3-011-956 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Reception of the King Consort of Spain at the Palace of St. Cloud, 1864. 'The inauguration of the portion of the chemin de fer, opening up direct railway communication between Paris and Madrid, was accomplished with much solemnity on the 15th August. at St. Sebastian, and served very appropriately as the introduction to a long series of fêtes...the King of Spain, accompanied by M. Isturitz, the Spanish Ambassador to the Court of the Tuileries; M. Muro, chief secretary to the Embassy at Paris, and the principal persons of the suite, alighted...[at St. Cloud]...[and] was received with much cordiality by his Imperial host [his cousin, French emperor Louis-Napoléon], and the carriages in attendance promptly conducted the illustrious personages over the short distance between the platform and the palace, where the Empress and her ladies of honour, the grand officers of the household, and the Archbishop of Paris, were waiting to receive the guest of France. The presentation of the King to the Empress by Napoleon at once took place; and this is the scene represented in our Engraving, which is the reproduction of a sketch made on the spot, and at the time for this Journal by M. Thorigny'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.