CHAPTER XX

In the Hope of Rest

And now that I have said all that I think is indispensable, perhaps my readers will make excuses for me if I have expressed myself badly in narrating the story of my sufferings.

They will, perhaps, also make excuses for my having broken the silence which I have hitherto maintained.

There has been endless discussion concerning me and my affairs. I have not wished it, I have not inspired it. It has arisen solely through force of circumstances.

We are powerless against circumstances. Our lives seem to be influenced more by others than by ourselves, and the fatality which often orders our actions and our days is not our choice.

A moment's folly can wreck a whole life. This has been my personal experience. But I think that at first I was the person deceived, because I was not old enough to judge rightly and to see clearly.

Can I grow old without obeying the duty to defend the truth, which has been so outraged by my enemies? Can I go down to the grave, misunderstood and slandered?

My life represents a succession of fatalities of which I was powerless to avert the final _dénouement_.

I have already said, and I repeat, I do not hold myself guiltless of errors, faults and wrongdoings. But one must, in justice, seek their primary cause in my disastrous marriage.

My parents--particularly the Queen--saw nothing wrong in giving me to the Prince of Coburg when I was hardly more than a child.

The King saw in this marriage the possibility of certain influences and a political union which would be useful to himself and to Belgium.

The Queen was overjoyed at the thought that I was to make my home in Austria and Hungary, whence she had herself come, and where I should remember her, and at the same time further my country's glory and the King's ambitions.

I have been sacrificed for the good of Belgium, and Belgium now includes Belgians who reproach me for the gift of my youth and happiness essentially destined for their benefit! Belgians to-day regard me as a German, a Hungarian--a foreigner--and worse even than that! Alas for human gratitude!

Be that as it may, am I guilty of having voluntarily abandoned my country or of ceasing to love it?

The whole of my being protests against this vile accusation.

Of what then am I guilty? Of having left my husband and my children?

I lived for twenty years at the most corrupt Court of Europe. I never yielded to its temptations or its follies. I gave birth to a son and a daughter, I suckled them at my breast, and I reposed all my hopes of a mother in my children. My son's fate and how he left me is common knowledge. It is also well known how my daughter, influenced by her husband and her environment, has treated me.

Of what was I actually guilty? It is true that finding myself at the end of my courage, and suffocating in the atmosphere of a home which for me was detestable, I was about to succumb....

I was rescued at this crisis, and I dedicated my life to my deliverer. And, in consequence, my saviour was branded as a forger, and by dint of monetary persecutions and fines it was sought to annihilate him.

Both of us have escaped from the murderers who desired our destruction.

Am I guilty of having struggled, of having remained faithful to fidelity, and of having resisted the efforts to overthrow me?

The judgments of error and hatred matter little to me. I have remained the woman that I promised my sainted mother I would become--the idealist, who has lived on the heights.

Am I guilty in the real meaning of morality and freedom? Many women who consider themselves in a position to cast the first stone at me have far more with which to reproach themselves!

What remains to be said?

This.... I believed, I believed in common with the greatest legal minds, that in the ordinary course of events I should inherit a fortune from my father. My inheritance was considerably encumbered and reduced owing to fraudulent schemes and wrongful judgments, which have been universally condemned.

Am I guilty for having been deceived and plundered?

Again it is said that my family was not united. Is this my fault?

I always loved my flesh and blood more than myself. Have I been found wanting in affection and respect towards my parents? Was I not to my sisters the adoring eldest sister who loved and cherished them?

Am I guilty of the errors of the King and the Queen, the latter convinced by my persecutors of the gravity of my "illness," the former irritated--not by my independence, but by the scandal that it created?

Am I guilty of the selfishness of my sisters--one the victim of narrow-mindedness, the other the victim of political schemes?

I freely admit this: I have certainly rebelled against disloyalty and restraint. But for what motives? For what ends?

My real crime has consisted in my effort to get my own property, in waiting for a fortune which I have not handled.

The world only admires the victorious, no matter by what means they achieve victory.

I have been a victim ever since my girlish feet were led into devious paths; I have always suffered defeat.

