the
threshold of life and could not understand all the
pathos which in after years was attached to the
memory of the Archduke. To-day the graceful
presence perceived that day in the royal palaoe at
Bucharest is illumined in my mind by the flickering
light of the candle placed on the fatal supper table
at Mejerling, in that small hunting box — since
become a cloister where pious nuns pray day and
night.
When remember the slender nervous fingers that
I

played with the arm of the garden chair, I cannot

repress a shudder at the thought that, destined to
hold a sceptre, they should have been so early lost
in the folds of a shroud.
At first I was taken aback and wondered what
would be the consequences of my intrusion, and who
98
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
the young man was who made himself so much at

home with the chairs of the Queen's conservatory.

At last I made up my mind what to do and coughed
lightly. The sound made him start a little, and
then I said abruptly, " I want to see the parrots,
that's why I came in." The stranger looked so
supercilious and so thoroughly at his ease that I

wanted to make him understand that my entrance

had nothing to do with him. To my astonishment
he paid me such scanty attention that I mentally
dubbed him a monster, and took a dislike to him on
the spot, for I was accustomed to have great atten-
tion paid to my dishevelled hair, rosy cheeks, and
boisterous speech.
'*
Oh, the parrots. They are not far from here,
judging by their screams." These words, uttered in a

soft yet distinct voice, fell lazily from the full lips.

The man who spoke allowed each syllable to escape

languidly as if he disdained his own thoughts and
words. Then, closing his eyes, he gave a half yawn
and sank back to repose and My indignation
reverie.
knew no bounds. Who was this fellow How dared ?

he lounge in a place where the Queen might at any

;v
moment make her appearance ? How dared he dis-

parage her parrots .? But soon I should be revenged,

the Queen would come directly, and then my fine

gentleman would have to rise and ofFer apologies,

while I should be present at the scene. He should
see how the Queen treated me and the parrots, he
should learn to respect me.
99
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
iVIcanwhile, a terrible obstacle lay before me. He
had pointed to the place whence the screams of the
birds proceeded, but he kept his legs stretched across
the floor like two rods of iron. They looked hard
and unyielding, and in order to cross the small space
between himself and the table I should either have
to ask him to draw his legs back or else to jump
over them. I was on the point of accomplishing this
ungraceful act when the Queen came to my rescue.
Now, I thought, he will leap to his feet, implore for-
giveness, humble himself by proffering excuses
Alas ! certainly he made a movement which evinced
some vague intention of leaving his chair, but he
showed such poor alacrity that the Queen had time
to interpose, saying, with outstretched arms: "Please,
please, dear Rudolf, do not disturb yourself. I am
so pleased to see you enjoying half an hour's rest.
You love my dear palm trees, don't you ^ We will

have tea presently. First, I must take this little girl

to see the parrots. Do you know that she is a poet,

this child ? " This time the languid eyes quivered
with an expression almost of disgust, and the Arch-
duke turned his head away. But the Queen con-
tinued, " She is such a chatterbox, a fit rival for the

birds there, and so gay."

*'
That's right," he said, in the curious voice that
seemed to soothe and prick by turns. "That's
right. I love gay women. Oh dear, how tedious
some women can be ! You cannot imagine. Women
bore me to death when they are not laughing or
lOO
 "

THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA

singing. As a matter of fact, are they good for
anything else ?

" For a great many other things," answered the

Queen. " But let us away, dear child, because I

must soon return for tea."

At the further end of the conservatory a small
fountain, hidden among a forest of trees, gave forth
a low gurgling sound. The gorgeous birds in their
golden cages flapped their wings and shrieked with
joy on perceiving the Queen. They were indeed
beautiful, these prisoners, and their splendours made
my young eyes sparkle with delight. One of them
bore on his back shades of tender grey intermingled
with rosy streaks, another was all yellow with a red
collar round his neck, a third seemed as if bespangled
with gold with a bosom like the rainbow. The per-
fume of tropical seas and islands, the gladness that

descends at morn on the forests and the wilds in

regions unexplored save by our fancy, the entrancing
colours of exotic skies hovered about the place, and
the birds filled the air with screams and clamour.
" Here is the unlucky bird," said the Queen.
" He is a ridiculous yet pathetic figure. Colonel
Voinesco brought him from Brazil. He was born in
freedom, and I suppose he detests us for keeping
him here." The parrot before which the Queen had
stopped was smaller than the others, but far prettier.

His plumage was blue and green such deep green —

and intense blue that it glittered like lightning in
dewy grass. On his small, well-poised head he had
lOI G
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
a huge tiara of blue feathers which moved to and fro
and swung like the swift gleam of a knife blade. His
jet-black beady eyes darted a hostile look at us, as
with ruffled wings he silently retreated to the bottom
of his cage.
" Do look at him," said the Queen. " What would
he not give to be able to bite us if he could, if only
some one were to open his cage and touch him, but
his beak is so sharp he might give a bad wound, and
no one cares to make the experiment. No one
"
dares
" Indeed Does no one dare
! How foolish " It .''
!

was the mellow yet caustic voice of the Archduke

that pronounced these words with an ironical inflec-
tion lurking under the purring tones. We turned
and saw him advancing briskly towards us. His
movements showed extraordinary harmony and grace,
and his bounding step seemed hardly to touch the
ground. There was something airy, almost weird,
about his figure and bearing, and I have never been
able to forget the pleasure I experienced at the sight
of the admirable contour of his form.
Cautiously the Archduke crept to the other side
of the cage, and the Queen gave a scream almost of
terror when she saw him open the cage door with
one swift movement and plunge his fingers in the
parrot's glittering feathers. The slow caress lingered
voluptuously in the warmth and colour of the close
plumage, and the bird seemed as if caught in the
power of a spell, remaining motionless while the
I02
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
slender hand travelled to and fro over his glorious
wings and shoulders. All at once the bird turned
his gorgeous little head to bite, but almost as sud-
denly he unfolded his wings and sounds of distress
issued from his struggling bosom. The Archduke
laughed — a low, rippling laugh. " Ah," said he,
*'
I'll not kill you this time, you cantankerous little

beauty. But this will teach you to be less treacherous.

Parrots are like all other creatures, one has to be
always on one's guard with them." And then we
saw that while he was playing with the bird he had
kept his thumb and first finger round the parrot's
neck, so that at a moment's notice he could have
mastered and even strangled it.

The Queen often spoke of the Archduke's pene-

trating intellect and strong qualities of sagacity and
prudence ; moreover, she used to tell us how well
versed he was in every language spoken in the vast
empire which was one day to be his. Later, when
the heartrending tragedy of his untimely death lent
a new interest to his personality, many tales were
told about the ill-fated young Prince. But to me
he has remained pictured as I saw him that day
under the lofty palms, lost in languid and melancholy
thought, while maybe even then the grim future
rose before him in the blue atmosphere of that spring
afternoon.
The Emperor of Austria was still in mourning for
his unfortunate son and heir when I gazed for the
first time upon his dear mild features. From the
103
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
very windows of the Hotel Muntsch, where the Em-
peror came to call upon our Sovereigns immediately
they arrived in Vienna, the chapel, or rather the wall
of the chapel where the Archduke was buried, could
be seen. While our King introduced the ladies and
gentlemen present one after another the Emperor
had to keep his eyes from straying towards the
familiar spot, the Church of the Capucins, beneath
which lay the vault full of coffins.

On reaching the spot where I was standing the

Emperor politely exchanged with me the unvarying
formula on such occasions. " Is it your first visit to
Austria ? Do you like Vienna ^ I hope so. . .
."

But my thoughts were running wild, traversing the

narrow street, and I wondered if the Emperor's mind
followed the same track. His slim figure, as supple
and well-knit in its pure white uniform as that of
any young officer in his army, reminded me of the
flexible grace I had once observed in the figure and
walk of the dead Prince. Again, there was a striking
likeness between the father's withered hand, with its
long delicate fingers, and the youthful hand which
I had seen resting on the parrot's bright plumage
dallying with the bird's life. But the father's eyes
were light blue, so clear and soft that no trace could
be found in them of those greenish orbs where light
and shadow had mingled like the dark forms of
ships passing in drowsy haze at night.
The Emperor spoke again. " Have you visited
any of our monuments at Vienna yet .'' " and I could
104
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
not help expressing my thoughts in words :
" Yes, 1

have seen the Imperial vault. But I went to see the

tomb of the poor young King of Rome, the Duke

of Reichstadt, I mean. His was such an unhappy
fate, though scarcely more unfortunate than that of
his father."
" Kings and Emperors must be unhappy because
they are human. I do not mean that they are more

unhappy than other people, but their position forces

them to endure many things which add to their
common sorrows. When you go to Schonbrunn be
sure to visit the Duke of Reichstadt's apartments.
. .
.'*
The voice had not faltered, nor the gentle
eyes lost their calm serenity, as I uttered the impru-
dent speech I would have given worlds to recall, but
the slender figure trembled and the thin hands were
clenched.
It is an extraordinary coincidence that I should
have been brought into touch first with the Arch-
duke, afterwards with the Emperor, and later still

with the Empress, in circumstances rendered similar

by the fact that they came upon me unawares and in

such manner that I failed to recognise them. How

this happened with the Emperor and later on with
his Consort I will now relate. ... On our return
from a long journey in Germany, the Queen, my
sister and myself again stopped for a few days in

Vienna, where '* Carmen Sylva " had given appoint-

ments to many of her relations and friends among the
Archduchesses. Moreover, a drama written by the
105
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
royal authoress was on this occasion to be handed to
the actors of the Imperial Burg Theatre. The
Queen was travelling in the strictest inco^nito^ but
scarcely had we reached the hotel and finished lunch
than her Majesty said :
"
must make haste and
I

dress. We are going to Schonbrunn. This time I

have made it a point of honour to forestall the
Emperor. He is always so kind and polite that he
calls upon me directly he knows of my presence in

Vienna. I want to be beforehand with him for once.

Order a carriage now and I will be down in ten
minutes."
I was pacing the long hall of the hotel, waiting for
the Queen and watching the ebb and flow of travel-
lers whose faces I could not well distinguish because

of my short sight and the half twilight, when all at

once a gentleman walked up to me and, lifting his
hat, politely said, pointing to a tray on the table at
my side where he had laid a card :
" This card is for
the Queen of Roumania ; will you see that it is taken
up to her Majesty directly .? I hope you have had a

good journey."
*'
It is of no use to send the card up now. The
Queen would not receive any one. She is in a great
hurry. She has made a wager with herself that she
will call upon the Emperor before he has time to
come to the hotel. Of course she will win, because
the Emperor could not come at such short notice
unless he has the fastest horses in the world and any
amount of energy."
1 06
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
" Maybe he has both," answered the gentleman,
whose lithe figure, dressed in a plain black coat,
seemed to have the vigour and grace of youth, but
whose visage I could not see as his back was turned
to the light. He went on :
" But what would you
say if the Emperor were even more fleet-footed than
his horses and had come on foot from the Burg to
"
see the Queen ?
" Impossible at his age and in such a crowd. Why,
every one would recognise him and gather round
him. He is so much beloved by his people —and you
cannot imagine how much our Sovereigns like him."
" So you think that every one would recognise
"
the Emperor .?

" Of course — even I would anywhere, at any

moment. His face is not a peculiar one, but he has a
remarkable expression of kindness, and it could never
happen that I should have the pleasure of conversing
with him without knowing who he was, as I once did
nephew and son."
in the case of his
" Don't be so sure when you say never.' The '

Emperor is very keen on giving pleasure. There is

nothing he enjoys more. But I must take leave of
you. May I venture to ask you to carry that card
yourself to the Queen } I am very anxious that
her Majesty should have it at once. Good-bye."
The charming gentleman stretched out his hand to
me and vanished amid the crowd of travellers. I

saw his tall, supple form cross the threshold and

mingle with the passers-by.
107
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Turning to give effect to his wish I took up the
card and read the simple inscription
in French :

" L'Emp6reur d'Autriche, Roi de Hongrie." The

Queen's defeat, my own adventure, the Emperor's
pleasant manner and voice all tended to give me
wings as I flew upstairs. " Too late, too late !
" I

cried on perceiving her Majesty who stood with

bonnet and gloves on. " The Emperor has been
here. He gave me his card himself. I actually
talked to him and he knows that your Majesty
wanted to prove yourself even more courteous than
he."
"Still, we must go to Schonbrunn all the same,"
said the Queen.
Next day we went down into the Imperial vault,
where cofiins of every shape and size stand thick ;

some of them are of simple appearance, bearing on

their massive silver lids merely the name of the
dead Prince or Princess inscribed on a slab of reddish
copper. But the Empress Maria Theresa, the
Emperors Joseph II., Ferdinand, and many other
potentates who have ruled the nation, repose in big
silvertombs ornamented with crosses, angels and
garlands. Around them sleep the children they
nurtured and loved. Against the wall we saw the
plain glittering coffin in which the remains of the
Archduke Rudolf are enclosed. It differs from the
others in the fact that it is always covered with
wreaths of flowers. The difference between one
recently dead and those of an earlier period is also
io8
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
marked by the ever burning lamp which sheds a
hesitating golden light on the dull grey metal.
Nowhere could the soul be more deeply impressed
with the power and solemnity of death than beside
that heavy silver case. Nowhere does the human
tongue whisper in tones more awed and low " If he :

could but speak, he who now sleeps for ever in his

tomb of triple metal ! If he could speak, what
might he not relate, what mysteries might he not
unveil ?
" A few paces away, on a coffin now
blackened by the dusty fingers of time, a thrilling
inscription rivets the eye " Here lies the Duke of
:

Reichstadt, Archduke of Austria, son of Napoleon I.

and of his spouse Marie Louise, Archduchess of
Austria and Duchess of Parma." Stronger than
the tie of blood the relationship of a dire fate links
together across the abyss of years the mysterious
Rudolf and this lonely child, the sole love of the
Giant Warrior, the mighty conqueror who fell from
such giddy heights.
Last month I spent half an hour in the Capuciner
Gruft, as the Imperial vault is called in Vienna.
By the side of the Archduke now rests his mother,
and the same soft lamp glimmers above both coffins.
Garlands and ribbons lie at her feet. My heart
bled within me at the sight and I said aloud: "This
is no place for thee, for such a lover of all that was
bright and fair upon earth. Alas for thee, O
wandering Empress, to be laid here in darkness !

But for thy soul which now perhaps floats through

109
 "

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

gardens more beautiful even than those which thy
fancy traced upon the edge of the Grecian sea, I

could weep to behold thy remains imprisoned in this

gloomy spot where the dust of the high and mighty

keeps aloof, disdaining to be contaminated by the
touch of Mother Earth, mouldering and crumbling
to ashes without paying to Nature the tribute of
fertilisation which is her due. Alas for thee !

As I spoke my
though subdued, created a
voice,
strange lugubrious echo in the dank atmosphere that
hangs over the dead, and the day when I had met
the Empress rose before my mind, a day in early
March at Wiesbaden. I had started from my hotel
to pay my respects to H.R.H. Princess Christian of
Schleswig-Holstein, Princess of Great Britain and
Ireland. Her daughters, the Princesses Louise and
Victoria, had kindly invited me to tea, but when I

got downstairs I found on looking at the clock that

I had an hour to spare. To pass the time I

strolled out into the street. By-and-by I got into

a long avenue leading out of the town to a plain
with a charming little forest where the fresh gusts
of the breeze brought me the first whiff of green
verdure. But spring had not yet arrived, and the
trunks and branches, bereft of foliage, stood out like
dark threads against the light grey sky. Though
the Rhine was invisible yet the landscape bore that
look of fluidity and freshness which marks the
neighbourhood of a great river. So charmed was I

with the light colouring of the sky and landscape,

I lO
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
with the timid efforts of the breeze in its endeavours
to hasten the coming of spring, that I did not notice
how far I had walked nor how near the time was
approaching for my visit to the Princesses, and when
I turned to retrace my steps I found to my despair
that I had completely lost my way. There were
more than twenty footpaths and it was impossible
to tell which led back to Wiesbaden and which to
the Rhine and the bridge. At this juncture a lady
made her appearance on the other side of the road.
She was very tall, and wore a plain grey dress that
clung closely to her slim figure. A huge feather
fan, black and glossy, hung down from her wrist.
In her other hand she bore a white parasol to which
her black sailor hat was suspended by an elastic so
that the hat trembled and danced at each step she
took. She stood still not far from me with her
head uncovered, revealing hair so fine, so silken,
that notwithstanding the thickness of the tresses
piled on her head they seemed as light as vapour

touched by the sun at sunset, as if composed of

nothing more substantial than air and colour.
She made a gesture of brusque protestation as 1

opened my lips to speak.

*'
Pardon, madam," I said, " but I have lost my
way. Could you tell me which of all these roads
and footpaths leads back to Wiesbaden ? I want to
return to the town."
"And you are going towards the Rhine," she
answered.
Ill
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
" Thenmust be the attraction of the water, the
it

voice of the gay Dryads, that calls me."

*'
The attraction of the water ?
" she repeated. '*I

am a slave of the Dryads, and the Nereids too. I

should like to live and to die among them," Her

voice, her presence, her every gesture was sad and
restless. She lifted her huge black fan and held it

across her face, the feathers almost kissed her eyes,

and in those eyes I saw lights and shadows pass. . . .

" Go that way," she said. " / shun cities, and I wish
that I could turn my back for ever upon all the
cities of the world." With these words she passed
through the bare trunks of the trees towards the
river
A few minutes' brisk walking brought me back to
the town, and I hurried on to the hotel where I

passed a delightful hour with the kind and clever

Princesses. After tea as we were sitting in the broad
window whence we could see the passers-by, Princess

Victoria said :
" Quick, quick, take your eyeglass.
Look, there Empress of Austria. That tall lady
is the
in grey " I saw the unknown lady I had met in the
!

forest, who was now passing amongst the crowd, her

black hat shading her whole visage.

The Empress never learnt my name though she
afterwards showed a special interest in my work.

She kept up a regular exchange of letters with our

Queen — not, it is true, the easy correspondence which
becomes an everyday intercourse between friends,
but whenever the Empress found a flower, a stone, a
1 12
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
passage in a poem which thrilled her, she sent the

cause of her emotion to the Queen, and in like

manner the Queen apprised her of any discovery she

made in the field of literature, art, or sentiment.
Thus the Empress was the first to appreciate the
collection of Roumanian songs, and immediately on
receiving an early copy she wrote " Send me as :

many of these ballads as you can. Do not take the

trouble to copy them out for me, send me the
originals with the mistakes and corrections, and keep
the good copies for yourself and Helene. I call her
by her name because I like it. It is a Greek name
which means beauty and strife."

Among the many shadows which haunt the aged

Emperor's footsteps hers is the sweetest and the
grandest, and her name, like the Greek name she
loved, has already been inscribed on the pages of
history as meaning Beauty, Grief, and a fierce desire

for Space and Liberty.

"3
 PItoloby Keichard i.~ Lindner, lierlin

EMPHROR WILLIAM H. OF GERMANY

 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
If to speak of oneself, and to cause oneself to be
spoken of, on every possible occasion suffices to make
a man great, then the German Emperor is a great

man. If to handle every instrument, to dabble with

every art — possessing the conviction that one under-
stands them better than those who have applied both
time and mind to their technique suffices to con- —
stitute him a genius, then William of Germany is a
genius indeed. If to startle and shock public
opinion, and even at times to dominate it, can suffice
to proclaim a monarch more powerful than any other,
then the German Emperor is the most powerful

monarch of the day. If to be an admirable artist

it suffices to display or put.into force as many original

and incoherent ideas as possible, the German Emperor
is an admirable artist. Finally, if to be a hero it

suffices to hold complete sway over the imagination

of millions, the German Emperor may well boast of
being the ideal heroic personage to whom all turn in
wonder and admiration and he must take pride in
;

the conviction that he possesses worshippers and

detractors as numerous and untiring as the waves of
the sea.
117
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Upon the horizon of contemporary events his
strange, aggressive silhouette stands out erect and
clear. In a century where each individual seems to
have seen and known everything and everybody, he
yet remains amongst the few personalities whose
names create a sensation when one can say :
" I have
actually seen him, I have spoken with William the
Second." The perpetual transformation of his various
attitudes of mind as of his costumes has perhaps
helped to make him more popular even than his other
characteristics, which are always extraordinary, though
they appear natural because they are his. Proteus
alone in the realm of mythological lore, and Shake-
speare in the domain of creative emotion, had hitherto
accustomed us to the wonderful changes which may
be wrought in human souls and bodies in one brief
moment. But whereas Proteus, who became in turn
a stream, a living flame, a tempest, and a wild beast,
was meant to incarnate the subtle power of the natural
elements and whereas Shakespeare represented in
;

the varying moods of his characters the symbols of

our destiny, the Emperor's intentions are neither so
subtle nor so deep on his appearance thrice a day in
three diverse uniforms. He belongs to an age when
rapidity of action is deemed a virtue, and his chief
wish is to stand as the faithful image of his time.
How many kings, queens, heroes, or heroines are there
who, like Mary Queen of Scots, still hold sway over
the imagination, whose memories from the darkest
depths of bygone ages still arise to thrill us with the
ii8
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
grandeur and the sadness of their fate ! How many
yet rule the imagination of poets and philosophers,
and can never die while our interest, our pity, or our
worship keep them alive ! William of Germany
wishes, like these chosen few, to survive in the memory
of his people.
In every way and in every sense of the word he is

ambitious. And his larger ambitions are fair and

pure, although at times some may border on petty
vanity. But how often does he cast a glance into
the future to challenge that mute crowd called pos-
terity, how many times does he whisper to himself in
the silence of his sleepless nights " Shall I be among :

those whose memory is ever remembered and ever

revered ^ Will my deeds be recorded in the same loud
tones in which my speeches and commands are
uttered .''
" Of course no one can tell what William
the Second thinks in these matters, but what may be
safely asserted is that thought or fear of death never
enters his soul. He lives in the security that he
cannot die.

I never fail to read his innumerable speeches,

because of the utter candour for which they are
remarkable. The author has perfect faith in
himself and in his infallibility, and this he proclaims
in every word. In order to enjoy them the more
completely, I recall the days when I was present to
hear the Emperor utter his pompous or his simple
phrases. I see again his imperious glance, his firm
mouth and clenched fists, I hear his voice as it falls

1
19 H
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
with the dry sound of an iron hammer upon each
syllable. The strong assurance that he cannot in any
case be interrupted must always endow an orator with
a firm grasp of his own sentiments and those of his
audience. In this mastery the Emperor revels, and I

believe that when all his speeches are collected and

published in one enormous volume, the literature of
the world will be enriched by a masterpiece of self-
reliance and didactic eloquence. His mystic and
warlike rhapsodies are as complete, as violent, and
as great in their way as the sermons of Bossuet, the
dreams of Shakespeare, and the famous love-letters

of Mademoiselle de I'Espinasse. But, unlike Bossuet

before the mortal remains of Louis XIV. saying :

*'
My brethren, God alone is great," the Emperor
ever says :
" I alone, I am great, O my people."
Notwithstanding these strictures and any to be
made hereafter, I sincerely hope that my readers will
discern that I am an admirer of the German poten-
tate and hero — for he is a hero, and this all but
unique quality will suffice to place him far above
every living sovereign of our day. He is a hero,

and in his desire to remain a hero he knows

neither rest nor fear. All who follow his career
step by step must allow that in the warmth and
accomplishment of this desire lies the secret of his
force. For the achievements of a man must appear
heroic and sublime when he not only does his best

and his utmost to attain his ideal every hour of

the day, but when wt see him breathe as freely
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
and as eagerly the cold air of the high summits
on which heis placed as if there were on his shoul-

dersno weight of an imperial mantle. Every one

must allow that a hero who draws continual
heroism out of the smallest actions of everyday exist-

ence is a poet worthy of the name though uncon-

scious of his calling. He may be said to be the
wealthiest amongst the wealthy he tastes a joy ;

that others will never know, since that art which

caused Leonardo da Vinci equally with Caesar Borgia
to pursue and attain the pitch of real emotions, to
learn and teach the pleasures of eternal pursuit, the
Emperor of Germany possesses in its entirety ; and
in this respect he may be said also to resemble the
manly heroes of the Italian Renaissance.
Each of his intellectual gifts is inherited from
his mother he is likest his father when in a
;

gracious mood and boyish in words and bearing.

It is necessary to make occasional reference to
mythology in describing him, because he forms a
parallel to the ancient myth that represents Phaeton,
whose father Apollo entrusted him for a whole day
with the glorious duty of driving the chariot of the
sun along its golden pathway. Like Phaeton's
chariot, the one that William guides with hands and
eyes unmoved is fiery and magnificent, but over the
taut stretched reins his nervous fingers are closed with
a sure grasp, and the firm gaze of the imperial sun-
god is not abased before the brilliant rays which con-
centrate their fierce light upon him. In the history
121
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
of nations as of individuals mankind is divided into
two classes : on one side are the sowers, on the other
the reapers ; there are those who toil and dig and
those who gather and enjoy. The German Emperor
is a reaper, an eager, hopeful reaper, who leaves not
a sheaf unturned, not a grain in the furrow behind
him. The double images above his head, images of
the sower, the grandfather who always smiles, and of
the stern Count who always frowns, have been unable
to deter him from the pursuance of his self-set task.
What land does the German Emperor not know ^

under what sky has he not passed what town has .''

not received him with flags and honours what .''

historic city has not acclaimed him ? He has roamed

in the Holy Land, has heard the muezzin call from

Egyptian towers, watched the violet twilight die in

the northern skies, and for him the palm forests of

Arabia have lulled the moon to sleep among their
branches in the softness of an oriental night. He
has stepped into the dusky coolness of learned and
worm-eaten universities, and basked in the pagan
beauty of Florence, Sicily and Naples. He has lin-
gered among the divine marbles of the Parthenon,
and the eternal divinity of their form and grace
lives in his soul. Rome him as he
has watched
passed through her streets and suburbs away from
the din of the city. In Europe one land alone he
has forgotten, the land that is dear to me because it

is mine. It is an extraordinary fact that in all his

wanderings the German Emperor has never returned
I 22
 —

THE GERMAN EMPEROR

the numerous visits paid him by the Roumanian
King, never even sent a representative of royal blood,
though he has at all times been aware that he would
be a welcome guest to this country. . . .

The German Emperor has played all the parts in

an historical repertoire : he has been in turn a pontiff
without consecration, a warrior without battles or
foes, a dramatist without drama ; but he has always
remained the same imperious, subtle personage in all

his diverse incarnations. He possesses in a supreme

degree the art of pleasing, and yet at the same time
hurting people's feelings. Gaiety and wrath are not
with him, as with Napoleon, instruments ready to
hand, but his humour from one moment to
varies
the other, and so rapidly that in the same hour he
may be kind or obstinately cruel. He may appear
to some entirely hard-hearted or entirely kind. In
truth he is neither ; he is the Emperor — that is to
say, a being impatient, haughty, eager to please and
astonish, strong-minded, omniscient, omnipresent.
To complete the circle but one thing is lacking
the charm of mystery, that enchantment which is

spread like a spell, and which lived in the magic

force of the Sphinx of the Pharaohs, in the shrine
where Isis was adored, and even threw a halo of
romance around such a monarch as Philip the Second

of Spain. The German Emperor does not possess

it. He is of all living monarchs the least mysterious
and the least invisible. He loves pageants and out-
ward ceremonies as if he were filled with a desire to
1*3
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
demonstrate with what ease he can summon armies
and splendour around him.
It is interesting to note the impression he creates
in France. In Paris especially the discussion he
arouses is ever keen and alert, and to bring his name
into conversation in a Paris salon is always an excel-
lent means of arousing violent controversy. " He
is a genius " says one.
! " No, a prig, a cabotin^''
says another. *' He is the finest orator of the day,
and if he wrote the leading articles in some of our
papers, who could compete with him.?" — "Bah!
do you believe him capable of any serious work ?
Allans done !
" — '* But look at his portrait what a —
face, what eyes ! He ought to have been a French
general or theEmperor of France. He loves le
panache^ and so do we." " It is a disgrace for
—
a Frenchman to utter such words " " But, !
—
mon chtr^ I simply meant that he ought to have
been born and educated in France. . . . He is

not a Teuton ; no, he has many qualities belonging

to the Latin race." And at this point a person in-
tervenes who immediately becomes the centre of the
debate : he says, " I have seen the Emperor, and
enjoyed long conversations with him." Then every
one present is eager to listen, and detractors and
admirers alike await in fervid silence the opinion of
the person who has actually met the ruler of Germany
face to face.
Above all things the Emperor hates the small
commonplaces of ordinary conversation, even within
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
the restricted space of a Court circle where all are
bent on finding whatever he says clever and gracious.
I shall never forget the three days I spent under
the same roof with the Imperial German pair at the
princely castle of Sigmaringen. Sigmaringen Schloss
has for many hundred years belonged to the Catholic
branch of the Hohenzollern family, who bear no
relationship whatever to the younger and more
prosperous line —those Protestant Hohenzollerns
who are now masters of the German realm. The
oldest Hohenzollerns bow in deep worship before the
fortune of their cadets, and are ever anxious to pro-
claim blood ties which may not in reality exist, while
the younger branch occasionally deign to admit the
vague kinship now lost in the darkness of bygone
days. The King and Queen of Roumania had
arrived at the castle beforehand in order to receive
their imperial guests. The Royal abode was full to
overflowing. A great number of German Princes
and Princesses were assembled, together with Prince
and Princess Leopold of Hohenzollern, in mingled
fear and pleasure at the honour of meeting the
German Emperor, who was related to most of them
by some distant tie. Many of them were petty
potentates who, while trembling to appear as his
vassals, yet struggled against the secret conviction
that such is the case. However, a great display of
militarypomp generally conceals all such emotions.
As soon as I entered the suite of apartments
destined for me in the castle, I found on the large
125
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
table a complete programme of the festivities which
were to follow the arrival of the Imperial pair,
wherein also the exact dresses to be worn at the
station and in the evening were defined. All around
us the atmosphere vibrated with the excitement of
the approaching visit, but during the afternoon I

had a few moments which I could my own.

call

Gazing from the windows far away over the dark

curving hills of the unknown land, I looked back
into the past andremembered that the castle where
we now found ourselves was in the hands of a Prince
descended in the direct female line from the Murat
and the Beauharnais families, who thus bore in his
veins the blood of the French bourgeoisie and of the
glorious soldier who was at one time inn-keeper and
waiter. This visit paid by the German Emperor to
the old feudal fortress somehow represented the
visit of the present victor to the victories of the past,
to the great Napoleon himself, by whose stern will
German princes had in years gone by been forced to
marry young girls of little importance such as " la
petite Stephanie et la petite Murat."
At the station next day I felt disappointed to find
such an immense crowd of Princes, officers, and high
personages in gaudy uniforms, that I realised at
once how it would be to catch
utterly impossible
even a glimpse of the Emperor. Bugles were sounded,
troops were marshalled and paraded by. Court trains
trailed along over thick red carpets a high wall of
;

human forms, all very tall and pompous, rose between

126
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
me and the place where the train would stop. Yet,
when at last it did arrive, I actually saw the Emperor.
I saw him in the narrow interstice left between the
shoulder of a silk-clad Royal Highness and the
sleeve of a hussar ! But it was only as in a flash I
saw the pale cold visage, the flaming eyes and stern
mouth. In another moment the Emperor had sprung
lightly to the ground, followed closely by the Empress,
whose rippling laugh I heard quite near to me, while
much kissing went on and afi^ectionate greetings were
exchanged. We all hastened to the perron, as we
wanted to see the Emperor enter the carriage and
bow to the crowd. After several minutes spent in
a short promenade in front of the troops, he made
his appearance at a spot where I stood only a few steps
from him. The twilight was falling softly, and in
the first glimmer of the evening shadows he appeared
to me even more extraordinarily pale than at first
sight. No smile parted his lips as he threw his eyes
to the centre of the multitude gathered in his honour,
and whose repeated and joyful exclamations seemed
to leave him quite unmoved ; but that look as it

lingered and plunged to the very depths of the

assembled people made every nerve thrill like the
muscles of the Arabian steed who feels his master's

fingers creep lazily through his mane.

