PROLOGUE
xiv. ‘She cannot really …’: ‘Elle n’aura pas été véritablement un caractère, ayant trop femme pour cela’, Loliée (190k7a), p. 404.
xiv. wider influence’: One of Loliée’s disciples was Ferdinand Bac, who, as a (natural) grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, sympathised with her enemy Plon-Plon.
ONE
1. ‘On 28 May an earthquake …’: Filon (1922), p. 9.
1. ‘Her father’s name …’: Filon (1894), pp. 51–2.
2. ‘the story …’: Jean des Cars (2000), pp. 17–18.
2. ‘Kirkpatrick of Closeburn’: Burke (2000), I, p. 787.
4. Llanos y Torriglia (1932).
4. ‘Among her guests …’: S.T. Williams (1935).
4. ‘It did them no harm …’: Primoli (1923).
5. ‘Screaming …’: Alba (1941), p. 5.
5. ‘The Paris …’: A good account of the city at this date is Mansell (2001).
7. ‘In a report…’: Lettres familières, I, p. 235.
9. ‘He told the girls …’: Arbeley (1932).
13. ‘Later known as …’: F. Bac (1928b) (a subtly partisan account of the author’s uncle).
14. ‘In a postscript…’: Lettres familières, I, p. 22.
16. ‘… a lady of very easy virtue indeed’: Fleischmann (1923), pp. 46–83.
19. ‘… abortive coup’: F.A. Simpson (1923); and Smith (1982).
19. ‘As a hostess …’: A. Revesz (1953).
20. ‘… an ugly, fat little man’: Malmesbury (1884), p. 285.
20. ‘If the handsome …’: Smyth (1921), p. 32; Kurtz (1964), p. 27; Ridley (1979) pp. 169–71.
22. ‘From here …’: J. Richardson (1969) (verging on hagiography).
24. ‘The dinner for four …’: Filon (1920), p. 24.
24. ‘In September …’: Lettres familières, I, p. 37.
29. ‘The more respectable …’: Maurois (1956).
32. ‘… at the château of Compiègne’: Hübner’s dispatch to Count Buol, Wellesley and Sencourt (1934); Viel Castel (1884), p. 130.
34. ‘Now it so happened …’: Kurtz (1964), p. 42.
37. ‘So today …’: The emperor’s letter of proposal is in the Alba archives at Madrid.
38. ‘Cowley mentions …’: Cowley, in Wellesley (1928), p. 17.
38. ‘He explained to …’: Oeuvres de Napoléon III, III, pp. 357–60; Queen Victoria thought the speech ‘in very bad taste’, Journal, 24 January 1853.
39. ‘A marriage …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1934), p. 17.
40. ‘She tried to explain …’: Lettres familières, p. 53.
40. ‘in white velvet …’: Bac (1928a); Lady Augusta’s letter to the Duchess of Kent, transcribed by Queen Victoria into her Journal; The Times, 31 January 1853; Hübner (1904), I, p. 105.
TWO
43. ‘I once held …’: Haussmann (1890–3), I, p. vii.
44. ‘Despite being …’: Bluche (1981).
44. ‘The Second Empire …’: Zeldin (1973), I, pp. 552–8.
44. ‘From the start …’: Fould (1867). Fould’s elder brother, Benoît, founded the banking house Fould et Cie.
45. ‘The emperor’s …’: Christophe (1951); Zeldin (1973), I. p. 549.
45. ‘Eugénie …’: Persigny (1896).
47. ‘… the Imperial household’: Almanach Impérial; Verly (1894), pp. 100 ff.
47. ‘… the Cents Gardes’: Verly (1894).
47. ‘… the Guides’: Fleury (1897–8), I, p. 226.
48. ‘Hübner saw …’: Hübner (1904), I, p. 143.
49. ‘Emile Ollivier …’: Ollivier, Journal, 22 February 1853.
49. ‘Eugénie had her own household …’: Almanach Impérial and Verly (1894).
