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17 January 1911 — Rome | |
Tuesday. 17th [January 1911]. In the morning Mara Cappelli took me out driving. I had an audience after lunch with Queen Elena at the Quirinal. She is a handsome woman tall & rather enclined to be fat. I had to wait a little while before going in to her & I observed that audiences had been arranged for people every ¼ hour. The Queen was in one of the big salons—quite alone. Conversation being heavy till I mentioned the word hospital, she warmed up at once. I had been told that she liked to talk about babies—& failing that about hospital—so I quickly availed myself of the latter—told her that Ola is matron of the Anglo-American N.H. & asked her to go & see it. After that she asked me if I was an English woman! Then admired the Bologna art pendant I was wearing & wh is copied from Raphael’s picture of S. Cecilia. H.M. said she possessed one like it & that hers had a pearl drop to it. The ¼ hour had by then elapsed & she rose & dismissed me. On leaving the Quirinal I drove to the Anglo Am. to fetch Ola. We went together to the Pal: Torlonia to a tea party given by Mara Cappelli in my honor. A good manner people English & Italian there who gave me kind greetings—& then returned to the Palace & had a visit from Folco Farinola who seemed enclined to follow me to Eqypt & promised to try to arrange it. After dinner the Queen went off to her own rooms & returned bringing me 500 fc as a present for the Venice Hospital & also a bracelet with a gold watch attached to it saying she wanted to give me a thing which she thought would be useful to me in my journey to Egypt– A very pretty thought which pleased & touched me very much. Today we lunched in the new dining room wh Ct Oldofredi had set his heart on finishing before he goes out of his waiting tomorrow. The Queen wrote a few kind words on the menus we each of us had before us & wh we carried away to keep as a memento. After lunch I went to Villa Malta to bid Da Laura & the Bülows adieu—a very warm farewell. The Cassis fetched me from there to take a drive & gave me tea at their house. Folco came again—& also Ola to bid me good bye– In the evening the Bülows came to see the Queen & Ct Collobiano & one or two others. When the Queen bid us all good night she beckoned to me to go to her apartment as I was leaving for Naples tomorrow morning early she should not see me again so would bid me good bye at once. That I was to be sure to write to her & that she was really sorry I was leaving. She has such pretty kind ways one cannot help loving her & being sorry to leave her. | |
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