The highlight of Gustav Thiel’s 20 years in Palestine came at the end of their stay. The Prussian consul, Baron von Alten, asked Gustav to make all the arrangements for the visit of Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia to Palestine in November 1869. The Crown Prince was on his way to the reopening of the Suez Canal.

Crown Prince Friedrich was 39 years old when he visited Palestine. He was married to Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter and later became the second last Kaizer of Germany but reigned for only 99 days before he died from cancer of the larynx.

Baron von Alten, the German Consul in Palestine at the time, requested Gustav Thiel to take full responsibility for the visit of Crown Prince Friedrich and his entourage. Gustav had enough experience and knowledge of Arabic, the local people, and local conditions to make a success of the arrangements. He also had the experience of running a guest house and a hotel in Jerusalem where visitors from Europe stayed. He was at that stage also planning to return to Germany from where he intended to arrange tours to the orient.

He recounted the visit of the Crown Prince and his entourage to his son Peter Johannes Thiel who had it recorded in the document “Zwanzig Jahre in Jerusalem”, which formed the basis for the information available for what was later referred to as Gustav Thiel’s diaries. These diaries, where the details of the visit of Crown Prince Friedrich are reported, were later translated into Afrikaans and English.
In the document “The Life and Times of Gustav Thiel”, Brian Thiel summarizes the events and facts of the visit of the Crown Prince excellently with suitable historical information and relevant illustrations.

Gustav Thiel met the Crown Prince and his entourage of 60, including 30 marine soldiers, at Jaffa where they stayed over in a tent camp set up by Gustav. He hired 60 horses, and a number of mules and camels, to carry the packs and tents for the two-day journey to Jerusalem. After an overnight stay at Ramla, the large group entered Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate and passed the hotel where his three sons, Johannes, Paul, and Karl waved flags from the doorway and his wife, Maria threw flowers from the balcony to welcome the Crown Prince.
Over the next few days, Gustav guided the visitors to several places including Jericho, the river Jordan, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem and Hebron.

Two events during the visit of the Crown Price are of special interest to me personally. Shortly before his departure, the Crown Prince asked Gustav to accompany him without his entourage to the Mount of Olives. Only his personal bodyguard accompanied them. One hundred and forty years after this event, in May 2010, I had the privilege to visit Jerusalem through arrangements by my son Hermann who was working in Amman in Jordan at the time. During our stay, we took the time to follow the exact route on foot that Gustav Thiel and the Crown Prince took on horseback from the Damascus gate to the Mount of Olives.

We followed the Via Dolorosa, passing the Dome of the Rock in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem and leaving the city through the St Steffan’s Gate, also known as the Lion’s Gate. We followed the steep road down to cross the Kidron river, then passed the Garden of Gethsemane and took the steep road up to the summit of the Mount of Olives.

From the English translation of “Zwanzig Jahre in Jerusalem” comes the following statement of Gustav Thiel: “I led his highness straight to the east side of the peak from where one could see the Jordan valley and Jericho. The Jordan appeared as a long dark streak and where it flowed into the Dead Sea was clearly visible. One has a wonderful far-reaching view from the Mount.”

We had the privilege to enjoy the same wonderful views from the summit of the Mount of Olives 140 years later, including the view of the modern city as it is at present. We could also see the town of Bethlehem in the distance with the great wall running through it, built to separate the Jewish and Arab controlled areas.

The second event during Crown Prince Friedrich’s visit which interests me personally is the recognition which Gustav Thiel received from the visiting Prussian dignitary. Shortly before the departure of Crown Prince Friedrich, Gustav Thiel had the privilege to spend time with him informing him of his experiences during his twenty years in Palestine and of his intentions of arranging tours from Germany to the Orient. The Crown Prince presented him with a signed portrait of himself which Gustav apparently cherished till his death in Pretoria in 1907. What happened to this photograph is unknown to me.

The Crown prince also gave instructions to Graff Eulenburg, his Court Marshall, to present Gustav Thiel with a recommendation for the excellent services he rendered during the tour of the Crown Prince and his large entourage of Jerusalem and surrounding areas. This document was most probably given by Gustav Thiel to his youngest child, Hermann Gustav Thiel, who took it with him to Tanganyika where he passed away in 1948. I found it amongst the documents his daughter Cornelia Thiel brought back from Tanganyika and gave to my father Hermann Thiel.

Directly after the visit of Crown Prince Friedrich to Jerusalem, Kaizer Franz Joseph of Austria visited Palestine, also on his way to attend the reopening of the Suez Canal. Although Gustav Thiel was not involved in the arrangements for his visit, he met the Kaizer outside Jaffa when he was on his way to Jerusalem and could advise him on places to visit. Gustav was invited by both the Crown Prince and the Kaizer to accompany them to the reopening of the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, bad weather intervened and prevented Gustav from boarding.