The Emperor wore a black uniform set ofl^ by
white metal buttons and silver ornaments ; his black

helmet, too, was bordered with silver. The Empress

was in a soft white dress. We followed in the rear
127
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
of the gorgeous procession, and as we ascended the
narrow streets of the small city to the roar of cannon,
the chiming of church bells, and the hum of human
cheers repeated from window to window, we seemed
to wend our way through an ocean of harmonious
sounds, while above towered the huge Castle with
its terraces and balconies all ablaze.
We saw nothing more of the Imperial guests till

evening, because they retired to rest and afterwards

dined privately with the Princes present in the Castle;

but at nine o'clock we all assembled in the vast state-

room, and as each took his or her allotted place in

the circle hearts were beating high, eyes kindled with
impatience and eagerness. Fans and flowers trembled
in small nervous hands, and ever and anon we turned
towards the door whence the Royal cortegewould
descend into the hall by the three steps separating
it from the state room. Yet I was not so lost in

contemplation of the stately threshold for the remark

suddenly to occur to me that I was the only person
in that immense circle who belonged to the Latin
race. But all the dames cThonneur and oflicials proved
exceedingly kind and courteous, and if somewhat
shocked by the freedom of my words or manners,
never showed it, but treated the youthful foreigner
like an honoured guest, telling me I must occupy
first place in the circle as I belonged to a kingly
court, and stationed me quite close to the door
where two ushers stood on guard like two statues
of gold and silver.
128
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
The first chamberlain and strikes thrice
enters
upon the ground with a long golden rod, reminding
one of the three sharp blows given on the floor of the
stage in French theatres when the curtain is about
to rise. Then a great silence, a long pause, the door
is thrown open, and the Emperor of Germany appears.
The Queen of Roumania is leaning on his arm, and
they stop for a few seconds before descending the
three steps. His head, proudly thrown back, is

resplendent in the full light concentrated on the spot

by lamps and chandeliers. His military costume is
of dazzling white, relieved only by the crimson ribbon
of the Roumanian order across his breast, and he
looks radiant though very grave. The Queen of
Roumania glides along by his side in a dress airily

traversed with threads of silver, which give it the

effect of billows at rest under the gaze of the moon.
The Emperor's face is serene, but it wears no smile,
and again I admire those large wonderful eyes, eyes
whose colour and depth and sternness can be com-
pared to jewelled Toledo blades, where gold and
iron blend like blazing rays of the sun and cold flashes
of stormy lightning. With those eyes the Emperor
of Germany might wander incognito and wearing a
mask, yet never fail to be recognised. Taking care
to keep his spurs from touching the fleecy clouds of
the Queen's fragile train, he advances with measured
steps, though his tread is elastic, impatient like that
of a boy. The Empress, our King, the Count and
Countess of Flanders, all follow in due order, but
1*9
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
I cannot spare a glance for their entrance. The
Emperor and Queen have stopped suddenly right
in front of us. I believe I really looked as startled
as I felt, wretchedly embarrassed, yet so eager, so
tumultuous in the made my
way I reverence, that
before addressing me Emperor
the laughed, highly
amused, and the Queen said to him :
*'
Here's a little

girl to whom this hour is of such deep meaning that

she has not slept all night for thought of the honour
and joy awaiting her. You can see how moved she
is." ..." Why so ?
" asked the Emperor briskly,
throwing back his head, while a sense of fun crept
over his open countenance. " Why so ^ This very
young and imposing lady has already known so many
great, so many remarkable men, far greater and more
remarkable than myself. She has seen Emperors,
too, I hear, so one more or one less cannot be of much
account. I am told, madam " —and he spoke in grave

tones —" that you have as a child enjoyed the rare

privilege of spending long evenings with Victor Hugo
in his home. Your Queen says that you have many
interesting tales to tell about him. So how can you
be moved in my presence when you have been in the
"
presence of Genius .''

As I could not for the life of me find an answer

the Emperor resumed. "You could never have
believed, would you, that you possess over me a
superiority which indeed I envy you ? I have en-
joyed almost all the sight-seeing worth the trouble,
but I never saw Victor Hugo nor met any real
130
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
literary genius. Was he very much bowed down by
old age ? Did he speak distinctly ? What were his
"
favourite topics ?

By this time I had almost recovered my com-

posure the Queen smiled encouragement, and the
;

Emperor drew me out little by little. He inter-

rupted almost every sentence twice or thrice, putting
sharp interrogations, which he uttered in an affirma-
tive tone — questions such as this :
'*
Am I not mis-
taken when I think "
— whose clear meaning was
—" I cannot be mistaken !
" And he repeatedly bit
his under-lip with teeth so sharp that the traces of
them were seen on the pale skin, an imperious
nervous habit which conveyed the idea of peremptory
force and impatient wilfulness, an order to go on
in a rapid way without bothering him with hesita-
tion or useless details. He seemed to hold between
his fingers an iron thread that guided my words.
" You write in French, don't you ? You'll finish by
writing in your own language, won't you } I know
you love writing French and speaking English. It

is why I have addressed you in the language which is

pleasantest for conversation — at least one of the

pleasantest " —the Emperor corrected himself.
" English is also fast becoming the language of
Courts," said I. A quick frown warned me that
I was treading upon forbidden ground, and the
Emperor cut me short in a murmured apology.
" Well, we will talk of Paris, literature, and your
own pursuits to-morrow. You see," and he turned
131
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
towards the immense circle that watched his every
gesture, " I have all these people to entertain, many
friends and acquaintances among them," and with
hasty step he walked off. In themeantime our Queen
had also lost herself in the group of Princesses, and
I tried in vain to
discover the place where her
Majesty stood, wanted to thank her for having
as I

called the Emperor's attention to me. The German

Empress was also the centre of a crowd of ladies, so
I wandered listlessly through the gaudy multitude,
when a light tap on my shoulder made me start, and
I found myself face to face with my Queen.
**
You have not been introduced to the Empress,
and it is getting late, come along," so I followed
obediently. Clad in a charming dress of yellow silk,
the Empress, with face wreathed in smiles, was
telling the ladies around her some incident that had
happened in a Berlin hospital which she patronised
and visited twice a week —some difference between
nurses and doctors. She beckoned to us in a gracious
manner, and, after shaking hands with me, continued
her easy, lively narrative, after giving the new-
comers a rapid description of the first part of her
story. The German Empress is called all over the
realm " Die echte Deutsche Frau," and no appella-
tion could better describe her sweet placid counten-
ance, her fair complexion, and the extreme modesty
and naive t^ of her speech and manner. There
is something fresh and genuine about her which
reminds one of the simple heroines celebrated by
132
 "

THE GERMAN EMPEROR

German poets in lieder and ballads. When about to
retire she said "I have asked your Queen to send
:

me her translation of your Roumanian ballads. I

am so sorry you have not the book with you. I am
passionately fond of folk-lore ; that is what I call

practical literature, and I like learning to know

nations through the songs of the people. No, . . .

I am not at all tired "

Empress answered a
; the
question put by the Countess of Flanders. " Dear
Marie, we travel so comfortably, and we see cheerful
faces and feel the warmth of glad hearts whenever we
cease to look upon our sweet German forests and
hills and rivers. So travelling is quite a treat to us.
The Emperor also likes travelling abroad, but my
preference is for these journeys where at every turn
of the road we find ourselves at home." The Em-
press was moving away and before her steps the crowd
respectfully receded. " Have you noticed the dia-
mond her Majesty wears in her hair — that solitary
stone set high like a trembling star — or a tear .?

asked one of the Princes of me, as I returned to my

place. " It is a pathetic and precious gem, a relic
indeed —the diamond which shone in Napoleon's
triangular hat, le petit chapeau du caporal^ when it was
found by Blucher's troops under a tree after the
battle of Waterloo. Go
good look at it."
and have a
In haste I returned to where the Empress was, and,
standing behind, tried in vain to perceive the huge
diamond. Her Majesty was about to reach the
door and disappear, when, turning round, she per-
»33
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
ceived me, and with astonishing intuition exclaimed :

" Now, you desire to see my jewels —don't be fright-

ened, but come in front of me. These pearls are
lovely, but too big. Look at the diamond I always
;

wear it." But it was in vain that I waited to hear

from the Empress' lips any confirmation of what I

had been told.

Next morning I awoke with that delightful and
rare consciousness that something very bright and
unusual had happened, and was about to happen
again. An hour after I was walking briskly along
the banks of the river, and as I watched the Danube
glide peacefully by, the prospect of meeting the Em-
peror again fell on my soul as gently as the rays of
the ascending sun. It was a cool, crisp morning, and
streaks of blue mist hung round the trees and above
the waters, and I said to the Danube :
" Alack, dear

rivulet, thou knowest not under what clear skies thy

waves will ripple before reaching their goal. Thou
flowest towards my own native land, dear little river,

and there thou becomest as great and powerful as the

sea. No wet mornings, no mists to lie heavily upon
thee thus. Thou flowest fast to reach my native
land."
After a long constitutional I decided, before re-
turning to the Castle, to take a turn in the avenue
called Prinzen Allee, where all the royalties and
most of the inmates of the Castle were strolling
about after early breakfast. Sovereigns and Princes
were there, Princesses, Generals and Aides-de-camp,
134
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
and ladies in all varieties of costume. The Empress
was in a light grey morning blouse, the Emperor
in a shooting jacket ; they talked to every one as
each stopped to salute or curtsey. The Empress
smilingly inquired how Ihad begun the day, whether
by visiting or eating .? and when I answered that I
had preferred the latter exercise, she said :
" You
look too healthy and rational ever to become a
starving poet." The Emperor was in high spirits,
pointing at the trees, giving advice as to the training
of dogs, and crossing the sward to pluck some wild
flowers. Showing them to me, he said "They are :

not so grand as your laurels, but very pretty. Now

tell the truth, you have been near the river to freshen
up your laurels "
.-^
. . . .

In the afternoon we took a drive through the

beautiful dark forests that encircle Sigmaringen in a
ring of sombre verdure. There in the soft silence

of the wood we were startled to hear the sound of

bugles, and a troop of horsemen rode rapidly past
preceding a small group of riders. In the midst of
the group rode the Emperor, clothed in the black
uniform of the Todthussaren and mounted on a
black charger. Again that set resolute expression

hardened his visage, again his eyes looked far into

the darkness of the forest with an awe-inspiring
light in their dilated pupils. Like a statue of stone,

like an image of Fate, he passed on heedless of our

presence, casting never a glance on the carriages or

their occupants. Later on I heard that the Emperor

135 >
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
had that very day been much disturbed and angered
by from Westphalia, where great
news received
strikes had broken out amonof the workmen. Yet
when again at five o'clock we took tea with the
Royalties in the splendid museum of Sigmaringen
Castle, to my unspeakable surprise another change
of dress, another change of face and humour, was
presented by the Emperor for our admiration. On
both sides the old hall was adorned with glass cases
containing marvels of ancient art gathered together
by the rare taste of the late Prince of Hohenzollern.
William II. then and there declared that he wor-
shipped Albrecht Durer, and showed in his praise of
old vases and skilfully chiselled silver, considerable
proficiency in matters dear to antiquaries and con-
noisseurs. No object, however small, however dark-
ened by the twilight of ages, escaped his shrewd
scrutiny. He was utterly different from the Em-
peror I had seen in the morning, that imposing and
gloomy black rider of the forest, yet to an acute
observer the sternness of eye and visage were still

there, glossed over for a few moments only.

" I teased you about those laurels this morning,"
said he, as he approached a corner where I had come
upon Renaissance cup, whose dainty orna-
a lovely

mentation had captivated my attention, " By-the-

bye, where is the famous crown ? I am quite dis-

appointed. As soon as I arrive people hasten to
inform me that I will meet with an extraordinary
creature — a young girl who is noi a Queen and fioi a
136
 THE GERMAN EMPEROR
Princess, yet wears a crown a crown of laurels, a —
crown given by the French Academy and when I ;

expect to see a real laurel crown for the first time

in my life, here is the young person in question

daring to show herself bare-headed in the evening,

and wearing stupid bonnets in the daytime ! Now,
where is that crown ? Do you keep it hanging over
your bedstead, or put it out at the window for
"
passers-by to admire ?

" Sire, Emperors and Kings wear their crowns on

great occasions, but not even in the greatest moment
of their existence are poets allowed to do so, or

your Majesty would have seen mine yesterday and

to-day. Our crowns are invisible — in fact they do not
exist but in imagination ; thus the wealth and realms
which we possess are beyond the reach of mortal
eye.
"And you are not exposed to the danger of losing
them !
" said the Emperor. " But do you mean to
say you are going to remain a poet all your life ?

Will not the malady pass off like the measles ? Oh,
I don't joke —to me a woman who writes is a being

who is absurd, ridiculous."

" I have been told before that your Majesty ab-
horred clever women, or the interference of women
in any but domestic affairs."

*'Oh, I don't go such lengths. Clever women

are dangerous women, one and all, who ought to be
muzzled before they can bite, but do you believe it

is necessary to be a clever woman to be a woman

137
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
who writes ? On the contrary, women's cleverness
consists in avoiding ridicule, and clever women are
those who care for their good looks. Now can a
woman who writes remain pretty ? The gestures,
the attitude of a woman scrawling away with all her
might must utterly rout every assthetical effort on
her part. Can a woman remain pretty when she is

obliged to put on that particularly stern frown with

which one pursues an idea, or studies any serious and
important subject ?
" The Emperor stopped, evi-
dently waiting for a confused or a spirited answer,
then he resumed " Now, you are very intelligent,
:

much more than I could have believed a woman who

writes would prove. You are actually as smiling, as
cool, as unaffected as if I had not wounded your
highest notions of womankind —
perhaps your own
self-love."
" I have no self-love, sir, but very firm convictions
that nothing can defeat."
" Anyhow you are very good-natured and neither
pretentious nor forward. I am going to concede

one or two points to you, though you do not

seem to care whether I consider womankind pushing
or not. Music and painting may render a woman's
existence very happy —
even beneficial to her family,
and — I will allow that a woman is not quite unsexed
for being a poet. Women are unreasonable, so are
poets : women are born to comfort and to enhance
the joy of living, and so are poets. Well, a poet you
"
may remain without exasperating me completely !

138
 —

THE GERMAN EMPEROR

" I thank your Majesty for his gracious permis-
sion." The Emperor
laughed, and as the Empress
came to his side he added " I have been giving this
:

poor young lady a bit of my mind about femininism

and women who write novels."
The Emperor is the friend of poets, whether
*'

they be men or women," said the gentle lady, and *'

I must give him the Roumanian ballads to read."

Atdinner that day the Emperor proposed a toast
in honour of the Hohenzollern family and the
Royalties, his cousins and peers assembled there
with whom, said he, the Empress and himself had
been so pleased to spend hours which they would
never forget. The speech, though short and simple,
was eloquent and full of vigorous sympathy ; flame-
like it spread from soul to soul, and, delivered in a
voice whose ring fell like metal on the ear, it re-
sounded through our hearts, and gave every one pre-
sent the sensation that each was in direct communion
with the speaker.
Before the Imperial pair left the Castle, such
persons as had been admitted to conversations of
any length with them took private leave of their
Majesties. Thus I was ushered into a little blue
drawing-room, where the Emperor and Empress
were waiting to bestow a partmg word.
" I wish you good luck," said William II., " and

heaps of laurel crowns — so many that your hair and

brows may be quite hidden under them. Is not that
"
a kind wish ?

139
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
*'
No, no," corrected the Empress, " I wish you
happiness in whatever form you may like to enjoy it,
and peace."
I stooped low to kiss the proffered hands, and then
joined the ladies and officials who were waiting in the

hall. Presently from every door Princes and Princesses

came pouring in, and the German Sovereigns, who
had already bidden these adieu, glided simply
through the circle, bowing right and left. The
Heit die in Sieges Kranz struck up, and thus they
passed from our view.
Many a time since then have I met the two Im-
perial travellers, many a time at the Italian Court,
and many a time had to approach them. But
nowhere as in that straggling fortress of the
obscure Middle Ages nowhere woodsas in those

and gardens, did the real character of William II.

reveal itself to my attentive eyes. Nowhere better
than in the sombre forest, by the banks of the young
Danube, did I learn to judge what is strange, and to
admire what is admirable, in the Emperor of the
German Realm.

140
 rhoto iy I.iitUky, St. I\ttr.<.hurg

THE CZAR AND CZARINA AND THEIR FAMILY

 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
No three monarchs belonging to the same dynasty
could have differed more than the Emperors of Russia
who successively occupied the Muscovite throne
during Queen Victoria's long reign.
Every one knows what a haughty and violent
though melancholy ruler was the Czar Nicholas I.,
and how often he repeated the famous words which
revealed his imperious temper: "There is but one
person in Russia, the man to whom I speak, at the
moment I am speaking to him." (// ny a quun
homme en Russie^ celui auquel je parle^ au moment ou je
lui park.) He was preceded on the throne by his
brother, the dreamy and mysterious Alexander I., the
irreconcilable enemy of Napoleon, though more than
one effort did Bonaparte make to win his friendship. •

Many strange and marvellous things are related con-

cerning the Czar Alexander I. He possessed very
strong religious feelings, and the recent publication
of his correspondence with the famous Madame de
Kruchner shows how vivid was the interest that he
took in the connection between the visible and in-

visible worlds, and that he put the greatest faith in

H3
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the declarations of mediums as to their communica-
tion with the spirits of the dead. His extreme
piety, together with his sweet and gentle disposition,
gave birth to many legends, one of which still remains
dear to the hearts of his people.
It is a common belief amongst the lower classes

of Russia, especially the priests and monks, that the

Emperor Alexander I. did not die on the day on
which he is supposed to have breathed his last, but

that an empty coffin was lowered into the vault where

the remains of the Romanoff family repose. This
was done by his own expressed wish, in which his
wife, the Empress Elizabeth, acquiesced, and while
the whole nation was praying for the soul of the
departed potentate, a quiet, plainly-attired moujik
stoleaway from the crowd of courtiers gathered
round the new Czar. Protected by the robe and
hood of a wandering pilgrim, he travelled on and on
until he reached a solitary spot in the midst of the
vast Russian plain. There for many years he lived
like the anchorites of old. It was only once a year

during the Easter festivities that he made his

appearance in the capital, and then he used to go
straight to the Imperial Palace. His stature was so
erect, his bearing so dignified and noble, his look so
gentle yet so commanding, that no one ever dared
refuse him admittance. He would walk from hall
to hall, his arms and feet bare, and his long white
hair and beard sweeping over his neck, stopping only

when he reached the threshold of the Czar's private

•44
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
apartments. The chamberlain who ushered him in
never closed the folding doors behind the silent
visitor without waiting to observe that the Czar,
worshipped like a demi-god by all, yet stooped low
when the stranger entered and reverently kissed his
shrivelled hand. The hermit in time became a
well-known figure, but no prayers or entreaties could
ever detain him more than one day in St. Petersburg,
and when at last he died he was buried there beside
his forefathers in the fortress chapel. The legend* is

quite affirmative as regards the latter point, and the

Emperor Alexander I. is cited by the monks as

an example to those who live in austerity and

who aspire to holiness. This interpretation of Alex-
ander I.'s somewhat sudden illness and death shows

that the worship rendered by his subjects to the

Ruler of the Russian Empire is loyal and sincere,

not only because his realm is as boundless as that of

any monarch of legend, and his dominions resemble
those of King Philip II. of Spain, upon which the
sun never set, but simply from the mere fact that
the reigning Muscovite Czar is supreme head of the
Russian Orthodox Church. He is the sole repre-
sentative to his subjects of God upon earth, en-
dowed, were the Kings of France during the
as

Middle Ages, with the gift of healing by his touch

and of curing maladies and all distress by his pre-
sence. Superstition has raised this spiritual power
to a supreme point, and often when the Czar
drives through the streets of Kief or Moscow
H5
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
moujilcs, women, and children fall frantically on
their knees before the horses of his state carriage,
begging the coachman to let the hoofs and wheels
pass over their bodies, that they may in some way
enter into touch with the "Little Father" from
whom all blessings spring.
Nicholas I. entertained an almost supernatural
idea of his power and constant com-
absolute
munion with the Almighty. He was, therefore,
dumfounded to find during the Crimean War that
the Lord of Hosts had apparently abandoned one
who was in such close relationship to heaven. He
remembered with bitterness how different was the
fate of Russia during his brother's reign, when
victory was obtained against the Great Victor, the
French Emperor, before whom all Europe had
trembled, yet whose glory was scattered like the
flakes of snow under which his army was buried.
Then the will of the Almighty had been clearly
manifested ; Nicholas 1. marvelled why he should
now be defeated and humiliated ; and, still pon-
dering upon the strangeness of the case, he died
) soon after the conclusion of the war.
His son and successor, Alexander II,, was unlike
his father in many respects. Of a sweet, yielding
disposition, he possessed none of the self-assurance
of his haughty and imperious father. His private
life was nothappy one he lost his eldest son, a
a ;

charming youth, and he heard the stifled murmurings

of future revolutions rise around his throne. It is

146
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
a singular fact that it was under the reign of the first

Russian Czar who took a real interest in the fate of

the lower classes, who delivered the Russian peasant

from servitude, that Nihilism should have sprung

up, and he, the magnanimous ruler, was almost its
first victim. Without having known Alexander I.
personally, still I have heard much about his character,
ideas and conversation, as he made a long stay in our
country on two occasions during the Russo-Roumano-
Turkish War. My own father also had several
opportunities of approaching the Czar at Plevna,
where our King, then only Prince of Roumania, was
acting as Commander-in-Chief to the Allied Armies.
Much is felt for his memory by
esteem and regret
those of my countrymen who met the Czar then as
he travelled from village to village, followed by an
innumerable staff. An immense host of servants
preceded him, and tried hard to make the sordid
Bulgarian huts, where the Emperor had to pass the
night, as comfortable as possible. This produced a

strange and almost painful contrast between the

miserable poverty of the scene, the clay floor, the
mud walls, the roof so low that it was almost impos-
sible for a tall man to stand erect under it, the narrow
windows and look of indescribable wretchedness that
hung over the whole place and the heavy gold ;

plate upon which the Emperor's meals were served,

the gorgeous livery of his retainers, the richly
embroidered counterpane thrown across the narrow
bedstead — in a word, the pompous array of splendid
H7
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
grandeur by which a Czar is ever surrounded.
Throughout the whole campaign people noted the
unusual expression of fatigue and sadness upon the
Emperor's countenance, though his slim, handsome
figure held itself erect as ever, and he tried to smile
when called upon to distribute praise or encourage-
ment,
" It cannot be denied," said my father, " that the
Emperor was kind and amiable, but what endeared
him to all was his face, in which an expression of
pathetic sadness was always struggling with pride
and fortitude. He looked great indeed when I rode
near him on the morning of August 30, 1877. We
were not three gunshots distance from Plevna. It

was St. Alexander's Day, so to celebrate the Czar's

Feast Day a sudden attack on Grivita — one of the
enemy's best defended fortresses —had been planned,
and we expected that the sun which rose in all its

summer fairness would set upon scenes of bloodshed

and victory.
**
Those few moments after dawn the sight of the
army was splendid to behold. As far as the eye
could reach, swords, plumes and bayonets glittered
in the dazzling light of an Oriental morning. Flags
fluttered, trumpets sounded, and an air of festivity
pervaded the warlike throng ; while above us, black
against the dark blue sky, rose the menacing forms
of those towers from which death would upon us fall

in a few hours. Suddenly an intense upon

silence fell

the multitude, as one by one the Orthodox priests

148
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
advanced, magnificently attired in vestments of gold
and silver brocade. The Emperor's own Chaplain
took the lead, holding the holy images of the Saints
high above his head. At that moment from the
opposite side of the field appeared the Emperor,
followed by his Generals and Aides-de-Camp. He
rode into the middle of the wide circle, while frantic
cheers rose from every side to greet him. The priest
lifted the Image and the Cross to the Imperial lips.

The Emperor stooped slightly to meet them and

then took up his place in the centre of the group of
officers to which I was attached. I was only a few
steps behind him, and could see his every movement.
The divine service began in the high, grave tones of
the Russian liturgy, hymns of praise to the Almighty
which we all repeated in our hearts in accents of
earnest entreaty, and whose meaning took such deep
import from the place and the circumstances in which
they were uttered. The Emperor sat motionless in

his saddle ; his face was stern and set, and he retained
during the whole ceremony the same air of pride
and determination, but his large soft eyes wandered
along the dense lines of the regiments. No doubt
his thoughts ran in the same channel as ours, no
doubt he was saying to himself, '
Only God knows
how many of these brave fellows will be senseless or
plunged agony before to-night,' and I noticed
in

that the hand which held the rein trembled slightly,

while the White Father prayed for his Russian
'
'

children as well as for their Roumanian friends.

149
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
"As the Emperor turned his charger's head to
leave the field he cast another long, troubled look
over the mass of uniforms, horses and lances, and his
lips moved murmuring words whose import I could
not catch as they were in Russian, words perhaps
of leave-taking and benediction, and then, amid a
tempest of acclamations, the aged monarch passed
from our sight. The afternoon of that terrible day
is one never to be forgotten by those who, like my-
self, deafened by the roar of guns, blinded by gun-
powder, and drunk with the wild exaltation of the
moment, rushed to the assault. After losing our
best officers and bravest soldiers, we at length became
masters of the place, but when, weary and haggard,
mere wrecks of humanity, we tried to regain our
encampments, we had to wade through a lake of
blood in which corpses lay thick under the starlit
sky. The following morning the same religious
ceremony took place as had been held the previous
day, but how altered were the countenances, the
attitude of those who, though victors, mourned
the loss of so many brothers and comrades ! No Te
Deum was to be sung, but a solemn mass in honour
of the glorious dead. Amidst the deep silence the
Emperor made his appearance, a strange pallor over-

spreading his fine features, while his eyes were cast

down during the whole of the divine service. I do
not think I have ever seen such fervour and ardour
as he displayed while the priests slowly chanted the
Requiem and raised their hands to heaven. Almost
150
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
immediately after the Mass the Te Deum was ren-
dered in thanksgiving for the possession of the
Grivita Heights, whose conquest was really a proud
achievement for the Roumanian Army. Again the
Emperor tried to force a smile, but there was on his
lips a shade of sadness which made me in after years
imagine that some strange presentiment of his own
tragic and untimely end must have crossed his mind
at that moment. We learned to love him well in
the Bulgarian Plains. . .
."

Of the four Russian Emperors whom I find it

necessary to mention here, Alexander III. proved
himself most faithful to the dictates and sentiments
of his race. He was a thorough Muscovite, the
father and apostle of Panslavism. A barbarian in
many respects, he was a true representative of his
own predominant idea that Russia should rule
Europe by the strength of all that is most profoundly
Russian or most truly adapted to the Russian spirit.
He it was who prescribed the almost exclusive use
at Court of the Russian language, which had been
laid aside in favour of French during the two pre-
ceding reigns. On this point he insisted with
obdurate persistency. He loved France and England
well, better indeed than any other nations, but he
loved them for their own sake, and refused to let
his empire be influenced by ideas and facts and books
which did not have their roots deep in the Russian
soil.
" I will not hear any language but my own spoken
151
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
in my presence," he said, '*
so long as there are no
foreigners in our country to whom we have to be
civil. Literature as well as everything else will

benefit by the gratification of my

supreme desire to
see the upper classes in Russia resume studying the
language of our forefathers."
Though self-willed and sometimes violent in the

development and accomplishment of his political

views, in private Alexander III. showed a lively dis-

position. He was a kind and indulgent husband

and father, and simply worshipped his frail and
delicate Empress, the charming Princess Dagmar,
whom he had received as an inheritance from his
dying brother, and whom he prized as a jewel more
precious than any in his Imperial crown. But at the
very dawn of her beautiful and gracious motherhood
the sweet and adored Empress lost the stalwart com-
—
panion of her youth Alexander III. went down to
an early grave. . . .

