The disillusions of a crown princess; being the story of the courtship and married life of Cecile, ex-crown princess of Germany

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I The Grand Duchess Anastasia of

Russia 11

Chapter I The Grand Duchess Anastasia Of Russia

It was a bright winter's day. The vast halls of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg were filled with a gTeat crowd of people eager to catch a glimpse of one of the fairest brides that had ever been led to the altar of its chapel. The Imperial Family and the Court were celebrating the nuptials of the niece of the Czar Alexander II, the daughter of his favourite brother, the Grand Duchess Anastasia Michaylowna of Russia, with the heir to the Duchy of Mecklenburg- Schwerin, and to one of the largest private fortunes in Europe.

The bride was barely eighteen, a tall, superb girl with wonderful brown eyes, shght and slim in appearance, and with that distinguished look which education alone does not give, but which proceeds from a long line of ancestors, all of them used to command and to occupy a prominent position in the world. The bridegroom, a handsome man, but extremely frail and delicate, looked tenderly at the splendid ^^^c^i^uj^n whom he was about to make his wife. All the great world, not only of Russia but also of foreign lands, was there, had gathered to witness the interesting ceremony. But few knew that this marriage, which had given rise to so many discussions, and which had been so variously commented upon by the public in two countries, was a love match on one side only — that whilst the Prince of Mecklenburg was devoted to the voung Princess to whom he was pledging his faith, she had been almost compelled to accept him as her husband by parents eager to secure for their daughter a magnificent estabhshment, with the prospect of a Grand Ducal CTown in the near future.

Anasta-sia Michaylowna had been brought up most strictly. Her mother, an exceedingly clever but imperious woman, had ruled her family and hauseiudd with an iron hand, and had never allovred any of her children to object to the arrangements made in regard to their education and training. She had watched over them with unusual

The Grand Duchess Anastasia 13

care, with the result that all her sons, as well as her only daughter, became distinguished people, very different from the other Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses, whose only aim in life seemed to be pleasure and enjoyment of the good things it had to offer them. The family of the Grand Duke Michael Nicholayewitsch proved an exception to this rule, thanks to the solicitude with which he and his wife had striven to develop in the young minds which Providence had committed to their care, a sense of their responsibility in the world. But at the same time they had never allowed any of their decisions to be discussed, and when the Grand Duchess Anastasia was told that she had to marry the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, she did not for one single moment think of asserting herself, or saying that she did not care to be sent so far away from her native land, and that the personality of her intended bridegroom did not inspire her with enthusiasm.

This did not mean that the Prince was not attractive. On the contrary, he was a charming, clever and handsome man, with extremely pleasant manners, and a general favourite in society. Even in St. Petersburg, where, as a rule, foreigners were not looked upon with favour at the time I am writing of, he had made himself popular during his frequent visits to the Russian capital, the residence of his sister, the wife of the Grand Duke Wladimir. Unfortunately, to counterbalance these attractions which, added to his fortune and general prospects, made him one of the most coveted "partis" in Europe, the Grand Duke had since his childhood been extremely dehcate, and suffered from a heart complaint which compelled him to remain sometimes for weeks in a recumbent position, and obhged him to spend all his winters in the South. This would not perhaps have been so important, though it is easy to understand that no girl cares to become the nurse of an invalid from the very first day of her marriage, but there was something worse than this, because the Prince, in addition to his chronic ailment, suffered from another, far more objectionable. He used to get periodical attacks of eczema on the face and body, which necessitated his retiring into complete seclusion for long periods of time. This did not make him an attractive husband, and the hesitation, disgust and apprehensions of the young Grand Duchess can easily be understood. Unfortunately for her, she had made no

The Grand Duchess Anastasia 15

secret of her repugnance, and busybodies had informed the Prince of it ; consequently he found himself, from the first day of his marriage, in an embarrassing position. He was ardently in love with his bride, but he did not feel sufficiently courageous to try to win her over to him and induce her to look upon him with lenient eyes. A misunderstanding existed between them from the first hour of their union, and, unfortunately for Anastasia Michaylowna, it grew as time went on, until at last the great world of the whole of Europe began to comment upon it. |

