A traditional 19th-century ball usually starts at 8 o'clock in the evening, and if it is a masquerade ball, the preparation usually starts seven to ten days in advance, but fortunately, this time the palace is just holding an ordinary ball, so it is just right to prepare five days in advance.

Invitations are usually sent in advance, but there are also cases where invitations are sent on the same day, because balls were the most important part of the nightlife of the 19th century.

Generally speaking, a grand ball starts in the evening and lasts until the early morning of the next day, of course, such a ball is not a favorite of Crown Princess Victoria, and the crown princess specially stated in the invitation that the ball of the princess only lasts until midnight. The hint is that Berlin's nocturnal creatures can get ready for a second or even a third dance.

In Joey's opinion, the beautiful ladies who attend the prom are the focus of a prom, especially their beautiful costumes and costumes.

The dress style of the ladies who attended the ball in 1879 was different from the neoclassical period advocated by the Napoleonic period, and the concise and pure way of dressing women in the ancient Greek style was more like the product of the mixed development of Romanticism and neo-Rococo style after the Napoleonic era.

The most striking feature of this aspect is the women's collar, on the one hand, there is a rococo style, a bold low neckline with large lapels or a combination of several layers of flash and Ritz trimming, and on the other hand, there is also the romantic belief in the family angel concept, which adopts a conservative high neckline with several layers of shawl collars trimmed with Lis.

Of course, the corset, no matter what style you have, was always the first choice of ladies in the nineteenth century, and it was a fashion rule that all classes, even low-class maids, had to abide by.

With the development of the times, the romantic style that was popular thirty years ago has also changed somewhat, and the originally popular leg of mutton sleeves with extremely swollen sleeves have completely disappeared, replaced by pagoda sleeves composed of fabrics such as lis, which are narrow and open like flared cuffs.

An exaggerated, wide skirt made of whale baleen and wire was an essential element, and the propped up skirt often had a hem that adorned the waist and dragged over the back hips, making the ladies look more like a swimming mermaid.

A pair of brightly coloured high-heeled boots made of sheepskin or calfskin are an essential weapon for ladies to maneuver around the ball.

Ladies just need to wear a beautiful outfit and it's over, no, no, no, it's just the first step.

First of all, ladies need to be patient and careful about their hair, and a tall and well-decorated bun is the bare minimum. In tall buns, ladies use long pins to fasten ornaments such as ostrich feathers and ribbons. A wide-brimmed high hat to match the hairstyle, as well as lace and flowers on the hat, are also essential.

Secondly, gloves are also an indispensable clothing item for elegant ladies. Women's gloves made of black lace or soft sheepskin, long or short, with delicate ornaments made of metal, jade, ivory and even pearls, make every woman's hands full of seductive beauty.

In addition, in order to emphasize the upbringing of women, a delicate fan or handkerchief with exquisite embroidery is also an indispensable hand decoration to facilitate the concealment and smile when necessary.

In fact, compared with handkerchiefs, fans are the standard for young ladies. Women's fans are mostly made of various precious materials, the fan bones are often made of ivory or precious sandalwood, etc., and the fan surface is mostly made of satin, lace and ostrich feathers. Of course, some wealthy ladies were often adorned with precious stones, but such ladies were also often classified as outrags.

Finally, the right jewelry is the finishing touch that the ladies have carefully prepared. Especially for married wives, whether the family life is smooth or not, and whether the husband loves him, must be reflected in this small and precious jewel. The younger ladies are much simpler, a simple pearl necklace, or a necklace with a small pendant is sufficient.

This is not Joey's random speculation, but his direct feeling after being punished by his mother in the afternoon, and it is also the personal experience of accompanying his mother to dress up and put on makeup after more than two hours. During this time, Joey swore more than once that if he knew that he would be punished, he would never drag his father and Uncle Herman for an hour at noon, and an angry mother was definitely a terrifying existence.