I would no more think of attempting to describe

a personage, whether royal or belonging to a less

exalted rank, without making mention of his ances-

tors, his education, and the atmosphere in which he

had developed, than I would launch into the
endeavour to describe some landscape or monument
without mentioning the lights and shades by which
it was surrounded, and the people who have drawn
comfort or distress from the sight of it. In contrast
to what I have related of his forefathers, the present
Emperor of Russia will stand out in striking relief.
152
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
He is neither haughty and imperious like his name-
sake Nicholas L, nor melancholy and dreamy
like Alexander II., nor does he in any way resemble
his father Alexander III., whose strong, wilful temper
almost verged on stubbornness, whose aspect was that
of a giant, and whose timidity was only equalled by
his great kindness and the almost violent grasp
which he laid upon an idea, never allowing it to
escape from him till he had carried it out in its

entirety. Nicholas II. takes after his Danish mother,

and, as every one knows, he is almost the double of
the Prince of Wales, his first cousin. I cannot,
however, understand how people can actually mis-
take the one for the other, since every time I see the

Prince of Wales I am struck by the thoroughly

English expression of his physiognomy, while in my
opinion few faces are more characteristic of the type
of the clever young Russian student than that of the
Czar. He has besides the eager manner that belongs
to this particular type, though the education
bestowed upon him as Hereditary Grand Duke has
done much towards giving him the gravity and
dignity necessary to his high rank. The Czar was
still Czarewitch when saw him, and he then
I first

gave me such a sense of youthful enthusiasm and

freshness of mind that it is with wonder I read now
in the papers accounts of ceremonies at which he has
to preside with a countenance suitable to the occasion,
and I am dismayed to hear how silent and grave he
showed himself during his two visits to France. It

153 K
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

is true I had seen the Czarewitch on an occasion
when he had no official part to play, but simply

showed a passing act of courteousness. On our way

from one train to another in a German station, he
stopped to speak to our Queen, who appreciated his
delicate nature and fine intellectual qualities. I

cannot explain how it was that these two high per-

sonages, both travelling incognito^ came to meet in

the dingy, stifling air of this place, amid the deaf-

ening whistle of panting steatn-engines, and should
thus be led to speak of literature and art, but the
Czarewitch had not been with us two minutes before
he said
" I love travelling but only when I can do it in

my own way. I never travel otherwise than at night,

and spend my day visiting museums and quaint old
streets, bazaars when I am in the East, antiquarian
shops when I am in the North. I am more of an
Asiatic than a European in my tastes, and I have not
only a vast collection of Indian curios and quite an
army of Buddhas large and small, but also a library
composed of books treating of Indian subjects alone,
and another of books dealing with Egyptian lore.

Were I not — well, what I am — I should be the

greatest bookworm in the world."
There was a flash of enjoyment in the large grey
eyes as he mentioned his favourite pursuits, then he
went on :

*'
I should like to live half my life completely in
Russia, hear only Russian spoken, and see things
•54
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
that are solely Russian, then spend the rest of the
time in running over the world and bringing back
its treasures to my darling country." A touch of
his father's patriotism illumined the last words.
" But then, one can never realise all one's castles in
the air, and duty is a beautiful thing simply because
it is gilded over with the light of personal sacrifice.
Besides, are we not often most attached to the desires
that we know we can never accomplish ? " The
whirl of busy travellers eddied around us while I

gazed earnestly into the face of the future Czar, a

face whose expression was intense yet dreamy. A
very slight brown moustache softened the outline of
his upper lip. His figure, his hands, his every
movement, were fragile and elegant, reminding us of
those slim Marquises who at the Court of Louis XIV.
brushed the dust of the battlefield off the gilded lace
of their sleeves, and talked of bloodshed and perils
as they glided gracefully through the intricacies of a
minuet. Yet the expression of the Czarewitch's
face was marked with decision, and his features
recalled those of the Muscovite race. " What a
pity," I thought, as I gazed upon his form and lis-

tened to his witty conversation, " what a pity that

one day this clever and buoyant personality must
be chained to a throne ! . . . But how proudly he
will wear a crown " was ! my next reflection as the
light of patriotism dawned in his eyes and played
round his features — the gaze with which his

ancestors looked down upon the kneeling millions

155
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
from the heights of palaces or the threshold of
altars.

But the Emperor who is an enthusiast as regards

Asiatic religions and Asiatic art, who loves Indian
splendour and the glow of dying Byzantium, is also
the most European of all the three Emperors, his
predecessors. He does not strive to exclude modern
ideas from his Empire, and is, indeed, very liberal-
minded, a quality he has acquired during his numer-
ous voyages and intimate intercourse with his English
cousins. His marriage with a Princess belonging to
an enlightened family has increased these tendencies.
The same year that I encountered the Czarewitch
my good fortune brought me in momentary contact
with the beautiful Princess who was to be his spouse.
We were staying at Wiesbaden with our Queen, and
one rainy afternoon her Majesty had decided to call
upon Bach and Beethoven in place of regretting the
absent sunshine. Strict orders were, therefore, given
that no one was to be admitted but the persons
belonging to the Queen's most intimate circle. We
were gathered round the piano listening to the great
master's inspiration with rapt attention when a slight
sound at the door caused me to rise and inquire into
the cause of the disturbance. The Queen's footman
stood there with a troubled expression on his face.
" If you please, ma'am," he said, " there are two
ladies downstairs they wish to see the Oueen im-
;

mediately. I told them it was impossible for them

to do so, but they insist."
156
 !

THE CZAR AND CZARINA

" The Queen does not receive without being asked
for the favour of an audience."
" I told them so, ma'am, but they are so deter-
mined. They are very pretty, they must be
actresses. . .
."

*'
Great ladies, perhaps, Princesses .....?" I

put in.
" No, no, ma am, actresses, of course. They are
pretty and so simply dressed. Besides," and he
drew himself up with dignity, " / know all the
Royal Highnesses in the world."
I could not then stop to interrogate him, but
since then I have often wanted to know why the
man who knew all the Royal Highnesses of the
world should have decided that beauty and good taste
in dress were the exclusive privileges of actresses
" Will you go and tell them that you have spoken
to me and that I am very sorry but that her
Majesty is not in the habit of receiving in the
afternoon. And ask them to tell you their names."
" I will go, ma'am, but all I say is of no use.
There they have been in front of the hotel for the
"
last twenty minutes. They will not go !

By this time my curiosity was aroused and I

decided to go down myself and have a peep at the

pretty actresses. Opposite the front door was a
landau in which were two ladies clad in mourning
dresses of thick serge, who leaned forward as they
perceived me. They seemed both very young and
very pretty indeed. The fairer of the two said in
iS7
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
sweet, low, trembling tones, '*
We are due to leave
by the six o'clock train, so please let the Queen
know I must see her immediately." There was an
authoritative ring in her gentle voice.
" But, madame, it is impossible. It seems to me
that you can never have approached a Queen before,
to think that you can thus be admitted into her
"
Majesty's presence without any notice !

''
The Queen will be delighted to see me," and
the unknown looked full into my eyes with a mis-
chievous and alluring smile, while the dimples played
in her rosy cheeks and her childish blue eyes were
alive with fun, I began to feel rather uncomfort-
able but went on expostulating though feebly.
Both ladies alighted, and I was returning in all haste

to relate the adventure to the Queen when, before 1

had time to cross the threshold, the charming

stranger had laid her hand on my arm.
" You see," she said, " I know who you are, I

even know your several nicknames, and yet you

cannot guess who I am. How amusing " ! With
these words she tripped gently into the room, and I

heard the glad exclamation with which our Queen

greeted her. " Dear, dear Irene, dear child and —
unannounced, howhow awfully nice of you
nice, !

Come in, must introduce you to the Prin-

Helene, I

cess Henry of Prussia, a young matron who is not

at all fond of her husband. . .
."

" Your Queen is such a tease," said the Princess,

blushing. *' Only think, once she insisted that I

158
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
wanted to enrol myself as a lady sailor, and gather
a fleet of ladies to follow our husbands when they
go on long voyages I must admit that I am very
!

unhappy when the Prince is away. Without him

everything is altered, life is so grey, so slow. But I
must tell you, Elizabeth, this young girl wanted to
send me away in a most disgraceful manner."
" And the footman mistook her Royal Highness
for an actress because she was so pretty ; he thought
she could not be anything else," I rejoined. The
Princess laughed, and I left her and the Queen in

close conversation while I entered the small parlour

where my sister had already struck up such a close
friendship with the dame d'honneur that I felt sure
she must be very amiable and clever. I always
judge a princess by her lady-in-waiting, and this time
I was about to crown the high opinion I had formed
of the Princess Irene of Prussia by praising her choice
of her dames d^honneur when I discovered that the
lady in question belonged to the Court of Darm-
stadt and was the constant companion of Princess
Alice of Hesse.
" Do come to Darmstadt," said she. " The
Princess will be delighted if you will spend a few
days with her. She is very remarkable, our young
Princess, so serious and sincere, so quiet and cor-
rect in her appreciations of people. She has no
taste for futilities, and dress, balls, even sport do
not appeal to her much. She prefers her books,
the study of her own soul, and the philosophy of
»S9
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

human life. She is proud, not of her birth, her
rank, or her beauty as you might suppose, but of
the great effort she daily makes towards the de-
velopment of the better side of her instincts and
talents, I wish you could see her and hear her con-
verse. At first she seems cold and reserved, but by-
and-by when she begins to feel in sympathy with
her interlocutor her shyness and silence disappear.
Then she speaks out on any subject she happens
to choose. She has fairy hands and her needlework
is extraordinary. I cannot help thinking that she will
have a brilliant future and an existence full of
splendid toil." And the charming lady went on to
relate scenes from the quiet and serious Court life of
Darmstadt till our one hope, our one desire, was to
visit her there. When she left with the Princess
we were quite excited over the subject till the
Queen said
" But, you stupid children, we are leaving for
Roumania in two days."
Our countenances fell. " Without seeing Prin-
"
cess Alice and the incomparable dame (Thonneur ?
" See them again," said the Queen, " why, you
shall do so this very day. Put on your bonnets.
We will accompany the Princess to the station."
The train was already in when we reached the
platform, and my heart beat fast for fear we had
missed the Princess. We were about to retrace our
steps when Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
came to my rescue by saying to the Queen, " They
1 60
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
have not left yet. The train is due to stop twelve
minutes longer, and I suppose that it will stop as long
as we like. There — Alix, Victoria and Irene are in
the carriages. I will tell them of your presence, and
they will alight." Kind Princess Christian went to
her nieces and in a few minutes they all alighted
from the carriage, declaring how surprised and
delighted they were to see the Queen. A very tall,

slim girl stood shyly behind the Princess Irene and,

though the stately Princess Victoria of Battenberg
towered high above her, there was a touch of gran-
deur and dignity form which I had
in her slender
never seen before in one so young. She wore a
broad-brimmed black hat from which hung a long
feather of the same sable colour. The soft colour
of her chestnut hair cast a radiance over her pure
white brow and her haughty grey eyes glittered like
the snow under a moonlit sky. The contours of her
cheeks, her chin and profile, were harmonious while
her lips firmly set spoke of a strong will though
there was gentleness also in their curves.
"must introduce my sister Alix to you," said
I

Princess Irene, and the proud beauty stepped forward

and with a graceful movement stooped to kiss the
Queen's hand which, however, the Queen suddenly
drew back. This gesture of graceful homage to one
whose rank and years alike made her venerable was
accomplished by the Princess Alix without abating a
jot of her cold and imperious demeanour and no
additional colour rose to her faintly tinged face. The
i6i
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
dame d'honneur who was now at her elbow pointed
to us, and with a kindliness which changed her whole
countenance, giving it a childish expression of eager-
ness, the Princess turned to us with outstretched
hands.
" You will be able to manage this visit to Darm-
stadt, won't you ? From what my lady-in-waiting
says I am sure you would love our Court and that I

shall love you. Do come. We have such fine forests

all around. I hear you love music and poetry and
recitations. We might get up theatricals, though
for my own taste I prefer a poem read aloud, and
read well, to the theatre. Poetry calms the soul and
makes it strong. I am sorry we are leaving so
soon . .
."

" And we are leaving, too, madam."

" For Roumania " '^.

" Yes."
" I suppose you are glad to return to your
"
country ?

*'
Not this time, for we should have liked to go to
Darmstadt so much. And we know your Royal
Highness would be such a pleasant, gay companion."
" I am afraid this lady has been exaggerating as
she always does when she speaks about me. Of
course, I am gay sometimes, and sometimes I can be
pleasant, I suppose, but I am rather a contemplative,
serious being, one who looks into the depths of all

water, whether it be clear or dark." The expression

of majesty and repose returned to the beautiful
162
 THE CZAR AND CZARINA
countenance and reminded me again of snow-lit
mountains where sunshine and shade dwell by turns.
" Alix, take leave of the Queen and the ladies now.
It is high time to do so." The words were spoken
by the Princess Victoria of Battenberg and her
motherly glance dwelt fondly on the lovely face of
her young sister. The Princesses entered the railway
carriage one by one, but Princess Alix remained in
the corridor waving her handkerchief till she was
out of sight and the last I saw of her as a Princess
was that figure of proud loveliness carried away into
the glorious future, into the haze of grandeur and
happiness where she would still remain the cold and
beautiful lady who loves all that is pure and grave.

163
 Photo /•}' Bfog-i, /•'lorciue

MARGIILRII A \)\ SAVOIA, 1X)WAGER QUEEN OF ITALY

 —

MARGHERITA DI SAVOIA,
DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
After letting our eyes steep themselves in the pure
abundant light that bathes the Seven Hills, with soul
weary from their long dwelling on Rome's historic
past, and dazzled by the splendour of these ancient
glories which to-day lend a meaning to every step
the clear-eyed traveller takes in Rome, we return
slowly to modern life, and our carriage finds its
place amongst the many vehicles wending their way
towards the Villa Borghese or the Villa Pamphili.
A sudden motion in the crowd announces an event
of such importance that, tired and dazed as we may
be, we rouse ourselves and look with eager eye to
discover the cause of the commotion. Windows fly

open on every side, handkerchiefs are waved, the

faces of the passers-by assume an expression of
mmgled satisfaction and devotion, while in vehement
tones the passionate Italian words ring out :
" La
benedetta Regina — la nostra Margherita — II nostro
poi" —"The blessed Queen — Our own Margaret
Our own flower." And on the high seat of an im-
167
 —

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

mense landau we see the gracious lady whose august
yet familiar name resounds above the uproar. Four
lackeys, in livery red as the embers of a winter fire,

tower above the fair head, which moves in unceasing

salutation, while a smile flickers like a flame upon
the parted lips. Her complexion is so pale and
clear that every vein may be traced on the temples
and firm rounded cheeks, while the aquiline nose
gives a touch of pride to the sweet features. The
high landau advances, and the Queen continues to
bow right and left with the same charming air of
concern, while the smile flickers and varies but is

never extinguished for a second. Yet while thus

occupied with the passers-by, and occasionally lifting
her eyes to the windows, the Queen does not cease
to talk to the lady who is her neighbour or the
gentleman-in-waiting seated in front of her. From
what from what tradition slumbering in
ancestress,
her blood, has Oueen Margherita learnt the science
of a smile so subtle, so pure, so lavishingly spent .?

a smile at the same time fascinating and haughty,

careful to betray royal serenity, yet anxious to hold
the popular favour, a jewel which the lowest and
most obscure might find on the road to daily labour,
as welcome as bread or flowers.
In passing from the Rome of bygone centuries
to the Rome of to-day, a vision seems thus to send
our thoughts back to the glory celebrated by chronicler
and poet. No personage is more eloquent in favour
of the strenuous efforts by which Italy has gained
i68
 THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
her unity and freedom than the niece and daughter-
in-law of the great King Victor Emmanuel. Except
Queen Victoria, no queen of the nineteenth century
could boast like Margherita of embodying in her one
personality the fate of her people at once with the
fate of her dynasty, since she was twice a Savoia
and twice an Italian Princess before becoming Queen
of Italy. She is the only one amongst^Royal Consorts
who has had no need to search for a throne in
another country than her own ; she alone can speak
to her subjects in the language of her childhood, and
she treasures in her heart all the faults and qualities
of their race. She alone has given them a King of
pure native descent. In his splendid " History of
France " Michelet says :
" A king's children must
always, according to the nature of royal marriages,
be as strangers in the land." From this imputation,

King of Italy is exempt.

at least, the

Every one knows how beautiful the life of Queen

Margherita has been and how warmly she is beloved
in every corner of her country. In the smallest
Piedmontese village, as in the gorgeous towns of
Southern Italy, every contaddina calls her " Our own
Margherita," while the highest circles of society
declare their King's mother to be accomplished in

every art : to those who have never known her this

sentiment may indeed seem akin to infatuation, since
it pervades every class and finds not a contradictory
echo to mar its sincerity. I do not seek here to

relate the numerous anecdotes told about her, to

169
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
describe her daily occupations, nor to trace her
biography. My chief aim in these pages is to render
my impressions of kings and queens whom I have
met and talked with, to describe as clearly as possible
their characteristics, the very essence of their souls
such as they were revealed to me on frequent occasions
when the august personages with whom I was brought
into close contact displayed before the eyes of a
writer and poet sentiments they believed they were
expressing in the presence of a mere woman of the
world.
During the few months I spent in Rome where —
my parents had passed part of the summer and
autumn before my arrival, my father at that time
representing his country at the Italian Court — my
mother and he often spoke in fervent admiration of
Queen Margherita and King Humbert, whom they
frequently visited.But the terrible grief, the dire
misfortune which had brought me to our temporary
home in the fold of the Seven Hills, held my mind
aloof from every distraction but my own trouble.
Not all the glamour of the divine city, or the severe
beauty o'erspreading its famous agra romana ; not the
gentle light that descended from a sky fair as the
bosom of a summer sea, nor the grandeur of the
historic pa/azzi ; not the beautiful twilights floating
over the Palatine and the Janicule ; not even the
keen interest abroad in Rome in watching the struggle
between spiritual and temporal powers, could suc-
ceed to divert me from my sorrow, or draw me out
170
 :

THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY

of the abyss of tears into which I sank deeper every
hour. The image of Queen Margherita dwelt in my
mind only among the many images of beauty whose
power was incapable of soothing my distress. Vainly
when we met her in the streets would my mother
say
"There is the Queen —do look at her. See how
she smiles ; she has often spoken so nicely of you to
me. . . . She receives us in a low dress always — it

is the habit at this Court to receive foreign ambas-

sadors in full dress. In many ways it is a very
simple Court, but on the other hand its etiquette is

rather complicated. . . . The Prince of Naples has

told mother a great deal about his visit to
his

Roumania and about you. Mother and son are . . .

so fond of each other. When he is away he writes

to her every day and even twice a day sometimes.
Do look at her."

But I scarcely raised my eyes and remained in my

attitude of depression and indifference as the car-
riage passed our own, though the royal smile more
than once alighted on my face, the vivid blue eyes
searching deep into mine, I felt that the Queen
knew and desired to show me more than a passing
moment's interest, but the sight of the pompous
emblems of her rank, even her compassionate glance,
thrilled me with a sentiment of pain and stirred all
the bitter pangs of memory in my soul. But Queen
Margherita's kindness and Queen Margherita's will
are not easily thwarted. In the early autumn my
171 L
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

mother had a long audience from the Queen. I

thought that after this merely ceremonious interview

my mother would return from the Quirinal delighted
of course, but with no new experience, and that the
burning subject of myself would have been carefully
avoided by both. But my knowledge of the ways of
the Italian Court was completely at fault.
" The Queen understands you so well," said my
mother, " and she pities you so much. Without
making any open allusion to the cause of your
trouble, she spoke of it —beginning the conversation
first, of course, as I should never have dreamt of her
expressing sympathy in a case which so directly
touches the laws and traditions of monarchy. These
I do not think she would ever sacrifice. She is a
Queen from head to foot, but she realises the
extent of your sufferings ; she says you are to her a
pathetic sight as she meets you in her daily drives
and sees you always in the same state of depression.
She seems to see everything."
A few days after my mother's audience a lady
belonging to the diplomatic circle came to me and
said
" Listen, dear child. Queen Margherita would
very much like to see you — but a queen cannot
invite people before they ask leave to present their
homage to her. You required a hint, did you not .?

Well, I have come to suggest this : write to the

Marchesa di Villamarina and beg the favour of an
audience. The Queen will receive you immediately.
172
 THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
I speak almost as if I were entrusted with an official

message. Believe me I do not speak lightly.

Write.'
Here the Queen's tact and delicacy had discovered
a means of accomplishing her will without allowing
her dignity to suffer, so it was without a moment's
hesitation that I wrote to the Marchesa di Villa-
marina, the Queen's dearest friend and a lady worthy
of the affection and confidence bestowed upon her by
her royal mistress.
The very next day we were, my mother and I,

invited to call upon the Queen at two o'clock p.m.

This was a somewhat hasty summons, and at a less
conventional time than usual. Awake to the emo-
tions of the hour, I considered the situation and
tried with some dismay to guess what the Queen
would say ; I had been told that she was very fond
of asking questions. In what light did she regard
me and my thwarted fate ? What could the Queen
— who was twice a Queen by right of birth and right
of marriage, and who always laid such stress on the
right of Royal blood — find to say to one who might
have been a Queen without possessing any of those
rights .?

These thoughts and many of the same kind rapidly

crossed my brain as we saw the huge statues of Castor
and Pollux flash past us as we drove through the
large court of the Palace, environed on every side by
its huge yellow buildings with a single beam of sun-
shine lying along the greystones like a road of watery
173
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

light. In the hall a line of tall soldiers with glis-
tening swords and helmets gave us the salute, and
we mounted the soft staircase whose steps were so
low and easy under our feet that we scarcely felt the
ascent. In the large, wood-panelled antechamber
were some ten or twelve lackeys clad same
in the

flame-coloured livery that we see on the Royal

equipages in Rome and London. A short exchange
of polite remarks took place with one of the princi-
pessa romana, who that day was the lady-in-waiting,
and who kindly endeavoured to attract my attention
to the valuable paintings collected in the blue
drawing-room into which we were ushered. Then
the Marchesa di Villamarina makes her appearance.
This was the sign of a favour precious indeed, as the
Marchesa is very busy and rarely receives the Queen's
visitors, yet it was the Marchesa herself who
beckoned to us and showed us the open door leading
to the Royal apartment.
A vision of white and gold dazzled my sight as

if we had suddenly come upon a landscape of sunlit

snow, and the Queen's white dress and the Queen's
fair hairseemed to throw all around a radiance of
white and gold. In her hand she held a book which
was slowly dropped on a stool, and while she signed
my mother towards a low armchair, she drew me to
her and placedme on the sofa by her side. Then,
with a graceful yet determined movement, she
swerved backwards to the other end of the sofa, and,

still holding my hand, said

»74
 THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
" Iwant to look at you well. I have had so many
pictures of you but not one is like. There is nothing
like —
Nature after all nothing like the living impres-
sionwe receive from the living individuality."
Her neck and fingers were heavy with pearls and
diamonds, and the flash of coloured gems trembled
in her hair and descended over her brow ; in the folds
of her garments and around her the Latin Queen
displayed richness worthy of a Byzantine Empress.
The snowy whiteness of the sunlit chamber, the silk
and velvet embroidered with golden flowers and
silvery tracings, all the glistening splendour of her
surroundings, revealedhow highly the Queen placed
the demands and glory of her rank and its attributes.
Yet the contrast was singularly refreshing between
somuch pomp and the pleasant familiar voice that
murmured on, swinging from one subject to another
like a bird between the branches of a forest ; viva-
cious and inquisitive, yet tinged with a variety of
information and personal experience which showed
plainly her leisure hours have not been given up to
dreaming. Indeed, Queen Margherita's conversation
is so attractive and full of point that it could be
compared to the verses of those poets whose lyrics

take to sudden flight among the stars, then all at

once alight gaily upon the ground, and speak again
of earthly matters with the same liquid language em-
ployed in their intercourse with the stars.

With marvellous ability Queen Margherita

avoided entering into the cause of my grief, yet not

^7S
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN

for a moment did she cease to talk of the sorrow for
which she had seen tears upon my face.
" You should not, oh, you should not be so
depressed. You are young and you are a poet. I

love your writings, and so do all who read them.

Then, is there anything more enchanting to a woman,
or more soothing to her soul, than to hear these
words murmured as she passes :
'
She is a poet ' ^

Do not think, though, that I am addressing myself

to your feminine vanity. I speak to your reason, to
your soul, to your sense of duty. How often I have
vainly wished to be a poet myself ! When in the
blue mists of an autumn morning I follow the steep
mountain paths I love, something in me sings a
hymn of beauty and gratitude I am doomed never to
utter in words. . . . You love Venice .''

" she con-

tinued. " Venice must make every one feel a poet
what, then, must a real poet feel in Venice ^ 1 fol-

lowed all your movements while you were staying in

Venice with your dear Queen. It is such a pity I

could not come to you at that time. Venice is lovely,

is itnot .''"
" Yes, madam, it is the city of joy."
*'
The city of joy — and you say so, you who have
suffered and mourned in Venice ? Why, there is a
breath of unutterable sadness in the breeze among
the lagoons, in the gentle murmur of the oars as they
touch the stone staircases at night. You have not
seen Venice with the eyes of Lord Byron."
*' No, madam, but with the eyes of Titian, with
T76
 — ;

THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY

the eyes of the sun, who seems himself astomshed at
the gorgeous beauty which he awakens on the bosom
of the waters before he sinks below them. It seems
to me as if a mellow tune of laughter and joy glided
over the lagoons between the high palaces. . .
."

" Yes, Titian, Veronese, the sunshine of Venice

they are elements of joy indeed ! And Tintoretto
I worship Tintoretto, the glorious giant. The Giant's
Staircase should be called so because of him. There
are so many admirable descriptions of Venice, such
a vast number of them, it seems as if the city shed
the same glamour over all who attempt to describe it

but almost best of all others I love Pierre Loti's

rendering of Venetian spells, Venetian charms. I

read his pages over and over again when he speaks

of Venice —he thrills me as keenly as Chateaubriand."
Then she began to speak of our Roumanian Queen-
" Oh, your Queen —how I love and admire her ! I

saw her often this autumn in Pallanza. Some-

times would go to pay her a visit quite early while
I

she was still in bed, and thus spent with her moments
so delicious that I will never forget them. She is

extraordinary. Her sufferings have not altered the

sweetness of her nature. You don't know Pallanza,
where she stays, do you } It is a charming little
place, and she seems to like it very much. Shall I

describe it to you '^.

Look —here is the lake, and a
long row of hotels are on this side." And Queen
Margherita, with hands busily engaged in tracing
the lines of the distant Italian landscape, succeeded
177
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
in making every detail of the small town live before
our eyes, while her words made such vivid comments
on her gestures that I could imagine the bright colours
of the water and the trees, the soft splash of the
oars, and the chime of the bells at evening as they
echoed over the sunlit lake from village to village.
Thus also I imagined her arrival on those autumn
mornings whose softness bathes the Italian lakes in
rich and mellow hues. In fancy I could see the fair

Queen's barge approach the blue shore, and the breeze

playing with her hair and veil ; the crowds assembled
in spite of the early hour, and their hearty greetings ;

and how she would enter Carmen Sylva's bedroom

where the shadows of night still lingered, and how,
dazzled by the light from within, she would at first

scarcely distinguish the form of her royal sister.

And I could almost follow the thoughts exchanged

between these two in the course of a tete-a-tete which
personages of their rank seldom enjoy, and the gay
peals of laughter which would resound through the
dim chamber.
" How gracefully, how majestically your Queen
walks ! Although she has now a little difficulty in
moving fast, there is a cadence and suppleness in her
every step. Yet she is not very strong ; she says
she feels as if her feet were in fetters or bound to
the ground, and that she has a good deal of trouble
in lifting them up. But her body is as straight as the

flame of a torch. . .
."

We rose to take our leave. *' You will come

17S
 THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
back to see me, won't you ? Now that you are in
Rome I cannot content myself with the pleasure of
only reading your works. Do come again. . . . Ah !

I had almost forgotten the most important part of

my duty, which I ought to have gone through at the
very beginning of our conversation." And in a
voice which she tried to make ceremonious and cold,
the Queen I hope you will enjoy your stay
said :
*'

here, and be pleased with every one and everything

in Italy. . . . Do come again," she said, resuming
her natural tones. *'
You see, I often forget the
teachings of etiquette, but really I am sure your visit
to me has done you good. There is such a glow on
your cheeks, and quite a light in your eyes — I am an
excellent doctor. Come again ; come soon."
Notwithstanding these gracious injunctions, I

spent many months without expressing a wish to

return to the Quirinal, though the memory of the
Queen's charm and her sympathetic kindness dwelt
with me, and had indeed created a powerful diversion
in my life. Members of my family had at that time
the honour of approaching her Majesty very often,
and on such occasions she never failed to inquire
after me. I may say that scarcely a week passed
without my receiving from the august lady such
tokens of interest as go straight to the heart. When
we made up our minds Rome, as my father
to leave
desired to return to our Roumanian home, the pros-
pect of our departure was terrible to me in every way.
I loved Rome with that passionate love which makes
179
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
us cling to places where we have tasted pain or hope
most keenly; besides, '*the city of the soul" had
wrought its spells upon my mind, and I felt at my
ease amongst its beauties and all the sadness of its
palaces and stones. Added to the other pangs of
separation, sorrow at leaving Queen Margherita's
neighbourhood, having to sacrifice the daily consola-

tion of her smile and the soothing influence of her

presence, me down completely. Besides,
weighed
every one had shown me great kindness, in the highest
society as well as in the humbler classes, and into the
solitude and silence of my life such sympathy had
come that the idea of bidding farewell to the places
and beings amongst whom my grief had found con-
solation, proved a terrible trial. And I had to say
farewell to the Queen. In my farewell to the idol
of the nation all other farewells would be com-
prised.
The Queen knew we had asked for this audience
in order to take leave of her. She smiled sadly.
" So you are going Oh .? how I pity you. No
one who is able to understand Rome can depart from
this glorious city without bitter regret. Every cloud
in our skies, every blade of grass under our feet has
a significance of its own. I pity you. Must you
"
really go ?

• " Alas, madam, yes."

I had never seen Queen Margherita look so
beautiful as that day. Her eyes really were of the
violet hue of Mediterranean gulfs, and her violet
180
 THE DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
dress besprinkled with golden flowers fell around
her like the shades of a Roman twilight on its

gardens and terraces.

" I have come to your Majesty just before our
departure. I have craved the honour of this inter-
view not only from a desire to thank the Queen for
her sympathy and graciousness, but to thank the
Italian nation and all the people of this land. I

want to thank them in the person of the lady whom

the nation adores. Your Majesty is the symbol, the
idol of the land, and at her feet will I lay my thanks.
Every one has been so good, so attentive to me to —
the stranger who came bearing with her a world of
sorrow and despair."
*'Yes, I know, I am certain that every one has
been kind to you, but this I pray you to remember,"
and the Queen proudly raised her head, while the
diamonds in her hair shone so brightly that the
aureola of several crowns seemed to encircle it ;
" this
I beg of you to remember — Italy has not been kind
to you through mere kindness. Italy is still the land
of chivalry and romance. You are a woman and a
poet, and you are unfortunate, abandoned and weak.
To become a heroine in our country nothing more
is required than the wounds inflicted by Fate or love.

