Bismarck, after the peace of 1866, had received a visible sign of the Bavarian King's favour. Ludwig II. had conferred upon him the Order of Humbertus, a distinction which, according to the rules of the Order, is only to be given to men of royal blood or to those who have in some particular manner served the Bavarian state or throne.
He wished greatly to meet the young Monarch. Bavaria was, if not a great state, still great enough to weigh very considerably in the scale in the adjustment between North Germany and France which the Prussian statesman foresaw in the near future. It was, however, not an ordinary official conference, with ceremonies and in the presence of witnesses, which he desired, but a confidential tête-a-tête. He wrote to his old friend Prince Hohenlohe. The latter, in his turn, addressed himself to Count Holnstein, who was in close relations with the King, and who had been the latter's playmate in childhood. He was now Ludwig's trusted deputy, with the title of Chief Royal Master of the Horse. [19]
Although not a man of prominent parts, Count Holnstein made himself almost invaluable as a court diplomat. It was arranged that a meeting between the King and Bismarck should take place at the Count's house. Both parties desired that it should be private, and, as it were, accidental. The Prussian Minister came to Munich. He was invited to drink tea at Count Holstein's; and he arrived punctually. Immediately afterwards Ludwig came to call upon his Chief Master of the Horse, and proved to be greatly interested in the meeting with Bismarck. It was not long before the host took an opportunity to disappear. Ludwig and the "Iron Chancellor" were alone.
Verily, two contrasts! The one a man of will and action, who in the course of a few years had set Middle Europe in fire and flames--a warrior as well as a statesman, ruthless, cold-blooded, undaunted at the table of council as well as in the turmoil of battle, and at the time here mentioned in the full strength of his manhood. The other--King Ludwig--still so young in years, vacillating and shy, a hater of war, a dreamer, who enjoyed life most in the solitude of nature and in the world of fancy. One might be tempted to say that realism and romance had here set themselves a trysting place!