I have quite vivid recollections of
the old General himself, of the room in which we sat, and
especially of the chocolates which formed so agreeable an
accompaniment to our conversations. Still it remains an
interesting link with the Napoleonic era. This is 1920; that was
1812!
I can never hear Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" without thinking of
General de Flahault. The present Lord Lansdowne is the Comte de
Flahault's grandson.
Nearly fifty years later another interesting link with the past
was forged. I was dining with Prince and Princess Christian of
Schleswig-Holstein at Schomberg House. When the ladies left the
room after dinner, H. R. H. was good enough to ask me to sit next
him. Some train of thought was at work in the Prince's mind, for
he suddenly said, "Do you know that you are sitting next a man who
once took Napoleon I.'s widow, the Empress Marie Louise, in to
dinner?" and the Prince went on to say that as a youth of
seventeen he had accompanied his father on a visit to the Emperor
of Austria at Schonbrunn. On the occasion of a state dinner, one
of the Austrian Archdukes became suddenly indisposed.
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