Within royal palaces : a brilliant and charmingly written inner view of emperors, kings, queens, princes and princesses ... . r fright, had finallydropped off to sleep, was awakened about two hours later bythe disaofreeable old errand-mistress of the robes, who com-municated to her in the most offensive manner possible theRoyal decree of expulsion and stated that she had orders notto leave her until she left the Palace. The unfortunatewoman, on seeing her husbands signature to the document,understood that she was forsaken by the man who, but a fewhours previously, had sworn to love and protect
Within royal palaces : a brilliant and charmingly written inner view of emperors, kings, queens, princes and princesses ... . r fright, had finallydropped off to sleep, was awakened about two hours later bythe disaofreeable old errand-mistress of the robes, who com-municated to her in the most offensive manner possible theRoyal decree of expulsion and stated that she had orders notto leave her until she left the Palace. The unfortunatewoman, on seeing her husbands signature to the document,understood that she was forsaken by the man who, but a fewhours previously, had sworn to love and protect her. Whileshe was hurriedly dressing, with the assistance of her Russianmaid, a post-chaise, with an escort of about forty mountedpolice, stopped at the nearest door of the Palace, and she washustled into it and rapidly driven to the nearest only person to wish her God-speed was the old nurse ofPrincess Elizabeth (subsequent Grand Duchess Serge ofRussia), who conveyed messages of sympathy and affectionfrom her young mistress to the unfortunate woman, andbrough to her the Princesss own rug, as the night was. Lady Brooke. 34 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. bitterly cold. As she drove away she caught a glimpse ofthe pale face of her husband peering out from the window,while at the next she perceived the angry face of the Queen. The ex-Mme. de Kalomine took refuge at a convent justacross the frontier. Two days later a Royal messengerarrived bearing a written offer on the part of the GrandDuke to create her Countess of Romrod, and to confer onher the estate of the same name, on the condition thai shewould surrender all her rights as wife of the sovereign, andnever again set foot within his dominions. She contented herself with returning the letter with a/i in-dorsement to the effect that the Grand Dukes wife is notprepared to sell her rights. Summoning the leader of theopposition party at Darmstadt, who happened to be a veryclever lawyer, she placed the whole matter in his hands
Size: 1300px × 1922px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcourtsandcourtiers
