More on Etiquette Fleeing Duchess

When the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess returned from their honeymoon, ladies set out to instruct the young lady, who is just 19 years old, in Court etiquette as observed at Saxe Weimar. The Princess, who is quite unconventional, resented this supervision. 

Princess Driven to Flee From Grand Duke’s Side by Tyranny

She Leaves the Court of Weimar Without Notice 

(Special to The Herald.) BERLIN, Aug. 11. —Court tyranny has driven the Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar Eisenach from the side of her young husband. Without a word as to why or where she was going, the Duchess has fled from the palace at Weimar. It was only three months ago that Caroline, the daughter of Prince Henry of Reuss XXII, married the Grand Duke William Ernest of Saxe Weimar. It was looked upon as a pure love match, and Continental papers devoted much space to the romance. This sudden turn of affairs has created consternation in Court circles. 

The Grand Duke is said to be beside himself with annoyance. For several years a certain clique has predominated in the Court at Saxe Weimar. When the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess returned from their honeymoon, ladies set out to instruct the young lady, who is just 19 years old, in Court etiquette as observed at Saxe Weimar. The Princess, who is quite unconventional, resented this supervision. 

When she rebelled, this influential clique appears to have made trouble for her, and the Princess, finding she was a slave at her own Court, took flight. The role played by the Grand Duke is not clear, but it appears that the overbearing Courtiers are more than a match for him. One report has it that the Princess fled to Switzerland. It is certain that the Grand Duke has had all trains for Switzerland watched, and reports made to him. He even went so far as to take the train himself in following one of the rumors that his wife had been located. 

The German papers deal with the matter with much reserve, but in a way to leave no doubt regarding the general outlines of the story, The Reichsbote, one of the most conservative journals in Berlin, publishes a brief account. The Lokalanzeiger, a semi-official organ, discusses the affair in its court and society columns. The Tageblatt comments as follows: “The grand duchess, like every other woman, wants to be mistress of her own home, and the probable end of the conflict will be changes in the Grand Ducul household staff.” – Los Angeles Herald, 1903

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Duchess Drama Due to Etiquette

The young Duchess is said to have tired of the tyranny of court etiquette and the criticisms of the elderly female courtiers
– Public domain image of the Grand Duke Sax Weimar Eisenbach

A Duchess Disappears

BERLIN, July 22.—Caroline, the wife of Grand Duke Sax Weimar Eisenbach, has fled after a marriage of only three months. With her husband she made a triumphal entry into Welmer at the beginning of June. The young Duchess is said to have tired of the tyranny of Court etiquette and the criticisms of the elderly female Courtiers, who charged her with extremely unconventional manners. – Stockton Record, 1903

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Alcohol, Etiquette and the Kaiser

According to strict etiquette, alcoholic drinks would be banished from all dinners at which his Majesty was present in the ordinary way.

Contrary to popular belief, the amount of beer drunk per head of population in Germany every year is considerably less than the amount drunk in England. Very little alcohol is drunk by the German Royal family though the Kaiser is the only absolute teetotaler. 

When he is invited to dinner, he drinks a special temperance drink that is supplied to his host in advance, and is served to the Emperor in champagne bottles. The reason for this is that according to strict etiquette, alcoholic drinks would be banished from all dinners at which his Majesty was present in the ordinary way. But the Kaiser waives etiquette and drinks mock champagne while the guests are drinking real variety. - Healdsburg Enterprise, 1913

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Etiquette and Diplomacy in Berlin

Aaron Sargent, was the the U.S. minister to Germany from May 1882 to June 1884. A political appointee as the Head of the U.S. Legation at Berlin, Sargent had a reputation as being loud-mouthed and disrespectful toward Otto von Bismarck, (the conservative Prussian statesman dominating German and European affairs from the late 1860's to 1890.) He also conferred openly with Bismarck’s liberal opponents who favored free trade, threatening retaliation for Germany’s prohibition of meat imports from America. When Eduard Lasker died in early 1884, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a provocative resolution mourning the death of the leader of the German Liberals. Sargent then delivered the resolution to the German government. But Bismarck declared that Sargent’s continued presence was an insult to Germany, adamantly refusing to accept the resolution. Sargent subsequently resigned and was replaced by a much more tactful diplomat, John Kasson.

A silly story is telegraphed that the German Court is now discussing the question whether Minister Sargent ought to be invited to the Emperor's birthday reception, coupled with the prediction that if he attends, "he will certainly be personally affronted." It is safe to assert that the etiquette of the Court of Berlin does not permit it to invite anybody — least of all a foreign minister— to a reception for the express purpose of insulting him. — Daily Alta California, 1884

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Etiquette, Bismarck and Victoria

Victoria, Princess Royal, German Empress, Queen of Prussia,  detested Prussia's emphasis on its army. This was to be expected, however, considering her British upbringing. “Vicky,”  as she was known, hoped to influence Prussia away from the tradition of “Warrior Kings” in favor of "a new line of enlightened executives." Though supported by her husband, she was bound to clash with Bismarck's rising force. The Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's most important legacy is the unification of Germany. Germany had existed as a collection of hundreds of separate principalities and Free Cities since the formation of the Holy Roman Empire. Over the centuries various rulers had tried to unify the German states without success until Bismarck. Resulting largely from his efforts, the varying German kingdoms united into a single country. Bismarck's psychology and personal traits have not been so favorably received over time, and historian Jonathan Steinberg portrays a demonic genius who was deeply vengeful, even toward his closest friends and family members. 

