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Emperor of the French
1852-1870.
Son of: Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland & Hortense de Beauharnais.
Napoleon III's physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . Official documents say that he had chatain hair and eyebrows, grey eyes, a small mouth, thick lips, a pointed chin, and oval face, broad shoulders, and that he stooped a little. Such was the Prince Louis Napoleon from 1840-1848. As Emperor he had changed but little. His blonde moustache had become longer, the pale colour of his face had turned a little yellow---but his eyes remained unchanged. . . ." ((Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 3)
" . . . Contemporaries were struck by the eyes of Napoleon III. 'They were eyes of enamel, without fire nor intelligence,' says a political writer of 1848. Indeed-Napoleon's eyes were those of his mother Hortense. They were small, of a bluish grey, and generally without expression---dreamy, and as if lost in space. They fixed one as if through a glass, and seemed to have been covered with a veil of dreaminess and languour. Yet those eyes could become marvellously animated when the Emperor was amuse, then they became caressing and lively. His look pleased the women." ((Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 3-4)
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Notorious Virgin or What?.
" . . . She would give her body to Louis Napoleon for nothing less than marriage and, having failed to seduce her, he was obliged to marry her in 1853. Curiously, Wilfrid Blunt, always ready to debunk a myth, contradicts the story of Eugenie's modesty, maintaining that the Duke of Sesto was among her lovers and that when the Emperor married her she had recently been the mistress of the Marquis d'Aguado." (Mostyn: 11)[Ref1:Empress Eugenie]
Empress Eugenie's personal & family background.
"Born on 5 May 1826 in Granada, Eugenie Ignacia Augustina was the daughter of Dona Maria Manuela Kirkpatrick, whose father, William Kirkpatrick of Dumfries in Scotland, had fled Scotland after the 1745 Stuart rebellion and settled in Andalusia. Her father was almost certainly the Spanish Count of Teba, Don Cipriano de Guzman y Palafox y Portocarrero, the younger brother of Don Eugenio, Count of Montijo. Gossip, however, murmured that Eugenie's father was either Lord Palmerston or Lord Clarendon until her mother wryly pointed out to Louis Napoleon, 'But, Sire, the dates don't correspond.' Nevertheless, influenced by the rumours, Queen Victoria's self-righteous consort Prince Albert did not approve of Louis Napoleon's marriage to Eugenie, remarking to King Leopold of Belgium that 'she is said to be British on her father's as well as her mother's side' because 'Lord Clarendon is supposed to be her father.' But, morals apart, Manuela was, in the words of Eugenie's biographer Robert Sencourt, 'original and bewitching, with Andalusian grace, English gentleness, French facility; yet always a Spaniard. . . She was one of those dauntless and glittering women who move as much by instinct as by stratagem towards the seats of power. She scattered pleasures about her and made joy an obligation.' . . ." (Egypt's Belle Epoque: Cairo and the Age of Hedonists: 10-11)
A fonder of petticoats.
"Prosper Merimee wrote to Panizzi: 'He has the fault of being fonder of petticoats, than is proper for a young man of his age.' Napoleon was very much sought after by women, and he once said" 'Usually, it is man who attacks; as for me, I defend myself and I often capitulate.'" (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 81)
Marriage and conjugal affronts.
"Under the best of circumstances a couple may prove to be incompatible. The imperial marriage was initially constrained by the publicity of palace life, and the couple had none of the privacy of a honeymoon so often necessary for a good adjustment. The gap between their ages was significant if not insurmountable, approximately eighteen years, but the difference in sexual experience was more serious. Not only had Eugenie had none, but she had a profound ignorance of a husband's needs that even the passing years did not remedy. His infidelities began about six months of marriage. In every other respect he was a perfect husband, and she never had any doubt that he loved her. On the other hand, the 'conjugal affronts' that she began to experience were mortifying, especially since she could really not understand their reason. Her conception of a wife's role was only too clearly revealed in 1865 at a time when the imperial family was promoting the marriage of Anna Murat to Lord Granville, which Anna was resisting: 'Tell her,' the empress said to Walewski, 'that after the first night it makes no difference whether the man is handsome or ugly. By the end of the week it's the same old thin.' And she attributed the emperor's infidelities not to his sensual needs but to the monotony of his imperial situation of which she was a part. She brought him nothing new or fresh: So, man roams!' She did, however, manage to produce an heir to the throne. But after the birth of the prince imperial on March 16, 1856, which nearly killed the empress, her physicians told her that another pregnancy probably would be fatal. his became the excuse to deny the emperor further secual relations. . . ." (The Mortal Napoleon III: 52)
A seeker after pleasure.
"Yes, indeed he liked women, and no one could contradict the statement after having read the pages of his many-sided life. This sentence makes a resume of his simple uncomplicated psychology. All through the long days of misfortune, exile, and glory, which the most astonishing destiny dealt out to him, he was a seeker after pleasure.
He liked women like a Bonaparte, a Napoleon and an Emperor.
He liked women like a Bonaparte, a Napoleon and an Emperor.
"In Switzerland he found tender melancholy decorated with Germanic tastelessness among the national beauties; in England, he restrained passion of the Sussex Brewer's daughter insinuated itself into his blood; and in Italy those electric, which corroded and burnt his marrow; and he met in France his beloved or Margot's lips---Margot, the comrade and friend of pleasure, whose lips were wet with champagne quaffed at the feasts of cruel Eros. He tasted every pleasure, goaded on and enticed by the desire of the unknown and unforeseen, dreaming of a new Cythera, who was to be found at the end of every beaten track. Not a single hope or joy was hidden from him. He was Bonaparte, a Napoleon, and an Emperor! And he had the gift to make himself beloved. And he used his gift abundantly. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 245)
A historical womanizer.
A historical womanizer.
"He has a historical reputation as a womanizer, yet he referred to his behaviour in the following manner: “It is usually the man who attacks. As for me, I defend myself, and I often capitulate.”
Napoleon III's numerous love affairs & mistresses.
Napoleon III's numerous love affairs & mistresses.
"Among his numerous love affairs and mistresses were: his cousin Mathilde Bonaparte, Maria Anna Schiess, Alexandrine Éléonore Vergeot, laundress at the prison at Ham, mother of two of his sons, Elisa Rachel Felix, the “most famous actress in Europe“, Harriet Howard, wealthy and a major financial backer, Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione – spy, artist and famous beauty, sent by Camillo Cavour to influence the Emperor’s politics, Marie-Anne Waleska, Justine Marie Le Boeuf, also known as Marguerite Bellanger, actress and acrobatic dancer. Bellanger was falsely rumoured to be the illegitimate daughter of a hangman, and was the most universally loathed of the mistresses (though perhaps his favorite) and Countess Louise de Mercy-Argenteau, likely a platonic relationship, author of The Last Love of an Emperor, her reminiscences of her association with the emperor." (nursemyra, 2011, May 10)
A noted voluptuary with an insatiable sexual appetite.
" . . . Emperor Napoleon III was a noted voluptuary who had enjoyed the attentions of numerous mistresses both before and after his marriage to Eugenie de Montijo ten years earlier. Among their ranks had been an Italian countess, Virginia de Castiglione, and Marianne de Walewska, the wife of his cousin, the Minister of State. His sexual appetite was said to be insatiable. Rumor had it that each evening a different woman was brought to the Palais de Tuileries, undressed in an anteroom, and escorted to the bed of His Imperial Majesty, who would exert himself until (in the words of one of these bedmates) 'the wax on the ends of his mustache melts, causing them to droop.' Whatever the truth of these stories, in the spring of 1863 he was certainly enjoying a dalliance with a twenty-three-year-old former dressmaker and circus rider named Justine Leboeuf, who called herself Marguerite Bellanger, dressed in men's clothes and lived in the house in which he had installed her in the pleasant suburb of Passy." (The Judgment of Paris)
A womanizer on an imperial scale.
A womanizer on an imperial scale.
"Long before, Louis Napoleon had discovered that Eugenie took no pleasure in intimate marital relations---she called sex 'filthy.' For his part, he enjoyed the company of ladies of easy virtue, not to mention the wives of several of his senior officials, including that of Foreign Minister Walewski. This list of his conquests was not only long, it was public, including the companions and ladies-in-waiting of the empress. For all his charms and admitted interest in major social causes, including new hospitals, schools, and housing, Napoleon III was at the same time thick-skinned to the point of deeply wounding and publicly humiliating Eugenie. Harriet Howard and her children and his own prison-born bastards were long out of sight. But then there had been Augustine Brohan, Alice Ozy, Countess Parada, Countess de La Bedoyere, the Countess Walewska, Madame Rimsky-Korsakov, and now La Castiglione; and later, Marguerite Bellanger, Valtesse de la Bigne, and Countess Mercy-Argentau, without countng 'the actresses' and the ladies of the court. Louis Napoleon was indeed a womanizer of an imperial scale." (The Shadow Emperor)
Changes of fortune in the careers of the best-known mistresses.
"Kurz very interestingly sums up the changes of fortune in the careers of the Emperor's best-known mistresses: 'The vanished sun of Imperial favour was followed only by a chilling darkness. Miss Howard, dropped on the eve of the Emperor's marriage, lived on until 1865 in the vast chateau of Beauregard near Paris, where a suite of rooms was kept ready for the Emperor who never called. Mme de Castiglione returned to Paris, became involved with dubious bankers and murky manipulators, ending her days behind permanently closed shutters near the Place Vendome from which she ventured forth only after dark. Mme Walewska, after the death of her husband in 1868, declined into a bourgeois marriage, and Marguerite Bellanger later led a penitent life of the greatest respectability and charity. For all these, normal life ended with their fall from the dangerous heights to which the Emperor had briefly raised them. He was always generous, making their material existence easy, but he forgot them, and so did the world.'" (The Affairs of Women: 27)
His lovers were:
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| Alice Ozy |
French actress, singer & courtesan
Daughter of: Jean-Baptiste Pilloys (1792-1844) & Charlotte Amedee Ozi (1792-1841) mar 1814-1820.
