CHARLOTTE (1860-1919, eldest daughter of Emperor Friedrich III, from 1878 wife of Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, the Kaiser's sister) & Gertrude Emma WAKELIN (b. 5th May 1860 at Hanbury, Staffordshire, daughter of Mrs Mary Ann Wakelin, Nanny from about 1860 to the family of Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia including Wilhelm II)

Album leaf signed and affectionately inscribed in English to Gertrude, with sentiments on the 2 sides about Time (in German, 'The future draws slowly towards us, the present flies past like an arrow, the past stands still for ever'), and, in English, about Trust, Rashness and Youth, with 2 further leaves from Gertrude's album, including 1 side in German inscribed by Anna Popper, quoting Goethe and Rückert, and 1 side with the verses '... Trust in God, and do the right', signed A.M. Byng, also some delightful verses about the pupils soon to leave the 'Stiftung' (boarding school), founded by the Empress Augusta at Charlottenburg in 1872, and apparently in the hand of one of them, Monica Owen, headed "The old english Colony ... In this old Stift how happy we ... And now all go and leave but me / In Brandenburg's sandy heather", recalling "the park, the Schlosses towers / The Flora, the dirty Spree" and "the stove so large and white / where many a pleasant english chat / our sorrows put to flight !", ending "our dear old 'Colony' ", Gertrude has added in pencil the names of 10 pupils including herself, then describes the verses as "Spontaneous combustion of Miss M. Owen, aided by devoted friends", with a pictorial notice showing the school, the path down to the river, the chapel and the Empress' simple room, in an elaborate border, together 7 sides 8vo., Neues Palais, Potsdam and Charlottenburg, no date. and 8th - 13th June the view of the school laid down and a little torn, but with minimal loss

With translations.
Charlotte, it is now believed, suffered from inherited porphyria, which in all probability led to her later erratic behaviour. She was one of the few in her family to choose their own spouse, and in 1879 Gertrude's mother went to be Nanny to Charlotte's baby Feo.
Gertrude married musician Henry Drury at St. John's Wood on 27th December 1881 but she and her mother kept up with the family for many years. On the back of the picture of the school, laid down, Gertrude's eldest daughter Sybil Jessie Drury has written about Gertrude being taken to Germany with her brother when she was 13.

Item Date:  1876

Stock No:  51394      £175

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