All this had the effect of irritating him; he could not see why he might not give a token of affection to a near relation without being called over the coals by a section of his own people, and held up by foreign pressmen to the hatred of a nation for which, as he had shown throughout his life, he entertained nothing but the friendliest feelings. The King showed his just displeasure by excluding from his invitations to a garden party at Windsor the Members of Parliament who had attacked him. In that he did no more than any private gentleman would have done. No gentleman invites to his house a man who has offered him a public affront for which no apology has been offered. Is the King to be the only man in his realm who must allow who will to insult him unchallenged and unrebuked? Yet there were people who blamed him. In my humble judgment he did right. In the month of August, 1909, the Emperor Nicholas paid the King a return visit at Cowes in his yacht, the _Standart_. There was a brilliant gathering for the regatta week, and the King gave more than one entertainment in his nephew’s honour. I had the honour to be invited to a great banquet on board the _Victoria and Albert_, and after dinner had a long talk with the Emperor, who asked many questions about the old days at St. Petersburg in his grandfather’s time. He was obviously very much delighted with his reception, and was graciously pleased to accede to a suggestion which I made by the King’s command that he should become a member of the Marlborough Club. Again the agitators snarled and sneered at the visit, but M. Isvolsky, who was with the Tsar, very tactfully said that the protest only served to accentuate the cordiality of the welcome by the people. Nothing came of what was an ugly piece of discourtesy on the part of some men who should have known better; and the Emperor sailed away from Cowes on the 5th of August, leaving behind him in the minds of all those who had had the good fortune to meet him a happy memory of a truly royal geniality and kindness. CHAPTER XLII BAYREUTH IN 1912 In 1912 I received an invitation from Herr Siegfried Wagner to be present at the _General-Probe_ (dress rehearsal) of the Bayreuth Festival. My daughter Iris, my usual travelling companion, went with me.