When the battle was over I did not ask pardon of untruth, injury, theft, or persecution.

I might have been alone, I might have fallen under the burden of infamy and violence. But I would not yield because I was not fighting for myself alone.

God has visibly sustained me, by animating my heart with feelings of esteem and gratitude for a chivalrous soul whom I have never heard utter a word of complaint, no matter how atrocious the intrigues and the cruelties which encompassed him.

A base world has judged his devotion and my constancy from the lowest standpoint.

Let such a world now realize that beings exist who are far above the sordid instincts to which humanity abandons itself, beings who, in a common aspiration to a lofty ideal, rise superior to all earthly weaknesses. The last lines of this short sketch of a life, the details of which would fill many volumes, must be a recognition of my gratitude towards Count Geza Mattachich.

I have not said a great deal about him, because he will think that even a little is too much. This silent man only appreciates silence.

"Silence alone is strong, all the rest is weakness." Thus wrote Alfred de Vigny, and this line is the motto of the strong.

But you know, Count, that unlike you I cannot force myself to be silent. I wish to invoke the vision of the hour when you first spoke those words which penetrated my conscience and cleansed and illumined it. From that hour, this light has been my guide. I have sought in suffering the road towards spiritual beauty. But you preceded me thither, and in the dark depths of the madhouse I looked towards your prison cell, and in so doing I escaped the horrors of insanity.

We have had to submit to the assaults of covetousness and hypocrisy.

We have struggled in the mire; we have been separated in wild lands. The world has only seen the splashes of mud and the tattered banner of our combat. It has ignored the cause, and its malevolence has never pardoned us for emerging from the fight as victims.

All this was very bitter at the time, but I never regret! My sufferings are dear to me because you, Count, have shared them, after having tried so ardently to spare me.

There is always a certain joy in bearing unmerited afflictions in the spirit of sacrifice.

This spirit of sacrifice is peculiarly your own. I never possessed it. But you have endowed me with it. No gift has ever been so precious to my soul, and I shall be grateful to you on this side of the tomb and beyond it!

I, who alone know you as you really are, and know the adoration that has given you a reason for living, I thank you, Count, in the twilight of my days for the nobility which you have always shown in this adoration. Shall I ever know, will you ever know, the meaning of rest otherwise than the last rest which is the lot of mankind?

Will earthly justice ever render unto us the hoped-for reparations?

Will it be possible for us to remain outlawed from the truth, and crushed by the abuse of power and human wickedness?

Let it be as God wills!

INDEX

Agram, Princess Louise at, 181, 182

Albert, King of the Belgians, 42

Albert, Prince Consort, influence of, 116 Queen Victoria and, 165

Alexandrine, Princess, of Saxe-Coburg, 64

Alice, Princess, of Hesse, betrothal of, to Nicholas II, 163 character of, 164

Amélie, Princess, of Saxe-Coburg, marriage with Maximilian of Bavaria, 71

Ardennes, Royal picnics in, 44

Augusta (of Schleswig-Holstein), German Empress, 80, 134 bad taste in dress of, 144 character of, 142 _et seq._ Duke Gunther's marriage and, 147 influence on outbreak of war of, 152 mediocrity of, 163 Princess Louise and, 144

Augusta (wife of William I), German Empress, Princess Louise and, 143

Auguste, Prince, of Saxe-Coburg, 46, 116, 118 as Count Helpa, 71

Ausbach, M., Burgomaster of Brussels, 59

Austria, Princess Louise ordered from, 232 return of Princess Louise to, 242

Automobiles, Princess Louise on, 44, 45

Bad-Elster, escape of Princess Louise from, 200 _et seq._ Princess Louise taken to, 199

Beatrice, Princess (of Battenberg), 164

Belgian Government, will of Leopold II and, 215 _et seq._

Belgium, constitution of, 27 fortitude of, 2 indignation in Berlin against, 43 King Leopold's fortune and, 32, 33 Leopold's anti-German policy and, 134 Princess Louise and, 38, 40, 41 Princess Louise's escape through, 208, 209 Princess Louise's loss of nationality in, 231 "sacrifice" of Princess Louise to, 246