The young couple left Russia for Mecklenburg immediately after their wedding. There the Princess found herself thrown into a circle thoroughly uncongenial to her, and, furthermore, discovered that considerable hostility against her had existed long before she had arrived to take up her place at the Court of Schwerin. Her father-in-law was married to a haughty and, at the same time, dowdy woman, who from the first moment that she had set eyes upon Anastasia Michaylowna, had begun to hate her for the immense dowry which she had brought, for her splendid jewels, and her lovely clothes, which surpassed everything that Mecklenburg had ever seen before. The Palace of Schwerin, though magnificent, was a gloomy building, where the bride found herself lonely and unhappy, and where she was not even allowed to arrange her own apartments according to her personal taste. The ladies of the court were mostly old frumps, without interests in life beyond that of their household occupations and the exigencies of the strictest of etiquette. They did not approve of Anastasia Michaylowna;they thought her fast and giddy, and they soon made her life a perfect burden. It was not strange, therefore, that the impetuous and ardent girl should take the bit between her teeth, and declare that she would not live in Mecklenburg for anything in the world. It was easy for her to win her husband over to her point of view. The poor man would have done anything to please her, and perhaps at heart was himself not so very sorry to escape the dull atmosphere of Schwerin for more congenial climes. His health furnished him with an excellent pretext for spending part of the year abroad, and immediately after the birth of Anastasia's first child, the Princess Alexandrine^ who was later on to become Queen of Denmark, the Hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess started for

The Grand Duchess Anastasia 17

Italy, where they spent almost uninterruptedly the next three or four years, until the death of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg obliged them to return to Schwerin, of which Prince Frederic Francis became tlie Sovereign.

Anastasia tried to play the Queen for a few months, and then found that she could not bear it. But when she expressed her intention of returning to Italy or France for the winter months, she found herself confronted by an opposition she had never expected. The people of Mecklenburg would not hear of their Grand Duke not taking up his residence among them, and his wife was severely criticised for wishing him to do otherwise. The question of his health was declared to be merely a pretext, and public disapproval became so strong that the question was raised whether the Sovereign ought not to be asked to abdicate in favour of his baby son, under whose name the country could be administered by a Regent.

But there Anastasia Michaylowna's spirit rose up in anger. She would not consent to such a thing. The Grand Duke was the lawful Sovereign of his realm, and he could do what he liked in regard to his own personal residence, the more so that Meeklenburg had no constitution, and that he was an absolute monarch. She, of course, carried the day, and a compromise was finally effected, by virtue of which the Grand Ducal pair were to reside five months of the year in ]Mecklenburg, and could remain where they Hked for the rest of the time, on condition, however, that any children they might have were to be born in IVIecklenbarg. It is to this circimistance that is due the fact that the Princess Cecile- Augusta-Mary, who was to become the wife of the German Crown Prince, saw the light of the day in the old castle of Schwerin on the 20th of September, 1886.

She was but a few weeks old when her mother carried her away to Cannes, where she had acquired one of the loveliest villas of this lovely place, to which she gave the name of the Villa Wenden. It was a palace rather than a country house, and the refined taste of Anastasia Michaylowna furnished and arranged it with exquisite taste. It became her favourite residence and she lived there more like a private person than a Sovereign, seeing her niunerous friends in an informal way, and plapng hostess to all the illustrious ones who flocked to the Riviera during the winter months. She used to

The Grand Duchess Anastasia 19

spend her money lavishly, much to the disgust of the people of Mecklenburg, who said openly that she had no right to squander abroad resources which would have been better employed in her own, or rather, in her husband's country. Soon a legend was formed around her, and she became the victim of the most unsparing criticism. This only infuriated her, and made her take a special delight in shocking the people who condemned her for no other reason than because she did not care to live among them. She was very fond, perhaps too fond, of the gambling tables at Monte Carlo, where she could often be seen staking thousands of francs at the Trente et Quarante, whilst everybody knew that the Grand Duke had been compelled to remain in Cannes on account of an attack of one or the other of his numerous ailments. Of course people condemned the Grand Duchess for her apparent heartlessness, and none among all her so-called friends and acquaintances had sufficient honesty and generosity to try to make the world understand that, blamable though her conduct might appear, it proceeded more from a spirit of bravado than from any ill feehng towards her invalid husband. The latter was perhaps the only one who understood what was going on in the soul and heart of his beautiful wife, because he never blamed her; on the contrary, he always stood by her and defended her against her numerous adversaries. Frederick Francis's nature was a chivalrous one, and, besides, never while he lived did he cease to love his wife and to trust her, a fact of which she was aware, and for which, though she did not own to it in public, she felt at heart most grateful.

Chapter II

The Grand Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg- Schwerin had three children. One son, who in due time succeeded his father, and who at the present day is one of the numerous dispossessed German Sovereigns in quest of a home and vocation in the world, and two daughters, of whom the eldest was to become Queen of Denmark, whilst the youngest is the lovable Princess whose sad story I am about to relate. Cecile Augusta Mary was from her baby days a charming little creature, full of fun and mirth, always kind and good, and always ready to help others. She was her father's favourite, and during the long days when he was confined to his room, unable to see anybody, it was his little daughter who was his constant companion. Cecile was an amusing child, with a sense of humour rarely met with in Germany. There, as a rule, people are solemn and dignified, especially in the royal and imperial circles to which the little Princess belonged.