. . . Ozy counted among her lovers not only the emperor Napoleon III and princelings, but the greatest French novelist of the nineteenth century, Victor Hugo and his son. Like Marie Duplessis, Ozy too was drawn by Vincent Vidal." (The Real Traviata: 133)
2) Armance Depuille (1830-1913)
2) Armance Depuille (1830-1913)
Wife of: François-Isidore Depuille.
Natural offspring:
a. Benoni Depuille.
3) Augustine Brohan (1824-1893)
Lover in 1847
3) Caroline-Frederique-Bernardine Hamakers (1836-1912)
" . . . There are those women who loved hint for an hour or less -- for his purse -- or his feelings -- and the State register will satisfy curiosity. There was Caroline Frederique Bernardine Hamalkers, the celebrated singer. Her father was an old soldier of Austerlitz, who kept an inn at Louvain. She was born 1836 in that sad little Belgian town of colleges and convents. There were six young sisters clattering about in sabots in the paternal hostelry. Eugene Scribe induced her to leave, and was the means of her entering the opera. This was in 1857. The Duc de Morny noticed her, and she had not real reason for being cruel to him any more than to Auber and others. She was one of the choir of the Chapel of the Tuileries -- and was intimate with Napoleon III. She received some emeralds from him, and kept them quite a long time. When she was old, and going over her experiences, and telling only what her lately-acquired modesty permitted, she confessed: 'He amused himself with me as with a child, but there was nothing serious.' And really, she arrived and passed on. Success was hers up to 1870. Then she outlived herself, and age came and trouble with it. In 1912 Mlle. Hamalkers threw herself out of the window of her house, No. 62, rue Franklin, Brussels. She was taken, Oct. 23, 1912, to the Hospital Saint-Jean; she renewed her efforts to commit suicide, cutting her throat with a piece of broken glass. She was dead on the morrow. She was placed in her coffin, lined with white satin and covered with chrysanthemums by friends who knew her coquettish disposition. What a touching novel could be written on mistresses grown old and wretched! (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 247-249)
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| La Comtesse de La Bedoyere 19th c, |
4) Clothilde de la Rochelambert (1829-1884)
Comtesse de la Bedoyere
Lover in 1858-1859.
Wife of:
1. Comte de la Bedoyere mar 1849
2. Napoleon-Henri-Edgar Ney, General Prince de Moskowa, mar 1867,
"Upon this scene of splendour Mme. Clotilde de la Bedoyere shed her more modest light. She was the wife of one of the court Chamberlains, whom Vieil-Castel does not spare in his severe criticisms. 'He was the most stupid, the dirtiest and fattest of men,' or the most simple-minded of men, absolutely incapable of any work. Such shortcomings, however, were easily excused by the charm and grace of Mme. de la Bedoyere, 'that flower of balls and soirees.' At the beginning of the year 1858 she enjoyed the amorous favour of Napoleon III, but in October already the Emperor tried to get rid of her. In March, 1859, she was decidedly 'a retired Sultana.' I shall ignore, and, indeed, I confess that I actually ignore, and, indeed, I confess that I actually ignore, the services for which the Emperor appointed M. de la Bedoyere, he says: 'His father was shot in 1815, and his wife slept with Napoleon III.' These lines did not yet satisfy him, and he adds:'His wife was unfaithful, and having slept with the Emperor, her husband became Knight of the Legion of Honour and Senator. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 262)
5) Egle Ney de la Moskowa, Duchesse de Persigny (1832-1890)
5) Egle Ney de la Moskowa, Duchesse de Persigny (1832-1890)
Daughter of: Joseph-Napoleon Ney d'Elchingen, Prince de la Moskowa & Albine-Etiennette-Marguerite Laffitte.
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| Victor Fialin Duc de Persigny @ Wikipedia |
Wife of
2. Hyacinthe-Hilaire-Adrien Le Moyne (d.1879) married 1873.
3. Charles de Villelume-Sombreuil, Comte de Villelume-Sombreuil (1861-1912).
"Here again is a well-known name, that of Mme. de Persigny. Her name was Egle Napoleone Albine Ney, and she was born in 1832; her father was Joseph Napoleon Ney, son of the Ney of Moscow, and her mother was Marie Etienne Albine Laffitte, daughter of that Jacques Laffitte famous as President of the Council of Ministers under the Monarchy of July. She was a very beautiful and elegant woman, fair, and had a natural lisp, which gave her a speech something almost childlike. She married Persigny May 27, 1852. . . Napoleon III favoured his marriage, and gave him 1,000,000 francs, it appears to enable him to settle down. The Emperor also gave the bride 500,000 francs of lace and diamonds. the marriage, in spite of the eccentric temper of the lady and the grave demeanour of her husband, was quite happy in the beginning. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 254)
"Even so, 1852 was Persigny's year. He became Minister of the Interior in January, saw the birth of the Second Empire on December 2nd, and was named to the Senate on the last day of the year. Furthermore, on May 27th, he married Albine-Marie-Napoleone-Egle Ney de la Moskova, granddaughter of Marshal Ney. No once could ever claim that the Comte de Persigny was not devoted to dynastic principles. But, if he brought a splendidly Napoleonic name under his roof, he did not marry a reputation as lofty as the name. Happily for him, he was too blinded by his wife's name to know the extent of her later infidelities, though they were common knowledge and offered much amusement to the court society. Mme. de Persigny was also known for her love of English ways, and behind her back was called Lady Persington. She was the mistress of the Duc de Gramont-Caderousse, a roue much frowned upon by his prominent family; and her taste for embassy clerks, when her husband served as Ambassador to Britain, gave rise to the following anecdote: 'Mme. de Persigny is lost; it is impossible to find her,' 'Well, have you looked carefully under all the furniture? The tables, buffets, and secretaries?'" (Gaslight and Shadow: The World of Napoleon III, 1851-1870: 18-19)
6) Eleonore-Marie Brault (1808-1849)
Lover in 1836?.
French singer.
Daughter of a captain of the Imperial Guards.
Wife of Sir Gordon Archer (d.1836)
"His first mistress was a Parisienne, by the name of Eleonore-Marie Brault, a singer, married to Archer Gordon, a Colonel of the Florentine Legion in the service of Isabella II of Spain. In connection with the preparations for the Strasburg attempt of 1836 she proved herself one of the most skilful (sic) and devoted of the future Emperor's allies. He had one daughter by her; she married and lived in England. Eleonore-Marie Brault died in 1849." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 77)
"The heroine of this romance was Eleonora Marie Brault. She was born in Paris on September 6, 1808, and her father was a Captain of the Imperial Guards. Educated in a Convent in the Rue de Sevres, she left it and went to live with her father at Barcelona. I do not know whether this gallant warrior loved music and the theatre, but I can affirm that his daughter loved them passionately. At the Conservatoire in Paris she found two eminent masters of the period, Ponchard and Banderali. She also found Rossini, who gratuitously gave her a few lessons. It is rather surprising that after this preparation she should enter the Odeon. This distant dramatic temple was on the brink of ruin. What did poor Eleonora go there for? The Odeon soon closed its doors. Eleonora sold all she possessed and the same day left for Milan. Charming city! There at least they loved music ardently. Eleonora found there a paradise and perhaps also a few Seraphims in the shape of generous and magnificent lovers, and for twenty months she was the delight of Milan, and in all probability of a few Milanese lovers of art. From Milan she went to Venice. But alas@ What are Venice and Milan to those who have already tasted the delicious fruit of perdition offered by Paris. In spite of her remembrance of the Odeon she crossed the Alps, and one beautiful evening, in 1831, she appeared at the Theatre des Italiens. Her debut was far from brilliant, so much so that she crossed the Channel and went to London. If not artistically successful in the English metropolis, she at least found a husband there in the person of Sir Gordon Archer, a gentleman of condition attached to the Anglo-Spanish legation. In December, 1831, whilst walking in St James's Park she was struck in the face by some unknown person, evidently greatly excited and jealous of her! This adventure made her disgusted with old, free England, and she returned to the Continent where she continued her dramatic tours of Paris, Naples, Rome, Florence, and Strasburg. On March 7, 1836, she became a widow, her husband, the estimable Sir Gordon Archer having died of typhus at Vittoria." (Napoleon III and the Women He loved: 29-31)
"His first mistress was a Parisienne, by the name of Eleonore-Marie Brault, a singer, married to Archer Gordon, a Colonel of the Florentine Legion in the service of Isabella II of Spain. In connection with the preparations for the Strasburg attempt of 1836 she proved herself one of the most skilful (sic) and devoted of the future Emperor's allies. He had one daughter by her; she married and lived in England. Eleonore-Marie Brault died in 1849." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 77)
"The heroine of this romance was Eleonora Marie Brault. She was born in Paris on September 6, 1808, and her father was a Captain of the Imperial Guards. Educated in a Convent in the Rue de Sevres, she left it and went to live with her father at Barcelona. I do not know whether this gallant warrior loved music and the theatre, but I can affirm that his daughter loved them passionately. At the Conservatoire in Paris she found two eminent masters of the period, Ponchard and Banderali. She also found Rossini, who gratuitously gave her a few lessons. It is rather surprising that after this preparation she should enter the Odeon. This distant dramatic temple was on the brink of ruin. What did poor Eleonora go there for? The Odeon soon closed its doors. Eleonora sold all she possessed and the same day left for Milan. Charming city! There at least they loved music ardently. Eleonora found there a paradise and perhaps also a few Seraphims in the shape of generous and magnificent lovers, and for twenty months she was the delight of Milan, and in all probability of a few Milanese lovers of art. From Milan she went to Venice. But alas@ What are Venice and Milan to those who have already tasted the delicious fruit of perdition offered by Paris. In spite of her remembrance of the Odeon she crossed the Alps, and one beautiful evening, in 1831, she appeared at the Theatre des Italiens. Her debut was far from brilliant, so much so that she crossed the Channel and went to London. If not artistically successful in the English metropolis, she at least found a husband there in the person of Sir Gordon Archer, a gentleman of condition attached to the Anglo-Spanish legation. In December, 1831, whilst walking in St James's Park she was struck in the face by some unknown person, evidently greatly excited and jealous of her! This adventure made her disgusted with old, free England, and she returned to the Continent where she continued her dramatic tours of Paris, Naples, Rome, Florence, and Strasburg. On March 7, 1836, she became a widow, her husband, the estimable Sir Gordon Archer having died of typhus at Vittoria." (Napoleon III and the Women He loved: 29-31)
Eleonore-Marie's physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . 'She was remarkable for her charming person; her mind corresponded to her beauty; she was active, intriguing, her manners doubtful; and having no money, she offered all the conditions which go to make an easy instrument of a being endowed with reason.' . . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 33)
Eleonore Brault's other lover was:
Eleonore Brault's other lover was:
Fialan, Duc de Persigny.
