My own story

Front matter

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Chapter I

My birth and parentage — The Grand Dukes of Tuscany — How a princess became the mother-in-law of her own sister — My father's childhood — The Pitti Palace — Gloomy grandeur — Love laughs at locksmiths — My father's first marriage; his wife's death — The Grand Ducal family leave Florence — " One longing, lingering look behind" — My father's second marriage — My mother and her family . . 19-36

Chapter II

Salzburg — The Palace — Early days — My father — His genius for organisation — The education of a princess — ^An impromptu bath — Lessons — A dull life — The power of the priests — Palace tyranny 37-54

Chapter III

All about my relations — My uncles — Duke Charles of Parma — His collection of watches — A rare specimen — The teeth that did not fit — A ducal wardrobe — " All-a-blooming " — Visits and visitors — Vienna — The Empress Elizabeth — How her hair was dressed — ^A long walk — The Empress presents me with the Stem Kreuz Order — Our last meeting . . . 55-70

Chapter IV

Marriage projects — Much of a muchness — Dom Pedro — My first visit to Saxony — The Castle of Moritzburg — The Coburg alliance — "Aunt Coffee- Mill ' ' — ^A screaming interview . 71-88

Chapter V

Domestic scenes — Arrival of Prince Frederick- August of Saxony — I accept him as my future husband — Our betrothal — "A chevalier sans reproche" — Marriage formalities — My trousseau and jewels — I bid good-bye to Salzburg — The Hofburg — The act of renunciation — My wedding day — " Golden Roses " — My little train-bearer — An old superstition — How it came true — We leave for Prague — The Emperor's train de luxe . , . . 89-106

CHAPTER VI Hradschin and its surroundings — The Ghetto at

Prague — ^A discourse on the chosen people — We go to Dresden — Popular excitement — Our State entry — Roses everywhere — The Taschenberg Palace — Rococo furniture and bad taste predominant — The dog that bit every one — Excitement and fatigue — ^We begin to settle down — I resolve to make the best of my life . 107-116

Chapter VII

A royal family — My father-in-law — His fanaticism — Princess Mathilde — Her love of ants — Her piety — Dress and appearance — Her curiosity — Prince John George — Lives of the Popes — Prince Max of Saxony — CleanHness and godliness — Mutual antagonism — " C'estmalheureux que tu sois venue dans notre famille" . 1 17-134

Chapter VIII

My first visit to Berlin — The Emperor William — What I think of him — The green chiffon dress — Customs and ceremonies — The ghostly carriage at the Royal castle — The treasure-house — Some stories about August the Strong — His ugly daughter-in-law — ^A defiant Electress — Carried away in earnest — The fate of a practical joker — The frightened blacksmith — The strong man indeed .... 135-150

Chapter IX

Motherhood — Birth of the Crown Prince — ^A quarrel with my father-in-law — Popular enthusiasm — "Our Louisa" — Domesticity — Country life — Mathilde and the strawberries — An " enfant terrible" — The creche — The Socialist's baby 1 51-172

Chapter X

The Court circle — "Noah's Ark" — Calico and crochet — Drink and gambling — The German Emperor — His power in Saxony — The invasion of England — The Archduke Franz-Ferdinand as a possible ally — The Opera at Dresden — I see it from the gallery — The affair of the Collier — Faust at the Court theatre — Royal visitors 173-186

Chapter XI

Why and wherefore — Explanations — Mixed blood — ^A story of the French Revolution — The bicycle craze — I am reprimanded — Petty tyranny — The pearl necklace — The recipe for a popular Queen of Saxony . . . 187-202

Chapter XII

Sturm und Drang — Death of King Albert — An uncomfortable journey — The woman in black — At Sibyllenort — Family disputes — " Le Roi est il

CONTENTS II mort" — We return to Dresden — ^A thirsty princess — I meet the German Emperor — " My political friend " — King Albert's funeral — A wreath of water-lilies — The spectral cat — The midwife's prophecy .... 203-214

Chapter XVI

I arrive at Zurich — My future sister-in-law — A rude awakening — My terrible position — The only way — M. Giron joins me — A wild-goose chase — The secret police — Their fruitless journey — Legal proceedings commence . . 263-278

