Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankey Listener discretion advised. If I
Speaker 1: went up to a historically literate stranger on the street
Speaker 1: and told them I was writing an episode of this
Speaker 1: podcast on Napoleon's wife, I imagine the reply would be, oh, Josephine.
Speaker 1: Napoleon and Josephine. Josephine and Napoleon. They are considered one
Speaker 1: of history's great love stories, even by people with only
Speaker 1: a passing familiarity with European politics of the early nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: In the First Sex and the City movie, for example,
Speaker 1: Napoleon's letters to Josephine are specifically referenced as an example
Speaker 1: of the height of romantic writing. A famous painting of
Speaker 1: Napoleon's coronation, in which the emperor raised is a crown
Speaker 1: high in anticipation of lowering it onto Josephine's head, whose
Speaker 1: kneeling at the center of the canvas is on display
Speaker 1: currently at the Louver, aweing visitors with its massive size,
Speaker 1: almost thirty three feet wide and more than twenty feet tall.
Speaker 1: Quite literally, Josephine and Napoleon loom large, but Napoleon did
Speaker 1: not end his life married to Josephine, though the two
Speaker 1: were married for almost fourteen years. When Josephine reached her
Speaker 1: mid forties and the two had still not produced an air,
Speaker 1: Napoleon was pressured to divorce her in order to preserve
Speaker 1: the future of his empire. Of course, this led to
Speaker 1: the looming question who would Napoleon marry next. Josephine he
Speaker 1: had married for love, Now, as an emperor at the
Speaker 1: height of his power, he would need to be marrying
Speaker 1: for political reasons in order to position France favorably on
Speaker 1: the grand stage of Europe. He would be marrying a princess,
Speaker 1: a daughter from a noble family, someone who would ideally
Speaker 1: be able to provide him a son and cement an
Speaker 1: international alliance. In the end, his second wife would successfully
Speaker 1: achieve the first of those goals. Not quite the second
Speaker 1: Marie Louise of Austria was raised believing in Napoleon as
Speaker 1: something of a boogeyman, the Corsican Ruffian leading their enemy France.
Speaker 1: And of course it hadn't been that long ago that
Speaker 1: Marie Louise's great aunt, Marie Antoinette, had come from Austria
Speaker 1: to become a French bride, and look how that turned
Speaker 1: out for her. But when the tides shifted and Marie
Speaker 1: Louise was told that she would be marrying Napoleon, the
Speaker 1: teenage archduchess had no choice. She left her home and
Speaker 1: her family and married a stranger for the sake of
Speaker 1: her family's power. But as you probably know, Napoleon's reign
Speaker 1: would end abruptly twice actually, and young Marie Louise was
Speaker 1: left in no man's land. Her father and his armies
Speaker 1: had ousted, her husband. Was her loyalty supposed to lie
Speaker 1: with her home country or with the man she had married.
Speaker 1: What was an empress to an emperor deposed and in exile,
Speaker 1: Marie Louise was young and alone, forced to navigate a
Speaker 1: landscape that shifted under her feet like crumbling sand, as
Speaker 1: the map of Europe was redrawn around her. In real time,
Speaker 1: she was a casualty of Napoleon's power, and then she
Speaker 1: would become a casualty of his defeat. I'm Danish schwartz
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. On January twenty first, eighteen ten,
Speaker 1: with Josephine cast aside, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte gathered a small
Speaker 1: group of important advisors together to discuss a very important question.