7) Eleonore Vergeot (1820-1866)
"Only between 1840 and 1846, when Louis-Napoleon was at Ham, do we find satisfactory evidence of his amours. His laundress, Alexandrine Eleonore Vergeot, bore him two sons. As she later married a man named Bure, both children were given his name. The elder was Alexandre-Louis-Eugene, born February 25, 1843; the younger was Alexandre-Louis-Ernest, born March 18, 1845. Bure himself, during the Second Empire, was given a minor bureaucratic post in the imperial household. As for the two boys, an imperial decree of June 11, 1870, created the elder Comte d'Orx, the younger Comte de Lebenne, the titles themselves being created to represent new estates in the reclaimed areas of Les Landes. Both men served briefly in the bureaucracy of the Second Empire, Lebenne dying without heir in 1882, Orx living until 1910." (The Mortal Napoleon III: 50)
"During his imprisonment at the Chateau de Ham, Louis-Napoleon contrived to carry on an intrigue with Alexandrine-Eleonore Vergeot, who washed his linen. She became the mother of two sons by the Prince: the elder became Count d'Orx and the younger Count de Labenne." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 80-81)
" . . . Of course, on examination there is neither a sabot-maker, nor a Marguerite Bayeux. Marguerite really was Eleonor Vergeot, and her father was a weaver. She was born September 3, 1820, at Estouilly, in the neighbourhood of Ham. She was a servant girl hired by the day to work for some unimportant people, and was to have married a house painted, who left her to run after someone else." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 76)
"The Prince at least loved more discreetly, and his liaison with the 'belle Sabotiere' terminated less tragically. I do not know why she was called 'la belle Sabotiere.' That must be an invention of the pamphleteers of the second Empire. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 76)
"...In particular, a thoughtful prison commander saw to it that there other consolations. The young woman was the Prince's laundress, Eleonore Veugeot-Camus, became his mistress and presented him with two sons, Eugene, born in May 1843, and Louis, born in 1845...." (Smith, 2007, p. 116)
Eleonore Vergeot's physical appearance & personal qualities: " . . . She was a good-looking girl, strong and healthy, with chestnut hair and blue eyes." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 77)
Natural Offspring of Eleonore Vergeot and Napoleon III.
"Only between 1840 and 1846, when Louis-Napoleon was at Ham, do we find satisfactory evidence of his amours. His laundress, Alexandrine Eleonore Vergeot, bore him two sons. As she later married a man named Bure, both children were given his name. The elder was Alexandre-Louis-Eugene, born February 25, 1843; the younger was Alexandre-Louis-Ernest, born March 18, 1845. Bure himself, during the Second Empire, was given a minor bureaucratic post in the imperial household. As for the two boys, an imperial decree on June 11, 1870, created the elder Comte d'Orx, the younger Comte de Labenne, the titles themselves being created to represent new estates in the reclaimed areas of Les Landes. Both men served briefly in the bureaucracy of the Second Empire, Labenne dying without heir in 1882, Orx living until 1910." (The Mortal Napoleon III: 50)
1. Alexandre-Louis-Eugene Bure, Comte d'Orx (1843-1910)
" . . . Eugene Vergeot was Under-secretary at the French Embassy at St. Petersburg, where he carried off an actress, the mistress of the Ambassador. I cannot guarantee the truth of the anecdote, but I do know that in 1864, when he was twenty-one years old, the Emperor gave him a pension of 6,000 francs. At that time he was then in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. . . ."
" . . . (H)e was named Vice-Consul at Rosas, and in 1868 Consul at Zanzibar. The Emperor did even more that this. He created him, in 1869, Comte d'Orz, from the name of the estate in Landes which he had given him. . . ."
". . . The Comte d'Orx married in France, Mlle. Volpette, 'of an excellent Belgian family, and died J, 1910, in his Chateau des Castets, at Saint Andre de Seignaux'. . . . "
2. Louis-Ernest-Alexandre Bure, Comte de Labenne (1845-1882)
8) Elisabeth Hugenschmidt (1825-1915)
Natural offspring: 1. Arthur Hugenschmidt (1862-1929)
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Elisabeth Haryett |
British actress, banker, courtesan & royal mistress.
Daughter of: Joseph Harryett, a waiter & boot maker & the granddaughter of the owner of the Castle Hotel in Brighton.
Daughter of: Joseph Harryett, a waiter & boot maker & the granddaughter of the owner of the Castle Hotel in Brighton.
Wife of: Captain Clarence Trelawny, English horse breeder, mar 1854, div 1865
"...Elizabeth Anne Haryett or Hargett..., b. in England, became the mistress of Napoleon III under the name of Howard, and was by him cr. COUNTESS OF BEAUREGARD (COMTESSE DE BEAUREGARD), near Versailles..., and had a grant of the castle of that name and 250,000 pounds. She m. in 1854 Capt. Clarence Trelawny, Austrian Hussars...but they were divorced in 1865, she dying the same year. Her son, Martin Howard, was cr. by his father COUNT OF BECHEVET (COMTE DE BECHEVET) Jan. 1865, and d. Aug. 1907, leaving issue Richard, 2nd Count of Bechevet, and the Countesses Grisile Charlotte and Marianne Josephine de Bechevet." (Rumigny, 1910, p. 319)
Comtesse de Beauregard's personal & family background.
"Elizabeth Ann Haryett, better known as Miss Howard, was the daughter of Joseph Harryett, a waiter, who lived at No. 22 Hanover Crescent, Brighton and grand-daughter of the Harryett who, with one Gibburd, kept the old Castle Hotel, Brighton. In her youth she was employed in a livery stable in the capacity of riding mistress, and in this way she came into contact with those well-known people through whom she achieved fame. She became successively the mistress of a steeplechase rider, of Major Mountjoy Martyn, A. W. Kinglake, and Louis Napoleon, whom she met at a ball given by Lady Blessington. Kinglake and Louis Napoleon quarrelled over her; hence, it is said, the merciless character of Chapter XIV of his 'Invasion of the Crimes. Miss Howard not only financed the Prince in 1848 before his election to the Presidency, but for some years after, when she lived in Paris. She subsequently travelled with him and was often seen at his side on public occasions. When in 1855 he married Eugenie, she received the farewell gifts of 250,000 pounds, the Beauregard Estate, near Versailles, and the title of Countess de Beauregard. In 1854 she married Mr. Clarence Trelawney, whose father, Mr. Brereton Trelawny, came of an old Cornish family. At the time of their marriage, her husband was an officer in the Austrian army. Some years later they were divorced by a decree of the French Courts, and Trelawney married the daughter of the British Consul at Munich. In 1861 he shot himself, leaving his widow and five daughters in needy circumstances. Miss Howard had one son, Count de Bechevet, who did not enjoy a good reputation. On the day of his coming of age, at a fete at Beauregard, he asked his mother, in front of all the guests: 'Maintenant que je suis majeur, Madame, peut-etre daigneriez-vous nom de mon pere?' In reply, she slapped his face.She died at Beauregard, aged forty-one. Before her death she adjured the Protestant religion, and was received into the Roman Church. She was buried in Chesney cemetery, the nearest village to Beauregard. She had always been very charitable, allowing her parents 840 pounds per annum, besides giving large sums to the poor, of whom a great number followed her coffin. Her tombstone bears the inscription: 'Elizabeth Ann Harryett, dite Miss Howard, nee en Angleterre 1823.' Her son, Count de Bechevet, died leaving one son and two daughters, whose disputes over his will were not finally settled by the Courts until 1908." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 80)
"Madam Gordon's successor in his affections after his return to Europe was the beautiful and notorious Miss Howard, whose exact origin we have not investigated, but who is described in the entry of her death in the registers of the parish of La Celle St. Cloud, near Paris, as 'Elizabeth Anne Haryett, called Miss Howard, Countess de Beauregard, born in England in 1823.' . . . Count Fleury tells us that at the time when Napoleon made her acquaintance in London she was living there under the protection of Major Mountjoy Martyn of the 2nd Life Guards.
