Telegram from Empress Auguste Viktoria to Richthofen’s mother

“Berlin, Bellevue Palace, 24 April So often, with every news of your son’s victory, I have trembled for his life, which he had dedicated to the King and the Fatherland. And now God has decreed that your pride and the pride of us all must end his heroic career. Your son still stands before my eyes, in his modesty and with his simple descriptions, when I had the pleasure of welcoming him in May last year. I could not deny myself the pleasure of seeing him take to the skies from the aerodrome. May the Lord be with you and yours in your great sorrow. I hope that your second son’s condition is satisfactory.”