49. ‘In secret…’: Mrs Moulton caught her smoking one in her bedroom; Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), p. 94.
50. ‘When she told him …’: Viel Castel (1884), II, p. 199.
51. ‘All this was known …’: Bouchot (1896); Carette (1888–91); Whitehurst (1873); Vizetelly (1912).
52. ‘An invitation …’: Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), pp. 25–31.
52. ‘… not so petit’: Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), p. 31.
53. ‘Certainly there were …’: Crane (ed.) (1905), I, p.135; Gower (1883), I, p. 295
55. ‘Even in winter …’: Murray (1864); Clouzot (1925).
56. ‘Gentle, peaceful days …’: Filon (1920), pp. 61–2.
56. ‘Traditional French hunting …’: Metternich (1922), p. 97.
58. ‘Octave Feuillet…’: Feuillet (1894), pp. 346–66.
60. ‘It was the carefully …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1928), p. 141.
61. ‘A few years later …’: Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), p. 96.
65. ‘One night…’: Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), p. 110.
65. ‘She made friends …’: Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), pp. 141–2; Thomas (1911).
67. ‘It was a sport…’; Barthez (1912), pp. 84–8.
68. ‘A barely credible …’: Barthez (1912), pp. 175–82.
69. ‘The household …’: Metternich (1922), pp. 28–39.
70. ‘… a compact crowd’: Whitehurst (1873), II, pp. 24–32. 70. ‘His description …’: La Gorce (1894–1905), I, p. 130.
72. ‘His best organised …’: De Luz (1931); Osgood (1960); Zeldin (1973), I, pp. 412–13.
74. ‘… the scourge of the Imperial family’: Hübner (1904), I, p. 310.
74. ‘She adds …’: Bicknell (1893), pp. 64–5.
74. ‘He hated …’: Paléologue (1928), p. 59.
75. ‘A few were respectable …’: Filon (1920), p. 74.
77. ‘The emperor …’: Guest (1952), Queen Victoria, Journal, 16–21 April 1855; The Times, 16–21 April 1855; Malmesbury (1884), II, pp. 18–20.
78. ‘Everybody raved …’: Disraeli, letter of 1 May 1855 to Mrs Brydges Williams, Monypenny and Buckle (1910–20), IV, p. 5.
79. ‘On 18 August …’: Queen Victoria, Journal, 18–27 August 1855; Viel Castel (1884), III, pp. 175–7; Fleury (1897–8), I, pp. 183, 184.
THREE
83. ‘… beauty of their own sex’: Sencourt (1931), p. 211.
83. ‘How can you call…’: Ollivier (1961), II, 8 July 1867.
83. ‘After twenty-two hours …’: Hübner (1904), I, p. 403; The Times, 17 and 18 March 1856; Viel Castel (1884), III, p. 213.
86. ‘… I am a foreigner’: Kurtz (1964), p. 67.
87. ‘When my mother …’: Filon (1920), p. 11.
88. ‘It was one …’: Clouzot (1925), Clouzot (1939); E. Rouyer (1867); Carette (1888–91), I, pp. 133–46.
90. ‘The best place …’: Moulin (1967); Gaillemin (1990); Cornforth (2002).
91. ‘… loot from the Summer Palace’: first displayed in a memorable exhibition in Paris, which aroused widespread interest; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1861.
92. ‘A smaller room …’: Connaissance des Arts, No. 479, January 1992.
92. ‘An Empress Dresses’: For this chapter Blum and Chassée (1931); Cabris (1901); Uzanne (1898); particularly important are Professor A. Ribeiro, ‘Fashion in the work of Winterhalter’, in Ormond and Blackett (1987), and Byrde (1992).
93. ‘In a letter …’: Barthez (1868), p. 95.
95. ‘There is an acme of dressing …’: Taine (1867), pp. 23–4.
95. ‘Unseen since 1830 …’: Bapst (1889); Vever (1906–8); Bury (1991).
96. ‘When the …’: De Marley (1980).
