Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown Princess

Myself and Frederick Augustus quarrel and pound table--The Countess Cosel's golden vessel--Off to Brighton--Threat of a beating--I provoke shadows of divorce--King threatens for...

A diplomatic trick--Jealous of Romano's past--The pact for life and the talisman--If there were a theatre fire the talisman would discover our love to the King--Some ill-natured...

I reject mother's tearful reproaches--I beard Prince George in his lair despite whining chamberlains--I tell him what I think of him, and he becomes frightened--Threatens madhou...

I haven't lived up to my promise to keep a daily record, or even a weekly one. Those tales of my girlhood days disgusted me with diary keeping as far as my early experiences at...

Another quarrel with my husband--Personal attendant to a corpse--Killing by pin pricks--The mythical three "_How art thou's?_"--Unwanted sympathy from my inferiors--Pride of the...

The result shows in the character of rulers--Why English kings and princes are superior to the Continental kind--Leopold's awful revenge--Mother acts the tigress--Her mailed fis...

Asked to play the coward, and I refuse--A hostler who would die for a look from me--Hostler marriages in royal houses--Anecdotes and unknown facts concerning royal ladies and th...

A royal couple that shall be nameless--The voluptuous Duchess--Her husband the worst of degenerates--"What monsters these royalties be"--Nameless outrages--A Duchess forced to h...

Chamberlain Baron Haugk, of the service of Prince George, called at nine A.M. and insisted upon seeing me. I sent out my Grand-Mistress, Baroness von Tisch, to tell him that "He...

Credit me with innumerable lovers, but don't disapprove--Glad the King feels scandalized--Picture of the "she-monster"--Everybody eager for love--I delight in Richard's jealousy...

"By the King's orders"--I submit for the sake of my children--Must fast as well as pray--In delicate health, I insist upon returning to Dresden--Bernhardt, to avoid being maltre...

A sterile Royal Family once fruitful--Diary true record of self--Long legs of Countess Solms--A child only because he can't help it--Wet nurse to Socialist brat--Royal permit fo...

"Closed season" for petty meannesses--A prince who enjoys himself like a pig--Why princes learn trades--A family dinner to the accompaniment of threats and smashing of table--Th...

Dissecting possible wooers at Vienna--Royalty after money, not character--"He is a Cohen, not a Coburg"--Prince who looked like a Jew counter-jumper in his Sunday best--Balkan p...

Who is that most exquisite _Vortänzer_?--A lovely boy--"Blush, good white paper"--I long for Henry--My eyes reflect love--"I must see you tonight. Arrange with Lucretia"--Sorry...

I lose my lover--Quarrels with me because I did my duty as a mother--Royalty extols me for the same reason--My pride of kingship aroused by Socialist scribblers--Change my opini...

Cuts me dead before whole family--Everybody talks over my head at dinner--I refuse to attend more court festivities--Husband protests because I won't stand for insult from Emper...

Prayers mixed with joy--Espionage disorganized, and I can do as I please--Love-making in the school-room--Buying a ring for Richard--"Wishing it on"--"Our marriage"--King's life...

A royal lady who walks her garden attired in a single diaphanous garment--Won't stand for any meddling--Called impertinent--My virtuous indignation assumed--A flirtation at a di...

The Grand Duchess tells me how she cudgeled George--Living dictaphone employed--Shows him who is mistress of the house--Snaps fingers in Prince George's face--Debate about title...

An insolent Grand Mistress, but of wonderful courage--Imprisonment, threats to kill have no effect on her--Disregards my titles--My lover's souvenir and endearing words--How she...

Some reflections on queens of old who punished recreant lovers--Henry was in debt and I gave him money--Indignities by which some of that money was earned--Husband accompanies m...

A discreet maid--"Remove thy glove"--Kisses of passion, pure kisses, powerful kisses--I see my lover daily--Countess Baranello offers "doves' nest"--Driving to rendezvous in sta...

The "animal" and his show of diamonds and rubies--Overcome by love he treats me like a lady of the harem--On the defensive--The King of kings an ill-behaved brute--Eats like a p...

Leopold upon my troubles and his own--Imperial Hapsburgs that, though Catholics, got divorces or married divorced women--Books that are full of guilty knowledge, according to ro...

After all, Frederick Augustus has more spirit than I gave him credit for. Isabelle just told me that he has a new love, and a very appetizing piece of femininity she is, _Fräule...