When the crown princess, who had been carefully dressed for nearly three hours, finally appeared in front of Joey, Joey was immediately stunned by the beauty of her mother at this moment.

a beautiful red dress made of jacquard brocade with this taffeta trim with pleats, flashes and tassels; The mother's long hair was tied up in a beautiful bun and hung down at the back of her head, her hair was decorated with some beautiful floral ornaments, and a beautiful tiara representing the status of the crown princess was worn on her head; The ears are equipped with a large string of beautiful, transparent and shiny long studs, and the neck is also a beautiful crystal necklace that echoes the long studs; On his hands are a pair of long white gloves made of lambskin, adorned only with letters of the initials of the Crown Prince of Viduria.

At this moment, Joey suddenly felt that her mother's beauty was completely worth the three hours she spent accompanying her mother to prepare clothes and makeup.

Of course, as a man who attends a ball, it is far more relaxed than the ladies of this era. Either a proper tuxedo or a special evening dress is prepared, and if the person wearing the tuxedo usually has a nice bouquet of flowers on the lapel of the tuxedo as a sign of respect for the prom organizers.

And the soldiers are even simpler, the simplest can wear the uniform of the army to participate, as for the senior officials usually change into a solemn military uniform, whether it is a uniform or a military uniform, you need to wear all your medals and ribbons. Rather than other men's short-waisted leather shoes, a soldier can wear riding boots or wear spurs on them, but if a soldier's military boots are paired with spurs, it means that he is not going to dance on the dance floor tonight.

Unlike the ladies, neither the men's soft sheepskin gloves nor the soldiers' deerskin gloves could not be removed during the dance floor dance, while the women usually danced with their own gloves in their left hand.

The above etiquette education is a reminder that automatically appears in Joey's mind when he chooses whether he wants to wear an evening dress or a military uniform at the ball. In any case, every nobleman's child must begin to receive court dance education from the age of 5, and the education around the court dance and the education cultivated from an early age makes the nobles have the so-called "integrated into the blood" arrogant, graceful and elegant manners.

On an occasion like today, as the liberal child represented by Crown Prince Frederick and Princess Victoria, Joey naturally chose the evening dress.

This ball of the Imperial Palace was held in a large hall on the first floor facing the back door, which was a spacious and ornate hall surrounded by huge pillars on both sides. The hall is illuminated by the exquisite chandeliers of the dendritic crystal candles and the brass candlesticks on the surrounding walls, and the foyers on both sides of the hall are lined with unopened poker tables on the low pillars behind the pillars.

These tables are for those who don't like to dance to play poker, spread rumors and gossip, or make some unresponsible gossip and rumors.

Next to the staircase in the hall near the vestibule are a series of stepped benches that enclose a semicircle, where the musicians of the Charlottenburg Palace sit. Like the large number of servants who shuttled through the palace, most of these musicians also came from the court, in fact, not only the musicians and a large number of servants, in fact, all the financial expenses of this ball were borne by Charlottenburg Palace.

The dance party starts at 8 o'clock in the evening, and generally there are guests coming after 7 o'clock, and whenever an important guest arrives, the waiter will announce it loudly in the hall, and then the host must personally come forward to greet him. Today is Crown Prince Frederick with the whole family and welcomes all the guests together.

As a reciprocator to Charlottenburg Palace, the Empress Dowager also consulted Charlottenburg Palace on the list of guests invited to today's ball, and generally speaking, the guests attending today's ball are all people who have been approved by the emperor and the crown prince.

But in fact, there are still many guests who were not on the invitation list and get additional invitations through various channels, or called uninvited. Of course, because of yesterday's Crown Princess Salon, the Crown Prince's friends in the scientific and cultural circles were not invited.

But in the crown prince's 20 years of military experience, he commanded all the important operations of the three major Prussian armies, from the beginning of the Prussian-Danish War to the Franco-Prussian War, and was promoted to field marshal by virtue of his accumulated military merits, and he was also a proud student of Count Ron, the Prussian Minister of War, so when I heard that the crown prince was re-appointed by the emperor, a large number of colleagues in the army and old friends, no matter what the purpose was, came uninvited.

So much so that Joey saw a strange scene, interspersed with a large number of generals and marshals in military uniforms among civilians in tuxedos or evening dresses.