Had you come to us in prosperity you would not

perhaps have been received thus, and might not have
been able to understand all the generosity of this
nation. But when this happens, when you are happy
again — and you will be happy return to Rome—
i8i
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
and let Rome see you smile as Rome has seen your
tears."
"The King —how can we prove our devotion and
gratitude to the King ? Can we ever forget his con-
"
cern and his goodness !

'*
Oh the King, he is the most chivalrous among
them all ! I will repeat to him all you have said
about Italy and himself, and he will be delighted,
but more pleased because of Italy than on his own
account."
The room where white and gold gleamed like
sunlit snow was now bathed by the last rays of a dying
autumn afternoon. The windows were open, and in
the silvery haze of the coming twilight the whole
city lay ; like a fortress St. Peter's dome stood high
above all the other church spires, and I thought of
its spiritual import, and said in my heart that in the
Palace, too, a spiritual force was dwelling, pure as

the pure robes of the aged Pope. That the Queen

who so proudly proclaimed her joy in being the wife
of a chivalrous King in a chivalrous land should
one day weep in the horror of a tragic hour, and
see him meet a doom of violence, nothing then
seemed to foresay. Peace was in her and all around
her when she smiled her farewell to us in that sunny
chamber on the heights of the Quirinal hill.

182
 KING VICTOR EMMANUEL III.

AND QUEEN HELENA

It is singular to note that although all the encomiums
usually bestowed upon Princes have been accorded to
the present King of Italy, and although his reign is

already three years old, very little is known about

his real personality. Anecdotes and descriptions have
endeavoured to make of him a familiar figure, but
in vain. There is a lurking vein of mystery about
his personality which extends even to his exterior

aspect. He converses very little with strangers, and

his political entourage cannot boast of obtaining from

him many definite pronouncements which might give

a precise idea of his opinions and tastes. In Italy
more particularly, complete ignorance prevails
regarding the temperament and aspirations of the
young King. Ability isthe one thing every one
allows him to possess ; and from Rome to Palermo,
from Milan to Naples, public report agrees in
depicting him a perfect soldier, as well able to com-
mand as he formerly was to obey. But the special

quality which has endeared the House of Savoy to

185
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the Italian people, the quality which the nation pre-
fers to all other characteristics of that ancient race,
seems somewhat wanting in the King, though he is

intelligent, far-sighted, brave, and worthy in most

respects of his glorious descent.
In every spot where the noble House of Savoy
has left traces of its brilliancy and heroism, in cities
both of Italy and France, pictures are to be found
which portray Knights, Earls and Dukes belonging
to this race, which boasts a lineage more ancient and
more glorious than even that of the Hapsbourgs.
The Savoy Princes appear to have been especially
careful in bequeathing to future centuries the present-
ment of their countenances and their garb —the latter
intended to adorn a Court pageant or dazzle the
troops in the gay sunlight of a battlefield ; while
their Princesses look down upon us in haughty
disdain, or smiling complacency from the walls of
innumerable museums and palaces. Beneath these
portraits inscriptions tell us that the beautiful dame
represented was a Queen by marriage, or perchance
the mother of a King. Thus Francis I., one of the
most valorous and most popular rulers of France,
was the son of a Savoyard Princess, the famous
Duchess Louise of Angouleme, who for years lived
in fear that her beloved son might miss the throne,
should a child be born to the old King of France,

Louis XII., he having, after the death of his first

wife, married Mary Tudor, sister to Henry VIII.
Another Princess of this race was the young
i86
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
Duchess of Burgundy, who came to Versailles before
she was ten years of age to marry Louis XIV. 's
grandson, and whose sad history has been told at
length by one of the most famous French historians.
Yet no historical sketch, no legend relating the past
splendour and valiant deeds of this chivalrous and
gallant dynasty, can in any way compare with the
accounts given of them by the present King of Italy
himself when he takes up the subject casually in
conversation. He possesses, in addition, a wonder-
fully accurate knowledge of the individual character
of each personage among his ancestors. Their great
deeds, their perilous adventures and misfortunes,
their triumphs and glory, are made to live again as

soon as in his own feverish manner he takes up the

tale and begins to wax eloquent.
During my extensive travels I have come across
many documents and pictures connected with the
—
House of Savoy "la casa di Savoia " as it is called
in Italy —
and many a time has my heart been stirred
while poring over dusty folios or wandering through
long galleries, where paintings endowed with the
eternal youth of art hang on each side like a phantom
army. Yet two vivid impressions remain in my mind
which, while I live, will shed a splendid lustre over
the simple word " Savoy " in my thoughts. The first
was the occasion when I heard Victor Emmanuel
III. recall to memory one after another the warriors
and princes to whom he owes his illustrious
blood. The second impression is a very recent one.
187
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
It came to me in one of my rambles through the
archaeological treasures of France. I had gone to
see one of the many gems of architecture raised by
piety in that fair land, and while I wandered through
the church, white and luminous as the cathedrals
of Italy where a feeling for pagan beauty has not
been obliterated by the thrill of adoration and awe
so impressive in Gothic aisles, the living language
of the eloquent Prince seemed to mingle with the
silence that enshrouded the snowy tombs, and in my
imagination the Royal words seemed allied to what
the silence said.
On the stained-glass window knelt a Duke of
Savoy, so deep in prayer that he had let his gauntlet
fall on a cushion by his side, and did not even see
behind him the form of his patron saint listening
to the deathless orisons. For centuries the hand-
some young Duke has prayed on in that church,
little witting that the territory on which it stands

has passed away from his line, oblivious to everything

save his devotions. Not far from the altar is the
place where his dust is laid. Never more will he
take up his gauntlet again, nor cover his fair curls
with the heavy helmet clasped to his breast, yet still

he prays on.
In that church the tombs all round speak more of
love than of death. Gazing on the sculptured master-
pieces whose outlines seem to melt into the silvery
twilight, we forget that the Princess who built the

shrine, the dreamer whose vision is here pictured in

i8S
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
stone and coloured glass, was a powerful, strong-
souled woman, daughter of a German Caesar, aunt
to Charles V., and Governor of the Netherlands.
Hers was no lifeof prayer and solitude, but an ever
active existence, bent on political power and deep
designs. More than once, we are told, she armed

herself and rode on horseback to make or unmake

treaties —
and alliances a woman alike feared and
honoured in Council and among the nations under
her sway.
In the convent Church of Urm it is her love-story
that alone appears — romance to thrill the poet and
a
the traveller. To these Margherita di Savoia, wife
of Philibert the Handsome, is a truly pathetic figure.
Betrothed to the young French Dauphin, who sent
her back to her father because he wished to marry
the wealthy Duchess of Brittany, she afterwards
became the widow of King Juan of Castille. Fate
seemed to pour its bounties at her feet when she
espoused the Duke of Savoy and settled with him in
the wealthiest part of his rich dukedom, but ill for-
tune again intervened, for the beloved husband died
after two years of happiness. Despair took pos-
session of her, and in memory of the man she loved
the proud, sorrowing Princess built the church where
the royal lovers now rest side by side. She caused
the image of her dead husband to be carved and
painted three times, and her love has prevailed over
the waves of time and discord, so that to-day the
gem of art stands erect and beautiful shining from
189 M
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
amongst the trees to tell its tale of fidelity and
immortal affection.
It is in the handsome features of Duke Philibert,

thrice repeated in stone and glass, that the charac-

teristics of the race of Savoy may be best seen and
traced to their source. The languor yet extreme
manliness of the features, the firmness of the strong
hands closed over the helmet, the look that the
Prince lifts to the holy Cross before which he is

kneeling — all bear testimony to the vigour, the

ardour and the piety bequeathed by the dynasty to
its descendants. Between the fervent spirit of the
kneeling Duke and the soul of the present King of
Italy, how many different personalities have inter-
vened, what powerful hereditary tendencies have
been mingled in his blood by unions with almost
every royal house in Europe! His fathers have been
allied with the families of Austria and Bourbon, and
with the families of Italian Princes of races now
extinct, yet a near parentage survives which links
him to the figure of that silent worshipper in the
church at Urm, as well as to the heroes whose deeds
have graced the records of the Casa di Savoia. Any
one who has the honour of approaching Queen
Margherita's son may easily trace in him such

remains of mediaeval feeling mingled with modern

ideas as may serve to render him interesting to those
who look to find in the living the relics of the long
dead past.
Victor Emmanuel III. may be called the child of
190
 "

VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN

joy and happy expectation. Born at a moment when
every heart was bent upon the triumph of Italian
Unity, he acquired from both his father and mother
the blood of the same glorious ancestors, for Queen
Margherita and King Humbert were first cousins.
Naples, that city where joy raises her altars under
the fairest sky that poets can sing, the beautiful city
crowned with flowers and over-shadowed by her
graceful volcano —
Naples gave him her name.
When the twenty-second boom of the cannon
announced that Margherita, then Crown Princess of
Italy, had given birth to a son, the population of the
sunlit town went wild with exultation. Men greeted
each other in the streets with " Italia ha un Re
(Italy has a King), and the shouts reached the Palace
of Castelamai standing high above the gulf, where
the proud young mother caught the happy strain,
while the father, looking out from the marble bal-
conies over the glistening waters, smiled and blessed
the glorious day. Thus Victor Emmanuel was
pledged to a brilliant future. " We do not want
our King to be an artist or a warrior. We simply
require him to be intelligent, good, and a true

Italian," said the people. King Humbert's goodness

was well known and he proved himself an Italian to
the last, even on that fatal eve when he refused to
listen to the prayers of the Queen when she begged
him not to tire himself by presiding at the meeting
on returning from which he met his death.
That Victor Emmanuel is as kind, as thoroughly
191
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Italian in heart, word and manners as his father was,

many of his subjects seemed to doubt at the opening

of his reign, since the Prince had always been very
guarded in his speech and ways, and no one appeared
to know much about him. Although rumour had
reached our Court of the interesting and excellent
education he had received, it was with great indiffer-
ence that we looked forward to his visit to Bucharest.
We were accustomed to derive but little benefit from
the presence and conversation of Royal visitors. We
remembered the many Imperial and Royal High-
nesses we had met in Roumania and abroad, who
had favoured us only with such languid questions
concerning our health, &c., as clearly proved their
possession of an unvarying vocabulary whose mono-
tonous phrases they distributed by the way, beginning
afresh whenever they found themselves in presence
of new acquaintances.
I must allow that I have seen many Court ladies
and gentlemen gratified and delighted with the
crumbs thrown to them by the supercilious politeness
of royalty, but to this standard of Court perfection
I have never been able to attain. I have always
entertained a profound reverence for monarchy and
its representatives, for the Right Divine of the being
graced by God and the nation with a crown, as for
every member of their families ; but these sentiments
of loyalty and traditional respect have been shaken
when the scanty courtesy of a stiff German Hochheit
or obscure Durchlaut has affected my instinctive
192
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
feeling that the duty to show not only politeness,
but interest and sympathy, towards all with whom
they come in contact should be numbered amongst
the dearest attributes of royalty. I am ashamed to
say how often I must have astonished those haughty
Princes and Princesses who scarcely deign to move
lips or eyelids when addressing their inferiors in rank,
by casting on them such looks of amused irony or
surprise that I received in exchange glances which
clearly said, " Impertinent little thing " I must, !

however, be sincere and add that it is only the minor

potentates who indulge in the pleasure of leaving
behind them a row of courtiers thunderstruck at the
honour they have received of listening to these low,
drawling tones.
The Prince of Naples had not been an hour the
guest of our King before all apprehension as to his
amiability and sympathy was stilled. He displayed
such conversational powers as are rarely found not
alone among his equals, but even among those be-
neath him whose professional task it is to be eloquent.
On every subject he seemed well-informed. In order
to give her son the benefit of a thorough training in
Court etiquette, Queen Margherita had devised the
plan of setting up a circle of empty chairs in a large
drawing-room. Upon each of these was inscribed
the name and title of some personage belonging to
the Church or State. She would then make her son,
at that time only nine years of age, converse with the
empty seats, bearing labels with names such as " Arch-
193
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
bishop of Milan," " Minister of Justice," '*
General
G.," *'The French Ambassador," Sec. In this
manner the child quickly learned the different ways
in which he ought to address the absent officials and
ladies without allowing conversation to slacken or
drop for a moment. But beyond this, his erudition
in all that regards historical and military matters is

really remarkable, while to describe fully his tastes

and instincts we should have to recall some of the
rulers among his ancestors, those ancient Dukes who,
together with the ordinary accomplishments of
Princes, had the gift of sagacity bestowed upon them
from their cradles.
The years which to many are numbered among
the happiest of life, those of early childhood, were
spent by the Prince of Naples in labour and study
so severe that had not his mother soothed the toil
of those early days with her gentleness and affection,
he might have become hardened by excess of study
and reflection and turned into a solitary bookworm.
Fortunately he loved sport, and notwithstanding the
efforts he had to make to obtain from his weak body

a perfect obedience to his commands, all his impulses

urged him to action and violent exercise. He loved
to follow his Alpine soldiers along steep paths of
mountain and glen, or to run beside the bersaglieri
regiments at the wild pace which makes them so
fascinating to behold. It is almost incredible that a
Prince who boasts that he desires nothing better
upon earth than days spent among his troops in
194
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
glade or forest, should be at the same time the
keen observer whose chief pleasure it is to study
every one he meets, and to whom no creature upon
earth has ever appeared indifferent or uninteresting.
It is this keen scrutiny of his fellow men which
prevents the Prince from putting forward his own
opinions at the beginnings of acquaintance, because
he is so much occupied with the minds and feelings
of others.
Although he adores riding good horses, running
races, and marching alongside of his soldiers as much

as he dotes on historical lore, he has escaped the

double peril of becoming a mere trooper on the one
hand or a gloomy scholar —what the French call a
rat de bibliotheque — on the other. Either alternative
might have ruled in his case, as his tutors have
had to deal with a character passionately attracted
towards certain ideas and habits. Unlike many
Princes who, lacking both energy and intelligence,
yet try to imitate the life of great soldiers or to
rival learned men, the present King of Italy would
have made a brilliant warrior or an accomplished
historian had not the balance been ably kept between
his tastes and his abilities.
But we must return to the first impression created
by his presence in Bucharest, an impression after-
wards completed at Rome where I had frequent
opportunities of seeing him. It was with almost
a shudder of apprehension we had learned that the
heir of the Italian throne was to spend three or four
195
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

days at our Court, and on glancing over the pro-
gramme of the entertainments prepared for him we
discovered that, owing to the fact that he was in
deep mourning, he had expressed a desire that hardly
any official receptions should take place. There
were therefore to be no gala representations, no
races, no balls. We noted that he would pass the
afternoons company of the Queen in her
in the
Majesty's music room or study, where most of our
time was spent.
When the Prince of Naples on the day of arrival,
after a visit to the barracks and a drive in the
Chauss^e or public garden of Bucharest, entered the
precincts sacred to the arts and poetry, he threw
around him a sharp glance of inquiry. His gaze
took in at once pictures, furniture and individuals,
and seemed to penetrate into the remotest corners
of our minds, tearing off the veil that hides thought
and sentiments. The eyes, keen and interrogating,
travelled from one face to another noting each detail
of gesture or smile, yet controlled by a strict polite-

ness and quickly averted if he noticed the slightest

uneasiness on the part of the person who was the
object of his scrutiny.
" This will not be a tedious week," I said to
myself, as the Prince went on bowing and looking
round him with all his attention given to this
silent observation. Then, all at once, noting a
smile of amusement on the Queen's face, he said
" Your Majesty must find me very singular and
196
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
almost rude. I must first take in impressions of
faces and landscapes before I can enjoy the simple
natural pleasures of conversation, of grasping at
people's thoughts through their words. I must first
handle my impressions a little before I allow them
to take hold upon me and throw a haze of illusion
over my imagination. The first thing I do on
arriving in a foreign country is to look about and
reflect and write down my reflections, so that
gradually by accumulating facts in my mind and
diary I am becoming a sort of dictionary. I have
an excellent memory in which I am sure you would
find almost every person, every place I have seen,
each in its proper position, in good order and array,
bearing a clear notification of its value and beauty."
" And this is an amusement to you ? " asked the
Queen.
" Scarcely an amusement. It is an absolute
necessity to me. I could not do without it, even if

I wished to. I have already noted many remark-

able traits in your Roumanian peasants on my way
from the frontier. What has struck me much
more than their costume is the way in which they
hold their heads. . . . Yes, they bear their heads
high, a thing unusual among people who stoop all

day long over agricultural work. But this has a

peculiar significance with them. It shows that they
belong to a nation long oppressed yet full of
courage, whose favourite gesture for generations has
been to lift the head while thinking of the oppressor.
197
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
interrupting the daily toil with such reflections as
'
We shall one day be a free people. We shall be

from tyranny and suffering.' And the

delivered
women, how calm and dignified they are They !

remind me of Samaritans gathered round the well of

an evening." Then turning abruptly towards me,
he said " Why do you go on writing ?
: I have . . .

been watching you for the last ten minutes. Your

pen flies on as if there were nothing more important
to do than to write just at this moment, when I am
here. . .
."

I felt completely taken aback. . . . "Sire, this

must leave by the five o'clock mail. Her Majesty
has given me permission to write in her room when
I am in a great hurry. I have been writing, but I

have listened with great interest to every word of

your Royal Highness's conversation."
" Things done by halves never succeed you cannot
;

have listened with real attention, or if you have,

your work must have been badly done. Now tell me,
have you travelled much ^ Do you know J was
trying to find out where you have been educated,
while I spoke to you as you were introduced. . . .

Thus far I am sure I am not mistaken ;

you have not
been brought up in Roumania. Now I am going to
guess the country and the city where you spent some
of your earliest years. Everyone
Let me see. . . .

here speaks French beautifully, German too, but you

speak English almost like an Englishwoman, there
is not the slightest difference between your English
198
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
and your French. And yet. . . . Ah ! How
stupid of me not to see it immediately. You were
brought up in There is no mistake about
Paris,
that. You need not try to deny it."
" I do not, but may I ask your Royal Highness
what reasons led you to form that conclusion, which
"
is a correct one }

"
Of course," answered the Prince triumphantly.
" Paris, Paris only could have taught you. ." . .

" What has Paris taught her which makes her

French education so conspicuous in her? " questioned
the Queen.
Can your Majesty not guess ^ She is very
*'

young yet, in perfect possession of the conviction, so

widespread in France, that woman is on a footing of
equality with if not of superiority to man. She has
a quiet, authoritative way of giving her opinions, as if
feeling absolutely sure that her every word will be
taken into consideration. Now in Germany, where
man prevails, a woman would speak in tones of
humility and feel so much astonished at being con-
sulted that at first she would find no words to
answer, even if she were extremely clever or
learned."
" In the upper classes, perhaps," answered the
Queen. " But I cannot let you ignore the many
remarkable women in Germany —how well armed
they are with clever arguments and fluent speech."
" Your Majesty misunderstands me. I simply

mean the way of putting forth ideas, the security of

199
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
mind and tone, that is French. . . . Then the other
trait, a very striking one also, you went on writing
while we were speaking."
*'
But your Royal Highness does not mean to say
that '
Time is money is a French proverb or an
'

"
exclusively Parisian saying ?

" No, but the French prefer ideas to sentiment,

and of course you were following up an idea which
you were afraid of losing. What were you writing
"
... a poem ... or a prose tale ^

" A letter to my mother."

A tender smile passed over the Prince's features.
"
"And do you write often to her ^
" Every day."
"So do I to the Queen."
" And as my mother will feel very anxious to hear
all about your Royal Highness's visit, and I have a

good deal of work to do for the Queen, I thought I

might try to finish this letter."
"And I have been unkind enough to hinder you.
. . . Well, let me atone. . . . Please tell your
dear mother you are writing under dictation and
write this :
'
The Prince of Naples is delighted with
Roumania, loves and admires its Queen, and thanks
you for having given your daughter such an excel-
lent education (though she is uncivil enough to write
to you while I am present), taught her so many lan-

guages and inspired her with the same great affection

as he has for his own mother.' When I had finished
the sentence, the Prince took the pen and traced
200
 1

VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN

these words at the foot of the page, ' Witnessed and
"
signed by me : Vittorio Emmanuele di Savoia^
" Now all of you take care what you say," said
the Prince laughingly when a few minutes later

we were gathered round the tea-table. I write down

everything, and there is not a word that I do not re-

member. I am a phonograph. . . But my diary is

.

locked. It contains portraits which I draw on the

flyleaf in order to make physiognomies speak for

themselves."
Every time he returned from the sightseeing
expeditions to which the King regularly conducted
him, the Prince of Naples came to the Queen's
sitting-room as one accustomed to be on intimate
terms with her Majesty, and continued to give
abundant proofs of his intelligent appreciation of the
courtesy shown numerous
him. The hospitals

scattered in and about Bucharest, and their vast

proportions, struck the Prince strongly and led him

to question us much on the subject.
" Why are there more hospitals in Bucharest than
"
in any other town ^

**
Our ancestors built them. . . . Our forefathers

were inspired with a mysticism almost as deep and

ardent as the faith of the Middle Ages. In order to
obtain mercy for their sins they created hospitals and
endowed them with immense wealth. These hospitals
own many of the greatest estates in the country."
" answered the Prince.
'*
Oh, the miracles of faith !

"You should see the pilgrims clustering round the

20
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem to understand the

power and beauty of faith. You should see the stones

there which are always bathed with tears, almost black

like the stones upon which rain perpetually falls."
" Yes," I answered. " They are the tears of my
brethren of the Orthodox religion, the Russian
pilgrims who cross the vast Asiatic desert on
foot to reach the tomb of the Saviour. Yes, the
Orthodox pilgrims know how to show their love for

Him."
*'
They do not love Him any better than the
Catholics," answered the Prince with a flash of
indignation. " You are quite mistaken. You
speak from hearsay, whereas I have seen. . . .

But we must not have a religious dispute on the

subject."
No," interposed the Queen. "Postpone the
*'

subject to another time, or I might be tempted to

put in a word or two in favour of the Protestants,
and discord would reign in this spot where har-
mony should hold sway. Do you know that the
Prince is so kind as to compare my Court to
the Court of Ferrara ? But will not your Royal
Highness return to the Jerusalem journey What .?

did you feel when you came in sight of the Holy

"
City .?

" An emotion so terrible that it seemed to me that

I had not been prepared for it, though I expected
much. The culminating point of my voyage was
when, at the foot of the mountain where our Lord
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 !

VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN

preached the sermon of love and contrition, we saw
the clouds that hid the summit roll away one by
one, recalling to us the veil of the sanctuary that was
rent in twain when Jesus Christ died. Thus the
clouds divided and we perceived against the clear sky
the form of a shepherd standing motionless in an
attitude of solemn communion with the elements
and God. It seemed to us that the Good Shepherd
Himself had come back to the mountain on which
His immortal prayer was first uttered, Our Father '

who art in Heaven.' ..."

We sat silent, awed and touched by the eloquent
interpretation of this unique scene, when, passing to
another topic, the Prince referred to our soldiers.
" Though they belong to the Latin race they look
graver than our Italian troopers, our own dear soldiers.
I love them, I love them, come la mia ciele^ like my
own skies. Ah, how gay, how brave, how tireless

are our bersaglieri ! They move as swiftly as deer

and the tufts on their shoulders dance in the wind.
How charming and how unlike all other music are
the marches that lead them in their quick race
Shall I whistle and sing them to you } " And to
our great delight the Prince began to imitate the
sound of fifes and flutes and bugles. Soon all the
glamour of Italy crept over us. In a vision, quick
as the joyous and warlike cadences, we saw the regi-
ments passing through the Campagna Romana or
along the streets of some quaint Italian town. There
he stood lifting up his energetic head, the slender,
203
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
nervous hands crossed on his knees, singing the
songs he loved —the songs through which all the
eager movement, the untiring youthful effort that
leads modern Italy towards civilisation seemed to
roll before our eyes. All the hurried, exultant
progress of Italy seemed to stir before us in the
person of this young Prince, who would one
day hold the sway of the realm in those same
restless hands in whose veins ran the blood of
Garibaldi's royal friend and comrade — the first

Italian King. . . .

" We shall all feel when the Prince of

very sad
Naples leaves us," said the Queen one day. Do '*

you know what he did this morning ? At dawn,

while his aide-de-camp was still asleep, he got up
quietly and slipped out, hailed a cab and ordered the
driver to take him through the poorest suburbs of
the town. When his officers rose and found that
the Prince had disappeared, imagine their distress.
He has only just returned, a few minutes before
breakfast."
At that moment the Prince came into the room.
" I can see that your Majesty is relating my morning's
excursion, and a very pleasant one it was, too. Now
I am well acquainted with every feature of your
city. On theway I spoke to several peasants and to
a soldier. They all understood me, Roumanian is so
like Italian. You could not expect me to content
myself, could you, with official accounts and inter-
pretations of this country .''
The coachman had no
204
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
idea who I was, so I could converse freely with him
all the time."
That evening one of Moliere's plays was per-
formed in the Palace. After the performance the
Prince came up to me.
" Moliere is a fine fellow," he said. " So genuinely
witty and caustic. But I prefer Shakespeare to all

the other great geniuses of the world. I know the

English language almost as well as my own and love
it. No language can express humour and terse irony
better. Do you know I often write to my mother
in English ^ When you come to Italy you will hear
so much about me that is untrue that I am delighted
that you should have seen me abroad."
In this respect the Prince of Naples was mistaken,
as I believe that the best experience one can have of
a person, more especially if that person happen to be
a Prince, is acquired by observing him in his own
land ; and when, a few years later, Imet the Prince
suddenly and unexpectedly, I discovered in him many
qualities that had not had an opportunity of
he
displaying in Roumania.
It was on a sultry afternoon. Pisa slept in a haze
of mellow light and the grass lay yellow around the
Campo Santo and the tall white Cathedral. We had
wandered from the Church to the Baptistery, and
were about to enter the Campo Santo when a stern
official interposed.
" It is impossible to visit the Campo Santo to-day.
The Prince of Naples is in Pisa and is coming here.
205 M
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
The Campo Santo is closed to travellers and
visitors."
we remained assembled in a group
In great distress
trying to convince the man that we would not dis-
turb the Prince, that we only wanted to see Oscagna's
frescoes, and would move about as softly as mice.
He refused even to listen to us, and we were making
up our minds to give up all idea of seeing the
frescoes, though we could not tell when we might
return to Pisa, when all at once I recognised one of
the royal aides-de-camp who was coming towards us.
I explained our position to him, he gave an order,
and in another moment we had entered the forbidden
precincts. From tomb to tomb, from inscription to
inscription we strolled, keenly alive to the calm glory
of the place. The roses were in full bloom on the
plot of holy earth brought from Jerusalem, and a
soft silence, steeped in the profound drowsiness of
the summer air, lay upon the place.

Suddenly the sharp sound of bugles and military

music burst upon the ancient, dreamy Campo Santo.
The march echoed through the
strains of the royal
slender marble colonnades. I remembered hearing

the Prince of Naples whistle that same national

anthem which now ushered him into our view. How
unchanged and yet how different he seemed amid
that brilliant cortege in the attitude of one now
ready to condescend and bestow favours. On re-

cognising us, he bade us follow, and going from

tomb to tomb as we had done, he awoke the very
206
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
soul of history, here with a quotation, there with a
remark, touching with his fine nervous hands the
rusty old chains which still bear testimony to the
days when Pisa was a port and mirrored her beauty
on the bosom of the faithless sea. . . .

For a Prince so accomplished and so singularly

original, for a sovereign as learned and wise as he is,

disdainful of light pleasures and pursuits, a spouse

was needed who would herself bring strength and
talents to the royal house.
" I will not marry a doll or a stick. I will not
make a match to suit popular desires or general
custom, but a marriage that will bring me complete
happiness, because if I am happy so will be my
parents and the nation. And if I find the wife of
my dreams, and if your poetic ideals approve my
choice, I wish you to be the first to congratulate me,
remember that, ..."
Thus had the Prince spoken at Bucharest on the
March evening that had preceded his departure, and
the Queen laughed as I promised. When the
Princess of Naples, a radiant bride, came out of the
church amid songs and flowers leaning on her hus-
band's arm, and receiving eager congratulations
from every side, a friend of mine, a lady whose
exalted position made the task easy, stepped forward
and congratulated the Prince in my name.
For one instant only he remained confounded, then
in a flash he rememberd and answered :

" Yes, my ideal is beautiful ; indeed she is quite

207
 ;

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

right," and with all his heart in his voice he fervently
returned his thanks.
I met Queen Elena of Italy in Naples before
she became a Queen. My family had been closely
associated vi'ith the princely family of Montenegro,
and long before that Florentine morning her sv/eet,
pensive face had been familiar to me. I had heard
about the wild Tchernagora, where she was edu-
cated and where she herself gave lessons to her
little sisters, and was the joy of her father's house.

Therefore, when I gazed at the pallid countenance,

the sleepy black eyes whose glances thrilled into life

whenever her husband stooped towards her or spoke,

as I watched her listening somewhat despondently
while in the new Etruscan Museum a professor versed

in the mysteries of that ancient race delivered a most

interesting speech — it appeared to me that a mystery
greater than the spells written in that language
whose secret is for ever dead, lay in the slim person
of the Tchernagora maiden who had so recently
become an Italian Princess, passing from the eagle's
nest to a halcyon land.
After the speech was delivered the Princess rose
there was a kind of graceful apathy in her move-
ments which spoke more of Oriental ease than moun-
tain sturdiness, but the moment she opened her lips
the energy of her forefathers was to be detected in
the luminous orbs of black velvet shining between
the dark lashes.
" Oh, is not Florence lovely ? 1 am trying to dis-
208
 VICTOR EMMANUEL III. AND QUEEN
cover which Italian town I love most. But directly
I stay two or three days in one, I am unfaithful to
the one I have just left. Italy is to me an ocean of
flowers, pictures, and smiles. But is it not sad that
no way can be found to decipher these Etruscan
inscriptions How awful to think that a whole race
.''

can thus perish completely The Princess shud- !

"

dered. " In our dear Tchernagora we believe that as

long as a song survives the remembrance of a nation
cannot be lost — I mean a song of heroism, relating
some brave deed. But the Estruscans have left
more than a song, they have left statues, urns, arms,
records of their customs, the tombs where their kings
lie in glistening array, yet to us they are quite dead
because not a record from them ever crosses the ages
to reach our souls. ... It really seems true that the
human word contains the only real life."
Elena of Italy and Montenegro stood there
amidst the remnants of Etruscan civilisation and art.

She seemed taller than the other ladies present, and

her pale face shone, while through the open windows
the Florentine breeze brought the perfume of roses
and the murmur of the busy city. All the vigour
and promise of Spring quivered through the hall,

avoiding the soulless urns and statues to centre round

the daughter of the Minstrel Prince, of the Warrior-
Singer, Nicholas of Montenegro.

