H.C. Andersen centret

Janetta Goldstein: In Mary Howitt's papers in the archives of the London Borough of Hackney, there isa draft translation of "The Emperor's New Clothes" - which she called "The invisible Robe". When Andersen visited Mary Howitt in Clapton in July 1847 she made the translation, and added on the draft:

"Mr. Andersen gave me this. He told me the people in Copenhagen objected to it":
'But he has no robes on at all!' a little child cried out.
'That rude child wants to spoil the procession', said a bystander.
'He is trying to spoil the procession,' said all the people.
And so they beat the child with their walking sticks, and those who had no walking sticks threw mud at him.
But the Emperor thought within himself, 'I must go through with the procession,' and so he held himslef a little higher, and the chambrlains held on tighter than ever, and carried the train that was not there at all.

Times Literary Supplement, February 21, 2014.

This piece of news appears to be a mistake, as the Hackney Archives on request informs "that among their holdings, they only have a portrait of Mary Howitt. The statement in the Times Literary Supplement seems, therefore, to be a mistake". 30 April 2014.
Solveig Brunholm: Letter to the Editor: The alternative ending was a fabrication. Times Literary Supplement, June 6, 2014.

(Bibliografisk kilde: HCAH)