The Tsar's Travels by Banks ECS

Author:Banks, ECS
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SilverWood Books
Published: 2013-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Summer 1896

Alexandra wrote to her brother on her arrival in Austria on Saturday the fifteenth/twenty-seventh of August from the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. She admitted that it was odd to hear German spoken again for the first time in two years, since she had lived in Russia. She admitted that she felt rather shy in the presence of so many strange faces. The Austrian Empress she had met twice before inquired after Ernie, she revealed. She had also met Princess Stephanie, the widow of the Crown Prince and found her quite charming. (Stephanie was a former Princess of the Belgians and an old friend of Alix’s sister Ella. She was a relative of Queen Victoria, whose Uncle Leopold had been the King of the Belgians.) They had lunched at the Russian Embassy, something she had enjoyed. At 5pm they were due to attend an immense dinner and a cercle. Alix admitted that she dreaded the very thought of it. Then they would attend a performance of Summernightsdream at the theatre and the following day they would attend a parade. There would also be a family dinner at Leinz, then a concert in the Burg after a drive. Alix felt that it was a pity that as the Empress declined to appear often, it meant that Stephanie did not either, which was a shame as she found great solace in her company. She felt sad to be without baby Olga but happily she had good news of her progress. Unfortunately she had been suffering with a cold, a tickling cough and neuralgia which made it awkward when she was attempting to be amiable to her hosts. She had been delighted on arrival to see an old clock that had been made in Darmstadt. They had charming rooms in the palace. They were due to leave Austria on Saturday morning. (Alexandra had met her Austrian counterpart first in 1887.)

The Tsar and Tsarina then attended a series of manoeuvres in Germany. Alexandra was happy to avoid having to visit Berlin, according to Baroness Buxhoeveden. It set the tone of the Tsar’s future visits to the German Emperor – the stays were as short as Nicholas contrived to make them. They were met at Breslau by the Emperor and Empress of Germany and were joined there by Alix’s sister Princess Irene and her husband Prince Henry of Prussia (the Emperor’s younger brother). Although their stay was fairly brief it nevertheless included the usual reviews, banquets, a visit to the local opera for a gala performance and the inevitable speeches.

The Tsar then took his wife and baby daughter Olga to visit his Danish grandparents, King Christian IX and Queen Louise, in Copenhagen. His mother Marie, the Dowager Empress of Russia and widow of Emperor Alexander III had been born a Princess of Denmark. Her sister Alexandra had married Queen Victoria’s son the Prince of Wales. The family homes in Denmark were well known for their homely informality and overcrowded conditions. The grandparents of Nicholas

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