Her Mecklenburg relations used to say that her mother brought her up very badly, because the Grand Duchess insisted on her children being allowed to enjoy perfect liberty in their childish games and amusements. She dressed them very simply, and let them romp on the beach in Mecklenburg, and especially at Cannes, where they w^ere permitted to remain for whole afternoons stretched out on the sand, clothed in the scantiest and plainest of garments, and playing with other babes sometimes much more richly attired than themselves. One of the greatest pleasures of Cecile and her sister was to be taken by their beautiful mother to drink chocolate and eat cakes at Rumpelmayers, the fashionable confectioner of Cannes, and to drive about with her in the woods and mountains surrounding the lovely French health resort. The Grand Duchess Anastasia was passionately fond of her French home, where she could enjoy the society of her father, the aged Grand Duke Michael, and her brothers, who always wintered there. She surrounded herself with Russians and with Frenchmen, occasionally with Englishmen and Americans, and always avoided Germans, who inspired her with a dislike she never took the trouble to dissimulate-

Photograph, Undcrzvood & Underwood, N. Y.

The E.x-Crown Princess (Left) With Her Brother and Her Sister dislike which was intensified in later years when, a few months before her husband's death, the latter received an impertinent letter from the Kaiser, advising him to divorce his wife, who, as he expressed it, "was not fit to occupy the position of a reigning German Princess." The insult rankled in the mind of Anastasia Michaylowna, and she was never to forgive or forget it.

When Princess Cecile w^as ten years old the question arose of choosing a governess for her. Her mother wished a Frenchwoman to be entrusted with the task of superintending her education, because she had not been quite satisfied with the manner in which the German instructress of her eldest daughter, the Princess Alexandrine, had performed her task; but there the Grand Duke interfered, saying that he feared the choice of a lady belonging to the nation which was supposed to be the irreconciliable enemy of Germany would excite such indignation in Mecklenburg that the unpopularity of his consort would become more pronounced than ever. A compromise was effected between husband and wife, and an Englishwoman was selected as teacher and companion of the Princess Cecile, whose eldest sister about that time became engaged to Prince

Christian of Denmark, the eldest grandson of the old King. She was a bonnie Princess, this sweet Alexandrine, with the lovely eyes and splendid figure of her mother, and the pleasant smile of her father. Her marriage was entirely one of affection, and though it was not approved of at Berlin, where the Kaiser would have perf erred seeing her become the bride of some Prussian Prince, it proved popular in Mecklenburg, where the people felt flattered at the prospect of their Princess becoming in time a Queen, and where there had existed a fear that she would eventually be married in Russia, to some relative of the unpopular and much-dishked Grand Duchess; so great preparations for the wedding were made everywhere, and public subscriptions were started in order to purchase. handsome wedding presents for the future bride. Prince Christian came to spend part of the summer with his betrothed at Doberan in ^Mecklenburg, where the Grand Ducal family generally lived during the warm season, and he endeared himself to the haughty Mecklenburg aristocracy, who were especially flattered to find that he could speak perfect German. This was told the Grand Duchess Anastasia, probably with the intention of aimo\ang her.

She perfectly understood the motive, and retaliated by replying: "Really, I did not know that he could speak such a barbarous language. I should have imagined that the King and Queen of Denmark would not have allowed him to learn it, after the manner in which they were treated by Prussia in 1864."

It is a remarkable thing that the antipathy of Anastasia Michaylowna for everything that was German was shared by her youngest child, the Princess Cecile, from her earliest years. She was reported to have said when told of her sister's engagement : "I shall also do like Drina, and marry an enemy of Prussia and of the Kaiser," for which remark she was severely reproved by the Grand Duke, her father, who feared that the intemperate language of his favourite daughter would be misconstrued by those who heard it. The poor man often found himself, to use the vulgar phrase, "between the devil and the deep sea," because, after all, he was a German himself, who had been brought up in all the old traditions which prevailed at the education of every German Prince, and he found himself perpetually in conflict with his consort, who made no secret of the contempt in which she held her subjects and everything that reminded her of the "Vaterland" which she made fun of every time she had an opportunity.