Speaker 1: Who should his next bride be. The Princess of Saxony
Speaker 1: was an option, as was the Archduchess Marie Louise of
Speaker 1: Austria and Anna Pavlovna, the younger sister of Sar Alexander
Speaker 1: the First of Russia. Russia was an appealing prospect. It
Speaker 1: would be good to make a diplomatic marriage with such
Speaker 1: a massive and important country, but the demands they were
Speaker 1: making complicated things a bit. If Anna were to come
Speaker 1: Mary Napoleon, Russia would require that each palace had a
Speaker 1: Russian Orthodox Church, and that France would allow free practice
Speaker 1: of Russian Orthodoxy. There was also the slight issue that
Speaker 1: Anna was only fifteen at this time, and though that
Speaker 1: was certainly considered a marriageable age, the entire purpose of
Speaker 1: this marriage was begetting an air as quickly as possible,
Speaker 1: and it might be a number of years before she
Speaker 1: was able to conceive. The better choice, a few years older,
Speaker 1: was Archduchess Maria Luisa of Austria. Historically, Austria and France
Speaker 1: had not had the best relationship. The last time their
Speaker 1: two nations had joined in royal marriage had been during
Speaker 1: another brief gap in the warfare that two countries waged
Speaker 1: against each other. Back then, Marie Antoinette had married the
Speaker 1: future King Louis the sixteenth and you don't need me
Speaker 1: to remind you that that didn't end well for her.
Speaker 1: In fact, this very meeting that Napoleon and his men
Speaker 1: were having just happened to be on the anniversary of
Speaker 1: King Louis the sixteenths beheading. Austria wasn't thrilled at the
Speaker 1: prospect in theory of sending yet another royal daughter into
Speaker 1: the tumult of a country that beheaded its kings and
Speaker 1: which was now under the rule of a non royal
Speaker 1: upstart like Napoleon. Napoleon was a heated figure in Austria,
Speaker 1: especially among their royal family. Napoleon's War of the Third
Speaker 1: Coalition had been devastating for Austria, and in eighteen oh five,
Speaker 1: the Austrian royal family had even been temporarily forced into exile.
Speaker 1: But bygones were bygones, and given the circumstances the countries
Speaker 1: needed to cooperate, Austria knew if Napoleon chose to marry
Speaker 1: the Russian girl, Austria would be sandwiched between these two
Speaker 1: great allied powers. Definitely a bad idea. Marie Louise, just
Speaker 1: eighteen years old, was not thrilled about the situation herself.
Speaker 1: Growing up, she had referred to Napoleon in letters as
Speaker 1: the Antichrist and Crampus, framing him like a monster. In
Speaker 1: the children's stories she might have read. Her grandmother, Maria Carolina,
Speaker 1: had been Marie Antoinette's sister, and she was very vocal
Speaker 1: about her hatred and mistrust of the French. And that's
Speaker 1: in addition to the whole Napoleon and his armies caused
Speaker 1: my whole family to need to go into temporary exile. Thing.
Speaker 1: On January twod, unaware of the conversation that were happening
Speaker 1: almost simultaneously in Napoleon's private rooms, Marie Louise wrote to
Speaker 1: a friend, quote, since Napoleon's divorce, I continue to open
Speaker 1: the Gazette de Frankfort in the hope of finding an
Speaker 1: announcement of his new bride. I must admit that this
Speaker 1: delay has given me much cause for worry. She also wrote,
Speaker 1: I pity the poor princess whom he'll choose. Still, she
Speaker 1: knew what her place was, and she continued in the letter, stating,
Speaker 1: if misfortune so wishes it, I am prepared to sacrifice
Speaker 1: my own happiness for the good of the state. Marie
Speaker 1: Louise had known for her entire life that she was
Speaker 1: raised for a diplomatic marriage. Her parents had her learn
Speaker 1: multiple languages in order to broaden her marriage prospects. She
Speaker 1: spoke her native German, but also French, English, Italian and Spanish,
Speaker 1: and in order to preserve the all important purity of
Speaker 1: a young lady, Marie Louise had had almost no contact
Speaker 1: with men outside of her family. Even her pet rabbit
Speaker 1: was required to be female. On March ninth, eighteen ten,
Speaker 1: the marriage contract was signed. A few days later, she
Speaker 1: set out for Austria. If you are a long time
Speaker 1: listener of the show, or maybe I should say a
Speaker 1: very very long time listener of the show, you might
Speaker 1: recall in our very first episode when I discussed the ceremony,
Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette underwent at the border between Austria and France,
Speaker 1: in which was required to strip out of all of
Speaker 1: her Austrian clothes and then get dressed again in things
Speaker 1: that were entirely French. Now forty years later, Marie Louise
Speaker 1: went through those exact same steps again. The girl, still young,
Speaker 1: was already quite tall. A contemporary described her fairly harshly,
Speaker 1: I might add as quote not beautiful. Neither her will
Speaker 1: nor her desires are expressed in her eyes, which are
Speaker 1: a very bright blue framed by fine blonde hair. She
Speaker 1: has a cravaceous figure and a slightly taller than average.