Frederick Augustus sent for Ferdinand and gave him to understand that he had received divers anonymous letters, connecting my name with that of the Privy Councillor. "Of course...

Ordered around by the Queen--Give thanks to a bully--Jealous of the "mob's" applause--"The old monkey after '_Hochs_'"--Criticizing the "old man"--Royalty's plea for popularity-...

I hear disquieting news about my lover's character--The aristocracy a dirty lot--Love-making made easy by titled friends--Anecdotes of Richelieu and the Duke of Orleans--The Ger...

Tall stories of dissipation, indiscipline, scandal, had preceded the poor fellow. No doubt, his military superiors got orders to make his life as unhappy as they possibly can, a...

In need of a friend--My physician offers his friendship--I discover that he loves me, but he will never confess--I give him encouragement--We manage to persuade the King to furt...

We went to the ball as His Majesty's representatives, Frederick Augustus and I, and were obliged to say a few nothingnesses to a hundred paltry persons or more. When the Ambassa...

My Grand Mistress shows her colors--Richard advises flight--I hesitate on account of my children--My Grand Mistress steals a letter from Richard to me--I opine that an adulteres...

The chance came later and with it the conviction that His Royal Highness, Prince George, didn't quite believe me when I told him that I wouldn't stand for violence, for tonight...

The King asks me to superintend lessons by M. Giron--A most fascinating man--His Grecian eyes--He is a painter as well as a teacher--In love--Careless whether I am caught in my...

A terrible interview--"The devil will come to claim you"--Uncertain how much the King and Prince George know--I break into the nursery and stay with my children all day--Prince...

Rendezvous at studio--State takes my children from me--Madhouse or flight--I brought fifty-two trunks to the palace--Depart with small satchel--If I attempt to see my children I...

Ever since the Shah left I have been the object of criticism, suspicions and down-right attacks by the pretty family I married into. These pages witness that I tried to conform...

The King has taken nourishment. The King will not die--he will live and punish me. Still, I must not complain. I had a respite and Richard says, "when one rises from the dead, o...

I have been married some fifteen months and I love my husband. He is kind, not too inquisitive and passionate. I have better claims to domestic happiness than most of my royal s...

What's the use keeping a diary that is nothing but a record of quarrels and humiliations? After I finished the entry about my scene with Prince George, I felt considerably relie...

I am in love but, like a prudent virgin, I admitted the fact to myself only shortly before we departed for Salzburg. After I put several hundred miles between me and my fascinat...

Her Imperial Highness, my pious mother, had a terrible way of punishing her children. The face of the culprit was invariably the object of her attacks. She hit us with the flat...

Nonchalantly enough he made answer: "Your bag-of-bones Baroness told me. Full of forbidden things, I suppose, since you regard it a state secret. You often say that my education...

Abruptly ordered to the royal summer residence--The Vitzthums and Henry take flight--Enmeshed by Prince George's intrigues--Those waiting for a crown have no friends--What I wil...

Prince George is planning a devilish revenge. He threatens to separate me from my Secretary and confidante, little Baranello, whom I brought with me from Salzburg. She is an Ita...

Let me admit at once that my marriage to the Crown Prince of Saxony was, politically speaking, a stroke of good luck. My father, the Grand-duke of Tuscany, had been deprived of...

The attempted theft of my Diary--Grand Mistress discovered after breaking open my desk--Reading Diary like mad--Personal encounter between me and Grand Mistress--I am the strong...

I am afraid I wrote down some wicked things--wicked from the standpoint of the Saxon court--and though Queen Carola and father-in-law George know naught of my scribblings, punis...

I have once more come to the conclusion that the agreement I made with Leopold, to dissimulate my real feelings, was the sanest decision I ever formed, for, while _lettres de ca...

I want to finish with evil recollections. Maybe I will be able to forget them, when I have done with this narrative. My mother, as pointed out, had more confidence in our rascal...

Of course the demise of His Majesty changed all my plans of defiance and otherwise. I am once more an official person, even an important one, for the new King can't last long. H...

Though still styled Crown Princess, I am already revelling in the delights and perquisites of queenship: I do as I please, go where I please, I would think aloud, as I please, i...

Frederick Augustus gives his views on adultery--Doesn't care personally, but "the King knows"--"Thank God, the King is ill"--I am deprived of my children--Have I got the moral s...

