‘Just look at Lady Castlereagh, close to the stand of the sovereigns,’ said the Prince de Ligne. ‘She is wearing her husband’s Garter in diamonds as a kind of tiara. That is a little bit of facetious vanity, not contemplated by courteous Edward III. when he picked up the blue ribbon that fastened the stocking of the handsome Alice of Salisbury. Pride, when it wishes to make itself conspicuous, often plays us some scurvy tricks.’
At eight to the minute a blast of trumpets by the heralds announced the arrival of the twenty-four ladies, escorted by their valiant champions. They took their seats in the first row of their stand.
All, in virtue of their grace and beauty, deserved the name of ‘belles d’amour’ that had been given to them. They were the Princesses Paul Esterhazy, Marie de Metternich, the Comtesses de Périgord, Rzewuska, Marassi, Sophie Zichy, etc. It is impossible to imagine a more gorgeous and at the same time graceful spectacle. These ladies were divided into four quadrilles, each distinguished by the colour of their dresses, namely, emerald green, crimson, blue, and black. All their dresses were made of velvet, trimmed with priceless lace and sparkling with precious stones.
The whole of their costumes had been copied in the minutest details from those of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The quadrille that had adopted emerald green wore the Hungarian national dress. It consisted of a long open tunic over a petticoat of white satin, fastened from the bust to the knees with diamond pins. Placed at regular intervals, the openings between these pins disclosed the satin, the dazzling white and glimmer of which presented a most delicious contrast to the rich green of the velvet. Other diamond hooks likewise marked openings from the waist to the shoulder. The bodice itself, flat-busted, was covered with valuable gems. A principal wide and floating sleeve of velvet, opening from the shoulder, fell along the arm; beneath was another ample sleeve of white satin, embroidered like the bodice, but in gold and coloured jewels. On their heads they wore velvet toques, entirely covered with precious stones. Finally, a long gossamer veil, picked out with gold, fastened to the head-dress, and descending as far as the feet, enwrapped the wearer in a kind of beautiful haze.
The other quadrilles had chosen respectively the Polish, Austrian, and French costumes of the Louis XIII. period. A glance at them easily induced the belief that all the trinket-caskets of the Austrian monarchy had been ransacked. The ornaments worn on that evening by these two dozen fair ones were estimated at thirty millions of francs. Those of the Princesse Esterhazy, née Tour et Taxis, figured in that estimate for about six millions.
As soon as the ‘love beauties’ had taken their seats, presenting, as it were, a line of angelic faces, all eyes were turned towards them. Motionless, and enveloped in their long, transparent veils, they seemed to await with the utmost calm the moment of their triumph. A second blast of trumpets announced the arrival of the sovereigns. At their entrance everybody rose, the four-and-twenty ladies flung back their veils, and stood forth revealed in all their beauty, and were greeted with unanimous applause, mingled with the acclamations due to the presence of the monarchs.
The Emperor of Austria took his seat in the centre of the stand, with the two empresses by his side; the other sovereigns and reigning princes being placed according to their precedence. The seats, upholstered in velvet, were resplendent with gold and embroidery. The Emperor of Russia, confined to his apartments through indisposition, was not present at this fête, but another was given in his honour a few days later, at which the details of the first were reproduced with mathematical precision.
The illustrious guests of the Austrian Court in their most brilliant uniforms, or with their most magnificent ornaments, constituted an imposing sight. In the front row of the imperial stand, to the right and to the left of the empresses, were the Queen of Bavaria, the Duchesse Béatrice d’Este, the Grande-Duchesse d’Oldenbourg, and her sister, Marie de Weimar; behind them sat the Kings of Prussia, Würtemberg, and Denmark; the Princes of Prussia, Würtemberg, and Bavaria, the Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, and finally the Arch-Dukes Charles, Albert, Ferdinand, Maximilien d’Este, Jean, and Regnier.
There had been whispers to the effect that Marie-Louise and her young son would be present at these fêtes, but they neither came to this one nor to the other. Marie-Louise, in fact, was in such a false position as to have considered it simply consistent with her dignity in misfortune to live in retirement.[69] Consequently she rarely left the Palace of Schönbrunn. The Prince de Ligne told me, however, that in the company of her father and of her young sisters she had been present at several of the rehearsals.
The sovereigns and the spectators being seated, the building immediately rang with stirring military music, and the twenty-four champions appeared at the barrier. They were the pick of the nobility of Europe. The majority had gained their spurs elsewhere during the recent wars. If all shone in virtue of their personal glory and their illustrious birth, they were not less distinguished by their physical advantages. It was said that there had been rivalry in earnest in pursuit of the honour of filling a rôle in the scenes imitated from ancient times. Finally the choice, which was tantamount to a patent of elegance and grace, was fixed on the youngest and handsomest. Foremost among them were the Princes Vincent Esterhazy, Antoine Kadziwill, Leopold de Saxe-Cobourg, the Comtes Felix Woyna, Petersen, the Vicomte de Wargemont, the Prince Charles de Lichtenstein, Louis de Schenye, Louis de Schönfeldt, and young Trauttmansdorff, the son of the Master of the Horse.