A somber memorial card issued immediately after August 5, 1901 — the death of Kaiserin Friedrich, born Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain and eldest daughter of Queen Victoria — shows Schloss Friedrichshof at Kronberg im Taunus, the neo-Renaissance palace she designed herself as her widows' residence after the brief, tragic reign and death of her husband Emperor Friedrich III in 1888. The inset portrait shows the Empress in her final years, heavily decorated with imperial orders, her expression dignified and melancholy. Published by Max Marcks of Berlin (Dess. No. 306), this undivided-back mourning card was produced within weeks of her death and distributed to a grieving public that had watched her navigate a lifetime of political isolation in the German court.