 | Lady Layard’s Journal Go to a Date Search the Journal |
|
Previous Entry
|
Following Entry
| |
22 July 1883 — Berlin | |
Sunday. 22nd July [1883]. Got up at 7.30. Breakfasted in our rooms at 8.30 & at 9 I was called to go with the C. Pss to church. She took me in a carriage with the two little Princesses. The C. Prince & Princess Victoria came in another carriage & 2 ladies & Herr Nijvenheim in another. The church has been entirely rebuilt by the Prince & Pss & her endeavor she said had been to make it as much like an English Church as possible. She said all German churches were dirty, ugly & untidy– The church was full– The Imperial pew was on the right of the chancel. The service began by a hymn wh was sung sitting. Then the clergyman in black gown & white bands read some prayers from the communion table standing as the congregation also stood. Then a second hymn & then a sermon– It was extempore & rather fluent & interspersed with anecdotes. One being the story of what Guizot, Thiers & Bismark wrote in an album about forgiving & forgetting—& how Bismark alone said he wished to “forgive & be forgiven.” After that was over we stood & a long prayer was read for the Imperial family, a little more hymn—& then the blessing. The whole service lasted abt an hour. When we came out the C. Princess talking over the sermon said that Bismark had been a hypocrite in the case quoted as she believed that he never really forgave any one. Henry joined us after church & we all went to see the Home farm which had been entirely arranged by the C. Princess. She said it was the only English like farm in Germany & the dairy was arranged as they are in England & she had had to have all the utensils from home. We saw the cows & the bees & HIH gave me a box of honey with the comb in it out of one of the hives. She showed me the farm servants’ rooms & dining room & said she had the greatest trouble to make them use them as they preferred to sleep on straw, clothes, boots & all & to eat sitting about in the yard. They were most dirty & untidy & had no plates to eat from & would sometimes hurl the dinner sent them at the head of the man who brought it, if it did not happen to please them thus breaking all the crockery. Now she had provided them with pewter plates & insisted on their sitting to a table. The house attached to the farm tho’ quite tiny is sometimes lived in by the Princesses & once the C. Pce & Pss stayed there for 6 weeks. From the farm we drove to the Orangerie at Sans Souci & went into the rooms there. There are all copies of Raphael’s there. The C. Pss said that the Empress of Russia used to have the rooms & that if ever our Queen came to stay with her she would fit up the rooms for her use. Little Pss Sophy said “for Grandmama of England! oh no Mama not here! it is much too far from us!” We drove from here to the Neues Palais & found it was only just after 11. I was sitting writing this when Pss Victoria tapped at the door & begged me to go up with her as her Mamma wanted me. I found the C. Pss in her sitting room & she took me to see her studio. We had to go thro’ the C. Prince’s room & he showed me 2 figures modelled by the C. Pss. We had to go a long way thro’ many rooms & at last got to one small room where was a portrait of Pss Victoria full length in a fancy dress costume which she had worn at the silver wedding fancy ball. It was by the C. Pss and wonderfully clever—the dress was put in with great vigour & cleverness. Then we went on thro’ more rooms and at last got to the theatre the dressing room of which tho’ very small had been fitted up for the C. Pss as a studio. There was a study she was doing of one of the gardeners. The C. Princess pulled out some portfolios of water colours & let me choose a sketch for myself. I took a study of geraniums– I lifted down the big portmanteaus and we both went down on our knees to look them over. We were joined by Pss Margaret with her doll in her arms who danced abt & round us & helped to carry the portfolios. The C. Pss also went on her knees to turn over a box of old bits of silk that she might give me a bit of the old silk that is in the walls of the room I sleep in, but she found she had none. From the studio HIH took me to Pss Victoria’s room which is on the 2nd floor. She was not there so Pss M. went to find her & when she came the C. Pss made her play the piano to me. She plays average well & with taste but the complaint is she never studies. Then the C. Pss took me into the Pss Victoria’s bed room & showed me her little dressing case. She said it had belonged to our Queen when she was a girl then to herself & now she had given it to Pss Victoria. It was nearly dinner time by then & Pss Sophia took me down to my own room– At dinner the band played on the terrace; besides the original party there was the Prince of Saxe Meiningen the son in law of the C. Prince & his two younger brothers. Young men in the army. We retired to our rooms as the C. Pss was occupied with audiences. At 4 we all assembled to go to the lake. I & Henry & Mlle Gersdorff & Ct Seckendorff & Herr von Kessel (the ADC who had replaced Herr Nijvenheim since midday) & Miss Green, the English governess just filled the waggonette & we drove off to Potsdam near the Schwanenbrücke where we found the small yacht with her steam up waiting. We had to wait for abt 20 minutes till the C. Prince & Pss & the 3 Princesses arrived having been to call on P. William on their way. The Saxe Meiningens also joined us & we went for a steam round the lake– It was not very fine or bright but happily did not rain & we had a pleasant quiet afternoon of it. We had tea on board & I had a pleasant talk with the C. Prince on many things notably on the state of the German Protestant Church. He said that his beau ideal of a liturgy was the English service & he hoped that someday there might be many improvements in the German church. He said the clergy were good zealous men but mostly of low birth & therefore were all very well in the country but had no tact & did not know how to behave themselves when they were moved to large town cures. He spoke very nicely & earnestly on the subject. When we returned to the starting point the C. Princess took me back with her to the Neues Palais in her carriage & with us went the 2 little Princesses. HIH talked Italian a good deal with me & said she would like to keep up her Italian. We talked of servants &c. She told me a very funny story. It appears that once when Lord Ampthill went to stay with them he took his cook down with him. On his return to Berlin H.E. asked his cook if he had seen the Royal kitchens & his answer was “Non Excellence j’ai été trop occupé à rendre les visites de mes collégues.” We got back to the Palace just in time to dress for supper & we supped in the house as it looked like rain. I sat between the C. Prince & P. William who made himself very agreeable. After coffee we walked about on the terrace for a little but it was cold & every one seemed pretty tired & glad when the C. Pss gave us an early good night & retired. Cribbage in our room. | |
|
Previous Entry
|
Following Entry
| |