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7 November 1903 — Stupinigi Palace, Turin | |
Saturday. 7th November [1903]. Marchesa Villamarina came to fetch me to lunch a little earlier than usual & to say that the D. & Dss of Aosta had already arrived. I found several new ladies in waiting & ADCs in the anteroom & soon afterwards the Queen came in with her guests. The Duke, Duchess & Princess Louise the Dss’s sister. The Duke of Aosta gave me his arm to go to the breakfast. The Q. led in the 2 Princesses. We were 19 at table. The Duke was pleasant & spoke English well—& seemed to have some fun in him. He of course began by abusing Venice as a residence for man there being no horses or sport tho’ he admired it for its beauty. He spoke of last year’s coronation to wh he had gone & regretted not to have seen on account of the postponement. He spoke of the Pope & asked me if I knew him– I had rather to drag on the conversation but when once I had started it he kept up the ball. After lunch the Queen & Princesses sat en circle & I found myself next Princess Louise a nice looking girl & very talkative. She lives at Seville in the winter with her mother who is a Montpensier & we talked of Spain & she told me how that the country was almost the same as it had been when I left it 24 years ago. She says she passes her time in painting flowers & singing to the guitar. The Dss of Aosta who sat on the sofa next the Queen spoke across Pss Louise to me; asked much after Princess Charlotte S. Meiningen—remembered that she had met me at tea with Pss C. at Venice & hearing that I was in correspondence with her begged me to send messages to her & to say she wanted Pss Charlotte to visit her here this winter. In the meanwhile the Duke was smoking with the gentlemen– At lunch was also a bride Ct & Css Balbi—she née Gianotti—fair & plain. They all left Stupinigi about 1.30 & we retired to our rooms—when the order came to be ready to go for a motor drive at 3.15. We went in the same order as last time—H.M., Col. Greppi, Pss Strongoli, the Villamarina & her daughter, & myself. We went to see a curious old gothic church of St Antonio at . It was usually an hospice & the property belongs to the order of S. Maurizio & the buildings are now used for a farm. The façade of the Church is most interesting—gothic, very high pointed pinacles in terracotta designs—& a pretty little apse at the other end with brick pinacles. Inside there is an interesting picture by Dependente in a fine frame lately restored & over bright. The centre picture has a curious effect of perspective with only 2 figures in the foreground. There was nothing else in the church but in the sacristy some interesting frescoes rather over restored. The proportions of the façade were spoilt by the soil having risen in an extraordinary degree. Besides the church there was close by an interesting archway into some farm buildings of the same architecture. We set off back to Stupinigi with lovely evening effects on the surrounding hills. The sky became like burnished brass. I sat next to H.M. on the return journey & she asked me many questions on the Church of England, services, decorations &c. She also gave me a description of the Camerlinghis in Turin—how they took in poor, maimed & sick & depended entirely on chance contributions. Tho’ they receive often large sums of money they are not allowed to accumulate it & thus are often within an ace of being unable to feed the flock. Some unexpected donations always comes in at opportune moments. We got back to Stupinigi abt 5 & as usual every one went to church so I said I would like to accompany them & we walked thro’ the garden to the church wh is not very large—& went up some small stairs to the Queen’s box. They signed to me to kneel next the Queen wh I did. They sang the Rosary & then there was Benediction & afterwards De Profundis being the last day of the octave for the Dead. The children sang pretty well but the priest was terribly out of tune wh distressed even H.M. We returned to the drawing room to have tea & then retired to our rooms. The Pss Strongoli sat with me some time telling me all about her good work at Naples where she has schools & is trying to educate & employ women. She was interested to hear of what is being done in the way in England & we sat talking till it was time to dress for dinner. At dinner there was a Senatore who gave his arm to take the Queen to dinner. Col. Greppi gave me his arm & I sat on H.M.’s right. After dinner, the Senatore talked to H.M. while we were threading beads in a very interesting manner. They began by politics & the present Govt about wh I did not understand much. They spoke of Rudini in whose Govt the Senatore said he had been & the Queen said he was a good man & the last of the old lot. They spoke of Crespi whom H.M. said had been entirely led away by his horrid wife. The Senatore said he had been in the same legion as Moretti in 48 & happened to be in Venice & in the Piazza in ’67 at the moment when the Austrian flag was hauled down & the Italian flag hoisted. He had arrived at 5 A.M. from Udine & the Italians were still at Mestre ready to come in to Venice & the Austrians were still on guard at the railway bridge. When that guard was removed the Bersaglien set off running over the bridge & went straight to the Piazza where owing to the early hour there were only abt 200 people. On the hoisting of the Italian flag the emotion felt was indescribable & he would never forget it. After the Senatore had finished talking the Q. rose & went to the piano & made Prof. Polini play a sonata of Beethoven & then some studies of Brahms. This brought it to 11 o’cl when we retired to bed. Col. Greppi took leave of me as he goes away tomorrow morning– | |
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