Speaker 1: She was, in case you were wondering, a few inches
Speaker 1: taller than her husband, Napoleon, who was not unusually short
Speaker 1: for the time at about five foot seven, but Marie
Speaker 1: Louise was approximately five foot nine. The emperor was very
Speaker 1: eager to meet his new bride. Though there was an
Speaker 1: elaborate first meeting and reception planned for them, Napoleon became
Speaker 1: impatient and instead rode out to meet Marie Louise and
Speaker 1: her carriage at Compien, which was meant to be a
Speaker 1: staging post stop. The couple had already been married by proxy,
Speaker 1: but the plan was that the two would sleep separately
Speaker 1: until their elaborate religious wedding ceremony planned in Paris. Alas
Speaker 1: not for Napoleon. Upon seeing Marie Louise, he declared that
Speaker 1: she was much better looking than her portraits, and they
Speaker 1: spent that very night together. It seems as though they
Speaker 1: both shared a pleasant reversal of low expectations. Marie Louise, too,
Speaker 1: thought Napoleon better looking in person than his portraits. Almost
Speaker 1: certainly one can imagine that there was something infectious about
Speaker 1: his passion and power. Soon after arriving in France, Marie
Speaker 1: Louise wrote to her family, assuring them that things actually
Speaker 1: weren't that bad. She wrote, quote, I find that he
Speaker 1: improves a lot on closer acquaintance. There is something attractive
Speaker 1: and polite about him which is impossible to resist. I
Speaker 1: am convinced that I will be able to live with
Speaker 1: him quite happily. On April second, Napoleon and Marie Louise
Speaker 1: were married in the chapel at the Louver. He was forty,
Speaker 1: she was eighteen, wearing the fur lined cloak and iron
Speaker 1: crown which Josephine had worn just five years earlier. She
Speaker 1: was now the Empress of France, wife to Napoleon, and,
Speaker 1: hopefully for all involved, the mother to his heir. After all,
Speaker 1: that was the entire point to Marie Louise's surprise and delight,
Speaker 1: in contrast to Napoleon's ogerlike reputation, he was a considerate
Speaker 1: and doting husband. He secretly arranged for her favorite friend
Speaker 1: furniture which she hadn't been able to bring with her
Speaker 1: from Vienna, to be transported to Paris for her, which
Speaker 1: must have felt very welcoming for a teenage girl arriving
Speaker 1: alone in a foreign country without her family, and furthering
Speaker 1: the Marie Antoinette comparisons. Back when Marie Antoinette was queen,
Speaker 1: she had a small, picturesque false village at the Petitrenon,
Speaker 1: with artificial mountains and streams and a miniature farm, dairy,
Speaker 1: and watermill. Napoleon had it restored for his new wife,
Speaker 1: and Marie Louise loved it, writing to her father that
Speaker 1: it reminded her of the palace she had spent her
Speaker 1: childhood at. Napoleon seemed to adore Marie Louise. He called
Speaker 1: her Louise and apparently would frequently kiss her, saying her
Speaker 1: name over and over again in delight. She may not
Speaker 1: have been the formidable, challenging partner or lover that Josephine was,
Speaker 1: but she was, at least to my eyes, beautiful, well mannered,
Speaker 1: well educated, and an incredibly sheltered young woman for Napoleon
Speaker 1: to dote on. And how could she not enjoy, at
Speaker 1: least to some degree, the very fact of the most
Speaker 1: formidable man in Europe doting on her. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't
Speaker 1: long before Marie Louise was pregnant, and the birth itself
Speaker 1: would prove a testament to Napoleon's devotion. When the baby
Speaker 1: was finally coming, it was facing the wrong way and
Speaker 1: the doctor called for forceps. Napoleon was sitting next to
Speaker 1: Marie Louise, holding her hand so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Speaker 1: The doctor whispered that they might be required to either
Speaker 1: sacrifice the mother or child in order to save the other.
