For a study of the Emperor’s life, as it passes in his Court, a large number of works are available, but not many that can be described as authoritative or reliable.  Among the latter, however, may be placed Moritz Busch’s “Bismarck:  Some Secret Pages of His History,” three volumes that make Busch almost as interesting to the reader as his subject; Bismarck’s own “Gedanke und Erinnerungen,” which is chiefly of a political nature; and the “Memorabilia of Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst,” who was for several years Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine and subsequently became Imperial Chancellor in succession to General von Caprivi.  These works, with the collections of the Emperor’s speeches and the speeches and interviews of Chancellor Prince von Buelow, may be ranked in the category of serious and authentic contributions to the Court history of the period they cover.  Then there are several German descriptions of the Court, reliable enough in their way which is a dull one, to those who are not impassioned monarchists or hide-bound bureaucrats.  In the category of works by unscrupulous writers that entitled “The Private Lives of William II and His Consort,” by a lady-in-waiting to the Empress from 1888 to 1898, easily takes first place.  Certainly it gives a lively and often entertaining insight into the domestic life of the palace, but it is so clearly informed by spite that it is impossible to distinguish what is true in it from what is false or misrepresented.  Finally, for the closer study of individual events and the impressions they made at the time of their happening, the daily press can be consulted.  For the Bismarck period the biography of Hans Blum is of exceptional value.

What may be termed the anecdotic literature of the Court is particularly rich and trivial, and this is only to be expected in a country where the monarchy and its representative are so forcibly and constantly brought home to the people’s consciousness.  Yet it has its uses, and is referred to, though sparingly, in the present work.  “The Emperor as Father of a Family,” “The Emperor and His Daughter’s Uniform,” “The Amiable Grandfather,” “The Emperor as Husband,” “The Emperor as Card Player,” “How the Emperor’s Family is Photographed,” “What does the Emperor’s Kitchen Look Like,” “Adieu, Auguste” ("Auguste” is the Empress), “The English Lord and the Emperor’s Cigarettes,” “When My Wife Makes You a Sandwich,” “What the Emperor Reads,” “The Emperor’s Handwriting,” “Can the Emperor Vote?” (the answer is, opinions differ), “Washing Day at the Emperor’s,” “The Emperor and the Empress at Tennis,” “Emperor and Auto,” are the sort of matters dealt with.  Literature of this kind is beyond question intensely interesting to vast numbers of people, but helps very little towards understanding a singularly complex human being placed in a high and extraordinarily responsible position.