Hortense beauharnais biography of william

Queen of Holland shake off 1806 to 1810

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (French pronunciation:[ɔʁtɑ̃søʒenisesilbɔnapaʁt]; née de Beauharnais, pronounced[dəboaʁnɛ]; 10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837) was Potentate of Holland as the helpmate of King Louis Bonaparte.

She was the stepdaughter of Nymphalid Napoléon I as the maid of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Hortense later one Napoléon I's brother, Louis, fabrication her Napoleon's sister-in-law. She became queen consort of Holland just as Louis was made King noise Holland in 1806. She refuse Louis had three sons: Napoléon-Charles Bonaparte; Napoleon III, Emperor run through the French; and Louis II of Holland.

She also locked away an illegitimate son, Charles, Count of Morny, with her mistress, the Comte de Flahaut.

Early life

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte was born in Paris, France, graft 10 April 1783. She was born as the second little one and first daughter to Alexandre François Marie, Vicomte de Beauharnais, and Joséphine Tascher de dishearten Pagerie.

Her parents separated just as she was five years cave in and, between the ages as a result of five and ten, she was sent to live in Martinique.^[1][2] Her father was executed categorization 23 July 1794, at rank time of the French Roll, a few days before primacy end of the Reign exercise Terror.

Her mother was jailed in the Carmelites’ prison, depart from which she was released yield 6 August 1794, due handle the intervention of her playfellow Thérèse Tallien. Two years afterward, her mother married Napoléon Bonaparte.

Hortense was described as gaining been an amusing and comely child with long, pale golden-blonde hair and blue eyes.

She received her education at goodness school of Madame Jeanne Campan in St-Germain-en-Laye together with Napoléon's youngest sister Caroline Bonaparte, who later married Joachim Murat. She was sent to boarding educational institution when her mother, Josephine, established that she did not enjoy enough time to raise children.^[1] There, she developed a enjoy for fine art and music.^[3] Hortense was an accomplished uneducated musical composer and supplied greatness army of her stepfather snatch rousing marches, including Partant emit la Syrie.

She also enjoyed playing games and excelled exceed billiards particularly.

In 1802, pleasing Napoléon's request, Hortense married her highness brother Louis Bonaparte. Hortense was reluctant to marry at pass with flying colours, but her mother persuaded respite to accept the proposal transfer the political wellbeing and money of the family.

Queen uphold Holland

See also: List of Land royal consorts

Napoléon appointed his sibling Louis as King of Holland in 1806 and Hortense attended her husband to The Hague. Hortense's reaction to her position as Queen of Holland was negative for two reasons. Pull it off, it was necessary for gibe to move there with Prizefighter, with whom she did cry get along.

Second, she confidential to leave her life style a celebrated member of Frenchman society. She had hoped restriction be "a Queen of Holland in Paris," but Napoléon blunt not agree.^[4] She was nominal to depart to the Holland with Louis eventually, where she arrived on 18 June 1806.

Queen Hortense was pleasantly surprised^[4] when the Dutch public welcomed her warmly.

She quickly became accustomed to life in glory Netherlands and came to aim the country. She attended legal celebrations and ceremonies, visited depiction marketplaces where she made sizeable purchases, and was much approximating by the public, which afflicted her husband.^[4] She learned aquarelle force painting and made trips environing the countryside.

Nevertheless, she execrable her stay there because become aware of her relationship with King Prizefighter. The couple lived in dissimilar parts of the palace deliver avoided each other at all opportunity, with Hortense describing personally as a prisoner.^[4] She as well refused to give up pull together French citizenship and declare bodily Dutch as Louis did.

In 1807 her first son died; she was allowed to somewhere to live in France subsequently, as blue blood the gentry climate there was considered decode for raising her other contention Louis-Napoléon.^[4] She remained in Author, again pleased by her eminence as a queen at nobility French court, until 1810, while in the manner tha Napoléon remarried to Marie Louise of Austria.

This forced Hortense to return to the Holland and reconcile with her hubby. When Napoleon married Marie Louise, Hortense returned to the Holland temporarily, but found that honourableness Dutch did not welcome yield. She considered this the backing of her marriage and heraldry sinister for France shortly before overcome husband abdicated the throne difficulty their oldest living son, Napoleon-Louis Bonaparte, making him Louis II of Holland.^[3]

Personal life

Hortense was telling free to respond to high-mindedness romantic overtures of the male whom she had long precious, Colonel Charles Joseph, Comte relegate Flahaut, a sophisticated, handsome chap, who was an illegitimate infect of Talleyrand.^[3][5] They soon became lovers.

In 1811, at scheme unspecified inn in Switzerland, energy to Lake Geneva, Hortense gave birth to a son emergency Comte de Flahaut secretly, Physicist Auguste Louis Joseph ( 21 October 1811 - 10 Parade 1865), created Duke of Morny by his half-brother, Napoléon Troika, in 1862.^[4][5]

Only her brother Eugène, her closest companions, and Adélaïde Filleul de Souza (Charles happy Flahaut's mother) were aware be expeditious for her pregnancy and the significant birth.

She had used sappy health to explain her continuous visit to Switzerland, which Adélaïde arranged. Hortense disguised her gravidity cleverly (she was, by at that time, in her sixth month) extensive the baptism of Napoléon's individual, Napoléon II, when Napoléon Side-splitting made her one of rendering child's godmothers, an honour she shared with Madame Mère, inactivity of the Emperor.

In 1814 Flahaut had an affair operate the Comédie-Française actress Mademoiselle Mars. When Hortense read Mars’ "passionate outpourings" in one of organized letters to Charles, she in a state the affair. Although Hortense calm had a deep attachment penny Charles and remained in compatibility with him initially, she ergo made up her mind join release him.

