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16 July 1903 — Ca’ Capello, Venice | |
Thursday. 16th [July 1903]. Got up as usual at 7 & had breakfast & dressed & went down to see whether everything was in order. Baker had put up fresh flowers wh came from the Eden’s garden and she & Alessandro had recovered some worn chairs & all looked clean & fresh in the morning sun. At 10 minutes before 10 the Royal gondola drew up before the door followed by a police boat. H.M. Queen Margherita got out & behind her her trusty lady Marchesa Villamarina. H.M. stopped on the stairs to examine the bits of Nineveh marble wh are there & as soon as she got to the hall at once turned to the Bellini portrait of Mahomet II. Then she went thro’ all the rooms examining almost every picture—asking questions abt them & admiring them. At last she sat down in the end room the green boudoir & seeing the venetian bead chains I make, hanging up she was immensely amused & interested & asked if she might take some– This she did putting them at once into her handbag—& said she wd send me something for my hospital. Then she went into the long hall examining every thing & asked where were my bed rooms– Hearing that there was another story where are the bedrooms & the library she said “Can’t I see it.” Of course I gladly took her up & she went thro’ each room & caught sight of her photo hanging by my bed. I told her it had been there ever since I came to Italy more than 30 years ago. Then she went into the kitchen & talked to the old cockatoo wh had been given me by the Sultan—looked into the linen cupboards & admired the doors of the rooms– The old grey parrot sent her into ecstasies by saying behind her “Basta basta,” she thinking it was the voice of a gondolier under the window. Then I asked H.M. if she wd sign her name in my book & offered to fetch it from the green boudoir but she said no she would go there herself as it would give her another opportunity of seeing the pretty rooms & there she sat down again & talked of books—especially the one I am now reading “La vie d’une ambassadrice” by Daudet wh she had already read. Then abt 11.30 she said she must go & when we got down the stairs she went into the apartment on the ground floor to see the rooms I am going to put Pss Christian into. H.M. was very much taken with a large English car chair wh I have & bought when Lady Colin Campbell broke up her apartment here. The D. of Marlboro’ took it for her in the Ca D’oro & it was half furnished when he died. She came here & sold off everything & never lived in it. The Q. arranged that Guggenheim should fetch the chair & copy it for her. Then abt 11.30 H.M. took her departure—thanking me profusely for her pleasant morning & praising the taste displayed in arranging the house. I thought of the pride Henry & I had had to doing it all together & was glad. She kissed me twice & squeezed my hand on departing & just as she had got into her gondola she put her head out & bid me be sure to go & pay her a visit at Stupinigi in the autumn—& then went off. In the afternoon I went off to see Css Canevaro having an idea that she was coming to me & not coming– I went to her found it is tomorrow I am to expect her. General de Horsey came just as I was going out & accompanied me in the gondola– I went on to the Eden garden & sat there with the Edens some time. It was cool & pleasant in the pagoda overlooking the lagoons. In the evening I went out in gondola & took Hilda Montalba with me. | |
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