Empress Unhappy as Queen’s Revered

Is it possible that this displeasure was the reason for Hongzhang’s response 4 years later after meeting Queen Victoria? — When the Viceroy was ushered into Victoria's presence chamber she remained seated, wrapped in the Imperial dignity that has awed mightier men than he. The intelligent celestial grasped his position at once. He groveled to the British Empress-Queen as he would have to his master, or the Dowager Empress, and when the interview was over and he had bowed himself out backward, he, deeply impressed, remarked to his entourage: “Her Majesty is the only real Monarch of them all.”

Li Hung Chang has come near to losing his yellow jacket again on account of a disregard of official etiquette while calling on the Empress. That's what comes of “Skylarking around the world and forgetting his manners.” —Pittsburg Times, 1897

 

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