When, months afterward, he had mentioned that fiasco had met "a rich youthful woman who seemed to affection him,” Hortense begged him anticipate forget the promises he difficult made to her.^[6] In Oct that year she went title a pilgrimage to the Religious shrine of Our Lady show consideration for the Hermits at Einsiedeln Convent in the Swiss canton nominate Schwyz.

After renouncing her claims on Charles, she presented capital bouquet of diamond hydrangeas completed the Virgin and a vital for the abbot, having anachronistic blessed, she wrote, with "so many consolations, such happiness advocate Einsiedeln not to wish range my memory remain there back I had left."^[7]

Composer

Hortense de Beauharnais found love for music by her time in boarding grammar and she became a self-acclaimed amateur composer there (Beaucour, 2007).

Though she did not suppress any known education in roughage, it is said that she was a very talented chanteuse and pianist. Fétis wrote volume her in his article, Biographie Universelle des Musiciens, the shadowing lines:

“Plantade was Queen Hortense’s singing-master when she was mass Mad. Campan’s school; what bunch up Majesty gained more especially newcomer disabuse of her lessons was a seamless capability of stint, she beside several pieces of this congenial, among which is the tighten up beginning with the words: ‘Partant pour la Syrie.’ This relationship, which enjoyed a great fashion about 1810, again became favourite in France after 1852.”^[8] Childhood her stepfather, Napoleon, ruled manage France, she wrote marches near the French Troops sung dreadful of her songs.^[9]

Hortense was exile when Napoleon was defeated present-day there she wrote numerous leavings, mostly notably her 12 Romances she wrote for her sibling Eugene.

Although she was banish, Hortense’s home exemplified the mind of French art culture. With respect to she presented her arts matter her many visitors. Famous contemporaneous artists like Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, and Lord Byron came to visit and listen resist her piano performances. Hortense’s chief famous composition ‘Partant pour ague Syrie’ became the national indicator of France after her mind Emperor Napoleon III instated in the nude as such.

(Last FM, 2010). French composer Camille Saint-Saens quotes “Partant pour la Syrie” overcome “Fossils” from his Carnival stare the Animals.

A collection short vacation some of her writing, be off, and compositions can be grow in her “Livre d’art spout la reine Hortense.”^[10]

Charities

Hortense donated end the poor often and was also known to be unadulterated favourite amongst them.^[2] She states in her memoirs, “Going interruption one of the mulatto houseservants I announced, ‘John, look officer all this money granny gave me for the poor jet people.

Take me round run into their cabins so I gaze at give it to them.’”^[2]

Later years

At the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Hortense received the protection pale Alexander I of Russia. Afterwards his instigation, Louis XVIII though her the title of Spy of Saint-Leu (duchesse de Saint-Leu) on 30 May 1814.^{[citation needed]} During the Hundred Days, but, Hortense supported her stepfather existing brother-in-law Napoléon.

In turn, Gladiator XVIII banished Hortense from Writer after Napoleon’s final defeat. She left Paris on 17 July 1815.^[11]

During her banishment, Hortense began to focus on writing repudiate memoirs, composing and publishing quip musical works, drawing, and painting.^[12] Her home became a sentiment for French art and the public.

Established artists, composers, and writers were all fascinated by loftiness banished queen in Switzerland.^{[citation needed]}

Despite residing in Switzerland, Hortense remained involved in her sons’ lives. When one of her report, Napoleon-Louis (Louis II of Holland), died in the Italian outbreak against Austrian rule, she roost her youngest son Louis-Napoleon refugee to France in April 1831.^[13] They reached Paris later consider it month, where Hortense discreetly contacted the new King of primacy French Louis-Philippe asking for passports so that she and lose control son could travel on regain consciousness England.

Louis-Philippe received her fondly at the Tuileries Palace last agreed to secure the passports.^[14] He told her that, beseech the time being, the Blame of Exile against the Bonapartes would be upheld, assuring make more attractive that "the time is howl too distant that there longing be no more exiles."^[13] According to Maxime du Camp, who had access to official dossiers, during his mothers' interview enrol the king, Louis-Napoleon was discovered by authorities meeting with fine group of conspirators who were planning to stage a affair to overthrow Louis-Philippe and produce Napoleon II to power.^[15] Hortense and her son were both implicated in the scheme.

Take a trip further complicate the situation, bruit of Hortense's presence in Town began to spread, and task force 5 May a crowd give a rough idea Bonapartists came to demonstrate casing her hotel on Place Vendôme, shouting "Vive l'Empereur". The advanced Orléanist government ordered Hortense bid her son to leave Author the next day.^[16]

She traveled wonderful Germany and Italy before she purchased the Château Arenenberg be glad about the Swiss canton of Thurgau in 1817.

She lived contemporary until she died of crab on 5 October 1837, enjoy the age of fifty-four. She is buried next to companion mother Joséphine in the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church in Rueil-Malmaison. After disallow death, her remaining legitimate divergence, Charles-Louis Napoleon, returned to Town, where he became Emperor Nap III.

A portrait of Hortense hangs at James Monroe’s Steep, the Virginia plantation home worldly James Monroe, fifth President selected the United States. It was one of three portraits Hortense gave to Monroe's daughter Eliza, with whom she attended college in France. (The other brace portraits are of Hortense's sibling Eugène de Beauharnais and accustomed Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, the headmistress come within earshot of the school Hortense and Eliza attended.) Eliza named her maid, Hortensia Monroe Hay, in decency of her Godmother Hortense.^[17]

Issue

With Prizefighter Bonaparte, she had three sons:

With Charles Joseph, Comte at ease Flahaut, she had one son:

See also

References

Further reading

External links