CHAPTER XVII Apr^s moi le deluge — The people's sympathy — The stone throwers — Blind justice — ^Money versus honour — The letter that never reached me — I enter La Maiterie — Bolts and bars — A plague of nurses — Cold food but comforting chocolate — A spirit in prison — I look far back — ^My awakening ..... 279-296

Chapter XVIII

I leave La Maiterie — A reconciliation with my parents — Birth of Monica — The chalet at Wartegg — I interview the Socialist leaders — The Red Queen — Death of my father-in-law; his remorse — Hope deferred — The eccentricities of the Habsburgs — The story of John Orth — " I will return " . . . . 297-320

Chapter XIX

The Emperor Francis- Joseph — His power in family afEairs — The tragedy of Meyerling — What I know about it — ^The body under the cover — The Story of Isabella of Parma — "Three hours, three days, three years " — ^I resolve on a coup de tete — Once again in Dresden — I am arrested outside the palace — The attitude of the people — I leave for Leipzig — A wonderful reception — I learn the value of disinterested affection 321-346

CHAPTER XX Popular feeling in Saxony — Life at St. Domenico

I am not allowed to remain in peace — Alma Muth, spy — The King of Saxony's lawyer arrives in Florence — An interview at the Consulate — I refuse to surrender Monica — The siege of the villa — I turn Alma Muth out of the house — She goes to Pegli with Dr. Komer — What was overheard in the restaiurant car — I make the acquaintance of another spy, Frau Ida Kremer — Her methods — ^A vile book — I receive permission to see my children — Our meeting in Munich — I resolve to let Monica go to Saxony — My second marriage — I conclude my story 347^36?

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Louisa of Tuscany, Ex-Crown Princess of Saxony

Frontispiece [/■

My Father: Ferdinand IV., Grand Duke of

The Imperial Castle of Salzburg, My Birthplace . 41

My Husband : King Frederick- August of Saxony . 93

My Father-in-Law : the Late King George of

My Sister-in-Law: Princess Mathilde of Saxony . 127 ^

My Husband and Myself with Our Eldest Child

My Eldest Son: George, Crown Prince of Saxony

My Second Son: Prince Frederick-Christian of

My Youngest Son: Prince Ernest-Henry of Saxony ^, i6 ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Myself in Fancy Dress, as Marie Antoinette . 191

My Husband : a Snapshot Taken by Myself . 195

Baron George von Metzsch, the man who said of me, " I will ruin this woman, but I will ruin her slowly " . . . . . . 219 "^

The Schoolroom at the Royal Palace, Dresden . 241

My Daughters: the Princesses Margaret, Maria-

Alix, and Anna- Monica .... 247 '^

The Royal Palace, Dresden .... 283

My Three Boys: Left to Right, lury, Emi, Tia.

Princess Louisa . . . . . .361

Photograph by the Dover Street Studios, Ltd., London, W.

Chapter I

My birth and parentage — The Grand Dukes of Tuscany — How a princess became the mother-in-law of her own sister — My father's childhood — The Pitti Palace — Gloomy grandeur — Love laughs at locksmiths — My father's first marriage; his wife's death — The Grand Ducal family leave Florence — " One longing, lingering look behind" — My father's second marriage — My mother and her family.

CHAPTER I

T WAS born at the Imperial Castle of Salzbiirg on September 2, 1870. My father was Ferdinand IV., Grand Duke of Tuscany, and my mother was Princess Alice of Parma.

Genealogical details are frequently dull, so I do not propose to write at any great length about my family history. My father's ancestors had reigned in Tuscany since the death of Giovan Gastone, the last Medicean Grand Duke, in 1737, when Francis, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife the Archduchess Maria-Theresa, assumed the sovereignty until the death of Charles VI. made them Emperor and Empress of Austria. Their second son, Pietro-Leopoldo, then took the title of Grand Duke, and he was succeeded by his son Ferdinand III., who had married Princess Louisa- Maria- Amalia of Naples. Ferdinand, who was the first sovereign to enter into diplomatic relations with the French Republic, died in 1824, and his son, afterwards Leopold II., was my paternal grandfather.

