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14 February 1881 — Rome | |
Monday. 14th February [1881]. I had a headache & remained in bed all the morng till 12 when I had some soup & went off to Villa Campana to work till 4 when I returned home. Mme Mantilla called & arranged to come & fetch us in their carriage to go to the Quirinal Ball. We dined at home & I dressed after dinner. Mrs Bagot came to see me dressed. The Mantillas did not come till late as they had some difficulty abt their carriage & at last only had a brougham so that the gentlemen had to follow in a cab. We arrived very late & only just managed to find seats. Stufa met me & gave me his arm. The ladies were seated all round in 3 rows of benches & the men stood behind them & all down a long corridor outside. We had only abt 20 minutes to wait before a bell tinkled & the K & Queen entered with their Court. The Queen curtsied low 3 times right left & in front & then sat down on one of the velvet chairs placed for her on a carpet in the centre of room close to the wall. She then danced a quadrille with Mr Kendell—& the rest of the quadrille was composed of the Corps Diplomatique. After which the general public began by degrees to dance & the Q. danced no more. She went & shook hands with the ladies of the C. Dip. & the ladies of the Annunziata & Ministers wives & then sat a good deal with her own ladies. It was noticed that she was very cold to Lady Paget & Mme de Noailles as she is still angry with them over the affair of the Teano ball. Those ladies not having been invited to sup with Their Majesties at once left the ball in a huff with their husbands. The Queen considered such a proceeding a want of respect towards herself. When the dancing had begun I went with Mr de Saumarez to see the rooms, & found the Queen was making a tour of the rooms & sitting talking to different ladies. I curtsied to her & then went back to the Ball room– Soon after H.M. returned to the Ball room & in passing stopped me & asked me why I had run away as she had wished to talk to me. I made some excuse & she passed on. Later I saw Minghetti & told him I wished I cd talk with Mme Minghetti but she was so far off I dared not venture into the magic circle. Lady Bagot said she wd go with me so we worked our way thro’ the crowd to Mme Carioli & Mme Minghetti—& stood talking when Mme Villa Marina came up & introduced me to the King. He was terribly hoarse & I had a difficulty in hearing what he said. He told me P. Amadeus was ill in bed. When he had passed on I was sitting talking to Mme Minghetti when the Queen came up—sat herself down between us—sat talking to me for ½ hour. She talked of books & music & her love of diamonds which she said was happily shared by the King as he constantly gave her some. She talked a great deal abt “Ouida”—& said she could not bear her– She said she was a very bad woman & she was sorry to say she was there at the ball—that it was a question whether Lady Paget or Mme de Noailles should present her but Lady Paget had finally undertaken to do so– H.M. intimated that this was not very acceptable to her. I told H.M. that Mme Mantilla had got a dress trimmed with Burano lace & so she got up to talk to her & admired her dress. Soon after the K & Queen retired for the evening & then we also made our escape. It appears that the Queen’s civility to me was so marked that every body was watching & Lady Paget was craning her neck to see what was going on. Mme Mantilla & I drove home together & we agreed that we had spent a very pleasant eveng. As soon as I had found it was so pleasant with Mme Minghetti I made Henry go & fetch Mme Mantilla so she came in for a share of Royal notice & was highly delighted. | |
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