A committee was formed of persons who shared the Princess’ views, and who were commissioned by her to take the necessary steps for carrying out her plans. By far the most difficult part of the work fell to her own share--namely, that of finding the necessary funds. To obtain these she organized a Bazaar in her new palace. This was a totally novel proceeding in Germany, and well calculated to attract a large number of visitors. The Bazaar was opened on the 6th of April, and lasted four days. The Princess and Prince Louis and her brother, Prince Alfred, took an active part in it. The result surpassed utmost expectations, a success mainly due to her own personal efforts, and to the charm which she exercised over all. At the close of the Bazaar she was not only able to announce that she had realized the sum of 16,000 florins, but that she had also gained the conviction that the whole country supported her in her undertaking.
In spite of the success of this Bazaar, the Princess was in later years opposed to a repetition of such an expedient, as she felt--what many do--that people often come on such occasions for their own personal amusement rather than to aid the charity.
The war of 1866, which was the consequence of the unfortunate conflict about the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, was viewed by the Princess with feelings in which personal interests and attachments conflicted with political convictions. She was so truly German that she felt most keenly the struggle between Germans and Germans, or as she herself says in one of her letters, “brother against brother.”
At times she could not help being downcast, because she saw how much her husband and her husband’s country suffered from it, and because she foresaw how disastrous to South Germany the results of such a war must be. Prince Louis himself was soon obliged to assume his command in the field.
The Princess gave birth to a third daughter on the 11th of July, during the most anxious days of that trying time. Prince Louis had happened to be home on leave for a few days when the event took place; but he was obliged to leave the Princess on the 14th of July, and to go at once into action at Aschaffenburg. As the South-German troops had to retreat, all communication with his home for some time was cut off.