"Count Fleury says that at the time when Napoleon made her acquaintance in London, she was living there under the protection of Major Mountjoy Martyn, of the 2nd Life Guards." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 78)
"Elizabeth Ann Haryett or Herriott (afterwards called Miss Howard) was born in Preston, near Brighton, the daughter of a brewer, granddaughter of the proprietor of the Castle Hotel... Brought to London by a well-to-do-lover who could afford a carriage and riding horses for her, and taking to the stage, Miss Haryett met at the age of eighteen a married and rich officer of the Horse Guards, who not only set her up but arranged a trust fund for her... [I]t appears that Louis-Napoleon did not meet Miss Howard before 1846, when she was twenty-three. Soon afterwards she left the house given her by her lover for a smaller one... By her second, English lover she had a son, Martin Constantin, and it can be supposed that she was carried away with the thought of becoming mistress of an Emperor-to-be, even dreamt of being an Empress. She certainly devoted much of her wealth to his cause, which money he afterwards repaid, rewarding her and her son with titles, hers that of Comtesse de Beauregard." (de Gaury, 1972, p. 95)
First encounter: "Count Fleury says in his Memoirs that when Napoleon was in England, Count d'Orsay, the famous dandy, made him acquainted with Miss Howard, and he was immediately fascinated by her great beauty. According to those who knew her in London, she had then an exquisite figure, at once stately and graceful, with features such as only one of the great Greek sculptors could have chiselled. Subsequently she became extremely stout, but even then her head retained a great deal of its former beauty." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 77-78)
Secret trysting place: "In 1848 Miss Howard followed Napoleon to Paris, where she lived at the Hotel Meurice, then the English hotel par excellence. Thence she went to occupy a house in the rue du Cirque, close to the Elysee. Napoleon used to leave the palace through a small door opening on to the rue de Cirque, cross the road, open another door and find himself in Miss Howard's apartment, where he often met people of consequence, including that great aesthete, the Marquess of Hertford." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 78-79)
A wealthy English mistress: "To many Englishmen, Charles Louis Napoleon, forty-four, was a charismatic figure. He was not only the nephew of a legendary hero but a man who had survived by his wits and accomplished the impossible. He had lived in conspiratorial exile in England, had English friends in high places, and even a wealthy English mistress, Elizabeth Howard, whom he was not prepared to discard. Both Victoria and Albert despised him as a vulgarian and immoralist, but neither disability ruled him out any more than his politically necessary Roman Catholicism, as husband for their niece less than half his age, if he were the means of making 'Ada' an empress and creating yet another rapprochement with historically inimical France." (Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert: 279)
Real father of Elizabeth Haryett's son: "The maitresse en titre during those years was, in fact, the well-known Miss Howard. Louis-Napoleon had met her in England before the events that led to Ham, she visited him there, and she retained her position during his presidential years. On August 16, 1842, she gave birth to Martin-Constantin Haryett, and it has been logically assumed by many that Louis-Napoleon was the father, especially since he created Haryett Comte de Bechevet in 1865. It is well established now that Major Mountjoy Martyn was the actual father, and Haryett's creation was more a gesture of regard to the then discarded Miss Howard than an admission of responsibility. Besides Miss Howard during the presidential years, along run of actresses supposedly had access to the president; but we are forced to doubt the validity of much of the gossip. he separation between Louis-Napoleon and Miss Howard was painful for both of them but made necessary by his impending marriage. A separation contract, signed in 1852, provided her with title and income, and she tried to fulfill her responsibilities under the contract by seeking an English husband. Finally, in mid-1854, she married Clarence Trelawny, the second son of a great landed proprietor." (The Mortal Napoleon III: 51-52)
End of affair & aftermath: "Miss Howard, who aspired to the role of La Pompadour, thought that Napoleon would marry her, and when she learned about his projected union with Eugenie, she was furious and threatened to made a scandal. . . Her wrath was assuaged by the counter-threat of imprisonment. She was obliged to keep quiet, which she did whole-heartedly when her former lover purchased for her the Chateau de Beauregard at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, for which he paid 5,000,000 francs, and made her a Countess. The liaison lasted from 1846 to 1853. In 1854, she married an Englishman named Clarence Trelawny." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 79)
Benefits:
"...After the Coup d'Etat Miss Howard was given the title of Countess de Beauregard, two million francs, a beautiful place at La Belle St. Cloud, called 'Beauregard,' and an allowance of some thousands a year...." (Murat, 2005, p. 212) [Ref:236] [Ref2:Papers Past] [Ref3:Mocavo] [Ref4:Chroniques de Beauregard]
"Before his marriage, Napoleon III had a favourite, Mrs. Howard, to whom he had been much attached when in London, and who is said to have materially aided her lover when he first ventured to Paris with few friends and scanty means. She had a son who received the title of count---the Comte Bechevet, and when the liaison terminated, she received an Imperial pension and the magnificent chateau of Beauregard, near Paris...." (The Marriages of the Bonapartes, Volume 2: 339)
"Madam Gordon's successor in his affections after his return to Europe was the beautiful and notorious Miss Howard, whose exact origin we have not investigated, but who is described in the entry of her death in the registers of the parish of La Celle St. Cloud, near Paris, as 'Elizabeth Anne Haryett, called Miss Howard, Countess de Beauregard, born in England in 1823.' . . . Count Fleury tells us that at the time when Napoleon made her acquaintance in London she was living there under the protection of Major Mountjoy Martyn of the 2nd Life Guards.
"Count Fleury says that at the time when Napoleon made her acquaintance in London, she was living there under the protection of Major Mountjoy Martyn, of the 2nd Life Guards." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 78)
"Elizabeth Ann Haryett or Herriott (afterwards called Miss Howard) was born in Preston, near Brighton, the daughter of a brewer, granddaughter of the proprietor of the Castle Hotel... Brought to London by a well-to-do-lover who could afford a carriage and riding horses for her, and taking to the stage, Miss Haryett met at the age of eighteen a married and rich officer of the Horse Guards, who not only set her up but arranged a trust fund for her... [I]t appears that Louis-Napoleon did not meet Miss Howard before 1846, when she was twenty-three. Soon afterwards she left the house given her by her lover for a smaller one... By her second, English lover she had a son, Martin Constantin, and it can be supposed that she was carried away with the thought of becoming mistress of an Emperor-to-be, even dreamt of being an Empress. She certainly devoted much of her wealth to his cause, which money he afterwards repaid, rewarding her and her son with titles, hers that of Comtesse de Beauregard." (de Gaury, 1972, p. 95)
First encounter: "Count Fleury says in his Memoirs that when Napoleon was in England, Count d'Orsay, the famous dandy, made him acquainted with Miss Howard, and he was immediately fascinated by her great beauty. According to those who knew her in London, she had then an exquisite figure, at once stately and graceful, with features such as only one of the great Greek sculptors could have chiselled. Subsequently she became extremely stout, but even then her head retained a great deal of its former beauty." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 77-78)
Secret trysting place: "In 1848 Miss Howard followed Napoleon to Paris, where she lived at the Hotel Meurice, then the English hotel par excellence. Thence she went to occupy a house in the rue du Cirque, close to the Elysee. Napoleon used to leave the palace through a small door opening on to the rue de Cirque, cross the road, open another door and find himself in Miss Howard's apartment, where he often met people of consequence, including that great aesthete, the Marquess of Hertford." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 78-79)
A wealthy English mistress: "To many Englishmen, Charles Louis Napoleon, forty-four, was a charismatic figure. He was not only the nephew of a legendary hero but a man who had survived by his wits and accomplished the impossible. He had lived in conspiratorial exile in England, had English friends in high places, and even a wealthy English mistress, Elizabeth Howard, whom he was not prepared to discard. Both Victoria and Albert despised him as a vulgarian and immoralist, but neither disability ruled him out any more than his politically necessary Roman Catholicism, as husband for their niece less than half his age, if he were the means of making 'Ada' an empress and creating yet another rapprochement with historically inimical France." (Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert: 279)
Real father of Elizabeth Haryett's son: "The maitresse en titre during those years was, in fact, the well-known Miss Howard. Louis-Napoleon had met her in England before the events that led to Ham, she visited him there, and she retained her position during his presidential years. On August 16, 1842, she gave birth to Martin-Constantin Haryett, and it has been logically assumed by many that Louis-Napoleon was the father, especially since he created Haryett Comte de Bechevet in 1865. It is well established now that Major Mountjoy Martyn was the actual father, and Haryett's creation was more a gesture of regard to the then discarded Miss Howard than an admission of responsibility. Besides Miss Howard during the presidential years, along run of actresses supposedly had access to the president; but we are forced to doubt the validity of much of the gossip. he separation between Louis-Napoleon and Miss Howard was painful for both of them but made necessary by his impending marriage. A separation contract, signed in 1852, provided her with title and income, and she tried to fulfill her responsibilities under the contract by seeking an English husband. Finally, in mid-1854, she married Clarence Trelawny, the second son of a great landed proprietor." (The Mortal Napoleon III: 51-52)
End of affair & aftermath: "Miss Howard, who aspired to the role of La Pompadour, thought that Napoleon would marry her, and when she learned about his projected union with Eugenie, she was furious and threatened to made a scandal. . . Her wrath was assuaged by the counter-threat of imprisonment. She was obliged to keep quiet, which she did whole-heartedly when her former lover purchased for her the Chateau de Beauregard at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, for which he paid 5,000,000 francs, and made her a Countess. The liaison lasted from 1846 to 1853. In 1854, she married an Englishman named Clarence Trelawny." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 79)
Benefits:
"...After the Coup d'Etat Miss Howard was given the title of Countess de Beauregard, two million francs, a beautiful place at La Belle St. Cloud, called 'Beauregard,' and an allowance of some thousands a year...." (Murat, 2005, p. 212) [Ref:236] [Ref2:Papers Past] [Ref3:Mocavo] [Ref4:Chroniques de Beauregard]
"Before his marriage, Napoleon III had a favourite, Mrs. Howard, to whom he had been much attached when in London, and who is said to have materially aided her lover when he first ventured to Paris with few friends and scanty means. She had a son who received the title of count---the Comte Bechevet, and when the liaison terminated, she received an Imperial pension and the magnificent chateau of Beauregard, near Paris...." (The Marriages of the Bonapartes, Volume 2: 339)
 |
| Chateau de Beauregard (north facade) in La Celle St. Cloud pictured in 1872 when it was owned by Baron Maurice de Hirsch @ Wikipedia |
1) Alfred d'Orsay (1801-1852)
2) A.W. Kinglake.
