Lots of Rumors on why the Princess of Wales is in Copenhagen

August 5, 1898

By special cable to the New York Journal and the Chicago Daily Tribune.

Here are the "various explanations" why the Princess of Wales went to Copenhagen:
"To settle a quarrel between Prince Charles and Princess Maud
To settle a dispute between England and Russia over Chinese matters
Because the King of Denmark is ill
Because the Queen of Denmark is ill.
Because the Princess herself is ill.
Because Copenhagen air is pleasanter than that in the Isle of Wight.
To pay a visit to her mother.
Because of an interesting event in the family of Princess Maud.
Because the Prince and Princess of Wales had separated."
Lots of gossip, but no one knows the reason reason why the Princess of Wales is in Copenhagen. The Prince of Wales is on the royal yacht, Osborne, off Cowes, "unable to walk, owing to his accident." Queen Victoria is at Osborne. The Duke of York is on board the cruiser Crescent.
The Princess of Wales, however, is in Copenhagen, with her mother and her daughter. Everyone is "keeping silent and everybody is wondering what the royal mystery is."
Government ministers are dismissing reports as "fantastic" and absurd that the Princess has gone to Copenhagen "to prevent Anglo-Russian complications over the Chinese situation."
The Princess of Wales "notoriously takes no interest in public affairs." She is a "charming woman, with only limited intellectual power." It is "utterly absurd" that the Princess would be involved in a "supremely delicate and important diplomatic mission."
It is well known in diplomatic circles that the Royal Family's influence "on these international quarrels are of no account whatever." The Duke of York is a very close friend of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. They are also first cousins, but this family relationship does not "prevent Russian policy from being fiercely anti-English."
Nicholas' "influence as a personal equation in shaping Russian policy is nil." Thus, if the Princess of Wales went to Denmark to "prevent war between England and Russia her mission, supposing her to be capable of fulfilling it, would be the forlonist hope."
A domestic squabble between the Prince and Princess of Wales may be at the cause for the Princess' departure from Cowes. A correspondent for the Cowes sent a telegraph tonight reporting that the Princess had been sent to Copenhagen by Queen Victoria "to smooth out English relations with Russia through the Empress Dowager."
Empress Marie is the Princess of Wales' younger sister.
The Princess of Wales visited Queen Victoria shortly before her departure for Copenhagen. fueling further rumors about her visit to Denmark.
Relations between Great Britain and Russia have reached "an exceeding critical state.
Russia has "retorted" to Salisbury's "threat of aiding China by force to resist any interference with concessions to British syndicates by expressly demanding that the most important of these - the bank at Shanghai - shall be withdrawn from the English."
There is a real "apprehension of war" between the two countries.