Leopold being very delicate as a young man, it was considered desirable that he should marry early, with the object of securing the succession. Princess Maria-Anna-Carolina of Saxony was chosen for his future wife, and negotiations between the two Courts resulted in a marriage by proxy taking place at Dresden in 1817.

The Princess, a highly nervous girl, was so terrified at the idea of meeting her unknown bridegroom that she refused to leave Dresden unless accompanied by her sister, to whom she was devotedly attached; and cajoleries and threats failed to change her decision.

The two girls, therefore, arrived at Florence, and the unexpected happened, for the old Grand Duke Ferdinand III., who was a widower of sixty-nine, fell in love with the unmarried princess. He shortly afterwards married her, and in this way she became the mother-in-law of her own sister.

Two daughters were born of my grandfather's first marriage; one died when she was sixteen; and the other, Princess Augustine, married the present Prince Regent of Bavaria, who recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday. In 1833, my grandfather married again, his second wife being Marie-Antoinette, daughter of Ferdinand

III., King of Naples, and his wife Caroline, a sister of the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette of France.

Queen Caroline seems to have possessed considerable individuality, and she must have been a woman of exceptional courage and iron constitution, for she insisted on accompanying her husband to the wars, and rode by his side, indifferent to discomfort and fatigue. She had sixteen children and nursed them all herself; the youngest infant went through these campaigns with her, in charge of a nurse, and the Queen used to dismount at intervals and suckle her baby, sitting by the roadside, undisturbed by wars or rumours of wars. Her last child was in fact almost born on horseback.

Napoleon Bonaparte found an unexpected champion in this strange woman, who was the grandmother of Marie-Louise. She had always regarded him as her peculiar enemy, but after his downfall she was touched with compassion, and strongly resented the efforts made by the Viennese Court to separate him from his wife. "II fallait, " she declared, "que Marie-Louise attach^t les draps de son lit a sa fen^tre et s'echappat sous un deguisement. "

My grandmother had ten children, my father being the eldest. I have dim recollections of her, but she did not emulate her mother, the redoubtable Caroline, in a single trait; she was stiff, a slave to etiquette, and a bigoted Catholic, entirely in the hands of the priests. She was, however, intelligent. We were always very much afraid of her, and she was mean to miserliness; indeed, to dine with grandmother meant getting hardly anything to eat. She died near Salzburg in 1898, a lonely, coloiu'less woman; and heredity, so strong in our family, gave to her children the individuality she had been denied.

My father's childhood was passed in Florence at the Pitti Palace, which George Eliot has described as "a wonderful union of Cyclopean massiveness with stately regularity." The story goes that Luca Pitti, the opponent of the Medici, built it to outrival the Strozzi Palace, and he is said to have boasted during a banquet that he would build a palace with a court-yard which would alone be able to contain the whole of the Palazzo Strozzi. The building was not completed until the middle of the sixteenth century, when it came into the possession of Eleanor of Toledo, the wife of Duke Cosimo I., and it was thenceforward the home o£ the Medici until my ancestors became Grand Dukes of Tuscany.

The Pitti is too well known to need detailed description. It has always struck me as imposing in its cold way, but I do not think it could ever have been a "home" for its occupants. The salons are splendid, the art treasiu^es are wonderful; but it is cheerless, and the only rooms in it which I ever covet are the tiny boudoir and bathroom of Marie-Louise, which are decorated and furnished in the best Empire style.

My grandfather's Court was as gloomy as the Palazzo Pitti itself, and the Grand Ducal children were brought up most strictly. At five o'clock every morning they were expected to say "Bon jour" to their parents, a proceeding which entailed much ceremony. They were taken to an anteroom adjoining their parents' bedroom, and with their governesses and tutors in close attendance the little princes stood on one side of the salon and the little princesses on the other. All conversation was forbidden, and when five o'clock struck, the Groom of the Chambers threw open the great doors and they walked in solemnly and kissed their parents' hands. Coffee was then served, and the children took formal leave and went to their lessons. Ten o'clock was the luncheon hour, when all the family met, and my great-aunt, Princess Louisa, was always much in evidence. She was a dwarf, with the crooked, malicious mind that so often goes with a crooked body. She had very long, monkey-like arms, and whenever she was displeased she woiild fling them out like the sails of a windmill and hit whichever of her ladies-in-waiting happened to be standing nearest to her. She was an odious little creature and hated everybody who was young and pretty, with the result that she was cordially detested even by her own relations.