3) Earl of Chesterfield.
4) Francis Mountjoy Martyn (1809-1874)
Major in the Life Guards
Lover in 1841.
"In 1841 Francis had taken a mistress 'Harriet or Lizzy Howard' who possibly bore him a son. Francis bestowed a fortune on her, however she found a new lover, Prince Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III. Francis and Lizzy's son Martin (who had been baptised as the child of his maternal grandparents) was educated with the sons of Louis Napoleon." (Tidenham History Group)
2) A.W. Kinglake.
3) Earl of Chesterfield.
4) Francis Mountjoy Martyn (1809-1874)
Major in the Life Guards
Lover in 1841.
"In 1841 Francis had taken a mistress 'Harriet or Lizzy Howard' who possibly bore him a son. Francis bestowed a fortune on her, however she found a new lover, Prince Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III. Francis and Lizzy's son Martin (who had been baptised as the child of his maternal grandparents) was educated with the sons of Louis Napoleon." (Tidenham History Group)
"The ceremonial aspects of the capital and Windsor Castle were the prerogative of the Household Cavalry due to their precedence and seniority, and their allegiance to the Royal Family since the times of Charles II, and perhaps before. Ceremony and pomp is a dedication in itself and needs the commitment of men and officers who can excel in it, both in times of peace and times of war. Such a man of commitment and dedication, particularly to his regiment, was Francis Mountjoy Martyn, born in 1809 in India of a dedicated military family and and joining the 2nd Life Guards as Second Lieutenant in 1827. By chance the regiment saw little overseas activity, or conditions of war, during the next thirty years, spending its time between ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace, Knightsbridge and Windsor Castle, and partaking in riot suppression in support of the local yeomanry in various parts of the country. This was convenient to F.M. Martyn who was advancing himself socially and in his career through the high society that moved around the capital and royal circles, acquiring properties in Belgravia and near Windsor Castle to ensure that his alternating duties in these areas could be undertaken in a dedicated manner and reasonably trouble free. Regularly taking his promotions by purchase or brevet within the regiment, he became Lieutenant Colonel in 1857 and Brevet Colonel in 1858, finally retiring in 1863. . . He participated in . . . riot suppression throughout the country . . . but finding time for social alliance with Lizzie Howard, for whom he set up house and servants in St. Johns Wood, until she wandered off into the arms of the future Napoleon III, earning herself a title and a small chateau in France in doing so. . . ." (The British Cavalry Sword from 1600:165). [Ref1:rootshat] [Ref2:landrucimetieres]
"Her next lover was Major Mountjoy Martyn,a wealthy Guards officer. She became his mistress when she was eighteen. Here she had a grand house and servants. She also had a son, which pleased the Major. When she was asked who the son's parents were by the Registrations Office she named her own parents. She quickly stated 'Plumber', when asked her son's father's occupation. Either Martyn didn't want to appear on the Birth Certificate as the son's father, or Lizzie didn't want him to be named as the father. However, he lavished gifts on Lizzie and liked having a son. Martyn was soon for the 'chop', unfortunately." (Royal Rendezvous)
A chequered career: "Francis Mountjoy Martin was an officer in the Lifeguards but he had a chequered career. The Gentleman's Magazine of 1857 reports his promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel by purchase and by the time he retired on half pay in 1863 he was a colonel. A newspaper report one year earlier . . . perhaps indicated that his retirement may have been forced upon him. . . ."
Francis Martyn's personal & family background: " . . . Her husband, the illegitimate son of Charles Fuller Martyn was wealthy his father having made his money in India, Francis and his brother inherited the equivalent of 2.5 million pounds at the age of twenty-one and another 5 million pounds at the age of thirty." (Tidenham History Group)
5) Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort (1684-1714)
"...Eliza Haywood in her Memoirs, describing Beaufort as being 'never overnice in his choices,' alleges that Fowke was his mistress and had a son by him but she was turned off when the Duke happened to arrive unannounced to find 'the most dirt and disagreeable of her footmen in her arms.'...." (Sansom, 1997, pp. 159-160)
6) James Howard Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury (1807-1887)
7) James Mason
Lover in 1838.
A British jockey
" . . . Her adventures began when she was fifteen and decided to run away with a famous jockey. She lived with him in London, and decided to change her name to Howard. . . ." (Royal Rendezvous)
" . . . Her adventures began when she was fifteen and decided to run away with a famous jockey. She lived with him in London, and decided to change her name to Howard. . . ." (Royal Rendezvous)
.jpg/485px-Eug%C3%A9nie%3B_keizerin_der_Fransen_(2).jpg) |
| Eugenie de Montijo Empress of the French by Pierre-Desire Guillemet or Teofil Kwiatkovski, 1853 @ Musee d'Orsay |
10) Eugenie de Montijo (1826-1920)
Eugenie's personal & family background: "Mademoiselle
Eugenie de Montijo, Countess de Teba was a daughter of one of the most illustrious families of Spain. The House of Guzman traces back its origin to the earliest days of the Spanish monarchy, and counts among its heroes the famous Alonzo Perez de Guzman, who, being governor of Talifa in 1291, allowed the Moors to decapitate his son rather than give up the citadel. Hence the device of the House---'Mas pesa el rey que la sangue.' The families of Medina-Coeli, Las Torres, Medina, Sidonia, and Olivares are, like the Montijo family, branches of the Guzmans. There is, moreover, royal blood in the De Montijo race. Mademoiselle Eugenie was grandniece of Alfonso X. Nor was this lady the first Guzman to sit upon a throne. In the seventeenth century Dona Luiza Francisca de Guzman married the Duke of Braganza, afterwards King Juan IV of Portugal. The Counts de Montijo, moreover, descend from the royal House of Acuna. Count Victor de Hamel, in his history of the Spanish monarchy, remarks that 'the great and Illustrious Porto-Carrero, Counts de Montijo (one of whom was the famous cardinal who, under Charles II of Austria, exercised so powerful an influence over the destinies of Spain), descend in direct male line from the ancient patrician family who, in 1339, gave Genoa her first Doge.' Dona Maria Francisca de Porto-Carrero was a De Montijo. A Doge of Genoa, a Queen of Portugal, and a King Leon of the Asturias and Galicia, as well as illustrious soldiers and churchmen, were, then, among the ancestry of the beautiful lady with the hair which Titian loved who had consented to share the throne of Napoleon III. Her father, the Count de Montijo, had fought with great distinction under Napoleon. Having rallied to the cause of King Joseph, he distinguished himself and was wounded at Salamanca, and was with the French army in 1814. It was to Colonel de Montijo, colonel of artillery, that Napoleon confided the fortification of Pris when the city was menaced by the Allies in 1814; and it was he who, at the head of the Polytechnic School, was appointed to defend the Buttes Chaumont. Persecuted and imprisoned under Ferdinand VII for his participation in the wars of the Empire, he was one of the first grandees who were called to the Senate when Spain recovered her liberties. A thorough Liberal, a man of enlightened views, rich, and with a hand always open to the appeals of charity, and married, as we have seen, to a lady of extraordinary merit, his house in Madrid was the resort of the most cultivated society. So much for the paternal ancestry of the Emperor's affianced bride." (The Life of Napoleon III: Derived from State Records, Volume 3: 419-420)
Eugenie's personal & family background: "Mademoiselle
Eugenie de Montijo, Countess de Teba was a daughter of one of the most illustrious families of Spain. The House of Guzman traces back its origin to the earliest days of the Spanish monarchy, and counts among its heroes the famous Alonzo Perez de Guzman, who, being governor of Talifa in 1291, allowed the Moors to decapitate his son rather than give up the citadel. Hence the device of the House---'Mas pesa el rey que la sangue.' The families of Medina-Coeli, Las Torres, Medina, Sidonia, and Olivares are, like the Montijo family, branches of the Guzmans. There is, moreover, royal blood in the De Montijo race. Mademoiselle Eugenie was grandniece of Alfonso X. Nor was this lady the first Guzman to sit upon a throne. In the seventeenth century Dona Luiza Francisca de Guzman married the Duke of Braganza, afterwards King Juan IV of Portugal. The Counts de Montijo, moreover, descend from the royal House of Acuna. Count Victor de Hamel, in his history of the Spanish monarchy, remarks that 'the great and Illustrious Porto-Carrero, Counts de Montijo (one of whom was the famous cardinal who, under Charles II of Austria, exercised so powerful an influence over the destinies of Spain), descend in direct male line from the ancient patrician family who, in 1339, gave Genoa her first Doge.' Dona Maria Francisca de Porto-Carrero was a De Montijo. A Doge of Genoa, a Queen of Portugal, and a King Leon of the Asturias and Galicia, as well as illustrious soldiers and churchmen, were, then, among the ancestry of the beautiful lady with the hair which Titian loved who had consented to share the throne of Napoleon III. Her father, the Count de Montijo, had fought with great distinction under Napoleon. Having rallied to the cause of King Joseph, he distinguished himself and was wounded at Salamanca, and was with the French army in 1814. It was to Colonel de Montijo, colonel of artillery, that Napoleon confided the fortification of Pris when the city was menaced by the Allies in 1814; and it was he who, at the head of the Polytechnic School, was appointed to defend the Buttes Chaumont. Persecuted and imprisoned under Ferdinand VII for his participation in the wars of the Empire, he was one of the first grandees who were called to the Senate when Spain recovered her liberties. A thorough Liberal, a man of enlightened views, rich, and with a hand always open to the appeals of charity, and married, as we have seen, to a lady of extraordinary merit, his house in Madrid was the resort of the most cultivated society. So much for the paternal ancestry of the Emperor's affianced bride." (The Life of Napoleon III: Derived from State Records, Volume 3: 419-420)
Notorious Virgin or What?: " . . . She would give her body to Louis Napoleon for nothing less than marriage and, having failed to seduce her, he was obliged to marry her in 1853. Curiously, Wilfrid Blunt, always ready to debunk a myth, contradicts the story of Eugenie's modesty, maintaining that the Duke of Sesto was among her lovers and that when the Emperor married her she had recently been the mistress of the Marquis d'Aguado." (Mostyn, 2006, p. 11)[Ref1:Empress Eugenie]
"Napoleon's discerning gaze had been attracted by her on the occasion of their meeting in the drawing-room of his handsome cousin the Princess Mathilde." (Loliee, 2012, p. 35)
"...The second way James sought to ingratiate himself with Napoleon was by championing the cause of the half-Spanish, half-Scottish adventuress Eugenie de Montijo, who more snobbish Parisians assumed would merely be Napoleon's next mistress. Napoleon had been introduced to her in 1850 and by the end of 1852 was infatuated; when his plans foundered for a diplomatic marriage to Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe (one of Victoria's nieces) he impulsively resolved to marry her---to the dismay of his ministers." (Ferguson, 2000, n.p.)
