[1] In June 1884, he wrote to thank Wilhelm for a portrait that Wilhelm had given to him after they returned from a state visit to Russia: I beg Your Royal Highness most subserviently graciously to permit me to lay at your feet my deeply reverent and heartfelt thanks for Graciously Granting me the beautiful picture.... Long it is since I have been so joyful as the joy which Your Royal Highness accorded me by granting me the portrait with your very own Highest signature.

The few days which to my greatest joy I was able to spend directly at the service of Your Royal Highness will always be among the loveliest in my life and... it will be my sole ambition for all time to stand prepared to receive Your Highest orders and to serve you with all my meagre powers.

He once said, "My father is the only person who can handle this business" In 1890, when Kaiser Wilhelm II called for the resignation of Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor, Herbert von Bismarck also resigned as State Secretary, despite Wilhelm's attempts to retain him so that his de facto dismissal of his father would "look better in the eyes of the world".

[3] Bismarck had wanted to marry Princess Elisabeth zu Carolath-Beuthen in 1881, but his father would not allow it, as she was a Catholic divorcée and was ten years older than Herbert.

The Chancellor pressured his son with tears, blackmail and threats to disinherit him by getting Kaiser Wilhelm I to change the primogeniture statutes.