Speaker 1: Save the mother, think only of her, and devote all
Speaker 1: your efforts to her. Napoleon shouted, for God's sake, treat
Speaker 1: her like a common townswoman of the Rue Saint Denis.
Speaker 1: Fortunately it did not come to that. On March second,
Speaker 1: eighteen eleven, about a year after Marie Louise and Napoleon
Speaker 1: were married, their son, Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph Bonaparte, was born.
Speaker 1: Immediately styled King of Rome, Napoleon was overjoyed his remarriage
Speaker 1: had officially been a success, and he doated on his
Speaker 1: new son the way he did his wife. One moment
Speaker 1: I find particularly charming is a story that Napoleon would
Speaker 1: take their son through the gardens in a little carriage
Speaker 1: drawn by goats. But the perfect family scenes of domesticity
Speaker 1: would only last for so long. In eighteen twelve, Napoleon
Speaker 1: would embark on a disastrous campaign in Russia which would
Speaker 1: change the course of French history, leaving Marie Louise stranded
Speaker 1: and lost empress in an enemy country. The last time
Speaker 1: Marie Louise ever saw her husband was January eighteen fourteen.
Speaker 1: The previous autumn, Napoleon had entered Moscow in what would
Speaker 1: turn out to be a military disaster. Thanks to a
Speaker 1: horrific Russian winter and unexpected gorilla attacks, more than half
Speaker 1: of Napoleon's Grand Army was destroyed. Marie Louise had been
Speaker 1: left in France as regent, although not one making any
Speaker 1: real political decisions. With France so weakened, Prussia joined Russia
Speaker 1: and the UK in declaring war. Austria for the time
Speaker 1: being did not join in the fighting, but that diplomatic
Speaker 1: abstention would be short lived. Napoleon lost at the Battle
Speaker 1: of Leipzig, the Sixth Coalition came together to defeat Napoleon.
Speaker 1: They hoped for good. In the middle of the night
Speaker 1: on January twenty fifth, Napoleon rode off to try to
Speaker 1: fight the Allied forces invading France. The invaders were getting
Speaker 1: closer and closer to Paris, while Marie Louise waded in
Speaker 1: the capital with their son and without her husband. Marie
Speaker 1: Louise spent the early part of that year terrified and anxious.
Speaker 1: She and Napoleon wrote to each other every day, and
Speaker 1: she also received word from her father in Austria letters
Speaker 1: with an ominous, condescending tone. Napoleon advised his wife to
Speaker 1: remain cheerful with the servants in their household, never mentioning war,
Speaker 1: but still she knew what was coming. The young King
Speaker 1: of Rome would be running around the garden declaring that
Speaker 1: he wanted Daddy's troops to defeat Granddaddy's troops. Finally, at
Speaker 1: the end of March, the moment Marie Louise had been
Speaker 1: dreading came. Napoleon's brother arrived to tell the Empress that
Speaker 1: a siege was imminent. She had to stay in Paris.