Belgium, Royal House of, and its connexions, 17

Berlin-Bagdad railway, 137

Berlin, Court of, under William I, 143 under William II, 143, 144

Biarritz, Belgian Royal family at, 50

Birthday oaks at Laeken, 37

Bismarck, Count von, 143, 145

Blanche de Nemours, 47

Bologna, Princess Louise at, 74, 77

Bolshevism at Budapest, 74, 243

Boucottes, Château of, Empress Charlotte at, 210

Brown, John, and Queen Victoria, 167, 168

Brussels, plots against Princess Louise in, 192 Princess Louise an "enemy princess" in, 41, 42

Brussels, Palace at, inconveniences of, 22 portrait of Charles I by Van Dyck, in, 49

Budapest, Bolshevism at, 74, 243 Count Mattachich interned at, 236 Princess Louise at, 64, 74 Society at, 75 war experiences in, 243

Cannes, Princess Louise at, 74, 77

Chantilly, Princess Louise at, 46

Charlotte, Empress of Mexico, fortune of, 32, 41, 210, 223, 234

Chartres, Duc de, 45

Chartres, Duchesse de, 45, 77

Chateaubriand, Princess Louise and, 15

Château d'Eu, Princess Louise at, 46

Chotek, Countess, camarilla against, 98, 99 created Duchess of Hohenberg, 97 influence in Austrian politics of, 98 marriage with Francis Ferdinand d'Este, 96, 97

Claremont, Queen Marie Amélie at, 47

Clémentine, Princess, of Belgium, accepts Belgian Government's offer, 214 as horsewoman, 44 as musician, 24 birth of, 21, 34 birthday oak at Laeken of, 37 Leopold II's attitude to, 35 marriage of, 48

Clémentine, Princess (of Orleans), 46 at Coburg Palace, 67, 68 Ferdinand of Bulgaria and, 117, 122-123 Ferdinand's wife and, 125 Princess Louise and, 70

Clotilde, Archduchess, of Saxe-Coburg, 71 at Budapest, 74 character of, 75

Coburg, family of, 116

Coburg, Prince of (_see_ Philip of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)

Coburg, Royal gatherings at, 161-163

Coburg Estates in Hungary, 58

Coburg Palace, Princess Louise at, 12, 63 _et seq._

Condé, Prince de, 46

Congo, King Leopold's policy for, 31, 32 King Leopold's will and, 213 _et seq._

Cyril, Grand Duchess (_see_ Melita, Princess)

Daszynski, Deputy, on Count Mattachich, 186, 187

d'Aumale, Duc, as friend of Belgium, 46 at Princess Louise's wedding, 59 friendship of, with Queen of Belgium, 46

Delehaye, M., on King Leopold I, 52, 53

d'Este, Francis Ferdinand, camarilla against, 98, 99 influence of Duchess of Hohenberg on, 98 marriage with Countess Chotek of, 96, 97

Doebling Asylum, Princess Louise in, 150, 182, 183, 184, 189

Donny, General, 36, 44

Dora, daughter of Princess Louise, birth of, 80 leaves her mother, 150, 176 marriage with Duke Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, 80, 146, 147, 148, 150 Princess Louise's fruitless appeal to, 237 "wickedness" of, towards mother, 235

Dresden, Princess Louise at, 64

Edward VII at Princess Louise's wedding, 59 German Emperor and, 134 John Brown and, 168

Elizabeth, daughter of Archduke Rudolph, 107

Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, after death of Archduke Rudolph, 114, 115 and Heinrich Heine, 94 as "Martyr," 93 as "Queen of Queens," 55 character of, 95 death of, 115 meeting between Princess Louise and, 94, 95

Emperor of Austria (_see_ Francis Joseph)

Empress Frederick, character of, 143, 163

Empress of Austria (_see_ Elizabeth, Empress of Austria)