209
 riioto I'V /ran , til, Maiirid

QUEEN MARIA LIlRIS'llNA AND KINC; Al.lONSO XII 1. OK SPAIN

 QUEEN MARIA CHRISTINA AND
KING ALFONSO XIII. OF SPAIN

As one follows the rocky road that leads to Madrid,

through plains desolate and bereft of trees or verdure,
leaving far behind one the green softness of the
Guipujera provinces and the fairness of Burgos, that
weird old city clad in its mantle of foliage, haunted
of a moonlit night by the phantom of the national
hero, the marvellous warrior, Cid Campeador, a
sense of loneliness akin to terror fills the soul. On
each side of the railway stretch grey stones and
brown earth far as the eye can reach, and the wan-
dering herds, whose slow steps alone disturb the
dreary solitude, have difficulty in finding a morsel of
grass or wild herb to graze upon. And when
through the thick folds of the morning mist the
Escurial with its numberless turrets bursts suddenly
upon the view, the sight is by no means calculated
to relieve the imagination or dispel the mournful
impressions created on the way. How black and
how menacing a mountain can look only those can
realise who have gazed upon the dark slopes and
213
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
darker summit that towers above that melancholy
palace. Of course, at the very first glance, it is easy
to infer that not a single room can exist within that
palace whose walls, floor and ceiling are not over-
shadowed by its high neighbour the Sierra. Indeed,
from earliest times the mountain appears to have
cherished the impossible ambition of entering the
building, and in the meantime cast upon pavement,
court and garden signs, as it were, of mute wrath,
like the distant aspect of a thundercloud before the
storm speaks from within its folds. Notwithstanding
all modern Spanish monarch (one of
the pains that a
the Bourbon dynasty) took to lighten the gloomy-
atmosphere of the Escurial salons by placing in them
gay furniture and tapestry worked in bright and
varied colours, the forbidding presence of Philip II.

still lurks behind its high wooden doors. It was he

who built the palace in one of the few rare moments
of cheerfulness and grace known to that grim poten-
tate. On the eve of the Battle of St. Quentin's, in
which his troops overcame the French army, he
swore that if the Spaniards proved victorious he
would build a huge convent dedicated to St. Law-
rence, the Saint under whose patronage he had placed
the fate of the campaign. Now as St. Lawrence was
a martyr, and had been burnt to death on a gridiron,
the king tried to give the cloister the appearance of
that instrument of torment by building eleven court-
yards separated by as many suites of cells and apart-
ments ; each of these was to represent one of the
214
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
rods of the gridiron, and the courts were meant to
symbolise the space between the rods, while the
King's own suite of chambers formed the handle.
Almost the whole line of sovereigns belonging to
the Austrian dynasty have borne some affinity for

this strange abode, where amidst dismal prayers

and cruel designs were spent the days of the most
illustrious among them, Philip the Second. Into
every corner of the land they poured as it were, like
an ocean of lead and blood, the dread sensation of
their invisible presence.Unseen by the people, who
knew only King of Spain lived surrounded
that the
by an etiquette whose strict laws had changed him
from a living human being into a shadow bowed
down by his own grandeur, the throne came to be
surrounded more by awe than love. Scenes of horror
and fear formed around it an atmosphere as funereal
and heavy as the odours of the dim Pudrideiro,
where after death the monarch's corpses were pre-
served till the slow drops of water falling upon them
achieved the work of destruction. These awful
images may well typify a race whose last representa-

tive, pale, haughty, and worn out by generations of

terrible ancestors, appear to be kept from dropping
like a faded leaf only by the pride which still sur-
vives in their clear and languid blue eyes.
From such memories, well in keeping with the
landscape of brown earth and grey stones, from such
gruesome associations, does Madrid — lively and
beautiful Madrid —rouse the traveller as, dazed by
215
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the din and the sunlight, he rolls through her indo-
lent and crowded streets. Who would think longer
of Philip II. or remain pondering over the painful
past ^ Mirth and noise, the bustle of impatient
tradesmen, the slim figures of toreros in their every-

day garb, the rich equipages of the wealthy and the

merry laugh of the poor, these express in outward
appearance what Madrid means to her happy children,
and why they deem their own city fair above every
other in the world. At any hour of the day or
night, whatever be the season or the weather, the
on
streets are ever full to overflowing, and, carried
by the torrent of wild enjoyment and eager move-
ment, the mind of the calmest, the gravest person
retains only the power necessary to ask in a timid
softo voce manner :
" Who cooks their dinners for
them, who looks after the children, the little ones
that they are obliged to leave at home ?
"
— for the
idea that there can be any one left in the houses seems
preposterous. As to the habit in Madrid society of
driving to the Castellana every afternoon, it is so
inveterate that one day when I had desisted from
following the universal example, because I could not
tear myself away from a thrilling book, all our
friends left cards, feeling sure that one of us must
be ill, if not both. There is something touching, in
many ways worthy of perfect approval, in the fact
that at the hour of the Angelus, with just the same
hasty, elastic step, the same buoyant exuberance, the
whole population, not an individual excepted, rushes
216
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
for a few moments into the ever-open churches to
pray.
Over the chaos and turmoil of faces, carriages,
screams, chatter, clatter and patter, like a great white
bird the Royal Palace spreads its long wings. One
is rather bewildered to find modern
it has an air as
as the furniture in the Escurial, nay, even more

up-to-date. And it is needful to remember how

unchanged are the traditions still revered behind
the massive walls, or one would experience a sense
almost of disappointment since the grandeur of the
Spanish monarchy seems inseparable from the legends
of the Camerera major — the dreaded Court officers

and severe Court dames — and the Court of Spain

could no longer boast of being the strictest Court
in Europe if it did not remain faithful to all its

terrible rules. In some details the stern etiquette

has had to be modified, as fear of ridicule overcame
the dread of losing the lustre which centuries alone
can bestow. But to this day the visitor ascending
the tall flight of stairs leading to the upper hall is

told that after the first must take his

ten steps he
hat oflF, and the ladies who accompany him must bow,
because from that spot he is supposed to perceive a
fold or stray glimmer of one of the three sacred ban-
ners which belonged to the three ancient orders of
chivalry in Spain. He also learns, if his guide knows
anything of the usages of the Court, that all grandees
have a right to enter the Palace unbidden and at
any hour to ask for an interview with the monarch,
217
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
who calls every grandee his cousin and that no ;

nobleman has the right to bear his titles on succession

until the King has given him permission to do so.
This takes place only after a very curious and intri-

cate ceremony, at which all the other grandees are

present, wearing their traditional robes and huge
feathered hats, which they hold in their hands till the
King, after having questioned the new Duke or Count
as to the origin and merits of his forefathers, tells

him to don his headgear, while the grandees gathered

around him do the same, and all stand with heads
covered in the presence of their sovereign — a privilege
very dear to the Spanish nobility.
To atone for the absence of feudal grandeur, the
Royal Palace of Madrid abounds in art treasures,
reminding one that the Bourbon ancestor of the
present King was grandson to the French monarch
whose taste for splendour and elegance in his sur-
roundings was so remarkable. That the young
Sovereign belongs to the Latin race is quite apparent
in the cut of his clear features, the vivacity of his
glance, and the eagerness with which he follows the
scenes that come under his eyes. Were it not
for his thick lips, a characteristic feature in the
Hapsbourg family, it would be difficult to remember
that his mother is an Austrian archduchess, and calls

her son " Bubb " (little boy) exactly as does every
other Viennese mother, be she noblewoman or
shopkeeper.
The task which lay before the Queen of Spain in
218
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
rearing her child was a hard one. From the very
moment of his birth the infant came into the world
a King, and his first screamswere respectfully checked
by his nurses with the soft remonstrance " Will your
Majesty deign to be quiet ?
" The Royal mother
had to struggle against the wild desire which pos-
sessed the Spanish nation to approach their Sovereign,
and yet try to make the baby understand how dear
he was to them. She insisted in keeping him away
as much as possible from the places and pursuits
that would recall his rank to him ; she wished his
childhood to be as happy as that of any ordinary
mortal, and yet she might not lose sight of the
necessity of teaching him the privileges and duties
of a Sovereign.
Books on almost every subject the human mind
can refer to have been written, but a really useful,
comprehensive book dealing with the education it

would be fitting to bestow on a Prince does not

exist, nor will it ever be written, since cases must
always vary according to race and climate. For
instance, the Austrian Empire needs a ruler taciturn,
courteous, and grave, who shows himself to his
subjects on rare occasions, and with a few simple
words will thread his way through all the conflicts
astir in the different countries gathered under his
sceptre. An Emperor of Russia must appear strong
as iron, speak in tones of absolute self-control and
self-reliance, and never seem to ask for advice.
Somewhat mystical and melancholy, the King of the
219
 .

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

young Italian realm should love eloquence, travelling,
Parliamentary discussions, and be ever on the move,
like the ideals of the fair land which stands between
the two King Edward VII. gives us the example
seas.

of Monarch, and acts well up to the

a true British
standard required to make him take a high place in
the history of his country.
The demands of the Spaniards as to what they
expect their King to be and do for them are numerous
and varied as they are difficult to define. King
Alfonso XII., the father of the present King, seems
to have satisfied them in many ways, and in speaking
of the deceased Monarch they always say :
" He
was not only a perfect Spaniard but a perfect King
—
of Spain " though why and how he should have
succeeded in obtaining this double title at once they
themselves would perhaps be embarrassed to explain
This much I have been able to infer : that a real
Spaniard must be lively, love bullfights, tressilio,

and his pride, spend money lavishly, be familiar

with the haughty and haughty with the familiar ;

and that a King of Spain has to imitate a real Spaniard

in order to become a perfect King. Yet in this
very imitation lies the danger he incurs, because,
while he is exactly like all other Spaniards around

him, he might forget, or allow them to forget, that

he is King; if the temptation took hold of him to
remind them of the fact, he would instantly lose
the above-mentioned qualities. Now it appears that
King Alfonso XII. could with wonderful success
220
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
play both parts in turn, or even in the same moment,
and his son is expected to resemble him. His
Austrian mother had many a time to fight with her
own instincts and the principles dearest to her heart
when she felt this desire of the nation rise behind
her child's footsteps to urge him
But the young
on.
King of Spain is a real Spaniard, and every inch a
real King. A few touches of Hapsbourg dignity
blend with the Bourbon grace and render his slight
figure and youthful face attractive, although he
cannot truthfully be called handsome.
Traces of the enormous wealth and luxury of the
ancient Kings of Spain are to be found in the long
range of Royal stables, where one may spend many
interesting hours. Besides the great number of gala
carriages panelled with ivory, ebony and gold, or
painted by the greatest artists of their time, the
horses, of high pedigree and quick blood, belonging
to the King, the Queen Mother and the Infantas,
attract our admiration ; while stablemen and grooms
in bright liveries stand like statues before each stall,
keeping watch over the noble animals and ready at
an instant's notice to saddle the hunter or cob under
their charge. A hall vast as that of a museum is

full of harness of all sorts, old and new, to be used

either on ordinary occasions or for pageants. Here
we saw the bright red lace and blue fringe which
adorned the mules dear to poor young Queen Mer-
cedes, and her small saddles reminded us how the
beautiful Princess loved to gallop at full speed under
221
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the shadow of the trees in the Royal parks. She died
on the morning of her eighteenth birthday, and the
roar of the cannons intended to salute the joyful
anniversary echoed round the Palace where she lay
in state, with the delicate bloom that settles on the
face of those who go down to an early grave.
But however unhappy the fate of Queen Mercedes
may have been, no heroine in the history of Spain,
except Ximena, appeals so strongly to the imagina-
tion as Juana la Loca, Mad Queen Joan, mother of
the Emperor Charles V., who was married to Philip
the Fair, so called from his handsome face and.

graceful bearing. He was chivalrous, kind and

brave, and Juana adored her husband. When she
saw the pallor of his last hour settle on his coun-
tenance, when she found that no fond embrace could
warm his chilly hands, she lost her reason. Her
grief vanished and her senses became steeped in
delusions. Sinking on her knees before her hus-
band's corpse she began screaming with all her
might, uttering in turn words of endearment and
menace. " Wake, wake noble Lord, my
! My
spouse, my King ! Who dares to say thou art
dead ^ Thy falcon and palfrey await thee in the
court below, while menials loiter here and trouble
me with trifling tales. Thou canst not die. How
should Death dare to touch thy forehead, thy golden
hair, thy hand whose strength can lift the heaviest
sword, thy breast that never yet quailed beneath the
weight of heavy armour ? Wake, and we will send
222
 QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
to dark dungeons those who dare to speak such
dreadful words. Am I not thy Queen, mistress of
this Palace and this land ? Should I have permitted
Death to enter my dominions and take thee from
"
me, my King ?

For days she repeated these wild words while her

ladies and courtiers entreated her to believe the
truth. At last she consented to have the corpse
laid in a coffin and travelled with it by her side,
from palace to palace, from cloister to cloister,
without allowing it to be buried. Sometimes she
would stop the long train of knights and dames and
then the coffin would be taken down and Queen
Joan would stand beside it in the dusty road expect-
ing the dead to awaken. The wind blew her raven
hair around her face and the sun scorched her deli-
cate skin, but nothing awoke her from her dream.
One day her people in pity took advantage of a
deep torpor into which she had fallen to carry off
the coffin and deposit it in its tomb ; when the
Queen awoke she did not miss it but went on
imagining her husband lay beside her in the great
black coach she had ordered to be made for herself.
Black leather cushions deck the interior, and even
the window panes are sprinkled with black spots, so
that itrecalls the famous chariot in which Pluto

stole away Persephone while she was gathering the

first spring flowers with her companions. This
fantastic carriage ofJuana la Loca is still to be seen
in Madrid, and Queen Maria Christina and King
223 o
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Alphonse were surprised to hear that I longed to
mount up into the funereal vehicle if only for a
moment.
" I do not care even to think of it," said Maria
Christina," though of course I am not greatly inter-
ested in Queen Toan."
Aranjuez, like the other Royal Palaces of Spain,
is devoid of historical interest, because the old furni-
ture and tapestries have been set aside in favour of
light coloured hangings. The place is but a pale
and feeble imitation of Versailles. The garden,
tended with special care, reminded me at every step
of those avenues and shrubberies where Louis XIV.
strolled with his courtiers, whereas I had hoped to
find traces of the times of Don Carlos who, accord-
ing to Schiller's tragedy, is supposed to have loved
Aranjuez, or seen in it the summer residence of
Philip II., which was deemed a place of such en-
chantment. It is here that the memory of Queen
Mercedes is most vivid, since it was from that
Palace that she went forth a happy bride, wearing
those robes of purity and light which no woman
dons twice in her lifetime. But the future must
thrust aside the past, and even the sunlit memory of
the Queen-Bride fades before the fact that in the
large drawing-room overlooking the Tagus was
placed the cradle of King Alphonse III. when he
first came to Aranjuez. Here the infant monarch
loved to lie and listen to the rush of the river.
When at the age of three he eagerly inquired where
224
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
the impetuous torrent went to In such a hurry, and
received the answer that the Tagus wanted to get
out of Spain and grow big in another land, the child
cried bitterly, asking again and again if no one
could prevail upon the river to stay and grow big in
Spain. On this occasion his nurse, perhaps un-
wittingly, made him the same answer as that which
Victor Hugo caused the duena to give to an infanta :

" Everything on earth belongs to Princes, except

the wind " —

though this time it was the water that
respond to his demand.
failed to
had spent two months in Madrid and had only
I

seen the Royal Family in places of public resort

such as the Castellana, the Casa di Campo or Royal
Park, and at the Opera. Once indeed I saw the
Queen and her son watching with deep interest a
national game called pelota^ an open-air exercise very
popular in the northern provinces of Spain ; but
though I tried to catch as much of their features and
expression as possible, all I had been able to gather
was that the young King was the merriest boy of his
age I had ever seen, and that his mother's pathetic
facebecame young and happy again when she answered
some saying of his by a smile. Very amusing remarks
they seemed to be to judge from the laughter going
on in the royal box, and once or twice the Queen put
her handkerchief over her mouth to stifle her hilarity,
while the King plucked desperately at his gloved
fingers and assumed an air of portentous seriousness
while his mischievous eyes danced.
225
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
We
were about to leave Madrid on account of
the approach of the summer season, but the friends
with whom we were staying, who represented their
King at the Court of Spain, could not take their
annual holiday without first calling upon the
Queen, a duty which they knew was as irksome
to her Majesty as to themselves, but which, never-
theless,had to be performed. We had settled that
our departure should take place the day following
that fixed on by the Queen, in announcing that she
would receive them in the afternoon. We did not
expect them to have anything very thrilling or new
to report, as we had already heard from them every
detail concerning the Court. Yet, when they re-
turned from the Palace, they seemed greatly excited.
"The Queen, like us, is leaving to-morrow. Her
Majesty wishes to see you, Helene. She cannot let
you leave Spain without having been at the Palace.
She loves your poems, and is rather astonished that
you have never asked for the favour of an introduc-
tion, as she would have granted it immediately. She
is so curious, and asked us so many questions about
your appearance and ideas. I assured her Majesty
you would be delighted to stop twenty-four hours in
St. Sebastian if you were invited to Miramar, and

said you would follow the Royal party, as you are

rather anxious to return to Roumania without delay.
This will also give you an opportunity of seeing
Miramar."
Two days afterwards we arrived at St. Sebastian by
226
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
the morning train, and, according to the instructions
we had received, at once sent a messenger to Miramar,
begging the lady-in-waiting to apprise the Queen that
my mother and myself were awaiting her Majesty's
commands. A young attache on the staff of the
Spanish Foreign Office brought us the answer that it

was her Majesty's pleasure to receive us that same

day at three o'clock. We had not an instant to lose,

so ordering a carriage we drove to Miramar. The

place seemed to us at first devoid of all royal pomp
or solemnity, and a charming atmosphere of peace
pervaded the wainscoted hall, while the drawing-room
into which we were ushered looked straight upon the
sunlit sea, whose soft summer tints seemed to be
reflected from the hued walls and furniture.
light
We had not much leisure to look round us, as the
equerry in waiting announced that her Majesty was
waiting to receive us. We followed him through a
small door, and the Queen Regent of Spain, for such
was her title at that moment, stood before us. I was
startled to find her so slim and tall, while her
resemblance to the Austrian Archduchess struck
me so forcibly that I jumped to the conclusion our
visit would prove a very tame affair, interesting

only because the personage who admitted us to her

presence was a queen.
Before, however, I could reach one of the low chairs
towhich her Majesty pointed with open fan, I found
myself obliged to change my opinion, and muster all
my faculties in the course of an interview in which I
227
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
felt itwould require some exertion on my part to
appear with advantage. The Queen, with firm and
easy grasp, had directed the conversation into channels
likely to reveal the trend of our personal feelings,
and events likely to prove of interest to her. She
began, as is usual with sovereigns when talking to
foreigners, by praising our country, and saying how
greatly she appreciated Carmen Sylva's talents as a
poet, and her virtues as a woman and queen. The
manner in which she discussed both subjects displayed
such an inner knowledge of Roumania as well as of
the life and works of our Queen, that I held my
breath from sheer astonishment, and could scarcely
refrain from asking, " But where did your Majesty
"
obtain so much information ?

Then passing to other topics, the Queen displayed

the same accuracy of knowledge, the same grasp of
people, laws, and events which I had till then regarded
as out of the range of royal or feminine interest.
Gentle movements of the head and hands accom-
panied each observation, and when she questioned,
with soft, gay voice and merry brown eyes, there was
a kind of eager, childish expectation on her face,
marked though it was with furrows traced by tears.
" You cannot imagine how often or how much I
have wept in my life, nor how lonely I used to feel
when my children were too little to be companions to
me. But as they began to play I used to play with
them too, and would frolic with them for hours, and
thus gather courage and a clear head for the Cabinet
228
 QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
Councils at which I had to preside. I had such a
happy youth, and I tried to recall the memory of
those days, till gradually my mind became like
a rainbow which smiles between two storms till,

smothered by clouds, it disappears only to reappear

once more. It is made up of sunlight and tears like
my soul. Don't you love St. Sebastian, though
. . .

you can have been here only a few hours ? It is a

sweet place, and the sea does the children a world of
good. As to Alfonso, I feel sure that if he were not
a king he would have been a sailor, and come ashore
only for the corridas (big bull-fights) and pelotas.
Yet he adores riding, and when he was quite little he
would make regular scenes when the time arrived to
alight from his horse. I used to be quite ashamed of

him !I am so disappointed that you cannot

. . .

stay one day longer here are you really sure you —
cannot } — I had invited Pierre Loti to lunch with you
here at Miramar. He is our neighbour and lives at

Hendaye. He is so kind and true and such a genius.

I call his descriptions of Brittany and of the Basque
provinces quite remarkable. He moves me even
more than Chateaubriand, whom I used to adore
before I read Loti's works. And then what a refined
and gentle character he has. I feel perfect trust in
him and look up to him, his quiet manner, his unob-
trusive ways are such a contrast to his ardent soul,
ever turned towards thoughts of death and im-
mortality."
The Queen cast a long, lingering glance over the
229
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
bright sea, whose subdued murmur crept in between
her words, then she resumed.
*'
I am keeping you a very long time, and I do not
ask you whether you have anything else or anything
better to do, though I suppose Heaven knows when
you will return to Spain. You are young, yet what
a number of people you have seen whom I love and
admire and shall never meet again many, too, whom —
I have never met or seen only once in my life. For
instance. Queen Victoria and the Princess of Wales.
Tell me what they are like now — describe your visit

to England, and your stay at Balmoral. You cannot

understand what a treat this is to me. Of course I
hear from otherSovereigns through official despatches
and through their ambassadors, but one can seldom
obtain personal details. . , .Now, I suppose you
want to see my children. They will be back from
the shore in ten minutes. . . . Am I very different
from what you imagined me to be ? You see I am
short-sighted, and short-sighted people look ten times
more cold and disagreeable than they are in reality.
such a nuisance, such a drawback to be short-
It is

sighted — I notice that you, too, wear eye-glasses."

"Yes, Madame, I am almost blind, though my
eyes are excellent when I look closely at an object,
but I cannot distinguish things, or faces, or land-
scapes even at a short distance. But I do not con-
sider this defect as a calamity, and fail to share your
Majesty's opinion."
"Why.?" .

»3o
QUEEN CHRISTINA AND KING ALFONSO
" Because my short sight has spared me many a

disagreeable impression, a cross mien, a look bent in

harshness or anger upon me. I am thus enabled to
ignore most of the ugly sides of life, and with the
help of a strong imagination and a cheerful disposi-
tion I always keep in view the illusion that the earth
holds only beauty and grace."
At this juncture, just as the Queen was about to
reply, the doors were thrown open, an usher an-
nounced " the King," and the Infantas entered,
dressed in stiff white frocks, their charming young
faces tanned by the sea-breezes. The King followed
close behind. Rushing forward and putting his

sisters aside, he almost dashed into his mother's chair,

but all at once, becoming aware of our presence, he
put on an air of dignity which I could not have
believed so young a boy capable of assuming. With
outstretched hands he advanced towards us.
" I have often seen you. Do you like Spain ^

Which do you prefer, the bull-fights, the pelota^ or

a military display } I don't know which of these
delightful things stands nearest my heart. A review,
I suppose."
He talked with a fluent amiability while the Infantas
listened to the Queen's explanation of my theory
concerning the benefits of short sight. They laughed,
and at that moment the family group formed a
picture of such perfect harmony and bliss that I
said to the Queen " I am so pleased to have seen
:

your Majesty thus standing in the sunshine before

231
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the sparkling sea, with the rays of her life around
her."
The Queen's brown eyes filled with tears, while a
rainbow-like smile played on her lips. " When will
you come to Spain again ? And you are leaving this
evening."
*'
This evening .''"
said the King. " Mamma, I will

not allow them to cross our frontiers," he added in

his gay, defiant voice. His eyes shone at that moment
like those of his Austrian mother, but there was so
much Spanish grace and Spanish chivalry in the
bearing of his lithe, supple figure that I murmured :

"A real Spaniard indeed, and a real King of Spain."

23*
WILHELMINA I., QUEEN OF 1 HE NETHERLANDS
 WILHELMINA QUEEN OF THE 1.

NETHERLANDS
There is something attractive and rather pathetic
about the fate of this young Queen, destined from the
very hour of her birth to embody the most fervent
wish of her nation, when that nation had little ex-
pected the boon of possessing a direct heir or heiress
to the dynasty. Long before the author of Cyrano
de Bergerac called her " The little lily Queen who
reigns over the Kingdom of Tulips," she was to
the inhabitants of the Netherlands a precious
treasure ;
poets sang and fairies wooed her long before
the days when she became a smiling, girlish bride,
whose hands unlocked themselves from a bride-
groom's clasp in order to beg for mercy and peace,
who stood watching with anxious eyes for the
olive branch wafted across the seas from the land
where the rush and din of battle waged.
It is well known that after the death of his first

wife and of his son, Queen Wilhelmina's father

seemed to have abandoned all ideas of a second
marriage, and his subjects mourned to think that
235
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
the throne of Holland would find no successor in
the direct line. Queen Sophia, born Princess of
Wurtemberg, was a very amiable, learned, and even
somewhat pedantic Princess. Her chief enjoyment
lay in reading and travelling about from place to place
within her Kingdom, poring overall the old volumes
she could find in public libraries. Sometimes she
would escape from the solemnity of Court eti-
quette, and go to spend a few quiet months in Paris,
where she lived the existence of a wealthy bour-
geoises insisting that no homage whatever should be
paid to her, entering into the views of the clever
people with whom she associated, and always being
foremost when a great literary discussion was astir.

Her dearest ambition was to gain a place among the

distinguished women whose hons mots still found
worshippers after their death ; and when some well-
informed courtier or friend would compare her with
Madame de Stael, Madame du DefFant or Madame
GeofFrin, she thought but little of all the privileges
conferred by rank. Her husband approved of his
wife'stastes —
hewas himself avery intellectual Prince,
and had learnt the art of dramatic elocution from
the celebrated French actor Talma. When he
received a Royal visitor or a member of his family

at the Palace, the King was unable to conceive

any greater attention to bestow on his guest than
the favour of hearing some famous piece of French
tragedy uttered by the Royal lips. As age came on,
bringing the loss of teeth, the shrill tones exacted by
236
 o

QUEEN WILHELMINA I

comical or pathetic scenes would rise to a howl, the

King's eyes would roll furiously ; and a Royal per-
sonage who had been favoured with a representation
told me how severe the ordeal proved because it was
so difficult on these occasions to forbear from laugh-
ing, which the King would never have forgiven. At
the end of the recitations he would add " Power :

Talma He always said to me that had I not been

!

born a Prince, I would have proved his most dan-

gerous rival." To the last year of his life the
late King of Holland kept up his love of tragedy,
and often the courtiers who, trembling, heard him
scream aloud through the vast saloons of his
palace were delighted to find that instead of the
Royal admonitions they feared to hear, he was merely
hurling at them Corneille's famous " Qu'il mourut,"
or the story of Hippolyte's last day. . . .

Mirth and hope at his Court had died away on the

death of the King's last son. The nation looked
forward only to a continuation of these gloomy days
till their monarch in his turn should go and join his

Queen and his children in the Royal vault at Delft.

It is therefore easy to imagine with what joy the

news of a second marriage was hailed, although the
prospect seemed unlikely that the Royal circle might
regain its former brightness and confer happiness
again upon the land.
The deep attachment that the Hollander race has
evershown to the dynasty of its rulers is one of the
most admirable traits of their national character, and
237
 ;

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

is something quite apart from the loyalty extant in

many other countries. In Holland the sentiment is

more one of honoured affection than of reverence

in each member of the Orange-Nassau family the

people have recognised their favourite hero, onward
from the Saviour of the Netherlands, the Blest Con-
queror, their own William, as they even now call

him, heedless that he has for some centuries been

laid in his tomb. The love they bestow upon those
who still bear his valorous blood in their veins is an
eternal thanksgiving for what the illustrious stadt-

holder achieved.
It mattered little whether the King's expected
child should be a son or a daughter ; the dynasty was
about to resume its unchecked career ; another
descendant of the great William of Orange was
coming to claim the devotion of thousands. Thus
it was that Wilhelmina tasted the cup of popularity

with the very first drop of milk which trembled on

her infant lips. " All the fairies are attending her
cradle ; she is going to receive the most beautiful
presents the fairies can bestow," cried the enthusiastic
voice of the multitude, but another voice, firm and
low, seemed to answer :
" She needs not the presents
of fairies ; her people will pray for her welfare and
these prayersmust prove better than fairy gifts and
praise." These words, full of wisdom and tenderness,
were uttered by one whose name will ever remain
associated with Wilhelmina's dazzling fate, by a
princess, young and fair, the Royal infant's mother,
238
 QUEEN WILHELMINA I

who, herself still almost a child, was delighted and

awed when the Court called her, " Our Queen," and
whose rosy cheek became a hue redder when they
said :
" Your Majesty !
" in answer to her slightest

question.
Emma, Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont, had been
brought up in one of those dear old German castles

where imagination can feel sure of meeting the ghosts

of loreleis or knights, and of hearing ballads sung at

midnight under the moon as it pours through the

windows and bastioned towers. The pretty Princess
dreamt neither of foreign lands nor thrones ; she
enjoyed her life, almost rustic in its simplicity, yet
highly aristocratic in the way of breeding ; she learnt
to use the distaff and the spindle, to paint beautiful
pictures on the margin of manuscripts and prayer-
books, to worship God's children in every creature
unfortunate or poor that she met around the castle's

gates or in the park. Such was the bride that the

aged King of Holland had chosen for himself among
all the Princesses who would willingly have accepted
the offer of being his Queen. Princess Emma was
only nineteen at the time she heard the King's
proposal from her mother's mouth. . . . She cried
bitterly . . .

"
And do you want me to accept him ... do
you order me to do so ? " . . .

" No, no, dear, dear child, that is left completely

to your own choice, only the King is lonely and
unhappy. ..."
*39
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
"Unhappy? . .
." and the sobbing face became
lovelier than usual, illumined by a smile of compas-
sion and sudden interest. When she had heard the
whole tale, she said :
" I will go to him and to them "
— meaning her future subjects. " And. I will do
"
my
duty to them all, so help me God !