Speaker 1: Of course, she had to stay. She could confront the
Speaker 1: Austrian forces her father's forces. They wouldn't dare take her
Speaker 1: or her son. Meanwhile, other French aristocrats were already fleeing
Speaker 1: for the countryside. Should Marie Louise take the little King
Speaker 1: of Rome and join them? The Regency council debated the
Speaker 1: matter back and forth, but ultimately it was Napoleon who
Speaker 1: made the final decision. Joseph Buonaparte pulled out a letter
Speaker 1: he had received from the Emperor that said, never leave
Speaker 1: the empress or King of Rome in the hands of
Speaker 1: the enemy. He instructed that Marie Louise and the son
Speaker 1: should be sent away, along with prominent dignitaries and counselors,
Speaker 1: and then he added, do not leave my son. Remember
Speaker 1: that I prefer to know him in the Seine than
Speaker 1: in the hands of the enemy of France. The fate
Speaker 1: of Astianax, prisoner of the Greeks, has always seemed to
Speaker 1: me the saddest in history. Despite Marie Louise's instincts, she
Speaker 1: knew she had no choice but to obey her husband.
Speaker 1: The council took a vote after the letter was read,
Speaker 1: and fleeing one out, and so Marie Louise, the king
Speaker 1: of Rome and court, fled the city the day before
Speaker 1: the Allied forces invaded Paris. To her utter shock, her
Speaker 1: home country Austria, the kingdom of her father, had taken
Speaker 1: Paris and dethroned her husband, Napoleon, the man her father
Speaker 1: had made her marry in the first place. When she
Speaker 1: heard of Napoleon's abdication, she was dismayed. My father will
Speaker 1: not stand for this. He has repeatedly told me over
Speaker 1: twenty times that he has put me on the throne
Speaker 1: of France and that he would keep me there forever.
Speaker 1: And my father is a good man. With Marie Louise
Speaker 1: off in the countryside and her finances growing thin, many
Speaker 1: of her staff members muttered about missing wages and began
Speaker 1: to flee themselves. Meanwhile, the leaders of Europe were determining
Speaker 1: what should be done with Napoleon. The only one who
Speaker 1: considered that Marie Louise should be by his side seemed
Speaker 1: to be Marie Louise. In all the chaos, she finally
Speaker 1: received a letter from Napoleon, written so quickly he didn't
Speaker 1: even sign it. Quote, I am waiting while matters are
Speaker 1: arranged with the Allies. Russia desires that I am granted
Speaker 1: the sovereignty of Elba and that I stay there, and
Speaker 1: that you are granted Tuscany for your son after you,
Speaker 1: which will enable you to spend as much time with
Speaker 1: me as will not bore you or adversely affect your health.
Speaker 1: End quote. Verrie Louise was twenty two years old at
Speaker 1: this point, and she was determined to join her husband
Speaker 1: in his exile on Elba. As long as I breathe,
Speaker 1: I shall stand by Napoleon, she declared. But the forces
Speaker 1: moving the world now had put her beyond her depth.
Speaker 1: Her father was the enemy of France, and when Marie
Speaker 1: Louise wrote him begging to see him in person and
Speaker 1: figure this situation out, her father wrote back simply, Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I cannot give you the comfort you seek, however much
Speaker 1: I might want to. Everything has been concluded between your
Speaker 1: husband and the Allies. I can only assure you no
Speaker 1: matter what happens, I will always love you as a
Speaker 1: tender father and your child, and also your husband, for
Speaker 1: he has made you as his wife happy. If you
Speaker 1: need a refuge, take your people with you to my home.
Speaker 1: End quote. At this point, the stress was beginning to
Speaker 1: affect Marie Louise physically. According to Debor Jay's book Napoleon's
Speaker 1: Other Wife, she was suffering headaches, fevers, and she was
Speaker 1: spitting blood. There was nothing to do except wait to
Speaker 1: see where the men in charge of various European countries
Speaker 1: would put her. In the end, she did not get Tuscany.