98. ‘… the bustle’: Whitehurst (1873), II, p. 85.
100. ‘Have you ever …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1928), Paris Embassy, p. 111.
101. ‘… sent to the Mazas prison’: yet Dr Barthez thought that to some extent she still believed in Home: Barthez (1912), p. 164.
102. ‘This was …’: Clotilde de la Bedoyère, Fleischmann (1923), pp. 312–14.
102. ‘Virginie …’: Decaux (1953).
103. ‘Her vain, venal husband …’: Ornano (1958).
105. ‘… photography’: by photographers such as Gustave le Gray.
105. ‘Almost without warning …’: Malmesbury (1884), II, pp. 239, 283.
108. ‘She told the Walewskis …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1928), p. 273.
FOUR
109. ‘As they arrived …’: Pack (1958).
112. ‘The campaign …’: Dunant (1863).
114. ‘It was a letter …’: Comte Fleury (1920), II, pp. 29–30
115. ‘… a shirt of Nessus’: Paléologue (1928).
115. ‘… a decorative sovereign’: Loliée (1907b), p. 205.
116. ‘This transformation …’: Zeldin (1973), I, pp. 552–7.
118. ‘The work-people …’: Senior (1880), 19 August 1861.
119. ‘According to …’: Murray (1864), p. 48.
119. ‘The emperor’s …’: Haussmann (1890–3), II, pp. 1 ff.
121. ‘Pauline’s husband …’: Salomon (1931).
FIVE
124. ‘Eugénie showed …’: Lavisse (1895).
125. ‘… one third those of men’: quoted by Zeldin (1973), I, p. 345.
126. ‘The painter …’: Klumpke (1999), p. 169.
126. ‘Despite her …’: Sand’s novel Malgrétout was serialised in the widely read Revue des Deux Mondes in February and March 1870.
127. ‘Eugénie was …’: Rollet (1988).
128. ‘The emperor …’: d’Hauterive (1925).
129. ‘There were two sorts …’: Maritain (1930); Daniel-Rops (1965).
130. ‘I was something …’: Paléologue (1928), p. 58.
131. ‘… the pope should stay in Rome’: the emperor’s anonymous pamphlet, Le Pape et le Congrès, outraged French Catholics, including Gallicans and even Viel Castel (1884), V, pp. 245–51.
132. ‘Soon the water …’: Lasserre (1892).
133. ‘The Revocation …’: Eugénie to Doña Maria Manuela, Lettres familières, II, p. 57.
135. ‘He probably thinks …’ – Filon (1920), p. 68
136. ‘Shortly after …’: Filon (1920), p. 69.
136. ‘… the cholera scares of the 1860s’: ‘The empress spent the day visiting those who have contracted cholera at the Beaujon, Lariboisière and Saint-Antoine hospitals. She went into the wards where victims are being nursed, going to bedsides, asking questions and encouraging patients, in a spirit worthy of a Sister of the Poor’, Gazette Nationale, 23 October 1865.
138. ‘Clearly Eugénie …’: Berlioz (1972), p. 620.
138. ‘In November 1864 …’: Clarette (1882).
139. ‘… Ambroise Thomas’: Moulin (1967), p. 63.
139. ‘The bourgeois …’: Flaubert (1926–30).
140. ‘Many of them …’: Filon (1920), pp. 54–5.
140. ‘Jacques Offenbach …’: Krackauer (1937); Harding (1980); and Faris (1980).
142. ‘The irony …’: Krackauer (1937), p. 16.
SIX
145. ‘Shall America …’: Anon, Lettres sur les États-Unis d’Amerique, Paris, 1862.
145. ‘The concept of a Catholic monarchy …’: This did not mean she was hostile to the United States, whatever Nancy Nichols Barker (1965) may say.
146. ‘Early in 1866 …’: The classic narrative account is still Count Corti (1928); Parkes (1960).
149. ‘The emperor assured …’: Zamoyski (1987), p. 284.