How well the fair Princess kept her promise is

now clear to all eyes. She soon stood high in the

favour of her husband and of all the nation, who
looked up to her and admired her gentle visage, but
her demeanour remained as modest and quiet as
before her marriage. And she proved the best
mother that Wilhelmina's best friends could have
asked Providence to endow her with.Queen Emma's
task was by no means an easy one. The child was
petted by her father, and adored by all who
approached her ; the nation idolised the heiress to
the throne, and universal approval smiled upon her
every movement, her every step. The King forbade
his wife to thwart the little girl's early caprices ; and
Wilhelmina seemed to have inherited from her
glorious ancestors no small portion of their energy
and natural wilfulness, which she was always ready to
show off, since every trait of the Orange tempera-
ment exhibited by the young Princess drew forth
outbursts of enthusiasm, genuine though imprudent.
Her defects were as much praised as her qualities,
because they represented all the splendid vitality of
her race.
Against these defects Queen Emma did not
240
 QUEEN WILHELMINA I

endeavour to wage open war. She interfered very

little, even when one of the child's whims was instantly
complied with by her father, but her presence, silent

and grave, sometimes weighed with the sensitiveness

of Wilhelmi a's more heavily than the
conscience
hardest rebuke. The would turn from the
rash girl
eyes that looked tenderly upon her to read nothing
but disapproval and regret in her mother's looks, and
would burst into tears, saying :
" I am naughty,
mamma says so with her eyes !
" No one can well
imagine or recount how moving and arduous was
this mute interference, how much Queen Emma had
to thank her own severe training for having given
her habits of discipline and fortitude. An anecdote,
among many others that I know, will prove to what
extent her ability was put forth to help her child
and save her from the snares that render a spoilt

girl harmful to herself and others, the more so if

that girl be destined to become a ruler of men.

Wilhelmina isendowed with the gift of obser-
vation — nothing escapes her quick eye. But the
ready tact which is an instinct prominent in Royal
blood often prevented her from giving utterance to
the result of her vivid impressions. The Queen
wellknew when this quality was at work in the
young soul, because then Wilhelmina proved restless

and feverish — seemed to struggle with the desire of

speaking and the fear of doing something against
her own opinion of good behaviour. One day she
brusquely asked the Queen :
" Mamma, tell me how
241 p
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
old are you ?
" The Queen, who had at that time
scarcely reached her thirtieth year, complied with
the request ; she then saw Wilhelmina walk rapidly
to and fro and make some very serious calculation on
"
the tip of her fingers, " old is papa, mother ?How
" Over seventy." " Poor papa But, mother, how !

happy he must feel to have such a pretty young wife

as you are, and such a little girl as I am ! And how
I thank you for loving and tending papa, although he
is old. To me papa is young and handsome, but
may-be he really looks old to others and even to
you." " Oh ! do not repeat this conversation to
your father, darling. You see now that I never
scold you in his presence, because old people do not
know when little girls are naughty, and should he
discover me to be displeased with you, he would
become older still. ." " Would he ? Oh! how
. .

dreadful Then, mamma, do go on hiding all about

!

me from him. I will try not to be naughty, but

when I cannot help myself, be prudent, mamma.
Only think, he is over seventy already. ." . .

And from that day, when Wilhelmina was en-

couraged by the King in her petty freaks, she would
turn an imploring eye upon the Queen, and, winking
with a knowing air, put her tiny fingers upon her
mouth.
Still the habit of command took complete hold of
her nature, and Queen Emma resolutely turned over
another leaf in the book of practical education to be
given to a future Queen. She determined to keep
2. 1-2
 QUEEN WILHELMINA I

the pure, tumultuous soul aloof from the abundance

of temptations that enveloped its dawn, to guard the
true heart against the adulation and applause aroused
by the child's slightest action. Such indulgence
would in the long run mar the inward harmony,
turn aside the current of serious thought, and render
Wilhelmina a danger to those who most relied upon
her. And she found a judicious if strange means
of effecting this. Instead of trying to deprive her
of any of the joys she coveted, the Queen allowed
her daughter to wear jewels, costly dresses, pearls,
and gaudy costumes like any grown-up lady ; to
indulge in all the greedy wishes of childhood ; to see
piles of toys heaped up in her nursery ; to run about
with her dogs as much as she pleased, till Wilhel-
mina slowly got tired of all that wealth could give.
Such things she came to understand would always be
hers. She thrust the jewels and the toys aside ; she
disdained dress and costly array ; she sought what
every craving creature, every noble-minded nature
is athirst after ; she looked into the souls and lives
of those surrounded her. Pomp and luxury became
vain words in her ears ; she knew that she would
have to put up with them all her life, but they no
longer played any active part in her existence. To
some of her relatives, who raised their eyebrows when
they saw Princess Wilhelmina wearing a heavy neck-
lace of jewels worth the ransom of a rajah, the Queen
replied :

" She must get accustomed to these jewels, so

H3
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
that she may try more precious
to discover others
in her own soul. do not want her when she is
I

grown up to pounce with avidity upon all the beau-

tiful objects of luxury she can get so easily. 1 want

her then to be free from what other girls dream

about, because her dreaming will be of more import-
ance than the common dreams of girlhood. . . .

Then Wilhelmina will love her duty because the

austere side of life will prove more attractive to one
who has learned to grasp at the real meaning of
human efforts and aims."
Notwithstanding all her mother's efforts, the
child's strong will still manifested itself on many
occasions ; the little Princess could not lose entire
consciousness of her rank and her rights. Any
attempt to veil her personality under the disguise
of an incognita enraged her, and she thought this
habit, current with sovereigns, to be a kind of
humiliation, and a dreadful blow given to truth.
Wilhelmina hates falsehood in words as well as in

action. The necessity or convenience of travelling

incognita she failed to comprehend.
At nine years of age, during her sojourn with her
maternal aunt, the old Princess of Wied, Queen
Emma sent the young heiress to the Hollander
throne on a few hours' trip with a little cousin and
their respective governesses. Deeming official pomp
inadvisable in the circumstances, she told the ladies
who accompanied the children to travel exactly like
all the tourists they should meet on the banks of
244
 QUEEN WILHELMINA 1

the Rhine, and not to betray the real quality of the

small personages under their charge. " If the people

were to know my daughter," said the Queen, " your

journey would be spoiled, and, besides, we should
have to order special good deal of time,
trains, lose a

and you could not be back before late evening. So

be very careful, and do not allow Wilhelmina to
enter into conversation with any one she would —
immediately say who she is. ..."
The ladies promised to obey, and at the beginning
of the excursion all went ojff very well. The little

Princesses enjoyed themselves immensely, and as the

party numbered several persons they contrived to
have a carriage to themselves till they reached a
small station where they had to alight and wait for
another train. This incident, and the necessity of
awaiting on the platform the arrival of a train, which
was completely new to her, puzzled Wilhelmina
immensely. Some suspicion of the truth began to
dawn upon her. She had never in her life left a

carriage before arriving at her destination, where she

would be greeted by hundreds of eager faces. But
now ! She poured angry questions on the ladies
who accompanied them. *' What is amiss, is there
an accident ? " Her gowvernante felt embarrassed.
" No, Princess —only the train is rather late, I am
sorry to say. . . But she had not time to finish
.".

her sentence. Quick as lightning Wilhelmina had

darted to the spot where the station-master stood,
and addressing him in sharp, peremptory tones, said :

245
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
*'
I am afraid, sir, that you are negligent in your
service. 1 am much displeased, and I am not accus-
tomed to wait. If it is thus when I am one of the
travellers on this line, how much must others have
to complain ! Please take care that this does not
happen another time."
The station-master stood aghast. There was some-
thing so peremptory, so dignified, so self-confi-
dent in the tones of the little girl that he instinc-
tively took off his hat. "I am the Princess of the
Netherlands, sole heiress to the throne," added the
child with a proud toss of her fair head. " But I

forgive you," and she gave the bewildered man her

hand to kiss, while the ladies who had from afar
watched the scene, rushed up, though feeling them-
selves unable to thwart her.
When the train dashed into the station, Wilhel-
mina with royal demeanour stepped into a carriage,

and the incident having been related on all sides, she

was respectfully cheered and saluted by the crowd
while she stood at the window graciously waving her
handkerchief to them. The rest of the journey
became a real royal progress. " Do not be angry
with me, mamma," said Wilhelmina when Queen
Emma, hearing all about her daughter's rash con-
duct, was inclined to chide. " You see we must not
cheat those who meet us out of the pleasure they
derive from the mere fact of winning smiles and
nods from us. If we cannot do more for them we can
at least bestow our presence upon them. I am sure
24.6
 QUEEN WILHELMINA I

that station-master and all the tourists are happy

because I spoke to them or saluted them, whereas
had I been completely obedient what would they
remember now of the little girl who took a trip on
the banks of the Rhine !...."
The death of the King proved a great blow to the
maturing nature of his much loved little girl. My
father, who had the honour of representing his
Sovereign at the royal funeral, often recalls how when
paying his official visit to kind and gentle Queen
Emma, he was moved by the woe-stricken face and
red eyes of the new little Queen as he met her young
Majesty in one of the halls of the Palace.
Queen Emma was then in the prime of woman-
hood and honoured by all for her wisdom and
graciousness. To me her features are familiar, as
well as her heart, and I have always heard her praised
in our home, because we learned to know, during our
parents' stay in Holland, all the beautiful qualities
of a firm, straightforward nature. While her mother
was daily learning to unravel the mysteries of a
statesman's duty, little Queen Wilhelmina became
more and more absorbed in her lessons ; she worked
hard from dawn to twilight, and as she already spoke
French, German, and English fluently, she was taught
the history of all these nations in their own language
The philosophy of history was the branch of study
that Queen Emma was most anxious her young
daughter should know, and they often discussed
together the thrilling incidents and characters whose
247
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
appearance mid the pages of her school-room books
made the Princess's cheeks glow and her eyes shine.

On these occasions Queen Emma always found means

to illustrate the past with examples from the present,
and then very subtly she would initiate the future
Sovereign of the realm into the secrets of modern
diplomacy and the laws and constitution of her
country. In this special study Queen Wilhelmina
also had many professors, who at first felt quite
embarrassed in talking of such serious matters to a

mere child; but they soon understood that the little

girl had been reared in an atmosphere of serious

thought and labour, and noted how rapidly she fol-

lowed them through the intricacies of their science.
Her subjects were well aware that their beloved
littleQueen was toiling hard in order to be able to
rule them one day with care and ability, but it always
brought them a joyful relief to see her sauntering
gaily through the streets of The Hague by the side
of her English governess. Miss Winter. When Miss
Winter first took her pupil under her guidance
(Miss Winter enjoyed Queen Emma's full confidence,
justified it, and to this day is treated like a friend by
both the Queens) she had great hesitation as to
the title by which she should call her Royal pupil.
A too ceremonious title was completely out ot
the question, and on the other side Miss Winter
declared she might feel awkward or discourteous
were she obliged to call the Queen by her name.
Wilhelmina herself found a solution to the prob-
248
 I

QUEEN WILHELMINA I

lem. " Call me darling^'' said she, " and I hope to

deserve the name."
Every one knows how proudly the Hollander
nation watched the childish Queen bloom into
charming girlhood till that day, blessed among all
days, when she took the solemn oath to be a
good Queen to them. " I have prayed two nights
and two days before my coronation," said Wilhel-
mina, " I hope God will help me. I have not
asked from Heaven anything for myself. I have
asked the Almighty to send happiness to my
people through me." In such a chastened spirit

she approached the holy table and stretched out

her hand across the big Bible, with a
little clear, dis-

tinct voice pronouncing the sacred vow.

Court etiquette is very severe in Holland, and
Queen Wilhelmina desires that it should be main-
tained thus. She holds that the democratisation of
monarchy only can prevail when sovereigns open
their souls to new ideas and not their Courts to new
customs, and though she leads a very quiet private
life, pomp and ceremony are never forgotten when

the moment comes for her to appear in public. She

often says that to respect traditions is an indirect but
true manner of honouring the dead who have created
them through centuries of toil and labour.
" I wish I could make a love-marriage," said she
to her mother when approached on this subject, to
which her own thoughts had never before reverted.
" Although I have already made a love-match —
249
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
mean my deep union with my people I should like —
tomarry a young Prince, like the princes of ballads
and fairy tales."
*'
Life is neither a ballad nor a fairy tale," answered
her mother. *'
But you will be allowed to choose,
"
and if your choice is a good one
Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin is a dis-
young Queen's relatives, and the
tant relative of the
two had often met. Wilhelmina's heart, perhaps
unwittingly, already clung to his image, and it was
his name she pronounced firstwhen asked to speak
out her desires. As in Queen Victoria's case,
Wilhelmina had to act in an open and independent
way, but she knew well the nation would approve
her decision, because they had placed all their con-
fidence in her. So the news of her betrothal was
hailed in every Hollander home as if the daughter of
each family had become a bride, and every one talked
of her happy look when she went to meet her
future husband on the day of his arrival and of
his tender gaze as it settled on the bashful young
Queen. " May her hearth be a happy one, may

little children soon gather round her knees." This

was the wish uttered by every tongue on the brilliant

wedding-day when the gentle wife took the place of

the radiant Queen,
Queen Wilhelmina is middle-sized, and very
graceful in gait and demeanour, though somewhat
inclined to grow stout. Hers is a very childish face,
where the big, deep blue eyes alone denote serious
2^o
 QUEEN WILHELMINA I

reflection and inward strength. Her conversational

powers are excellent, though she cannot be called a
great talker. But she knows how to draw people
out, and without questioning she has the knack
of learning all she wants to know. One sees that
she struggles hard to keep her dignity above the
genuineness of her nature and to prevent her
young soul from over-leaping the limits assigned
to the amiability of a Queen. She is well read in
English literature and loves America, as she feels for

that mighty Republic a sentiment of curiosity mingled

with admiration. " American girls are so pretty and
they look so feminine that, were ultra-femininism to
invade all the world, the grace and power of our sex
would be saved by them."
She was quite charmed with Kruger because he
did not look awed by the mere fact of approaching a
Queen, as most people generally are, thus making the
poor Queens and Princesses much more uncomfort-
able than their interviewers. She likes to receive

as many people as possible and then to recount their

conversation and describe their looks to her husband,
asking him to do the same thing in his turn, as they
generally give their audiences apart, then meet and
take tea together before going out for a daily drive
in state. Queen Wilhelmina is not in any degree
sentimental her every word betrays
; perfect insight
into events and facts as they are, and her most
strenuous elffbrts are made towards acquiring a hold
over the imaginative qualities which so often become
2sl
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
defects in women compelled to act a leading part in
politics and society.

She prefers nature to art and loves a gorgeous land-

scape much better than the rare and valuable pic-
tures she possesses, on account of which the Royal
Palace in The Hague might well be called a
museum. In that palace she suffers nothing to be
changed ; even when a chair moved from its right
is

palace her eye is afflicted, whereas in her own apart-

ment much apparent disorder seems to reign, a dis-
order which, as Boileau says, is " un effet de Tart."
Her love for her native country is so strong that
when travelling in Italy, and later in the South of
France, she would never fully allow that the scenery
she saw was beautiful unless she had said beforehand :

" Excepting Holland, this place is one of the pretti-

est I have gazed upon," and when away from home
she pined after The Hague, Scheveningen, and Het
Loo.
In every way does Queen Wilhelmina deserve the
love of her devoted subjects. She is like the flower
of their soil and their history, like the very emblem
of a loyal and valiant country ; a gentle face wherein
good spirits and excellent health combine to make a

sweet physiognomy ; she is a Queen, strong yet

gentle, as all reigning Queens should be. The dis-
tance is immense which separates a Queen Consort
from a Queen in her own right Wilhelmina is the :

real type of what a reigning Queen should be. She

is in many points very difi^erent from Queen Victoria,

252
 QUEEN WILHELMINA I

nor does she dream of taking the great Queen as a

model, because, as a strong-wilJed Princess, she
loves to tread a path all her own, and she cares only
to represent her own race and her own people.
She is not — and now I must again refer to Rostand
— "a lily reigning over tulips :
" she is herself a tulip,

stalwart and splendid, whose high stem and bright

colours shed their glory over the whole realm.

253
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
In the awful light of the most appalling drama,
not excepting that of Meyerling, which has been
played in Royal houses for more than two centuries,
the hitherto insignificant personalities King
of
Alexander of Servia and his Consort Queen Draga
make instant appeal to our imagination. The lurid
glow of disaster and blood now illumines their
memory, and in time, far from sinking into the
oblivion which might have enshrouded them had
they died a natural and peaceful death, they will join
those victims of fatality whose stories are the most
thrilling in history or romance. They will sit side
by side with Macbeth at the haunted supper-table,
with Hamlet on the terrace of Elsinore, with
Richard III. in the supreme battlefield, with CEdipus,
Jocasta, and Hecuba, on the heights of a terrible
destiny — so terrible that all their faults will be
obliterated by the greatness of their sufferings and
the horror of their last moments upon earth.
Belgrade is situated in one of the most picturesque
landscapes in the world. The Danube and the Save
join below the town, which, by people accustomed to
255
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
our Occidental cities, might easily be called a village,

although here and there large modern houses rise

from the midst of huts and modest buildings.
Dwellings whose strange aspect defies every attempt
at description, straggling cottages adorned with low
wooden balconies, line the streets, where dust, dogs,
and pigs are more abundant than passers-by, and
seem more masters of the place than any human
creature. Here and there a low-roofed church
adorned with rough and vivid paintings, a large
courtyard teeming with poultry, oxen, and domestic
animals, or an upholsterer's tiny shop, cuts the line
of other buildings. Upholsterers are more numerous
in Belgrade than in any other town — at any rate,

they seem here to play a more conspicuous part —and

the striking feature of the work they achieve is

shown in the immense number of coffins exposed to

public view. These by no means contribute to
delights of the eye, and it is with a feeling akin to
relief that, as the driver hurries the jostled carriage

along the rough pavement in a glory of silvery dust,

one comes upon the sight of trees and grass and
water.
The park of Topschideri, a beautifully wild garden,
almost as rich and wild as the famous Paradon de-
scribed by Zola, was the witness of a tragedy which
happened in the Obrenovitch family. It was in these

woods that the predecessor of King Milan was

murdered. It appears that this Prince had given
great offence to the Servians by his projected marriage
256
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
with Catherine Constantinovitch. This lady was his

first cousin, and the Orthodox religion strictly for-

bids such unions. The Prince, determined to brave

public opinion, took his bride for a drive among
these woods and was there assassinated by a band of
conspirators. They also wounded Catherine Con-
stantinovitch, but not seriously, for she afterwards
recovered and ultimately married a wealthy Servian.
She still resides in Belgrade, and the recent tragic
death of King Alexander and his Queen must have
brought vividly to her mind the romantic circum-
stances and terrible end of her first betrothal.
Prince Milan, the nephew of the murdered Sove-
reign, succeeded to the throne left vacant by the
tragic end of an idyll whose circumstances are still

alive in the minds of the Servians and are yet sung

by their poets.
King Milan's father was an officer in the Rou-
—
manian army a tall, handsome, swaggering, kind-
hearted, and good-natured soul, who was not very
well off, and never dreamt that his son would one
day be a King, as his first cousin, Miloch, was
always expected to have an heir. In the meanwhile
Captain Miloch Obrenovitch, a cavalry officer in the

Roumanian army, had married one of the most

beautiful women who ever existed Mile. Marie —
Catargi. Marie Catargi belonged to a good, though
neither illustrious nor very ancient, Roumanian
family. She represented the finest type of Moldavian
beauty, and the classical purity of her features, the
257 Q
 ;

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

wondrous colour and expression of her large green

eyes, the graceful poise of her small head, and the

sweetness of her manner, are still alive in the conver-

sation of such of her surviving contemporaries as

knew her.
It happened that during the earliest years of my
childhood I heard King Milan's name so often that
he became quite a familiar personage with me long
before I met him. We
had had the same governess.
Our Scotch instructress. Miss Allen, had, many years
before coming to us, superintended his education in
the Roumanian home of his mother and maternal
grandmother. Thus tales of his natural vivacity and
boisterous habits, of his kind and generous heart,
were daily related to us, while our schoolroom walls
were covered with portraits of Prince Milan in his
first boy's dress, of King Milan at the age of eight in

top boots, of King Milan in Servian costume, and,

finally, in the uniform of a Servian general. But
Miss Allen had left him at an early age, and he then
passed into the hands of professors. He was quick-
witted, handsome, and clever, but very much spoilt

well aware, besides, that his destiny was not to be

like that of his cousins. One day we were walking
in the streets of Bucharest — Miss Allen and myself.
I was then a girl of about thirteen, in all the bash-
ful glory of dawning teens, and thinking little of the
fact that my governess's former pupil was then
paying a visit to our country and our King, when
the whirl of a long row of carriages, the patter of
258
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
hoofs, the glittering array of a cavalry escort at-
tracted our attention. We were in front of the
palace, and, as is usual on such occasions, a crowd of
curious gazers had assembled to see the Royal guest
enter. King Milan's equipage stopped in front of
the flight of steps, and he seemed about to enter the
palace, when all at once he turned abruptly round,
pushed aside the throng of officers gathered near him,
and, making his way towards us, bowed and said,
*'
Are you not Miss Allen .''
I am sure you are. I

could not mistake your face, even after so many

years. I have never forgotten you and how you
took me to Baneaza, and how I clung to you because
they had told me such terrible wolf stories, and T was
so would come and spring upon me."
afraid the wolf
King Milan was tall, robust, broad-shouldered,
and as he spoke his young face flushed, while between
the sentences he bit his lips and scarcely waited for
an answer. The white feather of his high military
casque threw a soft shadow on his face — there were
fun,good-humour and happiness in his eyes. This
was my first vision of him and later on, amid
;

rumours of his dashing career, his imprudent actions,

hisgrowing cruelty and love of money, I could but
think of him as I had seen him that day, doing one
of those little acts of spontaneous kindness and
courtesy which cast a lustre on a monarch's life more
surely than other more brilliant deeds.
The second time I met King Alexander's father

was in Carlsbad, the very year before his death. So

259
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
much of glamour and joy of youth had died out
the
of his features and bearing that I should never have
recognised him had not my parents, with whom he
was well acquainted, and who had often spoken to
me of his charm of manner, pointed out to me the
still stalwart figure as he walked towards us between
the trees of the park, where we were seated, taking

our afternoon cafe au lait^ as is the habit in Bohemia.

He approached, and, in a quiet, smiling way, imme-
diately asked to be introduced to me. He began a
conversation on literature and art in which, after
some remarks which showed that the King was a

keen connoisseur of books, especially poetry, the

talk quickly turned on more particular topics, on the
politics of our respective countries, and finally on
the tedium of the life of a King. With a short
ironical laugh he alluded to all the shams and tricks

of the position, saying :

" You cannot imagine how
delighted I should feel to be perfectly free. It has
always been my dream to lead an independent life,

and I have enough Roumanian blood in my veins to

have even regretted not being able to live in gay and
lively Bucharest, and to roll through its populous
streets at the brisk pace of your excellent horses. I

shall never be rid of the trouble and annoyance which

are brought upon an individual by his connection
with a throne, even now that I have succeeded in

getting rid of my position. I shall always be tied

to it because of Sacha — I mean my son, the King."

His voice softened, and the twinkle in the pleasant
260
 " —

THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA

eye grew tender. " He is a clever boy, but as short-
sighted mentally as he is in the material sense — and
he is almost blind, you know. He has to use the
strongest glasses you can think of. He is too good
— he loves to trust people —he hates to distrust,
which I do not ; and in our Servian realm I would
not trust any man when he had once crossed my
threshold, even though he were my best friend.
Then Sacha has been brought up in such a singular
way ; so spoilt on the one hand, so roughly treated
on the other. It was somewhat hard on him to be

deprived first of his mother, then of myself un

orphelin artificiel (an artificial orphan) I sometimes
call him, poor But the people love him
little one.
well. They have seen him grow up under their eyes,
they have watched him as he became every day more
like them and less like me. Faugh What a life !

would be his if he knew, as I do, how one is obliged

to keep awake for nights together
!
to plan, to un- —
ravel intrigues
For a few seconds King Milan's good-humoured
smile vanished, his eyes took on a more hawkish
expression, and lines of bitterness and strong decision
curved about his mouth. But the smile soon returned
and the talk flowed into another channel.
All that evening I could speak of nothing but the
ex-King's charm and easy erudition, and again all

the evil legends and all the whirl of gossip and slander
which had been set afloat in my presence whenever
his name was mentioned vanished completely. The
261
 "

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

next day, as I was sitting in the hotel garden, I noticed

the same form among the trees, not far from the
tall

bench where I was resting. King Milan, after having

sent in his card to the hotel, took a seat near mine.
He did not perceive me, and remained plunged in
reverie —one of those sad moods which often over-
take human creatures when in the company of their

own souls. A creeping sense of depression had

apparently fallen upon him. His lax hand let the
thick walking-stick fall unheeded upon the gravel.
He had taken off his broad-brimmed hat, and there
was so much sadness gathered on his forehead that
an unconscious emotion of pity struck my heart, and
I sat as still as possible for fear of disturbing the
day-dream of that care-stricken man.
Perhaps at that hour some presentiment, some fear
for the future of his beloved son Sacha, the bereaved
young King, at Belgrade, far from father and mother ;
perhaps some shadow of his own approaching end
had fallen upon that stalwart being, who had loved
enjoyment, revelry, and money so well.
The servant returned to tell " the gentleman

that the persons he desired to see were not at home.

With a weary gesture the ex-King rose. In the broad
avenue he resumed his easy gait once more. When
I went up to our apartment I found his simple card,

" Count de Takovo," on the tray, and thought no

more of that afternoon's impression till the day
when I heard of his untimely end at Vienna, where
he had so passionately desired the presence of
262
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
his beloved Sacha, the ungrateful son who did not
come.
As to my first meeting with Queen Nathalie, it

took place a very little time after her divorce, when

she paid a visit to our Court. We all went to the
station to witness her arrival, as she was more
especially interesting and attractive to us because she
did not belong to a Royal family, and because she is

through her mother related to a great number of

Roumanian families. Her husband's relatives never
spoke very kindly of her, and in the long run we
had fallen into the habit of considering her as a most
arrant upstart, who had always endeavoured to con-
vince every one that birth and not good looks and
good luck had brought her to the position she
enjoyed. Rumours of her ambitious designs, her
desire to make the Servians detest their King, and,
finally, to take his place upon the throne, besides

petty anecdotes about her pretensions, which spread

like wildfire, caused the repudiated Queen to be con-
sidered with more curiosity than commiseration.
Our King alone had stood by her, and always referred
to the great tact and courtesy with which she had
received him at Belgrade. So he would now, in her

days of woe, do his best to show her kindness and

regard. When, as the train came in, the ex-Queen,
who was tasting the bitter cup of misfortune, saw
the Sovereign of the land waiting for her on the
platform, she obviously glow of triumph and
felt a

of gratitude. As he went up and offered her his

263
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
arm, the beautiful velvety black eyes of the Queen
filled with tears. Though of an aspect somewhat
heavy and massive, she was then an apparition of
exultant beauty and health. But in every step and
gesture even a casual observer could detect a singular
mixture of tremor and resolution, the fear of losing
an atom of her dignity, yet an anxiety to appear
perfectly at her ease ; a terrible difficulty in discover-
ing the exact measure of condescension and
familiarity which a queen is called upon to distribute,
and the certainty that this thought was ever in her
mind, "I am a Queen must act and feel and speak
: I

like a Queen." She wore a dress of black satin,

thickly studded with jet stars and pearls. Her
beautiful raven locks waved on her shoulders and
even round her neck at every movement of her head.
Her complexion, of a creamy hue and yet rosy, one
of the loveliest I have ever seen, gave her the aspect
of a sturdy mountain deity, a fairy made of less

ethereal essence than fairies are usually imagined to

embody. A creature who lives in a land of clouds
and tempests must needs represent strength and
valour : thus Queen Nathalie gave the impression of
being some wild goddess of rocks and moors. But
the mystery that education and, maybe, heredity
bestows — theyV ne sais quoi which makes queens and
duchesses and those happy few who are queens with-
out ever approaching a throne and duchesses without
wearing a coronet —was not present to render the
Balkan beauty a distinct type of grandeur and mis
264
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
fortune. I cannot but remember what a great writer
once said :
" It requires much intelligence on the
part of an unfortunate woman to wear her misfor-
tunes like a diadem and her tears like a crown."
And that sort of intelligence Queen Nathalie never
possessed, although her virtue is perfect and her
heart tender.
When, for instance, she entered the big drawing-
room at the Castel Polesch at Sinai'a by the side of
our own Queen " Carmen Sylva," great was the
difference visible. The Royal lady, from her in-
fancy accustomed to play the part of a public per-
sonage, could do so without the slightest effort, and
always succeeded in effacing her personality in her
desire to draw out the soul and thoughts of those
to whom she spoke. Queen Nathalie spoke only of
herself, her ideas about Servia, its inhabitants, the
army, the Sovereigns whom she had met ; and in

those hours of conversation the one awful mistake

of all her life was conspicuous to our eyes — a mis-
take which made us readily understand why her
great qualities, her purity and good intentions, had
all proved useless. Queen Nathalie, unlike every
other Queen, has insisted upon treating her private
affairs, her disputes with her husband, her displeasure
at being forsaken for another, as affairs of State.

After the official luncheon both the Queens re-

tired to the Oriental room of the castle, where I

was summoned to join them. The chamber was

fragrant with the odour of flowers, and the sound
265
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
of the mountain torrent was borne in upon the
sultry air. We had left the doors open, and the
dazzling light kindled a fire of golden rays in its

reflection from the walls, which were hung with

richly-embroidered silks, while round the seats

flashed gold and silver arrows.

Queen Nathalie in her black dress formed a

contrast to the luxurious display of Asiatic pomp,

" Carmen Sylva's " sweet countenance and soft white

Roumanian garb seemed like a flake of whiteness

fallenfrom Western skies into a room worthy the
dreams of the Arabian nights. Queen Nathalie
played nervously with her fan, at a loss at first how
to engage in the conversation. Then all at once, as
if moved by an irresistible impulse, she said :
" I

have had no letter from Sacha this morning. I am

so thankful to spend this day of anxiety with your
Majesty. When I am by myself I can do nothing
but walk to and fro and weep."
" Does the child write to you every day ?
" said

our Queen gently "that is a great consolation."

;

Every day ? Oh, no, only once a week but

**
;

this is the day when the letter ought to have come.