"Napoleon's discerning gaze had been attracted by her on the occasion of their meeting in the drawing-room of his handsome cousin the Princess Mathilde." (Loliee, 2012, p. 35)
"...The second way James sought to ingratiate himself with Napoleon was by championing the cause of the half-Spanish, half-Scottish adventuress Eugenie de Montijo, who more snobbish Parisians assumed would merely be Napoleon's next mistress. Napoleon had been introduced to her in 1850 and by the end of 1852 was infatuated; when his plans foundered for a diplomatic marriage to Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe (one of Victoria's nieces) he impulsively resolved to marry her---to the dismay of his ministers." (Ferguson, 2000, n.p.)
Empress Eugenie's lovers were:
1. Napoleon III of the French.
"...The second way James sought to ingratiate himself with Napoleon was by championing the cause of the half-Spanish, half-Scottish adventuress Eugenie de Montijo, who more snobbish Parisians assumed would merely be Napoleon's next mistress. Napoleon had been introduced to her in 1850 and by the end of 1852 was infatuated; when his plans foundered for a diplomatic marriage to Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe (one of Victoria's nieces) he impulsively resolved to marry her---to the dismay of his ministers." (Ferguson, 2000, n.p.)
2. Jose Isidro Osorio y de Silva, 8th Duque de Sesto.
" . . . Curiously, Wilfrid Blunt, always ready to debunk a myth, contradicts the story of Eugenie's modesty, maintaining that the Deke of Sesto was among her lovers and that when the Emperor married her she had recently been the mistress of the Marquis d'Aguado." (Egypt's Belle Epoque: 11)
2. Jose Isidro Osorio y de Silva, 8th Duque de Sesto.
" . . . Curiously, Wilfrid Blunt, always ready to debunk a myth, contradicts the story of Eugenie's modesty, maintaining that the Deke of Sesto was among her lovers and that when the Emperor married her she had recently been the mistress of the Marquis d'Aguado." (Egypt's Belle Epoque: 11)
3. Marques de Aguado.
11) La Petite Pomeyrae.
" . . . On the 24th June, 1861, Viel-Castel speaks of the daughter of the painter Pomeyrae, who had the honour to receive 25,000 francs for having spent the night with the Emperor. La petite Pomeyrae is much sought after. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 252)
11) La Petite Pomeyrae.
" . . . On the 24th June, 1861, Viel-Castel speaks of the daughter of the painter Pomeyrae, who had the honour to receive 25,000 francs for having spent the night with the Emperor. La petite Pomeyrae is much sought after. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 252)
12) Lady C.
" . . . His last favourite before Sedan was a certain Lady C. She had been the mistress of a gallant man, who loved her. she was unfaithful to him and he left her. Thanks to 'secret services which she rendered,' she entered the Tuileries, where the master saw and desired her. As she was there for the purpose of being seen and desired, she did not lose time in negotiations, and quickly accepted the offer which was made to her. The Imperial romance lasted only a short time. The nose of the cannon of Sedan exploded over France with the smoke of bombardments. For Lady C. the reign of inconsolate shadow! She had been one of the last favourites of the Emperor, and she still shows in her house a cup out of which Napoleon III drank his coffee at Chalons, and also the diamond necklace which the Imperial lover had wound round her neck one evening at Fontainbleau. after this liaison no other romance has existed, for it was not from women, their brief tenderness and fleeting loves, that the vanquished Emperor expected consolation after his failure." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 264-265)
13) Lodzia Bogaslawa Zelewska (1835-?)
13) Lodzia Bogaslawa Zelewska (1835-?)
Madame Feydeau
Lover in 1860
Natural offspring:
a. Georges Feydeau (1862-1921), French author
14) Madame Chanteaud.
" . . . And who was Mme. Chanteaud, by whom Napoleon III had a daughter, who became Comtesse de Molen de la Vernede? . . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 248)
15) Madame de Brimont.
" . . . And again Mme. de Brimont, a countess it seems, introduced to him by the Prince Napoleon. If Mme. de Brimont had any intimate acquaintance with Napoleon, her liaison with him not special influence on the life of the sovereign. But I said I was going to write of the past mistresses of the Emperor, and Mme. de Brimont was one of them. She held a salon, rue du Corque, which was soon empty, because people were so bored by her. Under M. de Thiers and the late Marshal, she tried again, but in vain. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 248)
16) Madame de Malaret.
" . . . Mme. de Malaret, lady in waiting on the Empress, is better known. In Feb., 1853, the report is spread throughout the Faubourg Saint-Germain that she is resigning her post so as not to be obliged to reject the Emperor's proposals. 'I do not know,' says Viel-Castel, in echoing the report, ' if Mme. de Malaret is sending in her resignation, but I do know that she is not the woman to be afraid of such proposals, and that her virtue was surprised not long ago and conquered by the advances of Colonel Fleury, to whom she not only held out her arms, but her charms also, and let herself be overcome.'" (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 250-251
17) "Madame de xxv".
" . . . To this list we must add also a literary woman, whose name is not given, who offered her works to the Emperor with warm dedications. Would this mbe that Mme. de xxv, author of Une Saison a Paris, about whom Prosper Merimee wrote to his unknown lady: 'She is a person full of candour, who has a great desire to please His Majesty, and who at a ball told him so in such plain words that you are the only person in the world who would not have understood them. He was so astonished that at first he could find nothing to say, and it was only after three days that he consented.' . . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 252)
14) Madame Chanteaud.
" . . . And who was Mme. Chanteaud, by whom Napoleon III had a daughter, who became Comtesse de Molen de la Vernede? . . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 248)
15) Madame de Brimont.
" . . . And again Mme. de Brimont, a countess it seems, introduced to him by the Prince Napoleon. If Mme. de Brimont had any intimate acquaintance with Napoleon, her liaison with him not special influence on the life of the sovereign. But I said I was going to write of the past mistresses of the Emperor, and Mme. de Brimont was one of them. She held a salon, rue du Corque, which was soon empty, because people were so bored by her. Under M. de Thiers and the late Marshal, she tried again, but in vain. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 248)
16) Madame de Malaret.
" . . . Mme. de Malaret, lady in waiting on the Empress, is better known. In Feb., 1853, the report is spread throughout the Faubourg Saint-Germain that she is resigning her post so as not to be obliged to reject the Emperor's proposals. 'I do not know,' says Viel-Castel, in echoing the report, ' if Mme. de Malaret is sending in her resignation, but I do know that she is not the woman to be afraid of such proposals, and that her virtue was surprised not long ago and conquered by the advances of Colonel Fleury, to whom she not only held out her arms, but her charms also, and let herself be overcome.'" (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 250-251
17) "Madame de xxv".
" . . . To this list we must add also a literary woman, whose name is not given, who offered her works to the Emperor with warm dedications. Would this mbe that Mme. de xxv, author of Une Saison a Paris, about whom Prosper Merimee wrote to his unknown lady: 'She is a person full of candour, who has a great desire to please His Majesty, and who at a ball told him so in such plain words that you are the only person in the world who would not have understood them. He was so astonished that at first he could find nothing to say, and it was only after three days that he consented.' . . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 252)
18) Madame Drouyn de Thuys.
" . . . There is serious authority, however, which permits us to add other names to the authentic list of the mistresses of Napoleon III. Mme. Drouyn de Thuys, the wife of the minster, in whom he was interested, and who was removed from partaking of the honours offered at the Tuileries by coming into conflict with the Empress. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 247-248)
19) Madame Greville.
" . . . April 21, it is 'pretty Mme. Greville,' with whom at Mme. Walewska's ball the Emperor spends an hour. And then, before unmasking, in order to let her know he was the Emperor, he spoke about his portrait which was on the walls, and when she showed her doubt, he said to her, 'Do you see that little room? Only the Emperor and the Empress may go into it.' And he went in. This action probably was sufficient to convince Mme. Greville. We see her again at a ball on March 7, 1859, flirting with the Emperor, and this brought upon Napoleon III a scene with Mme. X, who was jealous. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 251-252)
20) Mademoiselle Alexandre.
" . . . A police report of February 7, 1854, says: 'There is much talk about a certain Mlle. Alexandre, who is, for the time being, the Emperor's favourite.' Whence comes this lady? A mystery. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 250
Marguerite Bellanger
21) Marguerite Bellanger (1838-1886)
Lover in 1863.
French stage actress, acrobatic dancer, courtesan & royal mistress.
Daughter of: Francois Laboeuf & Julie Hanot.
Wife of: William Louis Kulbach, British army officer.