Speaker 1: The allies in the abdication agreement granted her the duchies
Speaker 1: of Parma, Pianceza and Gusta Tella. There at least would
Speaker 1: be a stable and pretty place to live, somewhere to
Speaker 1: pass the time when she wasn't, of course, with her
Speaker 1: husband on Elba. Despite Marie Louise's determination to get to
Speaker 1: Elba to be with Napoleon, it seems that her father
Speaker 1: and the men around him had already made a silent
Speaker 1: agreement to try to untie her from Napoleon as best
Speaker 1: they could. Marie Louise no doubt felt the uncanny sensation
Speaker 1: of other people talking about you and making arrangements on
Speaker 1: your behalf without her knowledge. Letters from Napoleon didn't contain
Speaker 1: any plans for the two to finally meet up. Again. Instead,
Speaker 1: Napoleon just instructed his wife that she should wait to
Speaker 1: hear from her father Marie Louise planned to finally meet
Speaker 1: the Austrian Emperor in person at the palace of Ramboulay.
Speaker 1: From there, it was essentially over. The meeting with her
Speaker 1: father at Ramboulay, she must have slowly realized was a trap.
Speaker 1: Her servants disappeared, replaced by Cossacks. Marie Louise wrote to Napoleon,
Speaker 1: an order has been given to restrain me, by force,
Speaker 1: if necessary, from joining you. Take care, my dear friend,
Speaker 1: for they are deceiving us, and I am terrified to
Speaker 1: death for you for Vienna. On April twenty third, in
Speaker 1: a miserable haze of confusion and powerlessness, she was assured
Speaker 1: she and her son would be welcomed back in Austria
Speaker 1: as members of the family. It's not as though you
Speaker 1: can call an oopsie's or a mulligan on a royal marriage,
Speaker 1: but it seems like the Emperor of Austria was hoping
Speaker 1: to give it a try. The King of Rome, though
Speaker 1: the Austrian Emperor's grandson, was also essentially a hostage. Though
Speaker 1: the Austrian Emperor seemed to adore the young boy whom
Speaker 1: he had just met for the first time, heartbreakingly for
Speaker 1: Marie Louise her husband had not been writing to her.
Speaker 1: She continued to write, carefully, numbering each letter, unsure whether
Speaker 1: or not her letters were reaching Napoleon at all, while
Speaker 1: she was living among Viennese court, a strange refugee in
Speaker 1: her own homeland, having to turn a blind eye to
Speaker 1: all of the snickering and gossip about Napoleon's demise. Especially
Speaker 1: painful were the rumors about how Napoleon pined for Josephine.
Speaker 1: That bit of gossip would continue even after Josephine's death,
Speaker 1: with various courtiers whispering into Marie Louise's ear about how
Speaker 1: heartbroken her husband was over his first wife, slowly weakening
Speaker 1: the steely resolve Marie Louise had had earlier to come
Speaker 1: join her husband in exile. Come hell or high water,
Speaker 1: Marie Louise wrote, I am in a very unhappy and
Speaker 1: critical position. I must be very prudent in my conduct.
