The Emperor was always very perturbed concerning the Archduke’s plans for the future.  There was a stern trait also in the old monarch’s character, and in the interests of the Monarchy he feared the impetuosity and obstinacy of his nephew.  Nevertheless, he often took a very magnanimous view of the matter.  For instance, Count Stuergkh, the murdered Prime Minister, gave me details respecting my nomination to the Herrenhaus which are very characteristic of the old monarch.  It was Franz Ferdinand’s wish that I should be in the Herrenhaus, as he was anxious for me to be one of a delegation and also to profit by my extensive training in the province of foreign policy.  I must mention here that it had been impressed on the Emperor on all sides that the Archduke’s friends and trusted men were working against him; a version of affairs which to a certain degree he obviously believed, owing to his numerous disputes with Franz Ferdinand.  On Stuergkh mentioning my name as a candidate for the Herrenhaus, the Emperor hesitated a moment and then said:  “Ah, yes.  That is the man who is to be Minister for Foreign Affairs when I am dead.  Let him go to the Herrenhaus that he may learn a little more.”

Political discussions with the Emperor Francis Joseph were often very difficult, as he kept strictly to the Government department in question and only discussed what referred thereto.  While I was ambassador the Emperor would discourse to me on Roumania and the Balkans, but on nothing else.  Meanwhile, the different questions were often so closely interwoven that it was impossible to separate them.  I remember at one audience where I submitted to the Emperor the Roumanian plans for a closer connection with the Monarchy—­plans which I shall allude to in a later chapter—­and in doing so I was naturally bound to state what the Roumanians proposed respecting the closer connection with Hungary, and also what changes would be necessitated thereby in the Hungarian administration.  The Emperor at once broke off the conversation, saying that it was a matter of Hungarian internal policy.

The old Emperor was almost invariably kind and friendly, and to the very last his knowledge of the smallest details was astonishing.  He never spoke of the different Roumanian Ministers as the Minister of Agriculture, of Trade, or whatever it might be, but mentioned them all by name and never made a mistake.

I saw him for the last time in October, 1916, after my definite return from Roumania, and found him then quite clear and sound mentally, though failing in bodily health.

The Emperor Francis Joseph was a “Grand Seigneur” in the true sense of the word.  He was an Emperor and remained always unapproachable.  Everyone left his presence feeling he had stood before an Emperor.  His dignity in representing the monarchical idea was unsurpassed by any sovereign in Europe.

He was borne to his grave at a time of great military successes for the Central Powers.  He lies now in the Imperial vault, and a century seems to have elapsed since his death; the world is changed.