After lunch the children played in the Boboli Gardens, which were then better kept up than they are to-day. I shall always remember how disappointed an English friend of mine was when I took her to see the gardens for the first time. She is a romantic person, who quite expected to see something very beautiful and not the badly trimmed hedges and ragged grass which met her horrified gaze.

At eight o'clock came the diner de ceremonie, which the children heartily enjoyed, as they had had no food since ten o'clock in the morning,

Photo by Kollertanar, Budapest.

MY father: FERDINAND IV, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY and my father has often told me how ravenously hungry they used to become.

Papa was a handsome young man with black curling hair, brown eyes, and an amiable expression. He was of medium height, slender and well knit, full of energy, and possessed the best disposition in the world. He was very clever, and acquired any number of accomplishments, as well as being proficient in the more serious studies which his future position required.

Like most of the Habsburgs, papa was always attracted by a beautiful woman, and he fell in and out of love very easily. At the age of eighteen he had an affaire de cosur with a petite hourgeoise, who lived near the Pitti Palace ; but directly it was discovered he was shut up in his rooms for a fortnight, and forbidden to see or to correspond with the fair one. At last the youthful lover discovered a means of communicating with his inamorata. He procured a large sheet of cardboard, on which he cut out the letters of the alphabet, and covered over the cut-out portions with transparent paper. When night fell he placed the sheet of cardboard before his open window, put a lighted candle behind certain letters until he had completed a word, and in this ingenious way conveyed his messages to the girl, who stood in the street facing the palace.

Papa was only twenty-one when he married Princess Anna, the daughter of King John of Saxony, who translated Dante under the nom de plume of " Philaletes. " Anna's mother, Queen Amelia, was a daughter of Prince Maximilian of Bavaria, and a twin out of two sets of twin girls. Her own twin, Princess Elizabeth, married Frederick William IV., King of Prussia; the other twins, Sophia and Marie, married respectively the Archduke Franz-Karl (father of the present Emperor of Austria) and Frederick- August II., King of Saxony, and it is thus remarkable that two sisters became in turn Queens of the same country.

Princess Anna captured all hearts on her arrival in Florence, and when she died in Naples, three years after her marriage, from typhoid fever contracted through eating oysters, she was universally and unfeignedly lamented. Her little daughter, Marie- Antoinette, was taken to Saxony and brought up by her grandparents at Dresden until she was fourteen, when her father remarried. She was a gifted girl with a charming talent for versifying, but she died of consumption at Cannes in all the promise of her youth and beauty.

My family's connection with Tuscany as reigning Grand Dukes terminated after the defeat of the Austrians at Solferino. The terms of the Peace of Villafranca compelled the Emperor to surrender Lombardy to Victor Emmanuel and also to consent to the incorporation of Tuscany into the Italian dominion. My grandfather was intensely Austrian at heart, and he refused to consider any decree which made him a constitutional sovereign. The political situation became so menacing that the Grand Ducal family had to leave Florence in precipitate haste on April 27, 1859. The fugitives were my grandfather and grandmother, my father, then a widower of twenty-four, and his little one-year-old girl, my aunts and uncles, and the widow of the old Grand Duke. It was a magnificent day, intensely hot, with cloudless azure skies, and as the carriages containing the Royal Family left the Pitti Palace, crowds thronged the streets and impeded the horses' progress. The Florentines viewed their Grand Duke's departure quite calmly, many saying with smiling affability which greatly enraged my grandfather, "Addio, Babbo Leopoldo. "

The travelling carriages soon left Florence far behind, and only clouds of dust showed the road taken. The state of the Grand Ducal family was not an enviable one, for they had left home so hurriedly that they had no personal belongings of any kind, and everything, even to baby clothes, had to be bought en route.

The gorgeous tapestries, exquisite pictures, jewels, enamels, gold and silver plate, and art treasures of every description were left behind at the Pitti; and when King Victor Emmanuel went to the palace he slept between sheets embroidered with the arms of the fugitive Duke.