Speaker 1: There are moments when that thought so distracts me that
Speaker 1: I think the best thing I could do would be
Speaker 1: to die. Marie Louise, still weak, ill and losing weight,
Speaker 1: needed some time to recover, and she was going to
Speaker 1: take a trip to the thermal baths at x It
Speaker 1: was also a chance to escape the claustrophobic prison that
Speaker 1: Vienna had become. Her father convinced her it was imprudent
Speaker 1: to travel with the young King of Rome for the
Speaker 1: sake of economy, of course, and he would conveniently remain
Speaker 1: back in Vienna. Her father made another strategic chess move,
Speaker 1: assigning as her escort the dashing Comte dinneypurg He was
Speaker 1: adept at sympathizing with Marie Louise and seemingly sharing her
Speaker 1: admiration for her husband. The Count acted like he supported
Speaker 1: her plan to escape to Elba to be with Napoleon,
Speaker 1: when really the Count was under orders from Vienna to
Speaker 1: make sure that she did not go. When a messenger
Speaker 1: came with a secret letter from Napoleon telling her to
Speaker 1: leave for Genoa, where a sho would be waiting for her,
Speaker 1: Marie Louise asked for Count Nepberg's advice. He wouldn't you
Speaker 1: know it, wrote to Emperor Francis of Austria, who had
Speaker 1: the messenger arrested. There were also orders in place by
Speaker 1: the Austrian, Russian and French police to arrest Marie Louise
Speaker 1: should she try to escape to Elba. The Count advised
Speaker 1: Marie Louise to write to her father and assure him
Speaker 1: that she had never actually intended on following through with
Speaker 1: the plan to join Napoleon for the sake of preserving
Speaker 1: her duchies, her tenuous financial future, and any hope of stability,
Speaker 1: especially for the sake of her son. Marie Louise remained
Speaker 1: racked with guilt and shame. She replayed the moment of
Speaker 1: Paris's invasion and wished she had stuck to her initial
Speaker 1: impulse of standing in Paris as the daughter of the
Speaker 1: Austrian emperor to stay strong and try to protect the city.
Speaker 1: After x she returned to Vienna, where she and her
Speaker 1: son were treated alternately as circus attractions or spies, outcasts,
Speaker 1: or objects of curiosity and ridicule. Rumors about Napoleon were
Speaker 1: largely about how much he preferred the company of Josephine
Speaker 1: and his mistress as opposed to his wife, Though Marie
Speaker 1: Louise would never divorce her husband, it's around this time
Speaker 1: that most accounts suggest that she began to fall in
Speaker 1: love with Count Nepperg. Perhaps her father's assignment of the
Speaker 1: dashing count as her escort had been multi purposed. When
Speaker 1: Napoleon escaped from Elba in eighteen fifteen to return to
Speaker 1: France for a brief but triumphant stint as emperor before
Speaker 1: his ultimate defeat at Waterloo, Marie Louise did not attempt
Speaker 1: to rejoin him him. She wrote through an intermediary, I
Speaker 1: hope you will understand the misery of my position. I
Speaker 1: shall never assent to a divorce, but I flatter myself
Speaker 1: that he will not oppose inamicable separation, and that he
Speaker 1: will not bear any ill feeling towards me. The separation
Speaker 1: has become imperative. It will in no way affect the
Speaker 1: feelings of esteem and gratitude that I preserve. History tends
Speaker 1: to paint Marie Louise as disloyal and flighty. Easily seduced
Speaker 1: is one phrase that I came across, and yet with
Speaker 1: someone like Count Nepperg frequently portrayed as the handsome lover,
Speaker 1: she wantonly cast a Napoleon aside for and reads to
Speaker 1: me as though this was a desperate and lonely confused
Speaker 1: young woman finding comfort in the arms of the nearest
Speaker 1: authority figure. It seemed as though she could rely on.
Speaker 1: She's someone that I have sympathy for an incredibly sheltered
Speaker 1: young woman, kept pristine as a specimen in a jar,
Speaker 1: away from all men, even male pets, growing up just
Speaker 1: waiting to be deployed as a diplomatic bride. And like
Speaker 1: her great aunt Marie Antoinette, she suffered for the bad
Speaker 1: luck of being married to a French leader at the
Speaker 1: wrong moment. Marie Antoinette's punishment was death. Marie Louise's sentence
Speaker 1: was irrelevance and humiliation. As Deborgey wrote in her book,
Speaker 1: Marie Louise would be quote rootless, a fugitive and exile,
Speaker 1: isolated physically, mentally and emotionally end quote At least she
Speaker 1: would no longer be required to marry as a political pawn.
Speaker 1: Marie Louise had two children with nepberg out of wedlock,
Speaker 1: and after Napoleon died on Saint Helena on May fifth,
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty one, Marie Louise finally married Nepberk a month later.
