The Bristol riddle: At the Bristol (left, around 1900) we had a totally different problem to tackle – this time with global consequences. The Hotel, named after the Earl of Bristol, stands at the best location in the city, right next to the State Opera House. It had opened in 1892, some 20 years after the Imperial. Much had changed in those two decades. The legendary Crown Prince Rudolf had committed suicide with his lover Mary. Please note: Mary, an English name, the language that had become so popular over the previous 20 years. The Bristol around 1895 We were not aware that it was somewhat difficult to document exactly why a hotel is called Bristol. Soon we realised that this was a dilemma all Bristol hotels around the world suffered from. They all told the same story. They were allowed to name their house after Frederick Augustus Hervey, the fourth Earl of Bristol. It has been said that the Earl only gave permission for the use of his title to those hotels that could measure up to his high standards. An interesting anecdote. Charming. But true? First we looked at the life of the Earl in question. Frederick Augustus Hervey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, was an eccentric traveller. Nevertheless, for the hotels to have named their houses with his consent, he should have lived one hundred years later. He lived from 1730–1803 while the first Bristol hotel opened in Rome in 1870. Secondly we checked the coat of arms carried by every Bristol hotel of note. They were all more or less the same. But did this coat of arms actually belong to the Earl? No. Not remotely. Common sense suggested we check a totally different source. I searched for the coat of arms of the English city of Bristol. The Earl of Bristol has nothing to do with the city of Bristol - it's like a Mr Frankfurter living in London. We can assume that the early Bristol hotels (Rome 1870, Vienna 1892) served as examples to the hotels that opened in later years (Warsaw 1901, Oslo 1920, Paris 1925 plus around 50 further hotels across Europe). Without knowing it they all proudly carry the coat of arms of the City of Bristol. The often quoted connection to the Earl of Bristol is no more than a bad PR gag. Maabe because English had become fashionable as the new source of names. English tourists roamed the streets of Rome in the second half of the 19th century, while the wave of British engineering that brought Europe electricity, gas and tramways also carried the language from the islands to the continent. Mary was one example, so was Bristol. And let the Earl rest in peace. As you can see, the hotel trade is full of surprises. Until recently this story was supported by many Bristol Hotels and sold to guests as fact. If someone had really named a hotel after the Earl of Bristol, they would have used his coat of arms. The Bristol hotels all over Europe - one by one - dropped their false PR legends and slowly replaced them by accepting the truth. (have a look at the pages from the book covering this story - download a pdf file) But why do you need an Earl of Bristol when the phone rings and a real prince is on the other end of the line? 'This is Prince Kinsky. I wonder whether you know that my father died at the Bristol under mysterious circumstances … Come and see me. I will tell you more.'