3-082-526 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Prince Bismarck's Eightieth Birthday: visit of the German Emperor to Prince Bismarck at Friedrichsruh, 1895. 'The visit of the German Emperor William II. to Prince Bismarck...was a remarkable event. His Majesty, on Monday evening, April 1, which was the eightieth anniversary of the birth of the great German statesman, gave a grand State banquet in honour of him, in the White Hall of the Old Palace at Berlin. The Grand Dukes of Baden and Weimar and other German sovereigns, and the Imperial Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, made visits of birthday congratulation to Prince Bismarck, and the Prince Regent of Bavaria sent him an autograph letter...There were patriotic festivities in many cities and towns of Germany. On the Monday, the actual birthday, at eleven o'clock, Prince Bismarck received deputations from Hamburg and the other German Hanse towns, and from all the German Universities, accompanied by Professors and by four thousand University students, to whom he made a speech on the terrace in front of his house. At night, the grounds, gardens, and park of Friedrichsruh were illuminated with six thousand lamps, and there was a great torchlight procession'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.