The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe:
William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2), by Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy

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Title: The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)

Author: Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy

Release Date: June 8, 2004 [EBook #12548]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SECRET MEMOIRS

William II and Francis Joseph

VOLUME I

[Illustration: _WILLIAM II EMPEROR OF GERMANY_
_From Life_]

SECRET MEMOIRS
OF THE
COURTS OF EUROPE

William II
_Germany_

Francis Joseph
_Austria Hungary_

BY

MME. LA MARQUISE DE FONTENOY

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I

ILLUSTRATED

1900

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

The essential qualifications for an author of such a work as the
present are an actual acquaintance with the persons mentioned, an
intimate knowledge of their daily lives, and a personal familiarity
with the scenes described.

The author of William II. and Francis-Joseph, sheltered under the _nom
de plume_ of Marquise de Fontenoy, is a lady of distinguished birth
and title. Her work consists largely of personal reminiscences, and
descriptions of events with which she is perfectly familiar; a sort of
panoramic view of the characteristic happenings and striking features
of court life, such as will best give a true picture of persons and
their conduct.

There has been no attempt to trammel the subject,--which embraces
religious, official, social and domestic life,--by following a
strictly sequential form in the narrative, but the writer's aim has
been to present her facts in a familiar way, impressing them with
characteristic naturalness and lifelike reality.

To this task the author has brought the habits of a watchful observer,
the candor of a conscientious narrator, and the refinement of a
writer who respects her subject. Hence she presents a true, vivid
and interesting picture of cou