Bismarck and the Crown Princess Victoria

London, November 25th— Court circles in Berlin are discussing the reconciliation which has just been effected between Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Bismarck. Their hostility had been of many years' duration, and was known to all the world, although it was thinly veiled by court ceremony. Many reasons have been assigned for it, but its real origin was the utter incompatibility of the Chancellor and the Princess. 

Prince Bismarck scorns and condemns the little niceties of polite society, and estimates women only as a factor in the problem of the continuance of the German nation. The Crown Princess had her education in a court and country where women arc treated with much deference, and where the canons of etiquette cannot be violated without serious consequences. The Princess has been, next to the aged Empress, the first lady in Germany, and refused to submit to what she termed Bismarck's boorishness. The result was warfare, sometimes open, sometime covert, as the necessities of court life required. 

Now there has been a reconciliation, and the question is; Which power conquered? The story most current in Berlin is as follows ... The Crown Princess, powerful as she is now, will be still more so when she becomes Empress of Germany. This must happen soon, and may happen at any time. 

The Chancellor is cultivating the friendliest relations with the Crown Prince, who may soon be Emperor, and has fouud it also desirable to propitiate the Crown Princess. He has, therefore, instituted certain reforms in his household and in his manners which makes his personality less disagreeable to her Imperial Highness. — Sacramento Daily Union, 1884

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Wilhelm's Changes in Etiquette

 A great deal of the solemn etiquette of the ordinary court life has been done away with, the staff reduced in several ways, and there have even been economies in the kitchen. The officers of the guard have to put up with beer instead of champagne!

Wilhelm At Home:

His Private Life Is Simple but Nevertheless Extravagant 

Not that the German Emperor would be common-place anywhere. His mysterious outbursts of rage, his officially contradicted illness or illnesses, and his genius for self-advertisement would bring him into notice wherever he was. But, though we hear so much about his life for show in public, few people know how simple his private life is. 

But it is a fact that a great deal of the solemn etiquette of the ordinary court life has been done away with, the staff reduced in several ways, and there have even been economies in the kitchen. The officers of the guard have to put up with beer instead of champagne. It is true the menu at the Emperor's table must be in German now, not French, but the aristocracy generally have not followed suit. 

There are things even a German Emperor cannot do. But anyone who sees the royal palace, knows that the stories of extravagance are true. Restoring it was the work of three months, and everything that the best of science and art, and the taxpayers' money could do, was done. Those three months turned out a palace that eclipses in splendor almost any other in the world. 

The apartments that the present Emperor uses are those between the "Pillar hall" and the "Star hall," or "Star chamber," whichever we would call it in English, only in this case the stars are in the ceiling. But perhaps the most magnificent is the front hall, the Treppen halle, which faces the Palace square. 

A view can be had without opening the doors, for they are each of one immense pane of glass, and even in the daytime the white and gray marble covering the walls is effective. At night it is a marvelous sight, the electric light flooding the hall, the marble balustrades and the red carpet on the marble steps. You pass down these, betwen colossal mirrors on either hand, and the Star hall is directly in front. It is here the regimental colors are used as ornaments for the walls, on a background of red damask. 

The panelling is done in rich rococo work. The Emperor's and Empress' private apartments are near the Pillar hall, which also faces the Palace square. There are a private entrance and a public one, for deputations and so on. One gets as good an idea of the general extravagance from the Emperor's workshop, or study, as anywhere else. 

True, there are the writing table, the leathercovered furniture and tho book shelves, but the ceiling is in splendid white-and-gold rococo work—done in Frederick the Great's time—and improvements have been made in the same style and color. 

The walls are in dark olive and gold brocade. The Empress' private rooms are also very fine. Her reception room has more of the immense mirrors, and the walls are panelled in greenish-gray marble. Yet she herself is the ordinary German hausfrau, and is what she has been from her girlhood—a nonenity. 

All these apartments have been lying unused for many years—since the time of Friedrich Wilhelm III, in fact. The court life in public resembles that of most other countries: the dinner is the most noticeable difference. It lasts barely three-quarters of an hour; courses come and go like lightning, and, as at Napoleon's table, a man who gives too much time to talking may find himself extremely hungry when it is over. 

One of the great entertainments is the time-honored ball at the end of the carnival, where as many as 1200 guests have been invited. The waltz is the principal dance, and the minuet was lately introduced. The Emperor and Empress just join in one quadrille, but the ball is for them more of a big reception; they make their rounds of the guests in the "White Hall" before dancing begins.—Westminster Gazette, 1897

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