When the unhappy exiles reached the heights from which a beautiful view of Florence is obtained, my grandfather ordered the carriages to stop, and he and his family alighted in order to take a last farewell look at their home. They were all very much affected, and with one accord broke down and wept bitterly. They sat by the roadside in a tearful row and endeavoured to recover their composure, but when my aunt proceeded to dry her tears the awful fact was discovered that no one in the party had a pocket handkerchief. This was certainly unpleasant, for the tears, coursing down cheeks already covered with dust, had left dirty and gritty channels which did not improve the appearance of the "illustrious" family who were in despair at their ridiculous position. The situation, however, was saved by my grandmother, who on this occasion displayed a little of her mother's originality. Lifting her voluminous skirts, she took a corner of her equally voluminous lace petticoat and with extreme care and delicacy proceeded to wipe away the tears and dust from the faces of her family, until, at last, somewhat more soignes they re-entered their carriages and continued their flight.

After leaving Tuscany, my grandfather bought the Castle of Brandeis in Bohemia, and another residence near Carlsbad, called Schlakenwerth, where he spent much of his time. My father visited Schonbrunn, but he was very unsettled and miserable, and finally went to Bavaria. He spent his summers on the Lake of Constance, where Princess Luitpold had a villa, and eventually built a villa for himself, on quite original lines, at Lindau. He would not employ an architect, but had the work carried out under his directions by an engineer and a few workmen. Papa's interest in housebuilding did not, however, commend itself to my grandfather, who wished him to marry again.

The Grand Duke always hoped to be re-estab- Hshed in Tuscany, so he strongly urged my father to look out for an eligible princess, and he, like a dutiful son, at once commenced a roimd of visits "with a view to matrimony." His choice fell on Princess Alice of Parma, whom he met at the house of her uncle, the Comte de Chambord, who resided at Frohsdorf near Vienna.

Princess Alice was the daughter of Louisa, Duchess of Parma, whose mother was the Duchesse de Berri. She had married Duke Charles of Parma when a mere girl, and her handsome but flighty husband was murdered (some say at the instigation of a gentleman jealous of his wife's honour) at the early age of thirty-two.

Troubles broke out in Parma which eventually ended in a revolution, and the Duchess with her four children fled in disguise to Switzerland, where they lived for two years, practically penniless, in a tiny house near Zurich. Things changed, however, for the better, and the Duchess bought the Castle of Wartegg near Rorschach on the Lake of Constance; but she did not like Switzerland, possibly on account of some unpleasant memories, so she went to Venice, where she bought the Palazzo Cavalli in order to be near her half-brother, who lived there. The Duchess died at Venice of typhoid fever at the age of forty-two, and her illness was so sudden that she did not see her children before her death, as the girls were at the Sacre Coeur Convent near Bregenz, and the boys at the Jesuit Seminary of Feldkirch.

When the education of the young princesses was completed, the eternal question arose of marrying them as quickly as possible. One married the late Don Carlos, Duke of Madrid, and the Princess Alice became my father's wife.

The marriage took place on January 11, 1868, and on December 2d, of the same year, a son, the first child of a family of ten, was bom.

My mother was a pretty, petite, fair girl at the time of her marriage, full of energy, and quite ready to enjoy life thoroughly after her dull upbringing at the convent. She danced exquisitely, was a fine shot, a good horsewoman, and before the babies followed fast on each other's heels, she lived solely for amusement. Her jewels are wonderful; she has some of the finest diamonds in Europe, and possesses what to my mind is worth more than all — a famous necklace of Marie-Antoinette on the design of which Boehmer lavished all his skill.

After my father's second marriage, the Emperor of Austria, his third cousin, gave him part of the Imperial Castle of Salzburg for a residence, and there I spent my childhood and girlhood.

Chapter II

Salzburg; the Palace — Early days — My father; his genius for organisation — The education of a princess — An impromptu bath — Lessons — A dull life — The power of the priests — Palace tyranny.

CHAPTER II

TN 1870, my grandfather died, and my father, the Archduke Ferdinand, became Grand Duke of Tuscany. He had previously promised the Emperor Francis-Joseph that he would never attempt to go near Florence on account of the political situation, and the title of Grand Duke was conferred upon him for life ; after his death it was stipulated that his children should be known as Princes and Princesses of Tuscany, as well as Archdukes and Archduchesses with the style of Imperial and Royal Highnesses.