Baroness Tisch, now that she attained the height of her ambition, is beginning to show her claws. She is an infernal cat. Her skinniness makes her repulsive to me and her face g...

Has only eyes for me at the grand manoeuvres, and I can't drive him from my carriage--Ignores the King and the military spectacle--Calls me his adored one--Court in despair--Sha...

Behold the mother of two boys in a twelve-month! Frederick came just in the nick of time, Sylvester Eve (December 31, 1893), to gain me a little brief renown, for royalty likes...

Manners _à la_ barracks natural to royal princes--Names I am called--My ladies scandalized--Leopold turned over a new leaf, according to agreement, and is well treated--The King...

I immediately sent word to her ladyship, that having taken up bicycling, I would be pleased to have her attend me on the wheel on the afternoon following. The invitation was iss...

My Grand Mistress suspects because I am so amiable--Pangs of jealousy--Every good-looking man pursued by women--A good story of my cousin, the Duchess Berri--We all go cycling t...

When I entered my apartments, I met a whole host of long faces. The Commander of the Palace, in great gala, offered a most stiff and icy welcome. The adjutants, the chamberlains...

Prince Max came unexpectedly. He is studying for the priesthood and looks more sour than his father even. I was in bed, nursing a sick headache, but presuming upon his future cl...

The talk with Johann George had excited me so, I wanted a diversion. Frederick Augustus sent word that he wouldn't be home for dinner. Hence, I decided to go to the theatre afte...

This morning there were no newspapers at the usual hour. Instead, the Tisch furnished a heap of clippings carefully pasted up--the veriest milk-and-water slush "ever." Instanter...

And between sobs and curses she told me that she had orders to leave by ten sharp. "If you dare stay over the appointed time, you will be transported to the frontier on foot, be...

Order from the King that myself and children spend the rest of the summer at Villa Loschwitz, to remain until I get royal permission to return to Dresden,--the Tisch to act as c...

Prince Max called on me the day of my arrival and promised me an armchair in Paradise for "reforming" Leopold. "I understand that your family life is ideal now," he added. "What...

No one has come to see me. My household, my adjutants, marshal, chamberlains, equerries, the ladies of my entourage are on duty, but since I ordered my meals brought to the room...

The "animal" and his show of diamonds and rubies--Overcome by love he treats me like a lady of the harem--On the defensive--The King of kings an ill-behaved brute--Eats like a p...

I reject mother's tearful reproaches--I beard Prince George in his lair despite whining chamberlains--I tell him what I think of him, and he becomes frightened--Threatens madhou...

A diplomatic trick--Jealous of Romano's past--The pact for life and the talisman--If there were a theatre fire the talisman would discover our love to the King--Some ill-natured...

Prayers mixed with joy--Espionage disorganized, and I can do as I please--Love-making in the school-room--Buying a ring for Richard--"Wishing it on"--"Our marriage"--King's life...

Rendezvous at studio--State takes my children from me--Madhouse or flight--I brought fifty-two trunks to the palace--Depart with small satchel--If I attempt to see my children I...

Cuts me dead before whole family--Everybody talks over my head at dinner--I refuse to attend more court festivities--Husband protests because I won't stand for insult from Emper...

The attempted theft of my Diary--Grand Mistress discovered after breaking open my desk--Reading Diary like mad--Personal encounter between me and Grand Mistress--I am the strong...

Who is that most exquisite _Vortänzer?_--A lovely boy--"Blush, good white paper"--I long for Henry--My eyes reflect love--"I must see you tonight. Arrange with Lucretia"--Sorry...

Leopold upon my troubles and his own--Imperial Hapsburgs that, though Catholics, got divorces or married divorced women--Books that are full of guilty knowledge, according to ro...

I hear disquieting news about my lover's character--The aristocracy a dirty lot--Love-making made easy by titled friends--Anecdotes of Richelieu and the Duke of Orleans--The Ger...

The Grand Duchess tells me how she cudgeled George--Living dictaphone employed--Shows him who is mistress of the house--Snaps fingers in Prince George's face--Debate about title...

I lose my lover--Quarrels with me because I did my duty as a mother--Royalty extols me for the same reason---My pride of kingship aroused by Socialist scribblers--Change my opin...

A royal couple that shall be nameless--The voluptuous Duchess--Her husband the worst of degenerates--"What monsters these royalties be"--Nameless outrages--A Duchess forced to h...

