More discourse at Duke of Coburg's funeral

August 26, 1900

The Marquise de Fontenoy reports today with news "from a friend who was present at the funeral of the late Duke of Coburg." Kaiser Wilhelm II, a nephew of the late duke, "when bidding farewell to the assembled personages at the railroad station," refused to shake hands with Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, by "ignoring the latter's proffered hand, coldly touching his Admiral's chapeau, in acknowledgment of the Prince's salute, and then deliberately turning his back on him." Ferdinand's "equally disreputable elder brother," Prince Phillipp, whose wife is "in an insane asylum and whose daughter is married to the Kaiserin's only brother," received similar cold treatment. Kaiser Wilhelm II was "exceedingly distant to him." This attitude was in contrast to the deep affection "which he manifested towards the little Duke of Coburg, towards the Prince of Wales, and to most of the other Princes gathered at the station."