Their Majesties as I Knew Them / Personal Reminiscences of the Kings and Queens of Europe

mong all the royal and imperial majesties to whose persons I have been attached during their different stays in

suddenly, as in a dream of terror. She hovers rou

the Government received notice from the French Embassy in Vienna that the Empress was about to visit Aix-les-Bains in Savoy. She was to travel from her palace of Miramar through Italy and Sw

at the thought that I was soon to find myself in the presence of the lady who was alr

s and romantic life; I had heard that she talked little, that she smil

different from that which I was prepared to receive. The Empress, at that time, was fifty-eight years of

chestnut hair. I realised later that she owed her vivacious colouring to the long walks which she was in the constant habit of taking. She wore a smartly-cut

tion of her voice and the purity with which she expressed herself i

my special functions, it left me none the less disconcerted. My feeling of discomfort was still further increased when, on reaching Aix-l

n't want

Paris. My position became one of singular embarrassment. Invested with a confidential mission, I was beginning by inspiring distrust preci

come his coldness. The general was a very kind man at heart and a charming talker. I therefore told him the gossip of the day, the news from Paris, the tittle-tattle of Aix. I advised excursions, pointed out the curiosities worth seeing, con

iews. She gradually became accustomed to seeing me appear just in time to forestall her wishes. The game was won; and, when, later, curious to know the c

g us, terrorise us. They appear to us like Banquo's ghost, with doleful faces and shifting eyes; they see assas

d n

e. You have fortunately broken with an ugly tradition. In you