At Lady Law’s Gilbert met Mme Baltazzi, the wife of Greece’s Foreign Minister. George Baltazzi. He was visiting the capitals of Europe with Prime Minister Gounaris hoping to arrange a badly needed foreign loan for Greece. The Baltazzis were a large and wealthy banking family based in Smyrna and Vienna. Their most infamous member was Mary Vetsera, who died in a murder suicide pact with Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austrian Empire at Mayerling in 1889. More tragedies were to follow for her second cousin George Baltazzi and his wife, which would eventually involve Gilbert.
