August 21 Sunday – Sam’s notebook in Homburg:

Aug. 21. Up at 7.30 & walked with the rest of the people. Sir Edward Malet, English Ambassador to Germany, came up & renewed our last winter’s acquaintance, in his charming way, then went off to see if the Prince of Wales might want to know me; brought him, & he was one of the heartiest & pleasantest Englishmen I have ever seen, absolutely un-English in his quickness in detecting carefully concealed humor, & he was a wholly unembarrassing man & swept away stiffness & restraint with admirable art [NB 32 TS 19-20].

Sam wrote to Orion about meeting the Prince of Wales:

..in the morning I went walking in the promenade & met the British Ambassador to the Court of Berlin, & he introduced me to the Prince of Wales, & I found him a most unusually comfortable & unembarrassing Englishman to talk with — quick to see the obscurest point, & equipped with a laugh which is spontaneous & catching [MTP; Aug. 23 to Orion]. Note: Victoria and Albert’s son, the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.

Joe Twichell also wrote an account of the meeting:

The meeting between the Prince and Mark was a most cordial one on both sides, and presently the Prince took Mark Twain’s arm and the two marched up and down, talking earnestly together, the Price solid, erect, and soldier-like; Clemens weaving along in his curious, swinging gait, in full tide of talk, and brandishing a sun umbrella of the most scandalous description [Paine, Boy’s Life of MT 267].

Sam and Joe Twichell returned to Bad Nauheim later this day [Aug. 22 to Depew].