SECRET MEMOIRS William II and Francis Joseph VOLUME I [Illustration: _WILLIAM II EMPEROR OF GERMANY_ _From Life_] SECRET MEMOIRS OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE William II _Germany_ Francis Joseph _Austria Hungary_ BY MME. LA MARQUISE DE FONTENOY IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I ILLUSTRATED 1900 PUBLISHERS' NOTE The essential qualifications for an author of such a work as the present are an actual acquaintance with the persons mentioned, an intimate knowledge of their daily lives, and a personal familiarity with the scenes described. The author of William II. and Francis-Joseph, sheltered under the _nom de plume_ of Marquise de Fontenoy, is a lady of distinguished birth and title. Her work consists largely of personal reminiscences, and descriptions of events with which she is perfectly familiar; a sort of panoramic view of the characteristic happenings and striking features of court life, such as will best give a true picture of persons and their conduct. There has been no attempt to trammel the subject,--which embraces religious, official, social and domestic life,--by following a strictly sequential form in the narrative, but the writer's aim has been to present her facts in a familiar way, impressing them with characteristic naturalness and lifelike reality. To this task the author has brought the habits of a watchful observer, the candor of a conscientious narrator, and the refinement of a writer who respects her subject. Hence she presents a true, vivid and interesting picture of court life in Germany and Austria. If such merely sensational, and too often fictitious, unsavory tales as crowd the so-called court narratives expressly concocted for the "society" columns of the periodical press are not the most prominent features of the present work, it is because they receive only a truthful recognition and place in its pages. WILLIAM II AND FRANCIS-JOSEPH CHAPTER I "If only Emperor William would be true to himself--be natural, in fact!" exclaimed Count S----, a Prussian nobleman, high in the diplomatic service of his country, with whom I was discussing the German Emperor a year or so ago. Then my friend, who had, a short time previously, been brought into frequent personal contact with his sovereign, in connection with his official duties, went on to say: