 The doctors who attended Louise reported she was severely concussed and in shock , and that " it was a wonder her skull was not fractured " . Louise 's ear had been injured when her earring caught on the side of the sleigh , tearing her ear lobe in two . The press played down the story on instructions from Lorne 's private secretary , an act that was described by contemporaries as " stupid and ill advised " . For example , one New Zealand newspaper reported , " Excepting immediately after the blow , the Princess was perfectly sensible during the whole time ... " Knowledge of Louise 's true condition might have elicited sympathy from the Canadian people . As it was , one Member of Parliament wrote : " Except the cut in the lower part of the ear I think there was no injury done worth mentioning . " Therefore , when Louise cancelled her immediate engagements , people thought she was malingering . News of the accident was also played down in Britain , and in letters home to the anxious Queen Victoria . 
