First Glimpses of Diplomatic Society
BY MADAME DE BUNSEN, née WADDINGTON
1.—TURIN
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MY husband, Carl yon Bunsen, was born in the Palazzo Cafferelli, the Prussian Legation at Rome, and was the third son of Baron Bunsen, at that time accredited to the Holy See. At the age of twelve years Carl was sent to Germany for his education; he entered the diplomatic career, and after being secretary to his father in London, served under Count Albert de Pourtales at Constantinople. He was moved to Turin in 1855 under Count Brassier de St.-Simon. We met soon after in London and became engaged. I was Mary Isabella Waddington, and had been brought up in France, chiefly in the country near Rouen, and was very unsophisticated. Indeed, except for a few short stays in Paris and London and a trip to the Highlands with my eldest brother, William Henry Waddington (later Prime Minister in France, and French ambassador in London for ten years), I might have been said to know nothing of the world. (Carl and I were married in Paris in January, 1857. and afterwards went to Germany, where I was to be made acquainted with my new family, most of whom I had never seen. We stayed with my brother-in-law George near Bonn, and then went on to Heidelberg where my father-in-law had settled after leaving his post in London. His villa was beautifully situated on the banks of the Neckar, in full view of the ruined Schloss and the old town. It was my first visit to Germany, and I was intensely interested in all I saw; but it was only when we reached Nice, which at that time still belonged to the kingdom of Sardinia, that I began to see some of my husband's colleagues and get some glimpses of what my future life was to be like.
It was all very new to me, and my letters to my family were a sort of journal, conveying to them almost day by day the impressions of what was passing so rapidly and vividly before me. At Nice we were the guests of Sir Edward and Lady Buxton in a charming Villa Boseo, which has long since disappeared amongst the new buildings of the growing town.
"Nice, March 5, 1857.
"C.[1] is here in-cognito, as he does not wish to take up his social and official duties till he gets back to Turin. It is very amusing, as the Prussian consul and all the people here write him little notes, beginning, 'tout respectant vetre incognito,' etc., and he lives terror of meeting the Dowager Empress of Russia the sister of our
- ↑ C. in this cotrespondence always refers to my husband. Carl von Bunsen.