Ernest, Duke, of Saxe-Coburg, 64, 116 Princess Louise and, 160, 161

Etienne, Archduke, 51

Eucharistic Congress (1914), Emperor Francis Joseph at, 115

Faure, M., duets with Queen Henriette, 20

Ferdinand of Bulgaria, adopts title of Tsar, 123 as "Emperor of Byzantium," 121 character of, 71, 92, 117 _et seq._ downfall of, 130 enmity of, to Princess Louise, 130 excommunication of, 125 marriage of, 124 mother's influence on, 117 Princess Louise and, 118-120, 126-130 sons of, baptized into Greek Church, 124

Flandre, Comte and Comtesse of, 47 visit Princess Louise at Lindenhof, 191

France, politics and religion in, 97

Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, 1 and Princess Louise's scandals, 89, 90, 182 at Eucharistic Congress (1914), 115 Berlin and, 137 character of, 84, 134 death of Archduke Rudolph and, 86 greatness of, 55 "justice" of, 85 Madame Schratt and, 85, 86, 115 "madness" of, regarding war, 231 personal appearance of, 134, 136 refuses help to Princess Louise, 92

Frederick, Crown Prince, 57 at Princess Louise's wedding, 59

Frederick, Emperor, character of, 133, 143

Fugger, Countess, fidelity of, 179, 183, 190

Gerard, Queen Henriette's _maître-d' hôtel_, 24

German Emperor (_see_ William II)

Germany, evil influence of Prussia on, 133, 152, 158 legendary philosophy of, 157 treatment of ex-kings by, 160 William II responsible for crimes of, 133, 140

Goethe, as Princess Louise's favourite author, 15

Gotha, Princess Louise at, 64

Gunther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, character of, 146 coerces Princess Louise at Munich, 233 Count Mattachich and, 149 fortune of Leopold II and, 43

Gunther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, marriage of, with Princess Dora, 80, 146, 147 warns Princess Louise, 181

Heine, Heinrich, Empress Elizabeth and, 94 Princess Louise's estimate of, 93

Helpa, Count (_see_ Auguste of Saxe-Coburg)

Henriette, Queen of Belgium, 4 and death of Prince Leopold, 25, 28 as horsewoman, 21, 44 beauty and character of, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 death of, at Spa, 40 friendship of, with Duc d'Aumale, 46 influence at Vienna of, 57 influence on Princess Louise, 22, 23, 37, 39 King Leopold and, 24, 25, 28, 31, 34 letters of, to Princess Louise at Lindenhof, 191 marriage of, 17 parents of, 17 Prince Louise's marriage and, 54, 57, 246

Hesse, Grand Duke of, marriage of, with Princess Melita, 163

Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Princess Louise at, 82

Hohenberg, Duchess of (_see_ Chotek, Countess)

Hoyoz, Count, at Meyerling, 111

Hungary, Coburg estates in, 58

John, Archduke (John Orth), disappearance of, 96

Joinville, Prince de, 45

Joseph, Archduke, at Princess Louise's wedding, 59 at Sadowa, 17 palace of, at Buda, 74

Keglevich, Count, and Count Mattachich, 181, 183

Keglevich, Countess, Princess Louise and Count Mattachich take refuge with, 180

Laeken, Château of, childhood of Princess Louise at, 49, 52, 63 commemoration oak trees at, 36 inconveniences of, 22 King Leopold and gardens at, 30, 31 marriage of Princess Louise at, 60 Queen Henrietta's feat of horsemanship at, 21 Royal children's gardens at, 36

Lantsheere, M. de, address to the Senate by, 229, 230

_Le Journal_, Princess Louise and, 195

Leopold I, death of, 17, 18, 29 influence of, 116

Leopold II of Belgium, 1, 2 accession of, 18 administration of Empress Charlotte's fortune by, 32 attitude towards daughters of, 34, 35 Belgian Government on, 216, 217 Belgium and fortune of, 32, 33, 211 _et seq._ character of, 25, 27 _et seq._ colonial policy of, 28, 31 death of, 216 forethought against Germany of, 134 fortune of, 32, 33, 79, 147, 150, 172, 212, 234 gardens at Laeken and, 30, 31 influence of death of son on, 34 lawsuit concerning fortune of, 211 _et seq._ love of flowers of, 30 marriage of, 17 marriage of Princess Louise and, 100, 246 marriage of Princess Stéphanie and, 100 on "blindness" of France, 97 on William II, 134 personality of, 28, 29 Princess Louise at funeral of, 40, 147, 150 sarcasm of, 10 will of, 221, 222