The Emperor, as I have before stated, placed part of the Imperial Castle of Salzburg at my father's disposal, and there we spent our childhood. Salzburg is a picturesque town, about seventy-three miles from Munich, surrounded by mountains, and its only claim to fame seems to be that it was the birthplace of Mozart. The palace, which is so extensive that it is possible to reach three different churches without leaving its precincts, was built by the

Archbishops of Salzburg, about 1600, and these prelates were grands viveurs in every sense of the word. When they tired of the restraint and gloom of the castle, they quietly disappeared down a subterranean passage which led to a charming villa called Hellbrunn, and there they were able to pass the time more pleasantly than at the episcopal palace.

When I was a child, the palace was the saddest and gloomiest place imaginable. It was certainly very imposing, but it was also extremely uncomfortable as a residence, and there was nothing artistic about it, inside or out. It was not properly kept up; it looked fast falling into decay, and in some rooms the once expensive wall coverings hung in damp discoloured strips which were never replaced. Grim stories of secret murders clung round this depressing place, and I remember how frightened we were as children when we were told that the pictures in the Grand Gallery came to life at night, and that the dead and gone princes and princesses got out of their frames and wandered from room to room.

My father, who was quite Florentine in his ways, kept up an Italian entourage as much as possible and preferred Italian servants to any others. He had a wonderful personality, and I feel it is only right for me to pay tribute here to the memory of this best of fathers and most charming of men. I loved him devotedly; he was our playmate and entered into our nursery life before we commenced the dreary treadmill existence which was called education for our future positions. My happiest recollections of my dear father are of the times when I sat by his side with my brothers, listening to marvellous fairy tales for which he painted illustrations, and cooking all kinds of sweet "messes" over the nursery fire. He was often away from Salzburg, as he used to shoot with the Emperor Francis-Joseph and the Crown Prince Rudolph, who was his especial friend and confidant. When he was at home he was an indefatigable worker; he managed all his Tuscan properties (the Grand Dukes were great landowners and some of their Italian estates are still in the family), but since his death they are under the jurisdiction of the Emperor, who now sees to nearly everything in connection with them. Papa was up and about every morning at four; he worked all day, and only allowed himself the relaxation of a walk or drive. He had a strong constitution and an iron will, though his temperament was emotional and excitable, and lie was adored by his seventy-five servants, for he was a just master who entered into all their personal interests and did not know the meaning of false pride.

Religion, as practised in Roman Catholic Courts, was regarded by my father with goodhumoured contempt. "Religion," he used to say, ''est seulement religion d'6tiquette. " He lived in a world of his own ideals, but was, with all his imaginative tendency, a very practical man, orderly and punctilious to a fault, and quite as business-like as any banker or lawyer. He liked to know how every detail in his household arrangements was carried out, from the decoration of the State apartments down to the management of the kitchens; he was at home everywhere' — and he made his presence felt. He and I were absolutely in sympathy with each other; we were not demonstrative, but a perfect understanding prevailed, and all I know that is useful I learnt from him.

Our nursery days were over when we reached the age of seven, and when the knell of that happy time sounded we commenced our education. Since I have left Palaces and Courts I have been greatly amused at the interest taken by the public in the doings of royalty, and especially of royal children. The English newspapers teem with the sayings and doings of little princes and princesses, and display breathless interest in their pony-riding, boat-sailing, and other amusements, which are, after all, only the usual occupations of well-bred healthy children; but I take it that these accounts are inserted to please that worthy British middle-class whose gods are respectability and royalty. I wonder if the public has the faintest idea of what the "education de prince" really means. As the Christian's life is supposed to be a constant preparation for eternity, so the life of young princes and princesses is a constant preparation for their future position. The day when we bade good-bye to oiu" nurses, we also bade good-bye to childish things, and were handed over to tutors and governesses to be moulded into the most approved patterns of deportment. We were supposed never to question anything, but merely to become clever automata. How tired I used to get of hearing, "Don't get into a carriage in that way;" or,

"Imperial Highness , if ever you wish to