My Grand Mistress shows her colors--Richard advises flight--I hesitate on account of my children--My Grand Mistress steals a letter from Richard to me--I opine that an adulteres...

A terrible interview--"The devil will come to claim you"--Uncertain how much the King and Prince George know--I break into the nursery and stay with my children all day--Prince...

The King asks me to superintend lessons by M. Giron--A most fascinating man--His Grecian eyes--He is a painter as well as a teacher--In love--Careless whether I am caught in my...

"By the King's orders"--I submit for the sake of my children--Must fast as well as pray--In delicate health, I insist upon returning to Dresden--Bernhardt, to avoid being maltre...

Abruptly ordered to the royal summer residence--The Vitzthums and Henry take flight--Enmeshed by Prince George's intrigues--Those waiting for a crown have no friends--What I wil...

Credit me with innumerable lovers, but don't disapprove--Glad the King feels scandalized--Picture of the "she-monster"--Everybody eager for love--I delight in Richard's jealousy...

Dissecting possible wooers at Vienna--Royalty after money, not character--"He is a Cohen, not a Coburg"--Prince who looked like a Jew counter-jumper in his Sunday best--Balkan p...

Another quarrel with my husband--Personal attendant to a corpse--Killing by pin pricks--The mythical three "_How art thou's?_"--Unwanted sympathy from my inferiors--Pride of the...

Asked to play the coward, and I refuse--A hostler who would die for a look from me--Hostler marriages in royal houses--Anecdotes and unknown facts concerning royal ladies and th...

A royal lady who walks her garden attired in a single diaphanous garment--Won't stand for any meddling--Called impertinent--My virtuous indignation assumed--A flirtation at a di...

"Closed season" for petty meannesses--A prince who enjoys himself like a pig--Why princes learn trades--A family dinner to the accompaniment of threats and smashing of table--Th...

In need of a friend--My physician offers his friendship--I discover that he loves me, but he will never confess--I give him encouragement--We manage to persuade the King to furt...

The result shows in the character of rulers--Why English kings and princes are superior to the Continental kind--Leopold's awful revenge--Mother acts the tigress--Her mailed fis...

Has only eyes for me at the grand manoeuvres, and I can't drive him from my carriage--Ignores the King and the military spectacle--Calls me his adored one--Court in despair--Sha...

Myself and Frederick Augustus quarrel and pound table--The Countess Cosel's golden vessel--Off to Brighton--Threat of a beating--I provoke shadows of divorce--King threatens for...

An insolent Grand Mistress, but of wonderful courage--Imprisonment, threats to kill have no effect on her--Disregards my titles--My lover's souvenir and endearing words--How she...

My Grand Mistress suspects because I am so amiable--Pangs of jealousy--Every good-looking man pursued by women--A good story of my cousin, the Duchess Berri--We all go cycling t...

Manners _à la_ barracks natural to royal princes--Names I am called--My ladies scandalized--Leopold turned over a new leaf, according to agreement, and is well treated--The King...

A discreet maid--"Remove thy glove"--Kisses of passion, pure kisses, powerful kisses--I see my lover daily--Countess Barnello offers "doves' nest"--Driving to rendezvous in stat...

Some reflections on queens of old who punished recreant lovers--Henry was in debt and I gave him money--Indignities by which some of that money was earned--Husband accompanies m...

Frederick Augustus gives his views on adultery--Doesn't care personally, but "the King knows"--"Thank God, the King is ill"--I am deprived of my children--Have I got the moral s...

Fearless to indiscretion--He "thou's" me--Puts all his chances on one card--Proposes a rendezvous--Shall I go or shall I not go?--Peril if I go and peril if I don't 171

Ordered around by the Queen--Give thanks to a bully--Jealous of the "mob's" applause--"The old monkey after '_Hochs_'"--Criticizing the "old man"--Royalty's plea for popularity-...

My queenship postponed--King George publicly acclaimed--Cuts me dead in church--Frederick Augustus's disappointment--Terrible power of a king over his family, and no appeal--I a...

A sterile Royal Family once fruitful--Diary true record of self--Long legs of Countess Solms--A child only because he can't help it--Wet nurse to Socialist brat--Royal permit fo...

At the theatre--My adorer must have felt my presence--Forgot his diplomacy--The mute salute--His good looks--His mouth a promise of a thousand sweet kisses--Our love won't be an...