Leopold, Prince, of Belgium, birth of, 21 birthday oak at Laeken of, 37 character of, 52 childhood of, 51, 52 death of, 21, 25, 33, 51

Leopold, son of Princess Louise, death of, 80 relations of, with mother, 79

Lindenhof, Princess Louise in asylum of, 186 _et seq._

Lobor, Château of, Princess Louise and Count Mattachich take refuge at, 180

Louis II of Bavaria, character of 154, 156

Louis III of Bavaria, character of, 155, 156

Louis Philippe, King, 46, 47

Louis Victor, Archduke, as instigator of persecution of Princess Louise, 87, 88, 89, 90

Louise, Princess, alleged madness of, 39, 150, 151, 181, 184, 186, 189 appeal to Munich courts by, 235 Archduke Louis Victor and, 87 Archduke Rudolph and, 103-105, 108, 109, 110 arrest of, 183 as eldest daughter, 22 as horsewoman, 44 as mother, 78, 247 as Princess of Coburg, 42, 65 at Agram, 181, 182 at Biarritz, 50, 51 at Bologna, 74, 77 at Budapest, 64, 74 at Cannes, 74, 77 at Chantilly, 46 at Château d'Eu, 46 at Coburg Palace, 12, 63 _et seq._ at father's funeral, 40 at Queen Victoria's Jubilee celebrations, 169 at Regensburg, 158, 159 attitude of King and Queen towards, 29, 30, 173 Belgium's treatment of, 2 betrothal of, 54 birth of daughter to, 80 birthday oak at Laeken of, 37 Bolshevists and, 1, 2, 74, 243 childhood of, 22, 30, 49 coercion of, by Duke Gunther, 233, 234 Comtesse de Flandre's visit to, at Lindenhof, 191 conjugal life of, 38 Count Mattachich, at Nice with, 148, 149, 176, 177; attempts release of, 193 _et seq._ Court of Vienna and, 8 daughter's desertion of, 150 declared sane by French doctors, 209 departure for Austria of, 63 differences with husband of, 68, 76, 89, 90, 91 divorce of, 41 Dr. Sudekum's assistance to, 200 Emperor William and, 133, 138 Empress Augusta and, 143, 144 enemies of, 4, 5 enmity of Ferdinand of Bulgaria to, 130 escape of, from Bad-Elster, 200 _et seq._ exile of, 36 extravagance of, 171, 172 favourite authors of, 15 feelings for Belgium of, 2 Ferdinand of Bulgaria and, 118-120, 126-130 flight from Silesia of, 238-240 flight with Count Mattachich of, 179 Heinrich Heine and, 94 hereditary qualities of, 9, 12, 13, 14 ideals of, 11 in asylum at Lindenhof and Purkesdorf, 186 _et seq._ incident on wedding night of, 60, 61 infancy of, 18, 21 King Leopold and marriage of, 100 King Leopold's fortune and, 32 lawsuit of, concerning the King's fortune, 211 _et seq._ _Le Journal_ and, 195 life in asylums of, 150, 173, 174, 182, 183, 184, 185 _et seq._ marriage of, 3, 34, 59 meeting of Empress Elizabeth and, 94, 95 misfortunes of, 1, 4 mother's influence on, 22, 23, 26, 37, 139 mother's letters to, at Lindenhof, 191 M. Stimmer's assistance to, 242, 243 on motor-cars, 44 on Shakespeare, 15, 16 on the theatre, 16 "peculiarities" and "weaknesses" of, 171 predominant quality of, 8 presentation to Emperor Francis Joseph of, 84 Princess Clémentine of Coburg and, 46, 47 Queen Marie Amélie and, 47 Queen Victoria and, 165 _et seq._ receives 5,000,000 francs under King's will, 223 relations with son of, 79, 80 religion and, 139, 140 renunciation of rights signed by, 234 restoration of Belgian nationality to, 41, 42 return to Austria of, 242 "sacrifice" to Belgium of, 246 sufferings during the war of, 231 _et seq._ taken to Bad-Elster, 199 takes refuge with Count Mattachich at Countess Keglevich's château, 180, 184 Vienna scandals and, 89-92 visit to Duke Ernest of, 160, 161 visit to Rosenau of, 161 visit to Sofia of, 126 _et seq._ visit to Spa of, 23 war experiences at Munich of, 41, 232 _et seq._

