This is rather a critical moment.  One has a great many things to think of.  In the first place, you must keep at the proper distance from your predecessor.  Of this you can be pretty sure, because if you walk too fast there is the restraining hand of the chamberlain to prevent you.  Still, there is always the fear of dropping your fan or tripping over the front of your gown or of your tiara falling off.

When I came in I saw His Majesty standing on the throne, stately and solemn.  For two hours he stands thus.  With a mass of officers on my right and a few chamberlains at intervals on my left I advanced very slowly and, I hope, with a certain dignity.  I saw the train of my colleague turn the corner around the officers.  Two other lackeys darted forth and pronged my train in place.  I made my courtesy first to the Emperor and then to the Empress, who stood at his left.

Next to her Majesty stood the grande maitresse.  I put myself by her side and presented Frederikke and our secretary’s wife, and the grande maitresse said their names to the Empress.  Then as we passed out a servant picked up our trains and threw them over our arms, disappearing through the door of the immensely long gallery which is filled with pictures commemorating the numerous battles and events of the last forty years.  I wondered, when I looked at the stretch of carpet, how any one carpet could be made so long.

As I am the latest arrived Minister’s wife, I and my two acolytes were the last persons to enter the Weissesaal where the buffet stood.  This buffet extended almost the whole length of the vast room.  We refreshed ourselves.  My little self was in sad need of being refreshed, and I devoured the sandwiches spread out temptingly under my eyes, and drank some reviving champagne, and waited for my better half, who, with the other better halves, was making his bow to the sovereigns.  The ladies of the Corps Diplomatique pass before the throne first and are followed by the gentlemen; then come the highest-ranked princesses, and so forth.  It is very fatiguing moving about with one’s court train dragging on one’s arm, and I for one know that I was glad when we went down the marble staircase and found the servant who had sorted our boas from the baskets.  There is no antechamber at the foot of the staircase, so one must stay exposed to the wintry blasts when the door is opened to let people out.  It is extraordinary how long it takes ladies to disappear after their carriages are announced.  They say a few last words, linger over the picking up of their skirts, and go out leisurely; also the servant seems unnecessarily long mounting his box, settling himself before the coachman drives away.

BERLIN, January, 1903.

Dear ——­,—­The 21st was the Emperor’s birthday.

The whole city is beflagged, and there are all sorts of illumination preparations.  “W’s” in every dimension and color, the Emperor’s bust surrounded by laurel leaves, and flags in every window.  Johan went in gala uniform to the chapel in the Schloss, where a religious service is always held, after which every one goes to congratulate his Majesty and see the defile cour afterward.