Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-21
kAISER'S LIVELY FAMILY
1t is the Women Who Make Berlin'i
Court Gay.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE COURT
Emf and Her Daughters-in-LRw
RevOlutioniEing German Woman
hOOd-Kaiser's Only DauEh-
ter Everybody's FavOrite.

ard in the court life at the palace of the
kaiser and kaiserin of Germany gayety
reigns where once all was solemn decorum.
Despite the vigorous personality of the
kaiser himself, it Is essentially a woman's
court.
Some thirty years ago when the wedding
Of the young heir to the throne, Prince
wilhelm, now the emperor, was celebrated
the court of Berlin was quiet to the verge
of boredom and the dowdiness OF the ladies
and gentlemen in waiting was a European
tradition. Emperor William, with his pas
sion for state ceremonies and genius for
staging them effectively is partly response
BILE for the transformation of the dullest
Of courts into one of the most brilliant in
the world. The other chief cause is found
in the fact that there is more youthful
feminine life and vlgor in the Berlin palace
than in any other royal residence today.
with six lively young princes, soldiers,
sailors and students, three of whom have
married attractive girls, and a little
| princess who from babyhood has defied
imperial authority and ruled her kaiser
father, II is small wonder that life at the
court of William IL should have %quickened
its tempo to a measure so gay that 1t
might make the eyebrows of the painted
Hohenzollerns on the walls of the state
rooms in the old gray Schloss rise in
amazement.
Palace "A worthy Setting.
The palace itself is a setting worthy
Of the brilliant festivities which are held
there. The fine rocco ceilings and %rellefs,
the antique furniture, pictures and relics
of the past, have been left undisturbed,
but they are all that is reminiscent of
former days. Everything that wealth and
luxury can devise for the comfort of living
is to be found in the palace.
Every corner of the 700 rooms is ablaze
with electric lights by the kaiser's wish.
The White room, the smallest royal recep-
ton room in Europe, but the finest, is
the scene of fetes uneXcelled in beauty
and brilliancy, while in the historic apart
ments of Frederick the Great, which the
emperor has chosen as the private rooms of
his family and himself, he and the kaiserin
entertain the great men of and
other countries-artists writers, scientists
and inventors, who are, as the kaiser
I says, doing the work of the world.
Yet the emperor in spite of all his en-
ergy and interest in every feature of the
life of his empire is not the central figure
of his court. The women of his family
are the ones most loved, admired and fol-
lowed by the German people. 1t is they
who are revolutionizing German woman
hood and bringing gusts of the fresh air
of wholesome knowledge and advancement
into the hitherto colorless and restricted
lives of the average German wife and
mother,
Dress Is Important.
The kaiserin and her daughters-in-law
are fully alive to the Importance attached
to dress in the kaiser's program for those
who form part of his immediate environ
ment and their attention to fashion mat
tiers has made the ladies of the court, and
indeed of the whole country, careful of
their personal appearance so that they are
no longer subjects for caricature in French
and English papers. The empress, though
she practices economy in other things,
rarely appears in public twice in the same
gown. Her jewels and rich furs are
superb.
She patronizes German and
milliners, but through her influence many
of them nave studied their art in Paris.
The empress is still a beautiful woman
and in her own country she stands for an
ideal wife, mother and housekeeper. Her
devotion to her strenuous husband and all
AAS BeASAANo - WA AAAC eAAN 6AAS 80 oA
mired for her careful rearing of her large
family and her general supervision Of
household affairs and guarding of expen-
ditures. Her charities are boundless and
in the intervals Of her many social duties
she finds time to knit warm wooden gar
ments for the creches and orphanages of
Berlin.
The crown princess is young, gay and
pleasure loving. She has a large fortune
of her own, dresses beautifully and enter
tains on a magnificent scale. She is a
generous patron of a world famous modiste
in Paris, who finds it worth her while to
pay periodical visits to Berlin with the
latest models in the pale shades of pink,
blue and green, which the crown princess
loves to wear.
The crown prince is as pleasure loving
as his wife, and as both like dancing most
of their Entertainment are in the nature
Of balls and cotillons, Their two little
sons are the idols of the people, and the
crown princess wins admiration by her
devotion and attention to them despite her
social gayeties.
Young Princess Popular.
Princess Eitel Fritz. the wife of the
kaiser's second son, is very handsome.
Tall and distinguished in bearing, she is a
very noticeable figure at all court func-
tons. Slightly more serious minded than