LXVII Corfu 2I/IV/I9II

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WWI Document Archive > Pre - 1914 Documents > Willy-Nicky Letters between the Kaiser and the Czar > 'Willy-Nicky' Letters XLIX - LXXV (22 August 1905 - 26 March 1914) > LXVII Corfu 2I/IV/I9II



LXVII
Corfu 2I/IV/I9II


Dearest Nicky

As your Easter is approaching I beg to be allowed to send you my warmest Easterwishes through these lines. It is a time in which one allways passes in review ones acts and thoughts, before one goes to the Communion, and at this and after it one goes back into ones life with fresh resolutions and reaffirmed convictions. To these latter ones I rekon our relations to each other and our firm friendship for one another which were so happily confirmed at Wolfsgarten[1] and at Potsdam. You may allways count on me and my faithful interest in you and your family and your country.

We had a lovely time here amid flowers, scent, blue sky and sun. Only in the week before last it was cold and rainy. We were greatly surprised and interested in the quite unexpected discovery, by a chance experimental digging, of quite enormous sculptures belonging as it seems to an antique Temple[2] which dates as far back as the 6th or 7th century b.Chr. I spent several days basking in the sun and looking at the appearance of the different objects, which was very exciting and would have amused you immensely.

I send you enclosed some photos from our house and garden, with the statue of Achilles I caused to be placed on the Terrace. Besides I enclose an article recently published in the German Press, written by an intimate friend of Uncle Bertie, an English Politician; with the intention to persuade the Germans to think better of Uncles policy than they do now. His name is not known. As you will see for yourself, it is very striking the greatest anxiety which governed Uncle for the future of England, was the possibility of the closer friendship between the 3 Empires (Germany, Russia, Austria), which he regarded as dangerous for England, and which he consequently tried to inhibit by all means in his power. That is the explanation for the phrase perpetually used by the English Press "Balance of Powers in Europe" i.e. keep the 3 Emperors apart, or we are lost, for they would assemble the whole European Continent around them and that is against English interests. I go to London for Grandmamas unveiling,[3] at Georgy's invitation I hope to find out more about this --

With best love to Alix and all I remain

Ever your most devoted cousin and friend
Willy


Notes

  1. On November 11th, 1910, the Kaiser paid a visit to Schloss Wolfsgarten, near Darmstadt, where the Russian Emperor was living.
  2. In the course of the excavations in the village of Garitza or Kastrades, in Corfu, the buried ruins of one of the Corcyrean temples, probably dating from the beginning of the 6th Century B. C., were brought to light. On April 12th, 1911, a few days before this letter was written, sculptures were discovered representing the battles between Zeus and the Giants. The Kaiser all day watched the operations under a blazing sun and without interval for food.
  3. The Kaiser was present at the unveiling of Queen Victoria's statue in the Mall on May 16th following. His visit lasted until the 21st.

WWI Document Archive > Pre - 1914 Documents > Willy-Nicky Letters between the Kaiser and the Czar > 'Willy-Nicky' Letters XLIX - LXXV (22 August 1905 - 26 March 1914) > LXVII Corfu 2I/IV/I9II