Cecile was not a studious child. She loved the sun, the flowers, nature, birds and animals, but she hated being compelled to study and made no secret of being bored and mystified by the books she had to read. On the other hand, she had a wonderful talent for languages, loved music, and was a painter of no mean ability, sketching everything that caught her eye or her fancy, and sometimes allowing her pencil to draw caricatures which sent those to whom she showed them into paroxysms of laughter, but which, on the other hand, drew upon her head the wrath of the persons whose peculiarities she had caught so cleverly. Thus one day when she had reproduced the comical walk and general appearance of a Mecklenburg lady of high rank, the latter complained to the Kaiser, who, in his turn, wrote the Grand Duke one of those insulting letters he was so fond of sending his various Royal relatives, in which he advised Frederick Francis to watch over the conduct of his daughters, who might otherwise come to imitate their mother's bad example. The Grand Duke was not the kind of man to allow such insolence to pass unchallenged, and in his turn he requested Wilham II to mind his own business, and not give any unsolicited advice. He even went further than that ; he caused the name of the lady who had forgotten herself so far as to appeal to the Emperor against the daughter of her own Monarch to be struck off the list of those generally invited to Court activities at Schwerin, and this action so rejoiced Grand Duchess Anastasia that she immediately communicated the news to her own particular friends, with the remark that she hoped the Grand Duke would in time so deal with all the other unbearable old ladies who had made her own life so miserable when she had arrived, a young and inexperienced bride, in Mecklenburg.

There is a curious anecdote concerning the childhood of the Princess Cecile. When her eldest sister Alexandrine was confirmed she was herself ten years old, far too young to be officially received into the Protestant Church. Nevertheless, she implored her father to permit her to share the religious instruction given to the elder Princess. When the Grand Duke asked her reason for this request she replied that she wished him to know that she intended to remain a good Lutheran all her life.

"But I shall know it later on," replied Frederick Francis, much amused at the little girl's remark.

"How can you be sure of it, Papa?" retorted the child. "You may be dead then, and I should be so unhappy to think you did not know it."

The Grand Duke started. He did not care to be reminded of his delicate state of health, and Cecile's words had affected him painfully. But he did not accede to her wishes, as it would have been going against all established precedents, and would have given rise to all kinds of unpleasant remarks. Great therefore was his surprise when on the day of the confirmation of the Princess Alexandrine, little Cecile walked into his room, with a big letter in her hand. She sat down beside her father and began reading to him her profession of the Protestant faith which she had written out herself, adding that she wished him to see it, "because it was the one she meant to recite at the time of her own confirmation, no matter when it took place," and she begged of him to write down under it that he had seen and approved it. Much disturbed in mind, the Grand Duke complied with his daughter's request. Frederick Francis was to die a few months later, in the unexpected and mysterious manner I shall presently relate ; therefore, Cecile seems to have had on this occasion a premonition of the future, something of what is called in Scotland, "double sight," and she was later on to give other signs of this remarkable faculty, especially after her sad marirage, and at the beginning of the great war, when she accurately predicted some of its principal events, such as the defeat of the German armies at the Marne, and the conclusion of the armistice with its disastrous consequences for Prussia. It is also related that when the Czar Nicholas II came to Berlin the last time, on the occasion of the marriage of the Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia to Prince Ernest of Cumberland, the then Crown Princess of Germany remarked to one of her intimate friends: "The Emperor of Hussia will come to a sad end. I see misfortune written in his face."

Chapter III The Death Of The Graxd Duke Of Mecklexburg

The last months of the existence of Frederick Francis, Grand Duke of ^lecklenburg-Schwerin, were sad and painful ones. His health, which had always been most indifferent, began to fail fast, and at last he could hardly more about, as the least exertion tired him so much that it brought on long fainting fits, each one of which it was feared might prove to be the last. His physicians at about that time warned the Grand Duchess that in all probabihty her husband's days were numbered. She did not believe them. She had got so used to seeing the Grand Duke ill and suffering that she never expected his condition to grow any worse, and on the contrary made plans to go with him on a long journey around the world, after the Princess Alexandrine's marriage, which was fixed to take place in the course of the autumn at Schwerin, where great preparations were made in anticipation of it. In the meanwhile she changed nothing in her usual mode of life, went about just as she had done before, and was seen at the Opera and in the gambling rooms at Monte Carlo in company with her brother, the Grand Duke Nicholas Michaylowitsch of Russia. There were people, however, who had become aware of the fact that the state of health of Duke Frederick Francis was steadily growing worse, and who made scathing remarks concerning the so-called levity of conduct of his consort, who was represented as a heartless, cold creature, caring for nothing but her own personal amusements, and leaving her suffering husband all alone to the care of strangers and servants. They did not know that it was the sick man himself who wished his wife to leave him, because the day had come when the unfortunate Grand Duke of Mecklenburg had no more strength left to control the irrepressible Anastasia, and, besides, he was suffering acutely from remorse for having married this young and beautiful creature in his deplorable state of health. It was the consciousness that he had done her a great wrong that made him so indulgent regarding the eccentric behaviour of the Grand Duchess, and which caused him to shut his eyes on numerous occasions when another man would have protested against such conduct on the part of his wife which, though innocent in itself, was yet of a nature to make people talk, and we all know that w^hen once society talks, the person it is talking about has no chance left to escape condemnation and eventual ostracism.

