To the King the late hours of the Court were particularly disagreeable. At work from six o’clock in the morning, he rang at eight o’clock for breakfast; astonishment was on the lackey’s face when answering the summons; he heard that it had never been customary for their ex-Majesties to be served before eleven o’clock. So Amadeus, wishing to avoid any friction by insisting on earlier hours, adopted the habit of going to a café for his early meal after long application to State matters had made him conscious of the necessity of breaking his fast. Thus the maids, who sally forth in Madrid with baskets on their arms to be filled with necessaries for the household, would often return and regale the ears of their mistresses with how they had brushed against His Majesty as they did their business in the market-place. In one of these peregrinations Amadeus noticed that Castelar, the leader of the Republican party, raised his hat to him. Surprised at this sign of respect from the enemy, the young man stopped, and said he wondered that anybody of Castelar’s opinions should salute royalty, to which the great orator replied, with all the grace and charm of an accomplished Castilian: “My salute was not to royalty, sire, but to the bravest man in Christendom.” And it was this bravery which aroused the admiration of Spain. However, no quality could overcome the country’s rooted prejudice against “the foreigner,” and when Amadeus had taken his seat on the throne in the magnificent crimson-and-gold setting of the state salon of the palace, it was not to take real possession of his subjects’ hearts. There was no antagonism against the Italian King, but utter indifference for him, which was much more difficult to deal with. He was unknown to the Spaniards, a mere guest, and the necessity of forming a Court for his wife was attended with the difficulty of the ladies of high degree being Alfonsists or Carlists, and thus many of them considered themselves superior to the lady on the throne. The ladies of the last régime openly showed the Italian royal couple that their loyalty was still directed to the Spanish ex-Sovereigns, by constantly presenting themselves in the Buen Retiro, and other resorts where they drove or walked, in the white lace mantillas and other characteristics of costume especially Spanish. As a counterfoil to these signs of disrespect to those in power, the ladies who were followers of King Amadeus and his wife arranged a cortège formed of women of the town, who were all dressed like the Spanish doñas of high degree, and they were accompanied by a noisy, bullying sort of fellow who obviously represented the King’s Chamberlain, the Duke of Sexto. Thus the feeling of the Court of Spain at this epoch was manifested in a series of spiteful acts unworthy of people of high position.