Staffordshire Figure of Louis Napoleon, Emperor of the French

Napoleon_III_in_uniform

Louis Napoleon was the son of Hortense Beauharnais the daughter of the Empress Josephine and Napoleon’s brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland. He was born at the Tuilleries Palace in Paris 20th April 1808 and died 9th January 1873. He was elected president of the Second Republic in 1848. He then went on to seize power n 1851 when he could not constitutionally be re-elected. He then proclaimed himself Emperor of the French and founded the Second Empire. He was defeated by the Prussians in 1870 at the Battle of Sedan. He was popular and did much to modernise France and rebuild Paris which is as you see it today. This was masterminded by Georges-Eugène Haussmann.

            In 1853 he married Eugénie de Montijo. They had issue Louis Napoleon Prince Imperial. His long and extensive campaigns in Italy and his establishing of an overseas Empire is worth reading up about. He was an active and very productive emperor, making many changes both physically to his environment but also to the constitution and governance of France.

            This is an interesting part of his life little known about. He was very admiring, and probably somewhat in love with Louisa de Mercy–Argenteau. She was exceedingly beautiful. She came from an interesting family of Burgundians, born the Princess de Caraman-Chimay.

            This story moves forward to 1977. Caroline Baldock, the owner of this museum collection, had been riding on the flat as a professional jockey for Louie Dingwall, from Poole in Dorset. Economics drove Caroline to depart and find a better-paid job in Chantilly, France. She became a work rider for Charles Milbank at 35 Avenue de Joinville.

            She resided in a small hotel called Mica’s. It was from there that she was one day asked to ride for an Italian chap called Vittrino. He gave her a telephone number and said to call it if she was able to renew her licence. Of course licences on the flat are issued to claimers from the Jockey Club to the trainer. In this case the Societe d’encouragment de Chevaux. M. De Chevingny was the director. She was unable to get Charles to renew her license and so called the number. The woman who answered was no relative of Vittrino’s she was, the Princess Therese de Caraman-Chimay. Vittrino was renting her small lavoire converted into living accommodation.

            She was most put out that he had given Caroline her phone number. She told Caroline to contct M. De Chevingny. Nothng more happened. Until Caroline discovered that Vittrino had left Chantilly with his horses. Ah the little apartment was obviously free and Caroline needed somewhere to live. She had kept the scrap of paper with her number on it and phoned her.

            The net result of doing her best to convince this woman how much she needed somewhere to live and how nice she was, succeeded in getting Caroline to be invited up to Vineuil and visit her. Caroline rang the bell at her gate. A tall, elegant, grey-haired lady opened the front door and stepped out of her world and into Caroline’s. She was beautiful, her red lips flashed a smile, her laugh was contagious. Caroline was captivated. Who was she? Caroline was invited in and they chatted. She showed her the property that sported a broken door and needed a coat of paint. Caroline assured her she could do all that. They returned to her pretty Louis 18th house. A kitten ran across the road and greeted them. The Princess picked it up and gave it to Caroline to look after.

            ‘Oh no she thought! What on earth will the Mica’s say.’ Well they did and she was thrown out one night when they discovered the kitten. She had nowhere to go except, maybe the Princess’s. The rest is history. She stayed with her for many weeks and fixed up the barrack, and finally moved in.

            They became and remained friends, Caroline grew very fond of her for her courage, her wit and for all she gave her. They visited Valliere the home of the Duc de Grammot, where they were regally entertained to a luncheon. They went racing together at Longchamp, in the Tribune des Dames alongside the Duchess de Noailles. She told Caroline about the book she had written about her great aunt, Louisa Mercy-Argenteau.

            She showed her ancient books in her library, including one on Joan of Arc, which was written in the 15th century. Her parrot flew about the house and mimicked their laughter.

            After the capitulation of the French army at Sedan, Louisa was requested to visit Louis Napoleon in prison at a Schloss Wilhelmshohe in Cassel. It was to be a terrible journey that Louisa undertook with a servant and much determination. Their meeting was one of great relief for them both. Napoleon explained his need for her to the peace treaty at Versailles and obtain the necessary agreement details he so greatly desired. He explained his deep concern about his troops being starved and intimidated and insisted they were treated well and returned properly to France. He gave up Alsace Lorraine, but wanted to keep his overseas holdings. He wanted the Prince Imperial to be granted a caretaker for the 3rd Empire.

            Louisa set off back to France, a journey that took even longer than the first was four days of incessant problems and questioning. She got to Versailles and met Bismark. They had a long and difficult negociation. She asked for the release of troops and for their wellbeing to be attended to. She asked for his warships to be returned to France, they were the best in the world at that time. It was an exhausting time, full of tension and potential failure. On reflection she felt she had failed when dismissed by Bismark, but finally she did win certain parts of her demands. The French fleet was saved and so were the prisoner of war treated with respect. Food reached them thanks to Louisa.

            Louis Napoleon was exiled in 1873 and died in Chiselhurst. His body and was interred there with that of his son who died in the Anglo Zulu Wars. In 1879 they were finally buried together in a specially built memorial crypt is the in St Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire.

           The wonderful lady known in Chantilly as The Princess, Therésé Matilde, Marcelle, Juilette, Suzanne, de Riquet, de Caraman Chimay. was born 28th April 1904. She remembered her mother taking her and her brother, Prince de Caraman–Chimay to a place in England called Chiselhurst where they went into a churchyard, and at grave they were introduced to an elderly, very regal lady, dressed all in black. They were both to bow or courtesy. Their mother talked with her for some time and then they all left and got into their carriages.

            She was Eugénie de Montijo the last Empress of France, and the grave was that of the Emperor Louis Napoleon. His body was later taken to Farnborough where Eugénie had a crypt built for him at the Abbey Church of St Michael. Eugénie de Montijo the last Empress of France, died 1920 in Spain.

 

PS

Marie-Clotilde-Elizabeth Louise de Riquet, known as Louisa de Mercy-Argenteau, was a Belgian pianist. She was the eldest daughter of Michel Gabriel Alphonse Ferdinant de Riquet (1810-1865) created Prince de Chimay 1834.

References The Last Love of an Emperor, reminiscences of the Comtesse Louisa de Mercy-Argenteau, Nee The Princess de Caraman Chimay.

Violets for the Emperor, The Life of Louisa de Mercy-Argenteau, Therese de Caraman-Chimay

Liszt and Louise de Mercy-Argenteau, Journal of the American Liszt Society 1837-1890