In United States, call: 1-800-325-3589 
|
 |
|
|
|
| View the complete list of countries | |
Famous for being perfect diplomats, the management of the Imperial succeeded in providing accommodation under the same roof and on the same floor to France's president MacMahon and Prussia's chancellor Bismarck only two years after the Battle of Sedan.
MacMahon has been head of state since 28 May and his visit to Vienna was designed to be a gesture to further a new political relationship. MacMahon was a personal victim of the Prussians during the French debacle at Sedan in September 1870, where he had been wounded. And neither this wound nor the mental scars of the Franco-Prussian War were to be reopened.
Bismarck was expected at the same time. Of course it is understandable that both gentlemen should lay claim to the Royal Suite. What is to be done? Quite simple. How convenient that the suite is equipped with two bathrooms. Bismarck goes in one half, the French president in the other. The hotel management has declared the central room (125 today) a ‘neutral zone' and closed it off in both directions. It was attributable to the diplomatic skill of the hotel management that the two parties never met in the corridor.