I live all the days of the week in expectation of

this day." Then she stopped and said " May I :

shut the door ? The dreadful light is so trying to

my eyes."
I had forestalled the poor Queen*s gesture, and as

the door closed the walls and furniture sank into a

haze of reddish, sleepy splendour ; the glory of the
266
 "

THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA

summer day, the sense of joy, were shut out, and
the torrent was heard no more. Our Queen took
up the last words " You expect :
—you wait. Oh,
do not weep, so long as you have something to wait
for, something to look forward to."
"Look," said Queen Nathalie, "here is my boy
at the age of seven, and here he is as he looks now ;

a fine fellow, and so fond of me. I am afraid they

may teach him him to be hard
to hate me —teach
and selfish, and a coward. Oh, what do we desire
our sons to become
!
what heroes and what !
—
saints
" As a hero he would die young," answered
Queen Elizabeth. " As a saint he would go through
much suffering before he became a saint. Wish
him only to be a good man. All human joy comes
from goodness."
" But he will be a King — a grand and striking
figure."
" Alas !
" said " Carmen Sylva," " is it not the
grandest, the most striking thing on earth to be a
good King in a quiet way Do you hope to see '^.

"
him again soon ^
" Oh, yes, perhaps but I shall never, never have
;

him to myself again. He will never be my own

Sacha again."
" A
Queen's child does not belong to the Queen,
but to the people, who will tend and cherish him ;

and to fate, and to God."

" Yes, to the people, to fate, to God," echoed
267
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Queen Nathalie. And no presentiment crossed her
brow as she lifted up her head with determina-
tion.
The second time I saw the Queen of Servia was
at a garden-party in Paris —one of those assemblies
which are but a pretence to show off spring toilettes
and listen to pleasant music. The big drawing-
room windows opened on to the lawn, where in the

middle of a group of ladies I recognised Queen

Nathalie, and even found that she was little altered,
though that air of heaviness had now settled
upon her and the rosy tint of her complexion
had been replaced by a more vivid hue. She
looked more depressed and more dignified than in
Roumania.
I took a chair outside on to the terrace and
watched the gay scene, I had to wait for some
friends who had given me an appointment there.
Two ladies drew their chairs close to the spot where
I was seated. One of them, Frenchwoman, bowed
a ;

while the other, whom 1 did not know, turned her

back upon me. She wore a simple grey serge dress,
and immediately she spoke I recognised the long,
trailing accent of Russians when they speak the
French language. It was Madame Draga Maschin,
afterwards the ill-starred Queen ; and though at the
time I did not know her, yet unwittingly I became
interested in her, and was even wishing for an
opportunity of seeing her face when the words
struck me, pronounced in sing-song tones : " /
z68
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
marry ! Oh, I could not dream of such a thing, I

am an old
—"
woman " — a low laugh accompanied the
words I have finished with Satan and his
pomps. Besides, no one ever takes any notice of
me."
A mute protestation came from the other lady,
and then the insinuating voice went on. " I am
not a coquette, nor a flirt, nor any of those horrid
amusing things ! My sole ambition is centred on
one thought —to please her^' And she pointed to
the spot on the lawn where Queen Nathalie was
standing.
"
'*
And you spend a pleasant life }

" Yes ; but a very quiet one. I have been so

unhappy, so misunderstood, so ill-used by my hus-

band's family since his death that I only sigh after
repose. Biarritz is restful, and the Queen is so
good that I have become very much attached to
her. I am more than a lady-in-waiting." I heard
again that low, rippling laugh which betrayed a
strong personality, though the words tried to deny
or veil it."I am sometimes even lady's maid. I
love to comb her beautiful black hair and then we ;

relate the story of our lives to each other. She also

has suffered. How horrible, oh, how horrible, it

must be to be aQueen ! How can any sensible

"
woman envy a Queen }
" Hush " and ! the other lady whispered in her
companion's ear, and the stranger turned brusquely
round in her chair and looked me full in the face.

269
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
Her countenance was well calculated to charm
though not to command attention the features ;

though delicate, lacked refinement, and there was

about the nose a deficiency of classical lines, while
the mouth twitched in a nervous way as ifmoved to
smile without the courage to do so. The glossy
black hair waved round a low forehead where
furrows were already settled, traced not by age
but by stern, resolute thought and action. The
eyes and eyebrows alone were perfect, and spoke
of an Oriental houri's power. They had a vacant
gaze, as if intent upon a far-off vision, yet when
they fixed themselves upon the present scene they
shot a gleam of resolution and authority. The
figure was frail and the manner unassuming. The
gaze that rested upon my face was soon with-
drawn, and the conversation began again in the
same train.

Madame Draga Maschin again described the

sorrows of her life and the thousand details of
Queen Nathalie's goodness to her, while twilight
was slowly creeping over the Parisian garden, and
an atmosphere of peace settled around us. The
hum of lively voices and the strains of military
music, servants gliding about laden with trays bear-
ing fruit, ices, and wines, the light touch of the
sleepy sun falling upon the muslin draperies and
scarfs, all inclined to soothe the senses with an hour
of lulled content.
" Oh, we are so happy in France," resumed
270
 —

THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA

Madame Draga, as she took a glass of champagne
and daintily raised it to her lips. " I would never
go to Servia again if I could help it."
" But who, or what, could oblige you to go to
"
that nasty country again ?

" Oh, it is not nasty ; it is my country ; but I

have enemies there, whereas here every one loves me.

But you understand the Queen is such a devoted
mother. She will one day desire to see more of her
son than she does at Biarritz, where he comes only
for a short time. She will return to Belgrade, and
then I shall have to accompany her, and if she settles
there — oh, then, farewell flirtations ; farewell all

hopes of marriage. But I won't marry again ; I am

too old and plain, and I don't flirt. Besides, I sup-
pose I should have even forgotten my native lan-
guage. I am getting so cosmopolitan that, only
think, the young King, when he came to Biarritz
this summer, discovered that there were many words
in Servian I did not understand, and he laughed
he teased me."
"
"What is he like, the young King ?

*'
Not good-looking — a child still in thoughts and
manners —very plain even, one may call him, and so

short-sighted. We tried to teach him to dance, but

he looked as awkward as a bear dancing on red coals.
A young savage, too — he does not know how to
bow, how to speak to a lady. But then he is young
— quite a child. He asked me to waltz with him
because he dared not trust himself to do it with any
271
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
of the other ladies present. Now, you know, I do
not dance ; I have not danced for years. I said to
the King, '
Sire, I am too old to waltz,' but the
Queen insisted on my guiding her son through
the difficulties of the dance. But the King made
a false step ; he almost fell, and I am sure we made
every one laugh."
" Then, you do not like dancing, if you do not
if

like flirting, if you do not like the idea of marrying

"
again, what is there you do like .''

" My Queen, and a peaceful life by her side, and

many other things : music, for instance — military
music. There is something so unrestrained, so
powerful in military music. Just listen to the
band — it is just playing — let us look at the pro-
gramme. Oh Schumann, is it ? I dote upon
!

Schumann."
Draga now had risen. She was of middle stature,
and rested a small well-gloved hand on the marble
balustrade of the terrace. Night was setting in, and
on the delicate features a low streak of red light
lingered as the sinking sun sent a last farewell from
among the distant trees. Behind the slight tulle
veil a smile flitted across the curving lips, paled
by the sudden chillness of the hour. Again into
the eyes that look of vacant fixity had entered,
and they appeared to gaze far, far into the future
— far, far into the depths of the blood-red sun.
The languid Schumann melody came ebbing to
our feet like the waters of a melodious sea, and
272
 THE SOVEREIGNS OF SERVIA
the ill-fated woman listened to the same music
that on the supreme morning of her life was to
sound through the avenues and gardens around
the palace where, after the madness of despair and
useless struggle, the Royal pair lay stark and cold.

^11>
 I'lioto hy (<««(', Ixoiiic

POPE l.tO XIII

 THE POPE LEO XIII

The fate which rules over human existence seems to

delight in the most violent contrasts, in scenes of
woe and grandeur succeeding each other with won-
derful speed hence we find recorded almost in the
:

same month the tragical disappearance of a royal

couple who died midst floods of blood and screams
of terror, and the peaceful end of one of the greatest
Popes that the Roman Catholic Church has ever
acknowledged as head. By turns we shiver and
dream and pray when we come to compare the
events of that fateful June night in Belgrade, its

infuriated mob, maddened passions and fearful

its

murder, with the moments which marked the en-

trance into eternity of the White Ascetic, as some
called him, the White Sage and Pastor, Leo XIII.
A few years ago I had the honour of being re-
ceived by the Pope on a clear January morning,
which the sun's bright rays rendered as silvery as
the flight of the wheeling doves above St. Peter's
massive dome. The breeze, freshened by the cool-
ness of the night, blew lightly from the Sabine Hills,
bringing with it a scent of pagan flowers, a thrill of
^11
 ;

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

pagan beauty, to the sacred precincts, as if to sym-
bolise the eternal fight ever to be fought between
the loveliness of outward forms, the glamour of
light and colour, and the austerity of souls who
have turned to Heaven on finding the world void.
Ample time for reflection was left to me during the
long interval we had to wait before entering the
Vatican, as an immense number of Tuscan pilgrims
had to be received before us — early as the hour had
been at which we had driven through the high stone
gate. On alighting from the carriage we remained
in the vast court, which is surrounded with a graceful
colonnade, and here our black veils were nearly torn
from our heads by the swift morning wind. Now
and then a busy contadina paced quickly along the
pavement and entered the colossal church. In my
bosom, though I tried to think only of the great
moment which was to follow, strife was raging
memories swift and piercing as arrows crossed my
mind, and I saw the mute forms those forms of —
bronze and marble that fill the Belvedere rise in —
battle array against the altar and the palace where
the White Ascetic lived and prayed. Extraordinary
it seemed to me and almost appalling in that early

morning hour, when silvery doves cooed and circled

— appalling and extraordinary it seemed that the
realms of immortal harmony should touch the realm
of immortal desires that this religion, whose last
;

vestiges were scattered under the naked feet of rude

fishermen, should reign in close vicinity to its victor.

278
 THE POPE LEO XIII

Almost impiously I found myself imagining that in

the blue moonlit nights of the Latin Campagna
scenes worthy of northern ballads might again take
place. I imagined the fettered Venus and Apollo
shaking off their slumber and leaving their pedestals
to walk through this same court of dreams and peace,
then crossing the white Vatican halls to go and gaze
upon the Madonna, painted
features of Christ and the
over and over by Raphael and Fra Beato.
again
And I imagined them discovering that it was the same
love of art which had made them lovely and eternal
in the memory of man, that made Jesus and His
holy Mother dear to reverence and faith ; that there
was a link between them which ages could not de-
stroy, and that they would again and again return
to their contemplation in the moonlit galleries. But
what could the stony multitude of gods and heroes
say as they glided past the chamber where the White
Ascetic slept ? What god or hero could they com-
pare with him who was neither God nor man, but a
mortal fraught with human weakness — a creature of
clay, though adored as a deity ; an old, old man,
with gestures weak as those of a little child, yet
whose eyes shone and glimmered like the eyes of
those whose fate it is to rule and to control .?....
At this juncture in my reverie a flood of people
streamed from the Vatican doors. All were talking
loudly, and all were in the humble attire of Italian
peasants or small bourgeois. The emotion of having
seen " II Papa " made their tones shrill as eacn tried
279
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
to prove that he had seen him better than his neigh-
bours. From such scattered sentences as reached me
I discovered that they had first heard Mass at St.
Peter's, and had then been brought into the presence
of his Holiness, who had addressed a speech to them.
He had also blessed the beads they held in their
hands or clasped eagerly to their bosoms. There
was a hum of happy excitement among them while
we vainly tried to pierce the crowd, and it was only
after much difficulty that we succeeded in reaching
the short flight of steps leading to the great hall.

Here an group of soldiers allowed us to pass on

idle

showing our letter of audience, and we ascended the

main staircase. From hall to hall we were ushered
by footmen wearing the picturesque costume designed
for them by Michael Angelo at the request of his
friend and patron Leo X. In these vast echoing
halls a large number of soldiers stood motionless,
and preceding us always was one of those camerias di
casa or di spada^ who are the Pope's chamberlains,
and who all belong to the most ancient Roman
families. Here the stately form of a monsignor,
whose violet sash relieved the uniformity of his black
cassock, there the whispering apparition of an arch-
bishop surrounded by a small train of servitors and
friends, announced that we were in a place teeming
with tradition —perhaps the one place upon earth
where tradition is still living and still respected.
With but few exceptions, the figures we saw were
the same as had graced these marble halls two
280
 THE POPE LEO XIII

centuries ago, and a Pope of long gone ages might

have risen from his tomb and found no change in the
Vatican but that of face or voice. Of all the Courts
I had visited this Court now seemed to me the most
gorgeous and the best arranged.
Upon a sign from one of the ushers we stopped to
wait, and our emotion grew intense. We had been
told that as we did not belong to the Roman Catholic
Church, we should not have to kneel on entering
the room where the Pope would receive us, but make
a very low curtsey, something like a genuflexion, be-
fore approaching him. Although not as the head
of our religion, those of the Orthodox faith look
upon him as the successor of St. Peter and hold him
in reverence, especially among the cultivated classes.
Among our peasantry I am ashamed to own that the
fact of being a Papist is tantamount to the confession

of being a heathen ; but in Transylvania and even

Roumania there are many of my countrymen who
profess the Catholic creed and are yet unmolested.
Even in the immediate vicinity of Bucharest there is

a Roman Catholic settlement, and to this fact the

monsignor who held conversation with us while we
waited made allusion, asking us many questions about
our native land.
A hasty summons, a noise of opening doors, and
in a few seconds we found ourselves in presence of
the Pope. We had walked as in a dream, and I

would moment to tell whether

be embarrassed at this
we actually knelt or forbore to do so, whether our
281
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
curtseys and genuflexions were correct, or were
omitted altogether. I awoke to reality only when
1 noticed that the Pope was showing us a seat by his
side. He occupied a high chair, where the extra-
ordinary whiteness of his garb and his face made one
large luminous remembered having heard
spot. I

from some nun whose special mission it was to weave

and cut and sew the Pope's vestments that he never
wore anything on his body that was not absolutely
white. As his pale thin hands rested on the woollen
tunic, I saw that St. Peter's ring, the heavy gold
circlet on his third finger, was the only note of colour
in that symphony of immaculate snow. A huge
purple amethyst contains St. Peter's hair — a few
threads only —which lend to the ring its high signi-
ficance. By that ring the Pope is Bridegroom of the
Church, her Spouse and her Beloved, as once the
Doge of Venice was the affianced of the Adriatic
Sea, on throwing into the bosom of its waters a huge
symbolic ring. Slowly, with intent gaze, the Pope
scanned our countenances, and before speaking sank
back in his high chair with closed eyes as if weary
beforehand of the coming exertion.
There was no trace of colour in his wan cheeks,
not the least sign of blood under the skin to
mark the curve of the lips ; his nostrils were
tinged by the hue of pale amber that floated on
his forehead ; he was like a slumbering marble
statue stretched on a mediaeval tomb. His inau-
dible breath did not stir the folds of his tunic, his
28z
 THE POPE LEO XIII

heavy eyelids fell like the petals of a faded flower,

and he seemed already dead. We could believe
ourselves present at the great spectacle of a Pope's
dying hour, and remained in awed terror till the
motionless form moved, stirred ; and finally, as if
the touch of the spirit from above had inspired
him with life and force, Leo XIII. opened his

bright black eyes, threw his hands apart, and took

a long deep breath. His lips trembled ; but in tones
whose steadfast clearness can never be forgotten by
those who have once heard them, he began speaking
fluently as one accustomed to question and treat
of every subject.
He spoke French with a strong Italian accent
and nasal aspirations which rendered his voice
peremptory and even piercing. Thousands of
small wrinkles marked his sunken face and seemed
to from one feature to another like the
pass
shadows on an autumn stream. His kindness and
his ready smile gave him a benevolent expression
which might almost have meant weakness but for
the piercing look of the restless coal-black eyes
thatwandered like living torches. The voice, ac-
customed to scatter orisons and benedictions, now
spoke of everyday events, and I could not help
remembering how I had once been thrilled at a
large function under St. Peter's dome on hearing the
" pater " said by that white old man who now turned
towards us with such sweet familiarity and inquired :

" Are you going to stay long in Rome ? I would

283
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
advise you to spend the Easter holidays with us.

You cannot know the real beauty, the real holiness

of Rome, you have not heard the Easter func-
if

tions in our basilica and at St. Jean de Lateran.

"
Have you visited St. Paolo fuori le Mura ?
" Yes, Holy Father," and I remained a little em-
barrassed.
This the Pope quickly noticed, and guessing the
cause of my hesitation, said in an easy natural tone :

*'
You have been told, haven't you, that my desire

is to be buried there .?
" Then turning to another
topic :
" I am very much interested inRoumania, and
in all the spiritual children I have there — Roumanians
make very good Roman Catholics."
" Of course, Holy Father, once they are Roman
."
Catholics they are true to the faith. . .

"And all would be true, every one of you, if

you could but understand and fulfil my great

desire —
the union of the Churches."
" Oh, that seems to me impossible, Holy Father."
" To you, but not to me. The Shepherd longs
to bring back the vagrant lamb to the fold. . .
."

*'
But, Holy Father, if the lamb does not know it

is vagrant, and is convinced that it is he who belongs

?''
to the true fold . . .

A flash of indignation shot from the curiously

keen black eyes. Then the Pope sank back into his

chair to resume that attitude of utter prostration

which he assumed twice or three times during our
visit. It seemed as if he fell into a trance, during
284
 THE POPE LEO XIII

which inspirations from above visited him, but

now a sign from his fingers urged me to speak
on.
" Besides, your Holiness knows much better than
myself that the differences between our religions lies

only in outward signs, that we enjoy the blessings

of Communion, that the Holy Virgin is adored
by us with the same fervour as by the Roman Catho-
lics. The great impediment to the Union of the
Churches would from the fact from the fact "
arise —
— here I stammered slightly, and then stopped
short as I had begun a sentence which in presence of
the Pope I could not well finish. The great im-
pediment which I was about to be so imprudent as
to mention was the certainty that our Orthodox
creed would never recognise the supremacy and in-
fallibility of the Pope.
Again he sat the strange gleaming
erect, again

eyes kindled with a vivid flame. " You err, and

you need tuition. Security and life are to be found

here only, in the place where I stand and upon which
the Church is built. But I have been told you are
a poet, and therefore much more versed in the gentle
art of Horace and Virgil than in theological discus-
sion." The voice softened ; an amused smile
crossed the thin lips. " I am a poet also, and I

will repeat to you the Latin verse I composed

this morning after Mass, just before I received
the faithful pilgrims of Tuscany." Closing his
eyes the Pope slowly recited two verses in praise
a85
 —

KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN

of the Virgin Mary and of Spring. Then he
inquired about the climate of our country, and
said :

'*
You live near the place where Ovid was exiled
and where he regretted Rome."
" Not very near, but your Holiness is not mis-
taken ; the town where Ovid spent the latter years

of his life, with his eyes ever turned towards the sea
where he expected to perceive the vessel that would
bear him home, is situated within the Roumanian
kingdom."
" Oh, then I hope when you return to Roumania

you will be like Ovid and sigh after Rome, and I

sincerely pray Heaven that your desire to see the
Holy City again may be fulfilled. Carry my bene-
diction to all my spiritual children you may meet
there, and will remember you in my prayers, not-

withstanding
— I

" and at thatmoment the smile that

curved the pale lips reminded me of a similar

expression I had seen in a portrait of Cardinal

Richelieu,
—" I will remember you in my prayers,

notwithstanding that terrible impediment you were

about to mention, but did not dare to name. . .
."

When we descended the broad staircase it was

almost noon, and the full light of the Roman sun-
shine flooded the marbles and the pictures all around.
The shrill clear sound of that imperious voice, the
white reclining form, and the start with which the
great Pope returned to signs of life and interest after
appearing to be plunged in meditation and repose
z86
 THE POPE LEO XIII

all the particulars of that memorable interview still

dwell with me, though often since then have I beheld

the august figure of the Pope carried high above the
crowd, and often heard the peremptory tones call to
Heaven or murmur prayers and benedictions. On
such occasions Leo XIII. was more than a priest,

more than the Head of a Church, more than a

human creature he became the very symbol of faith
;

and spirituality, whereas during that half-hour in

that chamber of the Vatican Palace, he seemed to

me an image of pure and real kindliness, one to
whom the humblest could come for comfort and
advice. For a time the little lamp was extinguished
which used to be seen from every part of Rome, and
to which the people would point saying, " Look,
there is the Pope's lamp " It soon shone again,
!

but the grand white figure of the Pope, whose title

" Lumen in coelo " had been pronounced by predic-
tions four hundred years before his day, the towering
spirit of Leo XIII. is no more. So white, so pale,

so bereft of flesh, yet so strong ; so near to death,

yet so fully alive to every manifestation of his
calling, he seemed immortal, though ever on the
verge of the tomb. He loved the poor with an
almost fierce affection, and had many a hard fight to
defend them against those who believed that the
Pope's duty lay on the side of the prosperous and
the powerful.
" I have sent the richest wine which was sent me
to my family this morning," said he one day. Some
287
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
one answered :
" Then Count Pecci and Count
Moroni will be able to appreciate the good presents
your Holiness has received and given them."
" Pecci, Moroni ?
" repeated the Pope, " I know
not what you mean. My family walks barefoot,
and lies in hospitals or sultry dens stretched upon
hard pallets, Pecci, Moroni —they are Joachim
Pecchi's nephews ; but the others, the orphans and
the exiled, the wanderers and the exhausted, they
are mothers, sisters, and brothers to me."

288
 riioto by (,'. i?~ //'. Mi'tsaii, Al>er,iccii

QUEEN VICTORIA
 QUEEN VICTORIA
However numerous and interesting may be the
descriptions of personages who have come in touch
with the great Queen, however thrilling the narra-
tives in connection with her public and private life,

still, every one who had the honour of approaching

that illustrious lady may feel justified in hoping
more remains to be told of one whose every
that yet
movement, whose every word, now belongs to
history. When, as in the case of the present writer,
the emotion which arises from the presence of so
revered a sovereign is felt at an age when enthusiasm

and desire unite to make heart and soul ardent and

eager, it is a joy to catch each sign of feeling, to
cherish the lightest impression, to retain even the
smallest detail. I am not afraid, therefore, to appear
daring, or lacking in modesty and common sense,
when I say that my own experience of Queen Vic-
toria's kindness and intellectual power may prove a
novelty even to those who have read the innumer-
able books and biographies that have been written
concerning her.
All the circumstances of our journey to Scotland,
291
 KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN
whither I accompanied Queen Elizabeth of Rou-
mania (*' Carmen Sylva "), are yet so fresh in my mind
that I am scarcely able to realise how far off those

days are now, beyond our reach for ever. Methinks

I see again the little station of Ballater, gaily
decorated with foliage and wild flowers, as our
Royal train rushed in, then came to a sudden stop
in front of the eternal red carpet. Red carpets and
white gloves are so associated with official receptions,
so familiar and so loathsome to travelling Royalty,
that "Carmen Sylva " always says " Oh, what would :

my travels be like, how joyous and charming, with-

out those obnoxiously new red carpets and those
awful white gloves What would I not give to see
!

"
bare stones and bare hands before me !

Methinks I can hear again the shrill notes of the

bagpipes as the Highland regiments burst into
sight, playing a glad salute. The doors of our
compartment are flung open ; the Prince of Wales
mounts a few steps and helps our Queen to alight.
We know well that everything will pass off in the
conventionally ceremonious way which renders one
Royal interview so much like another every move- ;

ment, every syllable is studied and decided before-

hand ; every one seems delighted, and declares this
moment to be eventful and entrancing. How
natural, how free from constraint, how simple and
sincere they all seem to be while viccomplishing the
dismal duty ! How difficult even for the closest
observer to detect the slightest hesitation or passing
292
 QUEEN VICTORIA
shade of annoyance on the well-trained countenance;
how impossible, if one is not aware of the truth, to
discover that the conversations obey the same un-
flinching rules and never vary; how striking appears
the merit of those who can give to them such a

semblance of life that at times even the Princes

themselves forget they are playing a part ! Now,
as a matter of course, all these ceremonies and
salutes are a serious drawback if any person present
has a secret desire to gather information, or is

bent on some psychological inquiry dear to that

spirit of philosophy which the true soul pursues

everywhere. The visages, serene and courteous,
wear a silken mask ; as with the red carpet and the
white gloves, a glare and gloss is cast upon things
whose nakedness would otherwise be too apparent,
but which makes them perfectly monotonous.
" Don't you believe it must be always the same

red carpet we see at every station where I have to

alight .?
" asks the Queen.

Yet we feel obliged to confess that leisure and an

agreeable freedom are obtained by the facilities

attendant on Royal arrivals. No porter to scream

after,no anxiety about the luggage, no rough old
gentleman to elbow his way just between one's
innocent self and a foot-warmer, no grating quarrels,
in fact none of the thousand nuisances that often
change the station of a big city into a corner of
Dante's hell.

So there we were, in the grey mist of a raw

293 s
 "

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

September morning, bowing and curtseying right and
left. This was for the moment our only serious
duty ; when we had done so for at least ten minutes,
in a methodical and, I must say, most elegant way,
we could easily look round and try to recognise all

the illustrious personages who had come to meet us.

These were the Princess of Wales, the Princess of

Battenberg, her husband, Prince Henry, the late
Duke of Clarence, Princess Victoria of Wales. Our
Queen walked lightly from one to the other, and,
leaning on the arm which the Prince of Wales had
proffered, they now exchanged quite a volley of
affectionate compliments.
" How kind of you to have come so far ! We
really did not dare ask you to come."
'*
But how could I be twelve hours distant from
Queen Victoria without doing my utmost to see
.?
her
" But we really are so agreeably surprised, so
charmed to greet you here. Till the very last moment
we were afraid you would not make the journey."
Yet we were all aware that the meeting between
Roumania's Queen and the Queen of England had
been arranged long before we left Roumania. I was

convinced that I should see very little of Queen

Victoria during the two days we were to spend at
Balmoral, and I was already making plans for scour-
ing the Highland hills and glens, in the company of
the amiable ladies-in-waiting whose acquaintance we
had just made, and who spoke gaily of their drives
294
 QUEEN VICTORIA
and walks. When I bent low over the Queen's prof-
fered hand, my sole idea was to cast a hasty glance
at her face. My glance quickly took in the whole
countenance, —the clear azure of her childish eyes,
the complexion rosy instead of red as I had always
supposed her skin to be, and the extreme candour
of her looks and smile ; an expression so strange
in the physiognomy of an aged grandmother,
that I kept pondering over the fact and immediately
wrote in my Journal de Voyage "La reine a :

—
un visage limpide ses rides sont jeunes." (The
Queen has a limpid countenance her wrinkles are —
young.)
My expectations were completely at fault ; no
leisure was to be left for an afternoon in the forest
or the park round the castle ; we were told after
luncheon that the Queen invited us all to tea. The
hours fled swiftly as we sat in the billiard room talk-
ing gaily and hearing the other ladies tell all about
the Court of England, while in our turn we described
to them the customs of our own. There is always
between dames d'honneur an exchange of opinions
regarding etiquette which constitutes a subject of
conversation unknown in other circles of society. In
this I have always found the greatest amusement,
since personal feelings and inveterate patriotism are
bound to enter the lists and it is seldom that the
;

friendly talk ends without some acrimony on both

sides, each party being intent on proving the
superiority of its particular Court and Sovereign.
295
 ;

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

The typical hof-dame, however, only exists in
Germany. In England the ladies who have the
honour of attending upon their Queen still preserve
sentiments, opinions, and nerves of their own
whereas German Court ladies soon become mere
machines, give themselves up blindly to their duty,
and preserve so little of their individuality that it

is impossible to distinguish one of them from

another. They are not human beings, they are
mechanical imitations bent upon maintaining pro-
priety and fine manners, with the humble conviction
that it is an immense distance which separates a
King from his subjects.
Prince Henry of Battenberg came himself to
apprise us that teawould soon be served, and he
showed us the way to the Queen's drawing-room.
We followed duly upon his steps, and when he
pushed open a door we found ourselves in the pre-
sence of the Royal family. All the Princesses were
standing ;
Queen Victoria alone sat in a large arm-
chair. She makes a slight movement as we advance

towards her, and asks whether we have not found

our first day in the Highlands too dreary and too
long. Her voice is clear though not very strong,
the French syllables tremble a little, yet she speaks
the language well, with a very slight accent. She
knows she can address me in English :

" Take a chair and sit by my side," she says,

waving the others away and indicating a sofa not far
off. I know that a seat must be close by, but I am
290
 QUEEN VICTORIA
short-sighted and in great confusion, so remain
motionless, while Princess Beatrice, pitying my
embarrassed countenance, wheels round a chair and
places me somewhat behind the Queen but still very
near, where I shall be able to see and hear her every
movement, her very breathing. . . . To hear the
breathing of a living creature, to listen eagerly for
the regular return of that slight sound, has ever
impressed me with an emotion deeper than that
which even the heaving of the sea, or the pulsations
of a clock, can give. Thus while listening to the
faint movements of that gentle breast, my thoughts
flew towards the moment when would hang
millions
anxiously on the feeble sighs which should announce
the approach of death. I pictured to myself what

the nations, what the whole world, would say when

the blood, stirred into action by the weak breathing
whose cadence now stirred my hair, would be grow-
ing colder and colder, and when the shadows of
mourning should fall upon kingdoms and empires
heavier far than the shadows of night. Then the
high meaning, the symbolism of monarchy burst
upon my soul as I sat there so near the Queen ; and
I smiled to see how different from my vagrant
dreams were these surroundings ; how familiar and
old-fashioned the aspect of the faded drawing-room,
the tints of the huge furniture whose coverings had
not been changed for years ; how quaint and even
rustic the few trifling objects decorating the
shelves and tables. No trace of grandeur, no hint
297
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

of the exalted state of the illustrious owner lurked
there.
Through the open window a sharp evening wind
was beginning to blow right in our faces ; the
twilight hour was fast coming. Still, the hills were
fair to look upon, in the silvery rays of the wet
atmosphere. The Queen of Roumania and the
Duchess of Albany were merrily turning over the
leaves of a large music album and pointing out their
favourite songs to a beautiful young girl who stood
by the open piano. The unknown damsel appeared
neither moved nor fluttered. The firm and perfect
lines of her profile, her cold smile, and the respectful
silence with which she received the eager words of
the royal ladies, made a striking contrast with their
playful condescension, and I could not make out
who the girl was till Princess Beatrice advanced
towards her mother and said
" Mamma, she will sing three songs — Elizabeth
has chosen them. I am told her voice is excellent
and very well trained."
" Is it really so ^ You know, dear, she has to be
a good singer, a perfect artist, if she sings before
Elizabeth," answered Queen Victoria — and I com-
prehended that no small anxiety was felt by the
august hostess on account of our own Queen's
musical gifts and reputation.
" Yes, mamma, you may {qqI perfectly easy.
Helen (the Duchess of Albany) and my husband
have heard her sing this morning. Is your seat
298
 QUEEN VICTORIA
comfortable, mother ? Does not the light disturb
you ? " And into the eyes of the Princess Beatrice
came a look of unutterable tenderness and solicitude.
She was at that time in the prime of robust and
healthy womanhood her lips and her eyes spoke of
;

happiness, and though she could not be called pretty

or fascinating, had no pretensions whatever to either
of these adjectives, her cordial smile, her fine figure,

her amiable conversation, and above all the un-

ceasing care she took to make every one at ease and
content, rendered her most attractive.
'*
Mamma, don't you think she should begin to
sing ?
" she asked. " Just a little song to begin
with .''
Henry, go and tell her to sing the shortest
of the three little songs."
*'
But Alsa has not come yet," said the Queen. *' I
will have no singing till Alsa is here. Of course
the young girl will be as delighted to sing before
Alsa as before myself." The voice of the Queen
lingered caressingly on the name " Alsa." She
alluded to Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, and
as she laid particular stress on the last sentences,
a sense of the grandeur which had hitherto been
missing in the scene, took hold of me —not because
of mere affection, the attachment of a mother to her
daughter-in-law —but because of this instinctive
homage rendered by the actual Queen to the future
Queen-Consort, a tribute of respect to the Heiress
of the Throne, the lady on whom the hopes of the
realm were centred. The proud consciousness of
299
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
her own grandeur already reflected in the grandeur
of the dynasty lit up Queen Victoria's eyes and gave
those few broken sentences a significance which went
far beyond their apparent meaning.
" Of course Alsa knows she must come — but as
Bertie (the Prince of Wales) is going off by the five

o'clock train and she accompanies him to the station,

she will be somewhat late perhaps. So, if it please
you, the young girl will sing immediately."
" No singing for the moment," replied the Queen.
" We will wait for the Princess of Wales." And to
cut short all further remark, while the Oueen of
Roumania was lightly touching the open pianoforte
and delighting the Princesses who lingered near by
playmg some Roumanian airs, Queen Victoria turned
her head towards me and beckoned me to pull my
chair still nearer. There was a gentle calmness in
her gesture, in fact all that happened appeared to
be at the same time as strange and as familiar as
those dreams whose memory takes us back to the
spots we have cherished and are sure never to see
again.
Her Majesty questioned me closely as to my
musical tastes and preferences. When I mentioned
that my favourite composers were Mozart and
Wagner :

" How wide apart lie your ideals !

