The retinue of the palace, the grandees, the fine caparisoned horses with their bright-liveried lackeys, the gorgeous coaches with their magnificent trappings, all made a striking show as they swept through the Spanish capital from the church to the Court.
But a note of horror was struck when a sudden awful sound was heard, and a woman fell dead struck by a bomb; but no other fatality occurred, and cheers filled the air as the troops of the capital filed before the palace, where the Royal Family witnessed the review from the windows.
The genial character of the young King was seen in a letter to an Archduke, a college friend, shortly before the death of his beloved Mercedes. This friend, with all due respect to Alfonso as King, mentioned the fact of his marriage with a young Princess of Spain. To this communication the King replied that he never forgot college friends, whom he preferred in many cases to later ones.
“I forbid you to address me as ‘Majesty’; treat me as you treated me in the Teresiano. When you marry, come to Madrid with your wife, whom I shall at once regard as a friend. Mercedes is very kind; we will hunt, and we will chat about old times, and so your honeymoon will be spent as happily as mine was....”
But a telegram soon followed this bright and happy letter. It ran thus:
“My dear Frederick,
“Queen Mercedes is dead. May God give you in your marriage the happiness which He has denied me! In your approaching days of joy remember the woe of your friend.
“Alfonso.”
It may be mentioned that Queen Isabella wrote to Madrid to signify her displeasure at her son’s marriage, for the fact that the daughter of Montpensier, who had intrigued to succeed her on the throne, became Queen of Spain was rather a bitter pill to swallow.
However, all animosity on that score ceased at the death of the beautiful and lovable Queen, who had had undisputed sway in the heart of her young husband, and whose intelligence and good feeling at the age of eighteen had promised so much good for the country. There were not lacking those who attributed the dreadful event to the enemies of the Montpensiers, but others said it was due to a chill. During the sufferings of the last few hours the young husband sat in sorrow by the bedside, and the much-loved wife strove between her attacks of pain to comfort him with the hope of meeting in a future world.