150. ‘Historians …’: the report of the conversation is in Il problemo veneto e l’Europa, Venice, 1966–67. For the diplomatic context, Taylor (1954).
151. ‘… the crisis over Schleswig-Holstein’: Bismark said that only the Prince Consort, a German professor and Bismarck understood the problem, but the prince had died, the professor had gone mad and he himself had forgotten.
153. ‘Really, Eugénie …’: Viel Castel (1884), VI, p. 132.
154. ‘We are hastening …’: Viel Castel (1884), VI, p. 332.
154. ‘My God …’: Barthez (1912), p. 254.
157. ‘The consternation …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1934), p. 284.
159. ‘Drouyn resigned …’: Harcourt (n.d.), p. 310.
159. ‘But Eugénie …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1934), pp. 306–12.
161. ‘… a more adroit courtier’: Smyth (1921), p. 34.
162. ‘I am thinking with terror …’: Lettres familières, I, p. 83.
162. ‘… going to die on the scaffold’: Hübner (1904), I, p. 320.
164. ‘Eugénie bought everything …’: Barbara Scott, ‘In the Shadow of Marie-Antoinette’, Country Life, 6 December 1979.
165. ‘It really is quite extraordinary …’: Filon (1920), p. 78.
166. ‘For everyone …’: La Gorce (1894–1905), V, p. 151.
167. ‘Clearly, Lillie Moulton …’: Hegermann-Lindencrone (1912), p. 154.
167. ‘… a Winterhalter’: Whitehurst (1873), I, pp. 289–90.
171. ‘When squadron on squadron …’: Sencourt (1931), p. 204.
172. ‘Meeting the empress …’: Daudet (1911), p. 45.
172. ‘Within a week …’:Vandam (1897), p. 319.
173. ‘… she never forgave him’: Guétary (1905), p. 278.
175. ‘One can dismiss …’: Ducamp (1949), I, p. 146.
176. ‘No doubt a woman …’: La Gorce (1894–1905), V, p. 149.
SEVEN
177. ‘We are in danger …’: Jurien’s letter; Kurtz (1964), pp. 223–4.
178. ‘Among the infamous jibes …’: Paléologue (1928), p. 79.
179. ‘Alors, vous auriez mieux fait de rester chez vous, au lieu de venir agacer mes nerfs ici’, Wellesley (1928), p. 294
179. ‘… the barrier of blood’: while Eugénie regretted the coup, she saw it as having been unavoidable.
180. ‘… Franz-Joseph’s visit’: Metternich (1922), p. 171.
181. ‘After dinner …’: Feuillet (1894), p. 352.
182. ‘Everywhere …’: Verly (1894), pp. 118–19.
185. ‘The last time …’: Jules and Edmond de Goncourt, Journal, Paris, 1989.
188. ‘… the great French Egyptologist’: An expert on hieroglyphics, Mariette Bey had helped to discover the Serapeum of Memphis.
190. ‘In a letter …’: Pincemaille (2000), p. 14, quotes this letter at some length.
193. ‘… the only form of French monarchy’ Almost ninety years later, it inspired the constitution of General de Gaulle’s Fifth Republic, a republican monarchy.
195. ‘There could have been …’: Grunwald (1951).
195. ‘Could anything …’: Whitehurst (1873), II, p. 288.
197. ‘It was like …’: Whitehurst (1873), II, p. 347.
198. ‘Only a handful …’: C. James, Des causes de la mort de l’empéreur, 1873; also Bresler (1999), pp. 404–15.
EIGHT
202. ‘He had been …’: La Gorce (1894–1905), VI, pp. 129–30; Howard (1961), pp. 38, 44–5.
203. ‘Six railway lines …’: Howard (1961), p. 24–6.
204. ‘The French did not…’: Namier (1958), p. 142.
208. ‘Eugenie explained …’: Paléologue (1928), p. 150.
210. ‘Thus by a tragic …’: Howard (1961), p. 57.
214. ‘Nothing is ready …’: ‘Lettres à l’Impératrice Eugenie (1870–71)’, Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 July 1929.