Nevertheless, life w^ent on at the Villa Wenden just as it had done formerly, with a shade more gaiety, perhaps, on account of the youthful Princess, whom her mother was beginning to take about and introduce at different balls and evening parties, of w^hich there were so many in Cannes during the season.

Dinners were given by the Grand Duchess, at some of which the Grand Duke was not strong enough to put in an appearance, whilst at others he showed himself as usual an amiable, pleasant and courteous host. And on Easter day, Anastasia JNIichaylowna arranged a huge reception, to which invitations were sent to the elite of the French and Foreign residents of Cannes.

They all came, and at the sound of a military orchestra playing joyful waltzes the evening passed quickly and pleasantly. The Grand Duke had retired early to his own apartments, and no one had attempted to persuade him to remain longer with his guests, as it was so evident that he had barely sufficient strength left to return to his own rooms. After the guests had left, the Grand Duchess, who had grown slightly alarmed at her husband's strange and utterly worn appearance, went to seek him, wishing to ascertain whether he had already gone to bed. Great was her surprise not to find him there, a surprise which only increased when he was nowhere to be found in the whole of the house. Anastasia became very frightened, and herself went to explore the garden, fearing that her husband had fainted somewhere, as sometimes happened when he was overtired. But the garden also proved empty and her repeated calls remained unanswered. Suddenly she saw one of the servants running towards her, and she was told that the body of the Grand Duke had just been found on the outer side of a high fence which surrounded the grounds of the Villa Wenden, and that to all appearances he was already dead.

Anastasia Michaylowna would not believe it. She declared that it must be an error, and she sent for all the doctors in Cannes. Alas, alas, none of them could do anything. Frederick Francis, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg- Schwerin, had really and truly passed away.

How he came to be found on the outer side of the fence no one ever knew. Many suppositions were made, among others that a robber had been discovered by the Duke in the grounds of the mansion, and had thrown him over the wall. But this was hardly likely. It was also said that the Grand Duke had suddenly become dizzy, and had fallen over the wall without any one being at hand to pick him up. Also that he had purposely thrown himself into the road from the height of the walls surrounding the grounds of his residence, and, again, it was admitted that the sad affair might have been purely accident and nothing else. But the fact remained that no reasonable explanation could be found for this mysterious end. The body bore no traces of violence of any kind, save a small bruise on the temple where the dead man's head had struck a stone, and the official report of this strange end merely mentioned the fact that the Grand Duke had suddenly succumbed to an attack of heart failure.

Anastasia Michaylowna was a widow, and, strange though it might seem to those who had been aware of the sad disappointments of the early years of her married life, she sincerely mourned the husband with whom the world had thought that she had had so little in common. The fact was that she was far too clever not to realise the protection which the presence of the Grand Duke at her side afforded her, and she was also too just at heart not to be grateful to him for his unbounded trust in her, and for the continual courtesy and kindness with which he had treated her, in spite of the strenuous efforts of his family to estrange him from her. She also knew that henceforward her position would be very different from what it had been formerly. According to the laws of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, the country would have to be administered by a Regent during the minority of the new Sovereign, and this Regent would have the right to compel the widowed Duchess to take up her residence in Schwerin or else deprive her of her jointure and the custody of her daughters. She did not care for the jointure, being very rich on her own account, but she did not want her girls to be brought up in Germany, according to German ideas, and, above everything else, she did not care to give up her French home in order to play second fiddle in Schwerin. So it was witli considerable apprehension that she looked forward to the future and to what it might hold in store for her. She need not have worried about it, however, for the will of the Grand Duke Frederick Francis was entirely in favour of his wife, to whom he left absolutely all that he possessed in the way of private fortune, and whom he appointed sole guardian of their two daughters, with the right to select their future place of residence. She was to be allowed absolute latitude in regard to their marriage, and was not to be subjected to any control in the way of their education or maintenance. And though her son would have to reside in Mecklenburg, the father added a clause in his will in which he expressed the wish that he would spend a few weeks every year with his mother, no matter where the latter might be living. In short, the poor Grand Duke never gave a greater proof of the love and tenderness which he had borne for his wife than in his last testament, every line of which breathed perfect trust and confidence in Anastasia Michaylowna.