Their Majesties as I Knew Them / Personal Reminiscences of the Kings and Queens of Europe

whatever of the six hundred and odd begging letters of different kinds addressed to him during his visits to France. Pleasure-loving and capricious, care

ly give a diamond to some humble workwoman whom he met on his way; he would of his own accord

pressed a desire himself to take some snapshots of the charming spot. We at once alighted. A little further, a group of smart ladies sat chatting gaily without taking the smallest heed of our presence. The Shah, seeing them, asked me to beg them to come closer so that he might photograph

G THE éLYSEé PA

very nice; go and ask them if they woul

gs understand that you cannot take a woman to Teheran, as you would a piano; a cinematogra

on the stage-consisting of that exquisite ballet Coppélia, with some of our prettiest dancers taking part in it-kept his opera-glass obstinately fixed on a member of the audience in the back row of the fourth tier, giving signs of manifest e

ht. His Majesty would be obliged to you if you would enable him to make her acquaintance. You can tell

ga

ked one of my detectives who, dressed to the nines, was keeping guard outside the presidential box, whether he would care to go upstairs and

moment. The last act had begun when I saw my in

ked, "what d

oxed m

grievous news to him, knitted his bushy eyebrows, d

d a sort of affection for each other notwithstanding the mutual disappointment which they had experienced: she, because she thought that he was generous; he, because he hoped that she was disinterested. That she was anxious to turn a great man's friendship to account can, strictly speaking, be imagined; on the other hand, it is incomprehensible that the Shah, who was so easily moved to generosity towards the first comer, should display a sordid avarice towards the woman who

rls first!" she replied, f

ood. Then, resigning himself, he sent for the necklace or the r

his meals alone, in accordance with Persian etiquette, and was served at one time with European dishes, which were better suited to his impaired digestive organs, and at another with Persian fare, consisting of slices of Ispahan melon, with white and flavoursome flesh; of the national dish called pilaf tiobab, in which meat cut up and mixed with delicate spices lay spread on a bed of rice just scalded, underdone and crisp; of

the shops or the Paris sights. To tell the truth, we hardly ever knew beforehand what the sovereign's plans were. He seemed to take a mischievous delight in

-day," he would say at eleven

old off his officials to receive him; I telephoned

appeared, with a look of indifference and care on his face, and told m

listening to a chapter of the life of Napol

ant to go to the Chateau

Sir, yo

k, qu

. L. M. Co., that we must have a special train at all costs and informed the keeper of

ange freak: he demanded that the dragoons who had formed his escort from the station should dismount and enter the famous Cour des Adieux after him. Next he made them fall into

been enacting the scene in which the emperor takes leave of his grenadiers. It may have b

s of the museum to the Shah, had resolved carefully to avoid showing our guest the Persian room, fearing lest the King of Kings, who perhaps did not grasp the importance of the priceless collection wh

ulpture-galleries, trying to befog his mind and tire his legs, so

however, the Sh

o the Pers

ed an order to the chief attendant and suggested to the Shah that he sho

ed-Din should not feel any too cruel regrets; and at last the King of Kings, far from revealing any disappointment, declared himself d

Teheran, I shall see th

ht that we were providing him with a surprise. For instance, one day, when, with a

d!" he replied, wit

e was when, at his own request, he was allowed to witness the repugnant sight of a boa-constrictor devouring a live ra

eur le

, so you said. Ugh! How could the King of Kings, an excellency, a majesty, find pleasure in the awful torments of that poor rabbit

appearance of the devil in person would not have produced a greater confusion than that of this potentate wearing his tall astrakhan cap and covered with diamonds. But he, without the least uneasiness, went the round of the couples, shook hands with the

games, chess and billiards. He played with his grand vizier, his minister of the ceremonies or myself. The stakes were generally twenty francs, sometimes a hundred. We did our best to lose, for, if we had the bad luck to win, he would show his ill-temper by suddenly throwing up the game and retiring into a corner, where his servants lit his great Persian pipe for him, the kaljan, a sort of