The close of the Emperor’s student days was marked by an event which was to have a great influence on his life and happiness.  It was in 1879 that he made the acquaintance of the young lady who was, a couple of years later, to become his wife, and subsequently Empress.  When at Bonn Prince William had developed a liking for wild-game shooting, and accepted an invitation from Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein to shoot pheasants at Primkenau Castle, the Duke’s seat in Silesia.  More than one romantic story is current about the first meeting of the lovers, but that most generally credited, as it was published at or near the time, represents the young sportsman as meeting the lady accidentally in the garden of the castle.  He had arrived at night and gone shooting early next morning before being introduced to the family of his host, and on his return surprised the fair-haired and blue-eyed Princess Auguste Victoria as she lay dozing in a hammock in the garden.  The student approached, the words “little Rosebud” on his lips, but hastily withdrew as the Princess, all blushes, awoke.  The pair met shortly afterwards at breakfast, when the visitor learned who the “little rosebud” was whom he had surprised.  The Princess was then twenty-two, but looked much younger, a privilege from nature she still possesses in middle age.  The impression made on the student was deep and lasting, and the engagement was announced on Valentine’s Day, in February, 1880.  The marriage was celebrated on February 27th of the following year at the royal palace in Berlin.  Great popular rejoicing marked the happy occasion, Berlin was gaily flagged to celebrate the formal entrance of the bride into the capital, and most other German cities illuminated in her honour.  The imperial bridegroom came from Potsdam at the head of a military escort selected from his regiment and preceded the bridal cortege, in which the ancient coronation carriage, with its smiling occupant, and drawn by eight prancing steeds, was the principal feature.  On the day following the marriage the young couple went to Primkenau for the honeymoon.

The marriage with a princess of Schleswig-Holstein was not only an event of general interest from the domestic and dynastic point of view.  It had also political significance, for it meant the happy close of the troubled period of Prussian dealings with those conquered territories.

A story throwing light on the young bride’s character is current in connexion with her wedding.  One of the hymns contained a strophe—­“Should misfortune come upon us,” which her friends wanted her to have omitted as striking too melancholy a note.  “No,” she said,

“let it be sung.  I don’t expect my new position to be always a bed of roses.  Prince William is of the same mind, and we have both determined to bear everything in common, and thus make what is unpleasant more endurable.”

Since the marriage their domestic felicity, as all