" she said. " I

am so fond of music myself; and I love reading the

biography of the great musicians. They have all

had such sad and thrilling experiences. I have till

300
 QUEEN VICTORIA
quite lately played on the piano and even practised
whenever I found time enough to do so, because I

always remember the happy days when my darling

husband used to open the instrument himself and
lead me to the music stool and then find a book of
Mendelssohn —he loved Mendelssohn — and point
out the passages he wanted to hear. Now I am rather
ashamed to play, I am such an old woman. One
day one of my youngest granddaughters caught me
practising and laughed outright. '
Why, grand-
mamma,' she said, '
how can you practise now, and
what for }
'
Her remark struck me. . . I left off

playing for some time. But then you see my dear

husband taught me to love all things beautiful and
good — I learnt to seek them for his sake —now I

return to them often in memory of him. You

cannot guess to what extent my life is interwoven
with the life of the dead. I only feel alive when in

close communion with the dead. My prayers lead

me toward them. Their spirits and their power
guide me. I am sure that the dead we have loved
"
pray constantly on behalf of the living !

I then took occasion to relate to Her Majesty

how touching and true was the love which the
villagers in Roumania bestow on their dead, and
how many touching ceremonies and songs point out
this particular trait of our national instincts. The
Queen said :

" I am beginning to get quite fond of Roumania.

Roumania is happy indeed to possess such a Queen
301
 I

KINGS AND QUEENS 1 HAVE KNOWN

as yours is. I never could have believed before
meeting her that I was liable to get so rapidly
attached to a mere stranger. Everything she says
and does is charming ; I am so attracted by her
goodness, her intelligence — and what a voice she
has ! She must be idolised in your country, is she
not .?
I beg of you to tell all who take any interest
in your visit to Scotland that I admire your Queen
exceedingly. I want her and her subjects to know
it. I am not of an enthusiastic nature, nor does my
temperament impel me to exaggerate. This time I
am enthusiastic and eloquent how queer the words —
sound on my lips those who have not lived by my
side cannot understand."
The light blue eyes looked more and more
deeply into mine, as if they sought in my soul the
secrets of my race and of the distant land from which
I came. " Tell me more about Roumania," she said.
" It is a country whose mysteries authors and guide-
books have not yet exhausted, I am astonished
that British travellers do not oftener seek pleasure
and exotic surroundings in your country. Do write
a book on Roumania invite the English to your—
native land they do so much good to all the
;

countries whose climate and scenery lure them to

long excursions and frequent visits. Just think
how much Italy and Switzerland owe to the English.

Do invite them to the banks of the Danube —

would be so pleased to observe the result, and I have
many reasons for wishing it. They like best those
302
 QUEEN VICTORIA
parts of the globe in which they can either create
history, or call to life again historical deeds of long-
forgotten days. So search your records well through,
stir up your sleeping heroes, and the English will
come to you. But you must also offer them trout-
fishing and mountain climbing as an induce-
ment. . . . Some of your national legends remind
me of Indian folk-lore. Iam studying Hindustani
just now. Don't laugh — I am very old, but I have

always lived up to a precept which I advise you to

remember : We must always live as if we were
immortal."
In my opinion all the power and the happiness
of Queen Victoria's life and influence are explained
in those words. With a quiet, melancholy smile
she added :

" Then death will come to us like a radiant

surprise, a most wonderful and unlooked-for boon ;

then will the joy of seeing again those we have

loved be most startling and complete."
A slight rustling,^ a soft sound filled the room,
and Queen Victoria tried to rise as she sought the
help of her thick ebony walking-cane. All the
other persons were standing, as, beautifully clad in
a dark red velvet gown, her small head illumined by
a haze of gold, the Wales advanced.
Princess of
The swan-like whiteness of her visage and bare arms
were visible in the dimness of the silvery twilight as,

with steps that glided as softly as the sea foam on

the beach, she came to the aged Queen, and after
303
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
fondly embracing her, arranged the folds of the
black dress and replaced the ebony cane on the arm
of the chair. Her mother-in-law said in low tones :

" Dear child, we have been looking forward to

your presence. I have invited a young and lovely
Irish girl to sing us some Irish songs. Beatrice says
she has an excellent voice, and I want Elizabeth to
be pleased. We are one and all delighted with
Elizabeth. But I am talking away and the girl
must begin to sing."
Then the young voice went forth pure and power-
ful, while all the rest of the room lay in darkness;
two candles only flickered on the piano and stood
out like big pins of light. The harmony wandered
on, like a rush of warriors in the glare of the rising
sun, then moaned over the bleeding throng, and
returned bruised and weary under the cold gaze of
the moon.Ever and anon a piercing cry came from
the musician's lips. These were songs of wild re-
bellious Erin she was singing; the clamour of her soul
shrieking for liberty was lifted up in woe. A solemn
had fallen upon the august listeners, on the
stillness

group of mighty ladies and lords, as the voice threw

out its imperious flood of protestation and defiance,
thrusting its music into the silence of that hallowed
room as with daggers, like the flashes of a spear.
We all knew that the hour was one of great
import to the young singer, perhaps the hour which
would decide all her after-life, the culminating-point
of her career, her fate. She sang in the presence of
304
 :

QUEEN VICTORIA
her Queen ; and as the silvery notes rang through the
azure twilight, we thought we could hear the mad
throbbings of her heart, the beatings of her blood
against temples and veins. All at once the head-
long cadence fell and died away. A few words were
murmured, words carefully uttered in hushed tones
amid the empty spaces, so that the contrast between
the Irish girl's excitement, the extraordinary force
and talent she had displayed, and the apparent cold-
ness with which her rendering of the song was
received, would have seemed cruel had not the
Princess of Wales approached and said some kind
words of congratulation to the beautiful artist, whose
strikingly hard, audacious profile seemed cut out
clearly by the side of the soft fair visage that smiled
encouragingly and voiced thanks for all.

" Carmen Sylva " in her turn said : "How well you
sing, madame ; and how very near your heart this
music must be, because I cannot suppose any one
could offer us a nobler specimen of the Irish fervour
and emotions."
The lamps had now been brought, but large
shades prevented them from bathing the whole room
with light, and most of the people present remained
invisible. Suddenly, in loud distinct tones, Queen
Victoria said
"
*'
I want to hear '
The Wearing of the Green.'
The title bore no significance whatever to our ears,
but an uncomfortable murmur floated through the
audience, and I could even discern a few whispered
305
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
words such as " Oh, no, impossible
: here . . .

. ."
. However, the Queen repeated her request.
*'Sing that song, please. I wish to hear it very
"
much indeed. Will you do that for me .?

*'
Yes, madame," answered the beautiful Irish girl

firmly. Her face was set, and her eyes shone with a
strange glow. From the very instant she began to
sing I grasped the meaning of the constraint and
uneasiness with which the Queen's proposition had
been received. In the full glare of a neighbouring
lamp the lovely young woman, whose features were
now fully revealed in the glory of an audacious per-
fection, began to sing. Her voice swelled out in

accents as fiery and glowing as the flames of lurid

torches, as furious as the harsh cries of multitudes
raised up by wrath to a pitch of passion ; fearful
indeed, but magnificent.
The song she sang was a popular anthem, a
shriek for mercy and pity, a defiant challenge from
the weak to the strong — something startling and
appalling like a thunderbolt that falls on the bosom
of the tempestuous sea and awakens thousands of
echoes from its billows. All these waves of venge-
ance, all the cries, ail the withering rage which that
young voice poured forth, came to die like foam at
the feet of the quiet Queen. Once again I saw that
peculiar expression in her eyes, that expression of
clearness and limpidity, as if those eyes were made of
fresh air and water and could blow away or wipe out
each tear, all anguish, every one of the complaints
306
 QUEEN VICTORIA
uttered by the desperate song. It was evidently
hastening towards its end — the stanzas quickened
their faltering pace, and each measure was full to the

brim of vehement desire for justice and victory.

We were then one and all wrapped up in the same
thought : what would we say after the young girl

had ceased — who would dare to break the silence

this time ? What would follow ?

When the dreaded pause came we almost held

our breath ; no word was spoken, no sound heard.
Then an incident, unexpected as it was charming,
took With dignified yet affectionate alacrity
place.

the Queen of Roumania came over and knelt by the

side of Queen Victoria's huge chair, and taking both
her hands caressingly between her own, said :

*'
What a very great Queen you must be, and how
sure of the affection of your subjects, to be able to
hear such a song sung in your presence ! In fact,
were you not really a great Queen, no one would
have dared to obey you to-day."
" But the song is splendid," said Queen Victoria,
" and I wanted you to hear it. Besides, I am very
fond of the Irish, you may be sure of that ;
" then,

turning towards the young girl, " I thank you with

all my heart, my dear. You have given me great

pleasure and been the occasion of my receiving from
the Queen of Roumania a compliment which I shall

never forget."
At dinner that evening I was seated by the side of
the Duke of Clarence, not far from the Queen,
307
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
whose right-hand neighbour was *' Carmen Sylva."
The Princess of Wales beamed radiantly upon us
from the opposite side of the table on the left of her
Royal mother-in-law. Queen Victoria spoke little,
but followed the conversation with evident interest.
"Mamma," said the Princess of Wales, "look
well at Mdlle. Vacaresco, and try to remember
who she is like —remember Florence and the ladies
you have seen there. / judge of the likeness from a
photograph."
Queen Victoria's glance rested on my face. " Yes,
Alsa dear, I see what or rather who you mean.
But would Mdlle. Vacaresco care about resembling
that lady —almost one
of her own countrywomen .?

I have noticed when abroad that people belonging to

the same race appear to be very like each other."
*' The lady that we allude to is very handsome,"
said the Princess of Wales to me with ready tact,
*'
so you need not be offended."
"Surely, dear, that lady is handsome —much
handsomer than you, my child. I guess you already
know to whom I refer. Yet I read disappointment
in your face. You do not like the idea of being
compared to her."
I bowed in mute acquiescence. The Queen con-
tinued.
" Her face is beautiful, it is true, but it lacks life
and expression, which yours does not, though it is
less striking and harmonious. And you prefer
wearing your soul in your face to any perfection
308
 QUEEN VICTORIA
—
mere beauty can confer I would do the same in
your place. I do not like vacuous or expressionless
faces yet the ideal in England and most of the
;

northern countries is in favour of a countenance

which is drilled to hide every emotion, even the
natural curiosity of an intellect athirst for knowledge
and comprehension. The southern poets would
laugh outright at our heroines, whose secret aspira-
tions no one can read in face or gesture."
When we passed into the drawing-room after the
meal, the conversation around us waxed rapid and
full of spirit, though in a key of discreet undertone.
Lord Rosse was at that moment the Minister in

attendance on the Queen, and told us how hard he

had worked with her Majesty in the morning, as he
was the one member in the Cabinet who had the
management of the " So
Indies. you are the
Ministre pour les Indes^' said I. " Oh ! then you
might accomplish my warmest dream. I wish to be
Vice-Queen of the Indies in my own right, if only
for afew days. I want to ride on a white elephant,
who would kneel to drink in the Ganges ; to see the
land of splendour and diamonds, the land of fakirs
and innumerable temples. Oh, I have hesitated
long between the fascinations of the extremely
modern and the excessively old civilisations, the
two opposite poles of the world as to history and
religion. I had ardently desired to become Empress
of the United States, Empress of North America
altogether. But since I am here, and such a good
309 T
 KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN
opportunity is offered me, why I prefer the
Indies."
At Lord Rosse laughed, and we took up the
this
sentence and repeated the words " Empress of the :

United States " in tones so loud that all the com-

!

pany were startled, and to our great confusion our

Queen put a finger on her lips, while the Princess of
Wales smiled approval, saying :

*'
Oh, no, do not stop, the Queen likes young
people to be merry. Look, here is my mother, who
iscoming to inquire into the cause of your mirth."
Surely, the Princess was right. Queen Victoria
herself came up to Lord Rosse and asked :

" What have these little girls been saying which

makes you all so gay, Lord Rosse ? May I not
know } "
" Certainly, madam, here is a young lady who
desiresme to ask your Majesty to nominate her
Vice-Queen of the Indies for a few days, or even a
few hours."
*'
What for ? " asked the Queen, in an amused and
eager way.
I explained to her my childish day-dream, and
how often I had longed to see and thoroughly ex-
plore that distant realm of light, the empire whose
gentle, placid Empress stood before me, modestly
clad in a plain black silk gown.
" These stones are from India," said the Queen,
as she pointed to the huge diamond necklace which
glittered on her bosom. *' A gift from the town of

310
 QUEEN VICTORIA
Bombay. You are right, my child," she continued.
" Like you, I too have longed to see those lands so
far away and so marvellous. I am the ruler, but no

more than you have I enjoyed the sight of my

subjects, of the beautiful cities with their rivers
where big elephants kneel to drink. Your wish
must be granted. You are a poet, so you will have
all that you desire. Sleep quietly this night, and
while you sleep I will sign an invisible decree which
will give you the power to fly towards the distant
paradise of your dreams and be a queen there, and
you shall play with the birds and rubies and feel you
possess them all, much more than I possess them
myself."
" Is your Majesty aware," interposed Lord Rosse,
" that Mdlle. Vacaresco had just thought also of
"
becoming Empress of the United States ?
"
*'
Oh, what a singular, what an unexpected title !

exclaimed the Queen. " I am gratified to have

heard these extraordinary words coupled together :

Empress —United States. Is it a presage ^ Oh,

how could it come about ? The United States and
Empire ! Could you live to see that ^
" The Queen
stood dumb-struck, plunged in serious thought,
then turned away slowly, still murmuring :
" Em-
press of the United States —what an extraordinary
idea ! What a title, is it a prophecy } the United
"
States a monarchy !

" My mother wishes you to remember all your

life that you spent your birthday with her," said
311
 :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

Princess Beatrice next morning, as I entered her
drawing-room, "Your Queen has told us that this
is your birthday. .
." and the Princess pointed to a
big volume on the table, " This is the Queen's
Journal. She has written a dedication and her
autograph on the flyleaf."

I ran up to my room with my treasure. In the

corridor I was startled to meet Queen Victoria her-
self, and I endeavoured to thank her.
" Please don't," said the Queen. " I have a boon
to ask from you. I want you to write some verses

of yours in an album, verses appropriate to the book.

But I am keeping you here. Run upstairs ; you
must have letters to write, and I also am in a hurry."
" My maid is lucky to-day, madam," said I.
" She has had but one idea since she left Roumania
— to catch a glimpse of Queen Victoria and there ;

she is at the end of the gallery, looking at your

Majesty with greedy eyes,"
" I will say a word to her, poor thing;" and before
I could prevent the Queen from taking so much
trouble, she had briskly walked towards the terrified
maid, and was actually saying to her
" I have come to ask you whether you like my
home, and you have all you require here."
if

The woman, whose utterance was choked by tears

of gratitude, could find no answer and when the ;

Queen turned to go she saw that my own eyes were

moist at being witness to an act of such gracious
sympathy.
3>2
 QUEEN VICTORIA
The Queen took leave of us in the evening. " We
shall see very little of each other to-morrow morning.
Do not forget Balmoral. I my album up
will send
to your room, and remember that what you write in
it will create a lasting link between the ancient
Queen of England and the girl poet of Roumania."
I sat alone in my chamber pondering over the

events of the past two days, and felt a pang at the

thought of leaving this hospitable dwelling. Around
me, one by one, the inmates of the Castle were
sinking to sleep. There I stood in the darkness
with clasped hands and a heart full of reverence and
regret.
A slight tap at the door aroused me, and a foot-
man walked in, bearing a black leather book. A
tiny key fell from its lock as I tried to open it. I

lit my lamp and entered into communion with the

slumbering souls whose memory lingered within its

covers. The book was a cemetery, and as the

passing winds arouse the murmur of leaves above
the graves, so as I turned these pages a rustling
sound awakened the dead. I knew them almost all
by name. Here was the Emperor Frederick III .,
his last letter and his tomb ; here, too, the Grand
Duchess of Hesse, verses written by her hand, and
several letters from her ; here also memorial stones
were represented which bore the names of all those
whom the Queen had mourned and loved — the same
tribute was paid to the humblest as to the greatest.
A fewjverses from " In Memoriam " were written in
313
 ; :

KINGS AND QUEENS I HAVE KNOWN

Tennyson's own hand a tender missive from the
;

mother of the Queen to her daughter withered ;

flowers, a tuft of heather taken from the wedding

bouquet presented by Prince Albert to his wife, and
two of the flowers that had been placed under his
hand before he was laid in his coflin all the homage —
rendered by a soul at anchor in the harbours of faith
and hope, to the souls who travel and float in eternal
bliss, was visible on the pages of that moving little

book. My whole night was spent in its perusal

this small volume gave the final touches to the
portrait of Queen Victoria which was to remain for
ever in my mind. . . .

" You have written exactly what I would have liked

you to write," she said when I stooped over her hand
next morning in the white hall of Balmoral Castle,
and her Majesty gently kissed my forehead, saying,
"Thank you for their sake and for mine."
So we passed away from the stately but homelike
Castle. The mists were so thin that the whole
landscape danced before our eyes. I turned my
'

head to look behind and kept my gaze fixed on the

massive tower where the standard of England
floated.
Something was working in my thoughts, some-
thing that waved to and fro like that glorious
standard whose vivid colour soared so high. Some-
thing spoke in my heart, and questioning said
*'
Have I not seen two women in one, two queens in

a single queen .''

and which of these two women do
3H
 QUEEN VICTORIA
the English most revere ? The grandmother, ever
ready to receive and distribute affection, or the quiet
guardian of the little cemetery, that small black
book I had loved so much : and which of the two
queens is the truest queen — the one who toils till

midnight, till the abundant oil in her lamp is spent,

allowing no fault or flaw in her government to be
overlooked, or the indulgent sovereign who listened
in serene enjoyment to the rebellious song that had
"
endeavoured to kindle revolution ?

I had seen two women in one, two queens in a

single queen.
 — — — — ;

INDEX
Abergeldie, 78 Cologne, 17
Albert Edward Prince of Wales Court Life: Scandal and intrigue,
see Edward VII. 35: Royal visits, 51, 126;
Alexander I. of Russia, 143, 147 etiquette of the Austrian Court,
Alexander II. of Russia, 146 94 ;Roumanian Court, 129
Alexander III. of Russia, 151 Italian Court, 171 Spanish ;

Alexander of Servia The memor-

: Court, 217 Court of Holland,
;

able tragedy, 255, 273, des- 249 ; Roman Pontifical Court,

cribed by " Madam Draga," 281 "red carpet and white
;

271 learning to waltz, 272

; gloves," 292 ladies of honour;

Alfonso XIII. of Spain His ap- : and international etiquette, 295 ;

pearance, 218; early training, German Court, 296

219 necessary qualities of a
; Crimean War, 146
Spanish King, 220 ; Royal Czar see Nicholas II. of Russia
stables, 221 ;his infancy, 224 ;
Czarina, 70, 156
boyish pursuits, 229 a real;

King of Spain, 232 Danube, 23, 134, 140, 255

America, 251, 309 Darmstadt, 162
American women, 251 Divine Right of Kings, 192
Arabia, 122 Duchess of Albany, 298
Aranjuez, 224 Duke of Luxembourg, g
Austrian Court, 94 Duke Philibert " the handsome,"
Austrian Imperial vault, 108 189, 190
Duke of Reichstadt, 105, 109
Balmoral, 71, 81, 294 Dutch Court Ceremonies, 249
Belgrade, 256, 263, 271
Berlin, 17, 132 Education of Princes, 219
Biarritz, 271 Edward VII. Visit to Roumania
:

Biebrick, 9 when Prince of Wales, 51 ;

Bourbons, 214, 21S fondness for dogs, 62 converses ;

Bucharest, 195, 196, 201, 258, 260 on the happiness of princes, 66 ;

Budapesth, 34 coronation, 67 a true British ;

Bullfights, 220, 229 Monarch, 220

Emperor of Austria (Franz Josef)
—
:

CAPnciNER Grdft sec Austrian His chequered career, 89 his ;

Imperial vault fortitude, 93 death of Prince

;

Carlsbad, 259 Rudolf, 103 calls on the Queen

;

"Carmen Sylva " see Queen of of Roumania, 106

Roumania Empress of Austria (Elizabeth),
Carpathians see Karpathians 34, 69, 91, 93, 109, 112
Catherine Constantinovitch, 257 Empress Maria Theresa of Austria,
Charles V. of Spain, 92 108

317
 — — —

INDEX
Empress of Russia see Czarina : Milan, King of Servia, 257, 259
English as the language of Courts, I
Miramar, 70, 226, 229
131 Moscow, 145
English Court ceremonies, 80 Murat, 22, 126
Escurial, 213, 217
Etiquette see Court Life Naples, 122, 191
Etruscan relics, 209 Napoleon I., 126, 133, 143
Napoleon III., i^
Fanny Modchard, 21, 22 Nicholas I. of Russia, 143, 146
Ferdinand, Emperor of Austria, Nicholas of Russia: Favourite
II.
108 pursuits, 154 interest in India,
;

Florence, 122, 208 154, 156; love of travel, 154;

France and Kaiser Wilhelm II., personal appearance, 155 mar- ;

124 riage, 156 intercourse with

;

French Court under Napoleon III., English cousins, 156

Nihilism, 147
French Revolution, 21
Oerenovitch Family, 256, 257
German Codrt, 296
German Ladies of Honour, 296 Palais Michel, 12
German Women, 199 Palermo, 185
Grand Duchess Helena of Russia, Panslavism, 151
II, 13 Paris, 199, 268
Parthenon, 122
Hagde, 248, 252 Philip II. of Spain, 123, 145, 214,
Hapsbourg Family, 218, 221 216, 224
Highland reel at Balmoral, 81 Pierre Loti, 177, 229
Humbert, King of Italy, 170, 191 Pisa, 205, 207
Plevna, 45, 147, 148
India, 72, 154, 156, 310 Pope Leo XIII. Receives Tuscan ;

Ireland, 78 pilgrims, 278 ceremonies of ;

Italian Court, 171 the Pontifical Court, 280 his ;

Italian Renaissance, 2, 136 immaculate dress and appear-

ance, 282, 284 ; St. Peter's ring,
Jerdsalem, 202 282 " the true fold," 284 doc-
; ;

Joseph II. of Austria, 108 trine of infallibility, 285 as ;

Josephine, wife of Napoleon I., 5, poet, 2S5 his love of the poor,
;

126 2S7
Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-
Karpathians, 3, 67, 72 Sigmaringen (afterwards King
Kief, 145 of Roumania), 17 his ancestry, ;

Kruger, 251 21, 22, 126

Prince Henry of Battenberg, 294
London, 174 Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-
Louis XIV. of France, 120, 155, Schwerin, 250
187 Prince Otto of Wied, 10
Prince Rudolf of Austria, 91, 98,
Madrid, 213, 215 100, 102, 108, 255
Margherita di Savoia, 189 Princess Beatrice, 297
Marie Catargi, 257 Princess Christian of Schleswig-
Marie Louise, Archduchess of Holstein, 110,160,255
Austria, log Princess Elizabeth of Wied, 7
Maximilian, 92 see also Queen of Roumania
Mejerling, 98, 255 Princess Henry of Prussia, 158
318
 — ; :
;

INDEX
Princess Irene of Prussia, 159 Rudolf of Austria's visit, 94;
Princess Mary of Wied, 10 Queen Nathalie's visit, 265
Princess Victoria of Battenberg, Queen Sophia of Naples, 94
161, 163 Queen of Sweden, 9
Princess of Wales (Alexandra) Queen Victoria Her views on
:

see Queen Alexandra Court ceremonies, 80 love for ;

Princess Alexandra, 80, 299 her ;

Queen Alexandra, 71 ; love of last hours, 84 kindness and in-

;

poetry, 72, 85 ; admires Rou- tellectual power, 291 ; " Carmen

manian costumes, 75; knowledge Sylva's " visit, 292 ; her appear-
of English and Scottish popular ance, 295 simple tastes at Bal-
;

lore, 78 J
death of Prince Albert moral, 297 ; love of music, 300 ;

Victor, 84 coronation, 86
; Prince Consort, 301 studying ;

with Queen Victoria at Bal- Hindustani, 303 " the Wearing

;

moral, 299 of the Green," 305 ; wish to visit

Queen Draga of Servia The mem- : India, 311
orable tragedy, 255, 273 at a ; Queen Wilhelmina of Holland
Paris garden party, 268 her ; Birth and parentage, 235, 238 ;

devotion to Queen Nathalie, 269 descendant of William ofOrange.

Queen Emma of Holland, 239, 241, 23S childhood, 240 training,
; ;

246 243 dislike to incognita, 244 ;

;

Queen Helena of Italy, 70 excursion down the Rhine, 244;

Queen Juana la Loca of Spain, 92, death of her father, 247 her ;

222 studies, 247 coronation, 249 ;

;

Queen Margherita of Italy : Her her betrothal and marriage, 249;

appearance, 70,168,171; beloved personal characteristics, 250
of her people, 169 etiquette of ; visit of Kruger, 251
Italian Court, 171 visits Queen ;

of Roumania, 177 ; describes Rhine, no, 244, 247

2, 7, 9, 11, 14,
Italian people, 181 training her ; Roman Catholic Church in Rou-
son, 191 mania, 281, 284, 286
Queen Maria Christina of Spain : Roman Pontifical Court, 280
Her character, 70 ; training of Rome, 83, 167, 170, 180, 182, 277,
Alphonso XIII,, 219; love of 286
poetry, 226 ; conversation, 228 Roumania and the^ British tra-
Queen Mercedes of Spain, 224 veller, 302
Queen Nathalie of Servia, 263, 269 Roumanian costumes and manners,
Queen of Roumania (" Carmen 23, 74, 197
Sylva"): Her varied pursuits, Roumanian Court, 35, ig6
2, 30 ; her crown, 5 ; early life, Roumanian folk-lore and ballads,
6 ; visit to the Russian Court, 31, 113, 133. 139
II ; the French Court and Napo- Royal love marriages, 16
leon III., 13 her father's death,
; Russian Church, 145
14 ; her marriage, 15 betrothal, ; Russian Court, 12
19 Castel Polesch at Sinaia, 27;
; Russo-Roumano-Turkish War, 45,
her poetry, 31, 69 ; visit to Eliza- 147
beth, Empress of Austria, 34 ;

love of music, 35 punishes her ;

Savoy, House of, 186, 187, 188
maids of honour, 37 death of ; Scheveningen, 252
her infant, 41 nursing the sick; Schonbrunn, 105, 106, loS
during the Russo - Roumano- Sicily, 122
Turkish War, 45 prepares tab- ;
Sigmaringen, 125, 135
leaux vivants for the Prince Spanish Court, 217
of Wales — Edward VII., 54; Spanish bullfights, 220, 229
319
 INDEX
St. Petersburg, 12, 145 Waterloo, 133
St. Sebastian, 226 "Wearing of the Green," 305
Wiesbaden, in, 15G
TCHERNAGORA, 7O, 209 Wilhelm II., German Emperor:
Tuileries, 6 His varied pursuits, 117, 123;
Tzigane costumes and manners, 76 ambitions, 119; as orator, 120,
124; his travels, 122; French
Venige, 176 opinion, 124 visit to King and
;

Versailles, 224 Queen of Roumania, 125 ; Eng-

Victor Emmanuel of Ital)', 169 lish as the language of Courts,
Victor Emmanuel III.: As soldier, 131 statuesque appearance, 135;
;

185; ancestry, 190: birth, 191; antiquary and connoisseur, 136;

visits Roumanian Court, 192, opinion of clever women, 137
195; love of sport, 194 notes on ; William, Prince of Orange, 23S
travel, 197, 202 marriage, 207
; Women of America, 251
Victor Hugo, 130 Women of Germany, 199
Vienna, 94, 104

(^

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