Speaker 1: It was a Morganatic marriage, meaning that since he was
Speaker 1: of significantly lower rank, neither he nor his children would
Speaker 1: benefit from any of Marie Louise's titles. Marie Louise would
Speaker 1: outlive her second husband as well, and after he died
Speaker 1: she would marry again, also morganatically, this time to a
Speaker 1: French immigree who had fought with the Austrians, serving as
Speaker 1: her grand chamberlain. Marie Louise lived for over fifty years,
Speaker 1: and fewer than five of them were at Napoleon's side,
Speaker 1: and yet of course he is the great event of
Speaker 1: her life, the high drama of being married to a
Speaker 1: recent enemy, learning to find her husband amiable and loving,
Speaker 1: bearing him a son, then separating from him forever to
Speaker 1: too easily overpowered by the winds of war and diplomacy.
Speaker 1: In her notebook, Marie Louise wrote, love is a chapter
Speaker 1: in a man's life, the whole story for a woman.
Speaker 1: Perhaps she was all too aware of how her story
Speaker 1: would be told in history. It's worth noting at the
Speaker 1: end of Jay's book she points out what a tremendous
Speaker 1: impact Marie Louise had in later life in her humble
Speaker 1: duchy of Parma, creating schools for boys and girls, schools
Speaker 1: for the deaf, libraries, colleges and museums, hospitals and orphanages,
Speaker 1: a vast number of public works. She may not have
Speaker 1: been as charming as Josephine. She was not a woman
Speaker 1: who awed historians with moments of independence or dramatic bravery.
Speaker 1: But perhaps it's enough just to simply say she did
Speaker 1: the best she could in a situation far beyond her control.
Speaker 1: That's the story of Marie Louise. But keep listening after
Speaker 1: a brief sponsor break to hear what happened to Napoleon's son.
Speaker 1: After Marie Louise and her son, the King of Rome,
Speaker 1: returned to Austria. Her son would be kept there sort
Speaker 1: of as family, but also sort of as a hostage.
Speaker 1: After Napoleon's defeat, the small child was no longer the
Speaker 1: King of Rome, and he would ultimately be restyled as
Speaker 1: the Duke of Reichstadt, living in Vienna, where he was
Speaker 1: known as Franz. His grandfather, the Emperor of Austria, loved him,
Speaker 1: but most Austrians in power fundamentally distrusted him. How could
Speaker 1: they not. He was Napoleon's son and rightful heir, after all.
Speaker 1: At any moment, one of Napoleon's many loyalists might smuggle
Speaker 1: him back into France, where he might reclaim the empire
Speaker 1: and wreck havoc all over Europe. The way his father did,
Speaker 1: and yet the efforts to defrancify the boy and turn
Speaker 1: him against Napoleon backfired. He was resentful at the suspicious
Speaker 1: and dismissive way he was treated, and began to identify
Speaker 1: himself not as Frands but as Napoleon the Second. It
Speaker 1: infuriated him that his mother had produced two children out
Speaker 1: of wedlock before Napoleon died, and he once commented to
Speaker 1: a friend, if Josephine had been my mother, my father
Speaker 1: would not have been buried at Saint Helena, and I
Speaker 1: should not be at Vienna. My mother is kind but weak.
Speaker 1: She was not the wife my father deserved. That's the
Speaker 1: kind of melodramatic statement you might expect from any angsty
Speaker 1: teenager romanticizing the lost father he never knew. Might Napoleon
Speaker 1: the Second have shared his father's brilliance and political acumen.
Speaker 1: Sadly we will never know. Still living in Vienna, Napoleon
Speaker 1: the Second, Napoleon's only legitimate air, died of tuberculosis when
Speaker 1: he was just twenty one. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz. Writers for Noble
Speaker 1: Blood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffey, Natasha Laski,
Speaker 1: and me Dana Schwartz. The show is edited and produced
Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk and Nomes Griffin, with supervising producerrima Ill
Speaker 1: Kali and executive producers Eron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.