Natural offspring:
a. Charles Leboeuf (1864-1941)
"On February 24, 1864, at half-past ten at night, Marguerite Bellanger gave birth to a son, whose birth was not declared until two days had gone by, when the declaration was made in very equivocal terms." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 224)
Marguerite Bellanger's physical appearance & personal qualities: "The mid-century fashion for thinness . . . was also advanced by Napoleon III's current mistress Marguerite Bellanger, who was '[b]elow average in size, slight, thin, almost skinny.' Significantly, the author of Les courtisanes du Second Empire identified Marguerite Bellanger as the most famous camelia of the day. Her nom de guerre was said to have been inspired by Dumas' heroine, and she was renowned for wearing daisies (marguerites) . . . Born Julie Marie Lebouef, in the village of Ville-Bernier, by 1858 she had settled in Paris and assumed her pseudonym. In the early 1860s, she allied herself with the lorettes on the Avenue de la Motte-Picquet near the Ecole Militaire, and became a favorite of military officials and the imperial guard." (Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide: A Journal of Nineteenth Century Visual Culture)
" . . . They say she was 'simply tempting,' and it is not to be denied that she enjoyed the health and vigour of her native village---her blond beauty and frank face, rather thick ankles and deformed, 'ugly' to look at, such natural flexibility that when lying flat on her back she could rise in one spring. She had no pedigree and looked more like a 'grisette' than a 'cocotte,' but the Society she was going to enter would be able to teach her very quickly all the means by which women who are destined to madden men by the beauty of their bodies conquer." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 211-212)
First encounter: "While there are many accounts---some most likely romantic exaggerations---of the beginning of their affair, Marguerite appears to have met Napoleon III in the early 1860s. Baron d'Ambes, in his memoirs, describes a conversation he had with Napoleon III at Vichy on 4 July 1861. 'Scarcely was he indoors when he confided to me his impressions by the way and asked me if there was anything in the nature of fun to be found. The question struck me as disquieting. He mentioned the fair Marguerite with a laugh. 'The reference was to Mlle Bellanger, the Emperor's mistress at this period. Hector Fleischmann's Napoleon III and the Women He Loved does not date the relationship's origin, but his chronology suggests it was in the early 1860s." (Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide: A Journal of Nineteenth Century Visual Culture)
Benefits: ". . . The Emperor kept Marguerite in the style of a princess. Dogs, carriages, jewellery, and a magnificent palace on the Avenue de la Reine Hortense, were her portion given by the Emperor." (Landon, 1871, p. 345)[Ref3:53]
Marguerite Bellanger's other lovers: " . . . At Nantes, for example, the city of her debut so to speak, when she put up at the Hotel de France, she had the best possible reception from her former friends. She caused no scandal at the Hippodrome at Mauves, and everything was so satisfactory that she returned again to Nantes, and fell in love with a young man who hid her in a house in the rue de la Fosse, where Brichet the armourer lived. This kind of thing touched her. It seems almost certain, according to what was said by one of her friends, that even during the period of her liaison with the Emperor she kept up her relations with her former lover, one of the Equerries to the Emperor, and apparently the very man who had introduced her to the Emperor. This favoured lover went to the Rue des Vignes discreetly and secretly to take his 'share of the pleasures due to this devotion and savoir faire'. . . ." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 320-321)
References.
Marguerite Bellanger: Mistress to the Emperor Napoleon III, 1840-1886.
22) Marie-Clotilde-Elisabeth-Louise de Riquet (1837-1890)
References.
Marguerite Bellanger: Mistress to the Emperor Napoleon III, 1840-1886.
 |
| Louise de Mercy-Argenteau @Wikipedia |
Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau
Lover in 1866-1870.
Napoleon III's last official mistress.
"Marguerite Bellanger was the last maitresse en titre in Napoleon III's life, but not the last woman. That honor beloned to the Comtesse Louise de Mercy-Argenteau, born a princess of the hose of Caraman-Chimay in 1837. . . ." (The Mortal Napoleon III: 71)
23) Maria Anna Schiess (1812-1880)
Natural offspring:
a. Bonaventure Karrer (1839-1921)
"How many children Napoleon III. actually begotten, is historically difficult to understand. The nephew Napoleon I was a great philanderer throughout his life. Thus, numerous love affairs can be attested during his stay on Lake Constance. Nobleman, bourgeois or peasant: Louis Bonaparte knew in his amorous adventures no barriers. So he also maintained a relationship with a certain Maria Anna Schiess from Allensbach, which has been handed down. A beauty with Titian hair, whose ancestors came from Andalusia. In 1839 her illegitimate son sees the world: his name "Bonaventur" ("beautiful adventure"). Louis, known for the generous support of his illegitimate children, probably equips Maria Anna Schiess with money. So she is capable In spite of an illegitimate child and her age of 41 years, to marry the 14 years younger Meinrad Karrer. "This Bonventur is my great-great-grandfather," says Wolfgang Stössel and shows his ancestral pass as proof. These passports certified the "Aryan descent" in the Third Reich. Each citizen of the German Reich had to provide the "Aryan proof", after full citizenship (Reich citizenship) was given exclusively to citizens with "German or related descent" due to the Nuremberg Laws. The pedigree of the Karrer-Stössel family is meticulously traced. And so there is the entry about the marriage between Meinrad Karrer and Anna Schiess with the note that the young Bonaventur was adopted. From the marriage between him and Juditah Frey sprang out Karl Bonaventur. His daughter Augusta Karolina married Gustav Adolf Stössel. "And their son Gerhard is my father", explains Wolfgang Stössel and adds "that Napoleon III. our ancestor is, is and has been our topic at home ". In the extensive family there is also an old copper ring, which Napoleon Anna Schiess should have given. A mark that Napoleon handed over to his descendants and that was often passed along with other gifts in the families.Wolfgang Stössel's aunt Martha Volz-Stössel (86) still remembers stories of her mother Augusta Karolina. This reported that she often accompanied her grandfather Bonaventur on trips from Allensbach to Arenenberg. There had been a statue that Bonaventur had always commented on with the phrase "Here he stands, the fallen Napoleon." Wolfgang Stössel is by no means uncomfortable with his illegitimate descent. So he advertises in his shop in the Neugasse, which he runs with Sylvia Zwiener, quite offensive with his heritage. "Sometimes people come in to ask me if that's true. Then I show them copies of the ancestral passport, "says Wolfgang Stössel. And is a bit moved that his family history - if only as a footnote - in the great political history of Europe emerges." (Stoessel)
"How many children Napoleon III. actually begotten, is historically difficult to understand. The nephew Napoleon I was a great philanderer throughout his life. Thus, numerous love affairs can be attested during his stay on Lake Constance. Nobleman, bourgeois or peasant: Louis Bonaparte knew in his amorous adventures no barriers. So he also maintained a relationship with a certain Maria Anna Schiess from Allensbach, which has been handed down. A beauty with Titian hair, whose ancestors came from Andalusia. In 1839 her illegitimate son sees the world: his name "Bonaventur" ("beautiful adventure"). Louis, known for the generous support of his illegitimate children, probably equips Maria Anna Schiess with money. So she is capable In spite of an illegitimate child and her age of 41 years, to marry the 14 years younger Meinrad Karrer. "This Bonventur is my great-great-grandfather," says Wolfgang Stössel and shows his ancestral pass as proof. These passports certified the "Aryan descent" in the Third Reich. Each citizen of the German Reich had to provide the "Aryan proof", after full citizenship (Reich citizenship) was given exclusively to citizens with "German or related descent" due to the Nuremberg Laws. The pedigree of the Karrer-Stössel family is meticulously traced. And so there is the entry about the marriage between Meinrad Karrer and Anna Schiess with the note that the young Bonaventur was adopted. From the marriage between him and Juditah Frey sprang out Karl Bonaventur. His daughter Augusta Karolina married Gustav Adolf Stössel. "And their son Gerhard is my father", explains Wolfgang Stössel and adds "that Napoleon III. our ancestor is, is and has been our topic at home ". In the extensive family there is also an old copper ring, which Napoleon Anna Schiess should have given. A mark that Napoleon handed over to his descendants and that was often passed along with other gifts in the families.Wolfgang Stössel's aunt Martha Volz-Stössel (86) still remembers stories of her mother Augusta Karolina. This reported that she often accompanied her grandfather Bonaventur on trips from Allensbach to Arenenberg. There had been a statue that Bonaventur had always commented on with the phrase "Here he stands, the fallen Napoleon." Wolfgang Stössel is by no means uncomfortable with his illegitimate descent. So he advertises in his shop in the Neugasse, which he runs with Sylvia Zwiener, quite offensive with his heritage. "Sometimes people come in to ask me if that's true. Then I show them copies of the ancestral passport, "says Wolfgang Stössel. And is a bit moved that his family history - if only as a footnote - in the great political history of Europe emerges." (Stoessel)
Daughter of: Zanobi Ricci & Isabelle Poniatowska.