When the roll call attendant read the arrival of His Royal Highness Frederick Karl, the winner of the Order of Merit of Germany, the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, the Prosecutor General of the German Empire, the Field Marshal of the German Army, and the noble Prince of Prussia, Frederick Karl, Joey couldn't help but stand on tiptoe, looking forward to the appearance of Karl, the legendary "Prince of Blood" of the Prussian Army.

A small man in military uniform and his wife walked into Joey's sight, and the blue of the man's neck ribbon jumped into Joey's eyes, "Oh my God, Blue Marx!" Joey whispered.

William heard Joey's whisper and whispered to Joey, "The Medal of Merit designed by Frederick the Great can only be awarded to outstanding military personnel. It's not like the Medal of Honor on our chests. William pointed to the eight-pointed Star Black Eagle medal on his chest, which was the same as Joey's.

Karl, the "Blood Prince", and Crown Prince Frederick hugged each other tightly as soon as they met. When the "Blood Prince" Karl was at the University of Bonn, he was the senior of Crown Prince Frederick, and then the "Blood Prince" Karl became the young lieutenant of Count Ron, and Crown Prince Frederick was a student of Count Ron.

More importantly, Karl, the "Blood Prince", is also closely related to Crown Prince Frederick, he is the cousin and cousin of Crown Prince Frederick, and the father of "Blood Prince" Karl, Frederick Charles Alexander, is the third brother of William I, and the mother of "Blood Prince" Karl is the sister of Empress Augusta.

"Welcome back! My brother! Karl shook the crown prince's shoulder and said happily!

"You're welcome back, my brother, we haven't seen each other since the end of the Franco-Prussian War, how have you been doing in Alsace for eight years?" The crown prince asked his brother, "I was so happy to hear that you were going back to Berlin as inspector general, and I thought you would be back in a few days." ”

"Fritz, as soon as Karl heard that you were going to be Minister of Economy, he didn't bother to pack his belongings and immediately returned to Berlin." Karl's wife, Princess Maria Anna of the Duchy of Anhalt Dessau, said with a smile.

"My brother, you've always been an impatient." Crown Prince Frederick punched Karl hard in the chest and asked, "What about your youngest son, Joachim?" ”

"He went to his sister's house in Oldenburg, to Elisabeth. Hi! Wiki: You're beautiful today! Karl bowed his head and kissed Crown Princess Victoria's right hand, then complimented.

"Carl, I still think your Maria is the most beautiful, Maria, I'll take you to the dressing room to make up your makeup, you're tired of this guy today." The crown princess smiled and pulled Prince Anna to the next lounge.

Carl shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and then said with a smile, "William hasn't seen you for eight years, but you've grown up, and you're a strong guy!" With that, he pounded William's chest straight with a hard beat.

"What about Charlotte? I heard that she was married. Carl didn't find Joey's second sister and asked the crown prince.

"Charlotte has had a bad pregnancy reaction lately, so she didn't come today. Henry went on a voyage around the world and is said to have just left Brazil. The crown prince explained to Carl the reason why his two children were not present.

"I really want to meet Charlotte and her husband! Fritz, your Charlotte looks a lot like my daughter, Charlotte, who died young. Carl said with some regret.

"Aha, this pretty girl, isn't it our Victoria! It's very similar to Victoria's sister, who is four years older than you! Carl said to Victoria with a smile.

"Uncle Carl is glad to see you!" Victoria blushed and replied, "I've seen pictures of Victoria's sister, she's prettier than me. ”

Karl laughed, then looked at Joey and said, "This little guy is your Joachim!" ”

Joey nodded vigorously and said, "Hello Uncle Carl. ”

"These two are Sophie and Margaret, they look exactly like your Sophie and Margaret sisters when they were children!" Carl smiled at Joey's two younger sisters.

By now, Joey finally understands how good the relationship between his father and the "blood prince" Carl is, and the names of the children of the two families are exactly the same.....

