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10 March 1902 — Rome | |
Monday. 10th [March 1902]. I woke very tired & headachy having done too much after the quiet life I have led at Venice so I sat with Sophy all the morning. Had rather a tussle with her trying to persuade her to have a woman to wait on her—& failed in my attempt. At 1 I went in a batte to Donna Laura Minghetti to lunch. I found a nephew & niece of Minghetti’s there & Genl Von Lee who was a great friend of the dear Empress Frederick’s & whom Donna Laura had invited to meet me. He is here on a mission from the Emperor William to felicitate the Pope on his Jubilee. He is a fine looking old soldier. Tall, stout, bald & with a kind face. He said he was very pleased to meet me. I sat next him at lunch & he at once began to tell me about his last interview with the Empress a short time before her death. She sent for him to Cronberg & the day he came she sent him word that she would go for a drive that afternoon & he was to accompany her. When she was in the carriage he was called & she had him sit in the seat opposite her & Princess Margaret. He said she was so changed he would hardly have recognised her. She was bent & aged as though she had been over 80. She suffered much during the drive, though at intervals she was able to talk. They went a long drive round by and she was evidently suffering acutely. The next morning she sent for him to her bed room. She was “coifée de les cheveux” dressed & sitting up again & was once more “the Princess Royal.” She told him that she had been unwilling to let him leave her under the impression of her sufferings & so she had got the Dr to give her some laudanum wh enabled her to feel better & wh the Dr would give her for special occasions such as this one. She asked the Genl if he remembered when they had first met—when he had come to greet her on her first arrival in Germany on her arrival as a bride & he was in command of the troops on the frontier—& so she went on recalling to him step by step that first journey where they had slept & what they had done. She told him that she knew it had been always said that she had no religion—it was not true but she had her own ideas on certain points—she believed that the soul continues—& that we should remember then what we have done good or evil in this world wh would make our heaven & our hell. She said she was not afraid to die. She had nearly died 2 months ago & her good friend the Dr had brought her round for wh she at first was sorry but that she now was glad for tho’ she knew she must die, she did not wish to leave her children. The only thing she really feared was the actual pain of death & she was afraid of “étouffement” but that the Dr had promised her he would not let this happen & would give her a drug if necessary to prevent it. The Genl stopped & said I am an old man—& in a long life it is impossible that one shd have bad moments—& many times—of religious doubt—but when I left the Empress’ room I felt that all my doubts were gone for ever. He spoke in French—slowly—correctly & distinctly & was much moved. I was crying & the others looked solemn– The Genl then spoke of the Empress’ sorrows & tragic life. he said it was a unique case—& her strength of character was tremendous. He said she had always been misunderstood in Germany & falsely accused in the affair of her husband. The Genl had been in England with the Prince Imperial at our Queen’s Jubilee. One day he said to the Genl “today I am going to Morell Mackenzie’s to have my throat cauterized. I wish you to accompany me. After I have had it done I shall leave you alone with the Dr & I wish you to ask him all about my case—the whole truth. I shall not oblige you to tell me all he says but I wish you to tell the whole thing to the Emperor William.” They went together to Mackenzies in a hansom—& after the cauterizing the Prince went back to Buckingham Palace alone. The Genl put the question to the Dr who explained that there were 2 kinds of such deseases of the throat, one a kind of wart, which was curable—one a flat sore wh was the dangerous kind—the latter was what the Prince had– The Genl returned to Buckingham Palace with full notes signed by Dr Mackenzie of all he had said & went straight to see the Princess Imperial. He showed her his notes & said before proceeding further he wished to put to her 3 questions as he considered she was the most responsible person in the whole affair. 1st Altho’ he had the P. Imp: orders to do so—should he tell the old Emperor everything. She promptly said that he must & ought to do so. 2ndly should he, with certain reservations speak to the P. & give him to understand that his case was a critical one & that he must obey literally & strictly the orders of the Dr & give up speaking aloud. She reflected a moment & then said “Allez y.” At that the dear old Genl fairly broke down & we all rose from the table & went into the salon—the poor old man’s shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. After we had all calmed down the Genl continued. I went to the Prince & told him that he must promise strict observance of the Dr’s rules– He answered that he did observe them & spoke very little– “No monsigneur I said you do not & sometimes when the Princess tries to restrain you at the dinner table you give her rather hard answers”– He then promised me & kept his word. The Genl went on to say that if he was asked if Mackenzie was a man of entire integrity he would not know what to answer as he had observed that he was often in confab with newspaper reporters but he must repeat that he had never deceived the Court or told lies but that when the P. Imp. had promised obedience to the Drs he had added that he would give it but that he then & there declared that he would never consent to have an operation performed wh would deprive him of his voice in case he came to the throne. The Genl said that the operation which Virchow would have performed would have necessitated opening the throat wh would never have been closed & would have left the P.I. without a voice. But Virchow had said he would not even perform that operation without further advice & he gave the Princess the choice between Mackenzie & the great Vienna Dr & naturally she chose the Englishman. I said to the Genl that I thought the Empress Frederick had had a great soul & had never been understood in Germany & he answered me “Neither did Germany deserve to have had her”—“nor did the present Emperor understand her” said I—at wh the Genl shook his head sadly. Soon after this we all of us dispersed—the Genl said he had to go & pay some visits to Cardinals. He told us rather an amusing thing had happened to him– On going to call on one of the Cardinals the servant came down & in the politest term expressed “The great regret of His Eminence at being unable to receive His Excellency as His Eminence was just dead!” I went back to my hotel & sat still for the rest of the day as I was very tired & upset by the general’s conversation. He said before he left us—I for a long time kept carefully all the notes & documents to prove the truth of what I have told you but I have lately destroyed them all. It would only revive the subject were they found after my death & it is well nigh forgotten now & it is better it should be entirely forgotten. I was so affected by this conversation that my head ached & so I went back to the hotel & remained there for the rest of the afternoon only sitting with Sophy & quietly talking to her till dinner time when I went round to the Piazza di Spagna to dine with the old Curtis & came home early to bed. | |
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