The Paris paper La Situation had long in advance announced that the King of Bavaria would visit that city. His arrival was looked upon as an event which might be of political importance. Although he at once paid a visit at the Tuileries, he made no secret of the fact that he had come to France as a private gentleman, and wished to preserve the strictest incognito. The Empress Eugénie was in England; but Napoleon received him as an honoured and welcome guest. He invited him to his magnificently restored palace in the Bois de Compiègne, where a review of troops was held in his honour. At the lunch which followed this there were present the King of Portugal and Prince Anton of Hohenzollern-Siegmaringen and his son, the Hereditary Prince Leopold, whose candidature for the Spanish throne three years later caused Napoleon to risk his crown. The King of Bavaria appreciated but little the pleasures of the Imperial court. He spent the greater number of his evenings at the "Grand Opera" and the "Theâtre Lyrique." The chief part of the day he spent in the Exhibition, where the sections devoted to art and education particularly attracted his attention. It was his design to remain in the French capital until the Empress Eugénie's return. His visit was, however, cut short by the news that his father's brother Otto, the former King of Greece, had died at the castle of Bamberg, where he had passed his latter years. Ludwig hurried back to Munich, and was present on the 30th of July at his uncle's interment. The business houses of the capital were meanwhile at work on wedding gifts for their King. Letters and presents continued to be exchanged between the engaged couple; and nothing hinted to the outer world that storm-clouds had arisen. In the month of August Napoleon and Eugénie came from Paris to Salzburg, to meet the Emperor and Empress of Austria. They stopped a day in Augsburg. Napoleon in his youth had been a pupil at the College of St Anna in that town, and wished to revisit well-known spots. Ludwig met the Emperor and Empress at Augsburg and accompanied them to Munich, where the Queen-mother received the august travellers. The tie between the engaged couple seemed far as yet from being loosened; the King presented Sophie to the Empress, who heartily kissed both the young people. Still Ludwig continued his rides along the shores of the lake of Starnberg.