Memoirs of the Empress Eugenie

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III PKINCESS MATHILDE In a preceding chapter brief mention has been made of Princess Mathilde, but I propose in this chapter to devote more attention to this remarkable woman, especially as a part of the success attending the Coup d'Etat was due, at least indirectly, to her. Nor did her good...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III PKINCESS MATHILDE In a preceding chapter brief mention has been made of Princess Mathilde, but I propose in this chapter to devote more attention to this remarkable woman, especially as a part of the success attending the Coup d'Etat was due, at least indirectly, to her. Nor did her good auspices cease with the advent of the new regime. She continued to be throughout the Second Empire and down to the very day of her death a pillar of strength to Bonapar- tism, and if some of the male members of the Bonaparte family had possessed the abilities and good sense of Princess Mathilde, the history of the house would not have been marked by several incidents of a more or less regrettable character. The Emperor's cousin exercised considerable influence over the world of letters and of arts, not only in Paris, but far beyond its walls. During the Empire and till her death in January, 1904, at the advanced age of eighty-four years, she held a most brilliant salon, first in the Rue de Courcelles and later in her fine mansion in the Rue de Berri, where is now the Belgian Legation, which was frequented by celebrities of all sorts and from which political discussion was severely banished, at least during the Third Republic. Princess Mathilde's father, King Jerome Napoleon, was the great Emperor's brother and reigned for a short time in Westphalia, during the First Empire. When the Prince-President reached the throne, and earlier, at the moment of the Coup d'Etat, as was seen in the last chapter, Jerome supported his nephew in every way possible, both by the prestige of his name and by his resemblance to Napoleon I. He even bravely walked the boulevards by his side. The Emperor was touched by this generous conduct and promoted him first to the rank of Marshal of France and...