Just as Crown Prince Frederick was about to introduce Karl, the "Prince of Blood", the roll call attendant shouted again, "His Royal Highness Prince Bismarck, winner of the Order of the Order of the German Knights, Medal of Merit of Germany, winner of the Grand Iron Cross, winner of the Order of St. John of Brandenburg, winner of the Prussian Order of Life, Lord Chancellor of the Reich, and the noble Duke of Lauenburg, His Royal Highness Prince Bismarck!" ”

"Blood Prince" Karl said with a smile to the crown prince, "Fritz, I didn't expect the Prime Minister to deign to attend your ball, and the relationship between you and the Prime Minister doesn't seem to be as bad as the outside world rumores!" ”

"Carl, this is also an accident for me, I only found out at noon today that this Highness is going to attend the evening ball." The crown prince explained to his good friend with a low chuckle.

"Go ahead, leave me alone." Karl waved his hand and went straight to find his seat.

As a tall figure walked into the womb, the same touch of blue in the neck was also extremely dazzling in Joey's eyes, "Another blue Marx winner." Joey sighed in his heart.

Bismarck smiled at Crown Prince Frederick, who greeted him, and half-truthfully complained, "Your Highness, the next time I come, please put the title of Prussian Lifesaving Medal at the forefront, I always regard this honor as my highest honor." ”

"Your Royal Highness, it's a pleasure to have you here tonight. I have learned a lot from the fact that you consider saving civilians to be the highest honor. The crown prince replied with a smile.

"Hello, Your Royal Highness, you are so beautiful today." After the old prime minister kissed his hand, he also complimented the crown princess.

"Your Royal Highness, welcome to the party." The crown princess responded with the same smile.

"Hello, His Highness William. Listening to Herbert, His Highness has participated in the activities of the officer corps lately, what have you been busy with lately? The old prime minister greeted William.

"Oh... Hello Your Royal Highness, I... I've been busy lately... Get busy with your studies. William explained with some stammering. And Bismarck, who looked at Wilhelm, his eyes flickered.

The crown princess, who heard the three words of the officer corps, frowned.

After a nourishing greeting with Joey's sister, Bismarck looked at Joey with a smile and said, "Oh, Your Highness Waldemar, we meet again." ”

Joey, as always, bowed respectfully to the Prime Minister.

"Your Royal Highness, you and His Highness Waldemar, I have heard about the speech at the salon yesterday, it is very wonderful, and I hope to have time to talk to you about it." The old prime minister looked at the crown prince and Joey with a smile.

"Your Royal Highness, our father and son are very honored, as long as it is convenient for you, you can do it at any time." The crown prince said with the same smile.

At this moment, the attendants of the imperial palace shouted again, "His Majesty King Wilhelm I of Prussia, the honorable Emperor of the German Empire, has arrived!" ”

Crown Prince Frederick and Bismarck looked at each other and said with a smile, "Your Royal Highness, let's greet His Majesty the Emperor together." ”

"Your Royal Highness, as you wish." Chancellor Bismarck stood side by side with the Crown Prince to welcome the arrival of the German Emperor Wilhelm I.

The old emperor William I looked like he was in a hurry, waving his hand to signal that his son and daughter-in-law were not polite to the old prime minister, and then met with his grandsons and granddaughters warmly.

Crown Prince Frederick looked behind his father, and then asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, didn't your Majesty the Queen Mother come with you?" ”

"Oh, your mother said she had a good friend from England who wanted to see your ball with her, and she went to pick them up." The old emperor was stunned and said in a somewhat complaining tone, "Actually, I think it's just an excuse for my mother not to ride in a carriage with me. ”

"The British friend who recently visited the Empress, could it be her?!" Prime Minister Bismarck's eyes flickered and he thought of a familiar lady's name.

The voice of the attendant of the Imperial Court sounded again, "Your Majesty Queen Augusta of Prussia, Your Majesty the Empress of the German Empire, and Her Majesty Eugenie have arrived with the Honorable Countess of Tyba, the Marquises of Adales, and the eternal Empress of the Second French Empire!" ”

"Oh!" There was an exclamation from everyone at the ball.