Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900Waddington, Mary King
History
Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900
Waddington, Mary King
Europe -- Social life and customs
He noticed the children,
said Francis was very like his father. I told him Hilda was a little
compatriote, and named her to him. He knows her parents well. The Queen
was much cheered as she drove off; then there were more cheers for the
Prince, who acknowledged them most graciously, as he does always. We had
again rather a struggle to get through the crowd and across to the
Embassy, and then at 6.30 I had some tea, got into a tea-gown, and
refused to move again. W. tried to entice me to the Foreign Office where
there was a big reception, but I was utterly incapable of another word
(the heat always tries me so); so he departed sadly, but didn't stay
long--merely showed himself. He said the crowd was awful, and Lord
Cranborne, the son of the house, in a wild state on the stairs, with his
supper list, as he couldn't find half the people. W. told him not to
worry about us, as he was going home, and I was in bed.
[Illustration: The Crown Prince Frederick of Germany, in the Uniform
Worn by Him at the Jubilee Celebration, London June, 1887
From a photograph by Loescher & Petsch Berlin]
_To H. L. K._
#London#,
June 24, 1887.
Yesterday I had rather a quiet day, I was still so dead tired after the
children's fete. Jean and I drove about in the afternoon. She wanted to
see the "Black Queen," as the Queen of the Sandwich Islands is called,
and we crossed her once or twice driving in the Park. It does look funny
to see her sitting up in the Royal carriage with red liveries. We had a
beautiful ball last night, given by Lord and Lady Rosebery at Lansdowne
House for all the Royalties. The House was beautifully arranged; the
ballroom panelled half way up the wall with red roses and green leaves.
I danced a quadrille with the King of Greece, who is easy and talks a
great deal; he speaks English perfectly well. He asked about the
Schuylers, and spoke most warmly of them--said Schuyler was one of the
few perfectly intelligent men he had ever met, "knew everything about
everything," I must write it to them. The supper was very well arranged,
small tables of eight or ten. Almost all the Royalties were there, but
not the Hawaiian Queen. I asked our host why he hadn't invited Queen
Kapiolani; but he said he really couldn't. The ball was small, and Lady
Rosebery left out many of her friends, who naturally were not pleased.
W. actually stayed to supper--I was so surprised, as he hates it.
June 24, 1887.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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