Empress Brings Etiquette Anxiety

Born of the purple~ The eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Empress Frederick (as she was known after the death of her husband) was the Queen Consort of Prussia and German Empress Consort. Victoria, above, in an 1867 portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Empress Frederick Driven Out of Paris

Extremists Raise an Outcry Against Empress

The Franco-German Feud By No Means at an End

Paris, February 25th. — The organization known as the League of Patriots has violently denounced the visit of the Empress Frederick of Germany to the Palace of Versailles on Monday last. The League decided to hold meetings of protest until the Imperial visitor leaves the city.

It is known here that in Berlin it was expected that President Carnot would call upon the Empress Frederick, but after a special Cabinet meeting it was decided that as the Empress Frederick was traveling incognito, the French Government could compromise the matter by sending the Chief of President Carnot's military household, General Brugere, and M. Ribot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to call upon the ex-Empress. This was accordingly done. 

This question of etiquette was undoubtedly the cause of much anxiety and worry to the members of the French Cabinet, and was made the subject of long and earnest discussions before it was finally concluded. The Government did not dare to risk the verdict of public opinion in case President Carnot called upon the Imperial visitor. 

It is evident that ex-Empress Frederick's visit to St. Cloud and Versailles was ill-advised. The extremists are shouting very loudly, and even moderate papers urge that her stay be not prolonged. The patriotic league under the lead of Deroulede is organizing hostile demonstrations against the Empress. She will probably leave Friday morning. Her visit has hardly increased the chances of a good French exhibit at Berlin in the art exposition. —Daily Alta California, 1891

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