Wife of:
1. Comte Alexandre Florian Walewski mar 1846
2. Joseph Alessandro mar 1877
"...(O)n Thursday, September 28, 1858, he carefully noted down the conversation of the evening before. They had been talking about Walewski, the natural son of the great Napoleon and Maria Walewska. His wife Marianne, was for the moment Napoleon III's mistress. According to Mathilde, Walewski was unaware of his misfortune. 'Marianne is a little libertine who had managed, while sleeping with the Emperor, to become a friend of the Empress. But she is terrified of her husband and I would swear that Walewski knows nothing,'" (The Turbulent City: Paris, 1783-1871: 269)
25) Maria Kalergis (1822-1874)
Polish noblewoman, pianist & patron of the arts
"Now I come to some women about whom it is possible to give certain slight details. For example, Mme. Kalerqi, the very beautiful daughter of M. de Nesselrode, head of the Warsaw Police, and niece of the famous Chancellor, 'a very beautiful woman and an excellent musician,' according to Alfred de Musset, and who first married a banker from the Levant, and secondly General Muravieff.. It was for her that Theophile Gautier wrote the eighteen verses of 'la Symphonie en blanc majeur, which are so warmly lyrical." (Napoleon III and the Women He Loved: 254)
27) Mathilde-Pauline-Gabrielle Elluin (1849-?)
 |
| Mathilde Bonaparte |
26) Mathilde Bonaparte (1820-1904)
Countess Demidoff
Princesse de San Donato
"The power behind the throne -- in cultural matters, at least -- was not Eugenie or even a mistress, but Princess Mathilde. A first cousin of Napoleon II, she was engaged to him briefly at age 16, though they were mismatched intellectually. When the man she did may turned (sic) out to be cruel and abusive, she fled him with her Parisian lover, the Comte de Nieuwerkerke. She took her family's jewels, using them as collateral for a bank loan of 500,000 francs that funded her cousin's rise to power. Even after Napoleon III's marriage to Eugenie, a Spanish countess educated in Paris, Mathilde wielded enormous power. At the Paris townhouse Napoleon III put at her disposal, she regularly received scientists, writers, painters, and musicians, and she obtained advantages for them. She herself was an artist, winning a medal for her painting at the 1865 Salon, and it was at her request that the Comte de Nieuwerkerke (a failed sculptor) was promoted to Superintendent of Fine Arts in 1863, at an annual salary of 60,000 francs. It is said that Princess Mathilde decided who was elected to the Academie des Beaux Arts, or which painter won a medal." (The Hammock Novel)
 |
| Gabrielle Elluin @geneanet |
27) Mathilde-Pauline-Gabrielle Elluin (1849-?)
27) Minna Lindsay.
28) Pascalie Corbiere (1828-?)
Natural offspring:
a. Christian Corbiere
b. Auguste Corbiere
29) Rachel Felix.
"Yet like her erstwhile lover and longtime friend Louis Napoleon (1808–1873, who became Emperor Napoleon III in 1852), she had no regrets when the Second Republic gave way to the Second Empire. When Prince-President Louis Napoleon brought the French state theater under much stricter control in 1849, Rachel benefited greatly. She had a strong voice in selecting the new theater director, Arsène Houssaye (1815–1896), and negotiated a new contract with him in which she was required to perform only forty-eight times a year. This reduction in her duties made it possible for her to embark on long, profitable tours abroad. She had been performing abroad for years already—from 1843 she made annual trips to Great Britain—but in the 1850s these lucrative tours became much longer and the destinations more distant. In 1853 she performed in Moscow and in 1855 she embarked on a tour of America, arranged by her brother Raphaël, who was then working as her manager." (Jewish Women's Archive)
 |
| Valentine Haussmann |
30) Valentine Haussmann (1843-1901)
Lover in 1863
French royal mistress.
 |
| Georges Haussmann & his daughter Valentine 19th century |
Daughter of: Georges-Eugene Haussmann, Baron Haussmann, Senator of the Empire & Octavia de Laharpe.
Wife of:
1. Joseph, Vicomte Pernety (1844-1920) mar 1865, sep 1883, div 1887
2. Georges-Jules Renouard (1843-1897) mar 1891
[Fam1:Geneanet]
Natural offspring: 1. Jules-Adrien Hadot (1865-1937)
"More serious was the scandal that attached to Valentine's name, the toll often exacted for joining the social whirl of the imperial court. 'Mlle Haussmann is very pretty for those who like a good, pale complexion,' wrote Merimee, 'but she is common, as is her father.' Much more than her sister or mother, Valentine relished la fete imperiale, participating in the allegories staged at Compiegne and enjoying the company of the young ladies of the court. A scabrous pamphlet of the day told of an elaborate story of how her father had prostituted his daughter to the emperor's lust. The child of this depraved union had been passed off as the child of the emperor's then current mistress, Marguerite Bellanger. There is no corroborative evidence. Haussmann's notoriety had caused the mud slingers to bespatter his daughter. When Valentine's marriage plans were announce a quatrain made the rounds of the Paris salons." (Jordan, 1995, p. 259)
Wife of:
1. Joseph, Vicomte Pernety (1844-1920) mar 1865, sep 1883, div 1887
2. Georges-Jules Renouard (1843-1897) mar 1891
[Fam1:Geneanet]
Natural offspring: 1. Jules-Adrien Hadot (1865-1937)
"More serious was the scandal that attached to Valentine's name, the toll often exacted for joining the social whirl of the imperial court. 'Mlle Haussmann is very pretty for those who like a good, pale complexion,' wrote Merimee, 'but she is common, as is her father.' Much more than her sister or mother, Valentine relished la fete imperiale, participating in the allegories staged at Compiegne and enjoying the company of the young ladies of the court. A scabrous pamphlet of the day told of an elaborate story of how her father had prostituted his daughter to the emperor's lust. The child of this depraved union had been passed off as the child of the emperor's then current mistress, Marguerite Bellanger. There is no corroborative evidence. Haussmann's notoriety had caused the mud slingers to bespatter his daughter. When Valentine's marriage plans were announce a quatrain made the rounds of the Paris salons." (Jordan, 1995, p. 259)
 |
| Lucie Delabigne |
"Few of the women who flit across Pretty Women's pages are remembered in history books. An exception is La Valtesse de la Bigne, born Louise Delabigne, who became the lover of Emperor Napoleon III and influenced his diplomatic decisions. Her regal beauty and wit put her on a par with the hetaerae, courtesans of ancient Greece---the author opines---despite the fact that by 1883 she was 'suspiciously near forty.' Blessed with sky-blue eyes and cascading auburn hair, Louise had made her start as an artist's model whose bevy of famous lovers, including Manet and Courbet, earned her the nickname "Painter's Union. She eventually married an indulgent Turkish banker and established herself in a palace filled with priceless artifacts, including a giant bed of gilded bronze. . . ." (The Sinner's Grand Tour: 64)
 |
| Varvara Rimsky-Korsakova @Wikipedia |
"It is time to introduce here a woman now largely forgotten, but one who was much talked about during the Second Empire: Varvara Rimsky-Korsakov, called by Theophile Gautier 'the Venus of Tartary.' A rival to Castiglione in both her beauty and her extravagance, she arrived in Paris from St. Petersburg at the same time as the Countess. . . They were frequently mistaken for one another: the two foreigners had both been received at the Tuileries, each had had a brief liaison with the Emperor, and both lived in Passy. . . ." (La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione: 61)
 |
| Virginia Oldoini Contessa di Castiglione |
33) Virginia Oldoini (1837-1899)
Lover in 1856-1857.
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . Mme. Carette says of her: 'Madame de Castiglione was an accomplished lady, and possessed of a beauty which did not seem to belong to our time. But notwithstanding the admirable perfection and even the gracefulness of her person, scarcely credible though this may seem, she lacked charm. Her beautiful face recalled to mind those divinities whom the ancients sought to appease by sacrifices. You can form some idea of this extraordinary person by imagining a most beautiful statue come to life.' The portrait drawn by the pen of the count de Vieil-Castel is more lively: 'Yesterday I dined at Princess Mathilde's with the Countess de Castiglione. It is impossible to behold a more seductive creature, more perfectly beautiful: beautiful eyes, fine nose, little mouth, admirable hair, ravishing shoulders and arms, and hands of an irreproachable line. The Countess's conversation is animated and light." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 82)
La Castiglione's personal & family background.
"The Countess de Castiglione was a daughter of the Marquis Oldoini of Florence, and through Countess Walewska, also a Florentine lady. obtained an invitation to a ball at the Tuileries. She was separated from her husband---Count Francesco Verasis di Castiglione---who married against his will the former mistress of King Victor Emmanuel. Her Christian name was Virginia." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 83)
"The Countess de Castiglione was a daughter of the Marquis Oldoini of Florence, and through Countess Walewska, also a Florentine lady. obtained an invitation to a ball at the Tuileries. She was separated from her husband---Count Francesco Verasis di Castiglione---who married against his will the former mistress of King Victor Emmanuel. Her Christian name was Virginia." (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 83)
The mistress is a spy: "The Countess de Castiglione, widely considered the most beautiful woman of her day, may be unfamiliar to American audiences, but her life reads like a Hollywood drama. Born in Italy in 1837, she was sent to Paris at the age of eighteen as a special agent for the cause of Italian unification, with the admonition from Cavour: 'Succeed by whatever means you wish -- but succeed!' Within weeks of her arrival in the French capital, she was the mistress of Emperor Napoleon III. . . While there is abundant evidence on the question of Castiglione's relationship to Napoleon III, the Countess never admitted, either in her letters or in conversation, to having been his mistress. The only veiled allusion to this major event in her life is a clause in her will in which she asked to be buried in 'the Compiegne chemise of 1857, cambric and lace.' The liaison can be dated fairly precisely to between the Le Hon ball, held at the carnival of 1856 and spring 1857 (the date of the attempt on the Emperor's life in the avenue Montaiagne). The Countess was at the height of her social success when she appeared at a costume ball given by the Walewskis at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 17 February 1857, dressed as the Queen of Hearts. . . ." (La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione: 6, 60)
The mysterious recluse: " . . . In the years that followed, she fashioned herself into a mysterious recluse notorious for her many love affairs, and ended her days at the cusp of the new century, faded, unstable, and alone. . . ." (La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione: 6)
References for Napoleon III.
Court Life of the Second French Empire 1852-1870 @archive.org
Descendants of Napoleon III @stoessel.wordpress
Kaiser Napoleon III War Frichtle @medien-berichte
Napoleon III @TheRoyalForums
Napoleon III & the Women He Loved @archive.org
Napoleon III and His Court @hathitrust.org
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