Louise, Queen of Belgium, 52

Luitpold, Prince, Regent of Bavaria, 154

Lutheranism, Princess Louise on, 139-140, 152

Marguerite, Princess, of Thurn and Taxis, 159

Marie, Duchess, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 161

Marie, Princess, of Saxe-Coburg (Queen of Rumania), beauty of, 161

Marie Amélie, Queen, 47

Marie Dorothée of Habsburg, marriage with Duke Philip of Orleans, 72, 73

Marie Louise of Parma, flight to Vienna of, 124, 125 marriage of, with Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 124 return to Sofia of, 126

Marriage, disillusionment of, 3, 60, 61, 67

Marriage, reflections on, 177

Mattachich, Count Geza, 5, 38 ability of, 249 arrest of, at Agram, 184; at Munich, 236 assists Princess Louise to escape from Germany, 238, 239 character of, 175 charge of forgery against, 177, 178, 184 Count Keglevich and, 181 discussion in Reichsrath of, 186, 187 duel with Prince Philip and, 93, 177 Duke Gunther and, 149 efforts of, to release Princess Louise, 193 _et seq._ Emperor William and, 150, 151 flight with Princess Louise of, 179 follows Princess Louise to Bad-Elster, 200 imprisonment of, 178 internment at Budapest of, 236 "pardon" of, 192 public indignation at treatment of, 191 takes refuge with Princess Louise at Château Lobor, 180 with Princess Louise at Nice, 148, 149, 176, 177

Maximilian, of Bavaria, marriage and death of, 71, 72

Melita, Princess, marriage with Grand Duke of Hesse, 163

Meyerling, tragedy at, 92, 101, 102, 109-111

Moellersdorf Penitentiary, Count Mattachich in, 192

Moltke, Marshal von, 143

Monarchy, principles of, 157-162

_Moniteur_ on King Leopold, 216

Montpensier, Duc de, 45 palace of, at Cannes, 77

Munich, Court of, 154 _et seq._ insubordination to Prussia of, 154

Munich, Princess Louise's appeal to courts of, 235 war experiences of Princess Louise at, 41, 232 _et seq._

Nice, Count Mattachich and Princess Louise at, 176, 177

Nicholas II, betrothal to Princess Alice of Hesse, 163 character of, 163, 164

Niederfullbach, report of, 211 _et seq._

Nietzsche, "that fool," 131

Nymphenburg, Prince Luitpold at, 155

Orleans family, 45, 72, 73

Orleans, Prince of (_see_ Philip, Duke of Orleans)

Orth, John (_see_ John, Archduke)

Paris, Comtesse de, 46

Parma, house of, and excommunication of Ferdinand, 125

Philip, Duke of Orleans, marriage of, 72, 73

Philip of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, as Austrian prince, 42 at Meyerling, 111, 113, 114 betrothal of, 54, 55 differences with Princess Louise, 67, 68, 76 divorce of, 41 duel with Count Mattachich, 93, 177 "madness" of Princess Louise and, 181 marriage of, 59

Pierson, Dr., medical superintendent at Lindenhof, 190, 197, 198

Prague, Princess Louise at, 64

Prussia, evil influence on Germany of, 133, 152, 158 responsibility for war of, 231

Prussian Royal House, descent of, 138

Purkesdorf, Princess Louise in asylum at, 189

Queen of Belgium (_see_ Henriette, Queen of Belgium)

Queen of Greece (_see_ Sophie, Queen of Greece)

