The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)Fontenoy, marquise de
History
The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)
Fontenoy, marquise de
Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, 1830-1916; William II, German Emperor, 1859-1941
The uniforms ordinarily affected by Francis-Joseph are the undress
regimentals of an Austrian general, the blue-gray short tunic, faced
with scarlet and gold, trousers with broad red stripes, and that
peculiar, oval-shaped, rather high-crowned soft cap, with a small
vizor, which constitutes the undress headgear of officers belonging to
every rank of the Austrian army. The only token of his imperial rank
is the small badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece peeping forth
from between the first and second buttons of his tunic, the cross of
Maria-Theresa, and the medal accorded to every officer and soldier who
has served fifty years in the army attached to his breast. On state
occasions at Vienna the emperor dons the full-dress uniform of an
Austrian general, consisting of a white short tunic or "Atilla," faced
with gold and scarlet, scarlet trousers, with broad gold stripes,
and a general's three-cornered _chapeau_, surmounted by a big tuft of
green plumes.
When Francis-Joseph is in Hungary he invariably wears either the
undress or full-dress uniform of a Hungarian general, and it must be
confessed that, in spite of the somewhat theatrical appearance of the
gold embroidered, tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons and gold-topped
high boots, the scarlet gold-laced tunic of the full dress, with
the heron-plumed kálpàk, or the slightly less gorgeous "shako,"
and blue-grey, gold-laced tunic of the undress uniform, he looks
remarkably well, thanks to the extraordinary elasticity and elegance
which he has retained in spite of his three-score years and ten.
Emperor William's ordinary garb is the familiar undress uniform of a
Prussian general, the dark-blue long frock coat, with its double row
of silver buttons, its scarlet collar, and its silver shoulder-straps.
The trousers are of the same hue as the coat, with broad scarlet
stripes, the latter being worn only by generals. Hanging from the
collar is usually the cross of the Brandenburg Langue of the Order of
St. John of Jerusalem, while on the breast is fastened a sort of star,
consisting of the letter "W" encircled by gold laurel leaves, which
has been accorded to all the officers who formed part of the household
of Old Emperor William. The cap is the ordinary flat, black vizored
undress headgear of all the officers of the German army.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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