ostrich plumes which the officers of the corps were wont to don in the early part of the last century.  Thus attired, the empress takes her place by the side of her husband at the saluting point at any of the grand reviews at which she may happen to be present, and as soon as a regiment of which she happens to be colonel approaches, she at once canters, takes her place at its head as commanding officer, and leads it past her husband in true military fashion, saluting with her riding whip before returning to his side.

Sometimes she is accompanied by one or another of the emperor’s sisters, or else by the handsome young Grand Duchess of Hesse, all of whom hold honorary colonelcies, and who appear on such occasions on horseback and in uniform.  The Grand Duchess of Hesse, who holds the command of an infantry regiment, wears not merely the tunic, but likewise the helmet of the corps in question, and looks particularly fascinating on these occasions.

Empress Augusta-Victoria and her mother-in-law, the Empress Frederick, are the only two women who have ever been admitted to the Order of the Black Eagle, the highest order of the kingdom of Prussia, and neither the consort of Old Emperor William nor any of the earlier queens of Prussia, not even Queen Louise, ever received this distinction.  The innovation dates from the time of the late Emperor Frederick.  The first thing he did on becoming emperor was to take the ribbon of the order from his own uniform and hang it across the shoulders of his wife, in token of gratitude, and in recognition of the fact that, had it not been for her championship and faithful guard of his interests, Bismarck would have carried the day, and debarred him from accession to the crown.  While the emperor’s action, of course, excited a good deal of criticism amongst the older dignitaries of the order, and among the members of the government and court, it was heartily approved of by the world at large, as being not only well deserved, but also a singularly pathetic demonstration on the part of the dying monarch of his profound sense of obligation to his most devoted consort.

When Emperor William in turn ascended the throne, he at once proceeded to follow his father’s example, and to invest his own wife with the Black Eagle, in order to place her, as the reigning empress, upon the same level in this particular respect, as her mother-in-law, the dowager empress.  It may be taken for granted that henceforth the Order of the Black Eagle will remain a prerogative of all the consorts of the kings of Prussia and emperors of Germany.

The whole youth of the empress was spent at Prinkenau, the fine country seat of her parents, which is now owned by her brother.  Those days were varied only by visits to her uncle, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, who makes his home in England, where he is married to Queen Victoria’s daughter Helena, and to her relatives, the Prince and Princess Hohenlohe.  The emperor first made her acquaintance during a day’s shooting at Prinkenau.  He was en route to the chateau, when, having lost his way in the forest, he met a young girl, of whom he inquired his whereabouts and how to proceed.  This was the Princess Augusta-Victoria, and he always declared that he fell in love with her from that moment.