Queen of Rumania (_see_ Marie, Princess, of Saxe-Coburg)

Regensburg, Court life at, 158, 159

Reichsrath, discussion on Count Mattachich in, 186, 187

Religion, Princess Louise on, 140, 153

Republic, principles of, 157

Reuss, Prince of, 102, 103, 109

Right of Princes, 41, 42

Romanoff, House of, relations with Coburg of, 163

Rosenau, Princess Louise at, 161

Rudolph, Archduke, Archduke John and, 96 characteristics of, 106, 112, 113, 154 death of, 92, 97, 101, 109 Empress Elizabeth and, 94 marriage of, 48, 100, 101, 105 Mary Vetsera and, 101, 102, 104, 108 Princess Louise and, 103-5, 108, 109, 110

Russia, Court of, 163

Saint Antoine, Château of, 78

Saxe-Coburg, Duke of, at Princess Louise's wedding, 59

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Court life of, 160

Schaumbourg, Château of, Archduke Stephen at, 17

Schratt, Madame, Emperor Francis Joseph and, 85, 86, 115

Serge, Grand Duchess, 163

Shakespeare, Princess Louise and, 15, 16

Social Democracy, 158

Socialists and Count Mattachich, 186, 187

Société des Sites, 226

Sofia, flight of Marie Louise from, 126 Princess Louise at, 126 _et seq._

Soignies, Forest of, 36, 44

Sophie, Queen of Greece, 7

Spa, death of Queen of Belgium at, 40 visit of Princess Louise to, 23

Stanfferberg, Count of, 159

Stéphanie, Princess, of Belgium, birth of, 21 birthday oak at Laeken of, 37 childhood of, 30, 48 Count Mattachich's alleged forgery of signature of, 184, 185 King Leopold and marriage of, 100, 105 King Leopold's attitude towards, 34 last letter of Rudolph to, 113, 114 lawsuit over King's fortune and, 214 marriage of, 34, 48, 100, 101 serious illness of, 50 Vienna scandals and, 89

Stephen, Archduke, exile of, 17

Stimmer, M., assists Princess Louise on return to Austria, 242, 243

Sudekum, Dr., escape of Princess Louise and, 207, 208

"The Account of the Inheritance of His Majesty Leopold II," 212 _et seq._

Theatre, Queen Henriette on, 20, 21 thoughts on, 16

Thurn and Taxis, Court of, 158, 159

Tsar of Bulgaria (_see_ Ferdinand of Bulgaria)

Van den Smissin, 44

Van Dyck, portrait of Charles I by, 49

Vetsera, Mary, Archduke Rudolph and, 101, 108 description of, 103

Vienna, after the war in, 82

Vienna, Court of, camarilla against Francis Ferdinand at, 99 decadence and downfall of, 83, 115 etiquette at, 55 Ferdinand at, 99 Princess Louise declared enemy subject by, 231-232

Victor Napoleon, Prince, marriage of, with Princess Clémentine, 48

Victoria, Queen, 165 _et seq._ character of, 166 jubilee celebrations of, 168, 169 Princess Alice and Princess Beatrice as readers to, 164 Princess Louise seeks aid of, 179

Villa Eugénie, Biarritz, Belgian Royal family at, 50, 51

Vladimir, Grand Duchess, 163

Wales, Prince of (Edward VII), at Princess Louise's wedding, 59

Waltz, the, as "incomparable queen of dances," 75

Wiemmer, Dr., 44, 50, 51

William I, 133

William II, German Emperor, as "scourge of God," 43 as _welt Kaiser_, 121, 137 character of, 132 _et seq._, 162, 163 Count Mattachich and, 150, 151 Duchess Gunther and, 150 Empress Frederick and, 163 Princess Louise and, 133, 138, 152 responsibility of, for war and German war crimes, 133, 137, 140 visit to Vienna of, 144

Windisgretz, Princess of, 107

Windsor, Queen Victoria's life at, 167

Wittelsbach, family of, 156

Woman, influence of, in Governments, 14, 15

Women and the war, 3

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