214. ‘I am good for nothing …’: Abbé Pujol, ‘Les Derniers Jours de Saint-Cloud’, Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 July 1929.
215. ‘The Regent Takes Control’: For this chapter, see Duc d’Abrantès, Essai sur la Régence de 1870.
220. ‘Accordingly …’: Howard (1961), pp. 134–5.
223. ‘… a legend grew up’: A modern historian refutes this by quoting the republican Jules Simon (Souvenirs du quatre Septembre, Paris, 1874). ‘The Council of Ministers and Privy Council were unanimous in agreeing with her. There were two reasons for their decision. First, and which counted most with the empress, the personal danger the emperor would run in returning to Paris. Second, a failure to appreciate what MacMahon’s army was risking in marching north.’ W.C.H. Smith, Eugénie, L’Impératrice et femme, p. 371.
224. ‘Her face was ravaged …’: Garets (1928), I, p. 205.
226. ‘She was eating …’: Garets (1928), I, p. 204.
227. ‘… I do not fear the crisis’: Lettres familières, I, p. 228.
227. ‘… in a mouse-trap’: Howard (1961), p. 207.
230. ‘She was pale and terrible …’: Filon (1920), p. 139.
231. ‘Paléologue claimed …’: Paléologue (1928), p. 217.
235. ‘Had the empress…’: Gower (1883), I, p. 371.
237. ‘Flight’ For this chapter, Crane (ed.) (1905).
243. ‘… the club house of Chislehurst Golf Club’, whose members wear a tie with the imperial eagles.
248. ‘General Monts …’: H. Welschinger, ‘La Captivité de Napoléon III’, Revue des Deux Mondes, March-April 1910.
248. ‘These long days …’: ‘Lettres à l’Impératrice Eugénie’, Revue des Deux Mondes, September 1930.
248. ‘The events through which …’: Lettres familières, II, p. 7.
249. ‘Yet no two women …’: Filon (1920), p. 255.
252. ‘Her visits to Chislehurst…’: Paléologue (1928), p. 237.
252. ‘The Comte de Chambord …’: Halévy (1937), pp. 62–8.
256. ‘The Empire will be …’: Wellesley and Sencourt (1934), p. 375.
257. ‘Eugénie was too overcome …’: Filon (1920), pp. 283–6.
258. ‘French royalism …’: Osgood (1960).
259. ‘The Napoleons are genuine democrats’: quoted in Crane (ed.) (1905), p. 617.
259. ‘I have to admit…’: Lettres familières, II, p. 52.
261. ‘Certainly he met her …’: Kurtz (1964), p. 289.
261. ‘Those four years …’: Filon (1920), p. 302.
262. ‘Your view …’: Lettres familières, II, p. 60.
263. ‘After ten years a regime like this …’: Even so in 1877 the Bonapartists won 105 seats, more than the Legitimists and Orleanists combined. Zeldin (1973), I, p. 564.
264. ‘… he died like a lion’: The most recent study is Phillips (1999).
265. ‘Alone in life …’: Lettres familières, II, p. 115.
266. ‘… a new and much larger house’: Mostyn (1999).
267. ‘… she employed another Frenchman’: For Destailleur see Hall (2002), p. 45.
267. ‘Four White Canons’: W.H.C. Smith (2001).
269. ‘… curtsy to each other’: Smyth (1921), p. 108.
270. ‘Eugénie had renewed …’: Kurtz (1964), pp. 352–3.
271. ‘Maurice Paléologue first met…’: Paléologue (1928).
272. ‘When Mrs Pankhurst…’: Smyth (1921), p. 58.
273. ‘But although …’: Guétary (1905), p. 279.
274. ‘She hates prejudice …’: Daudet (1911), p. 97.
275. ‘She never indulged …’: Daudet (1935), p. 252.
276. ‘She realized …’: Sermonetta (1929), p. 133.
278. ‘Her best epitaph …’: Smyth (1919), II, p. 243.