Eugénie de Montijo
Eugénie de Montijo | |
---|---|
19th Empress consort of the French | |
Tenure | 30 January 1853 – 4 September 1870 |
Born | Granada, Spain | 5 May 1826
Died | 11 July 1920 Madrid, Spain | (aged 94)
Burial | |
Spouse |
Napoléon III, Emperor of the French (m. 1853; died 1873) |
Catholicism | |
Signature |
Born to prominent Spanish nobility, Eugénie was educated in France, Spain, and England.[1][2] As Empress, she used her influence to champion "authoritarian and clerical policies"; her involvement in politics earned her much criticism from contemporaries.[3][4] Napoléon and Eugénie had one child together, Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–1879). After the fall of the Empire, the three lived in exile in England; Eugénie outlived both her husband and son and spent the remainder of her life working to commemorate their memories and the memory of the Second Empire.[5]
Youth
María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina was born on 5 May 1826 in
Eugenia's elder sister,
On 18 July 1834, María Manuela and her daughters left Madrid for Paris, fleeing a
Eugénie de Montijo, as she became known in France, was formally educated mostly in Paris, beginning at the fashionable, traditionalist Convent of the Sacré Cœur from 1835 to 1836.[9] A more compatible school was the progressive Gymnase Normal, Civil et Orthosomatique,[9] from 1836 to 1837, which appealed to her athletic side (a school report praised her strong liking for athletic exercise, and although an indifferent student, that her character was "good, generous, active and firm").[10] In 1837, Eugénie and Paca briefly attended a boarding school for girls on Royal York Crescent in Clifton, Bristol,[11] to learn English. Eugénie was teased as "Carrots" for her red hair and tried to run away to India, making it as far as climbing on board a ship at Bristol docks. In August 1837, they returned to school in Paris.[12] However, much of the girls' education took place at home, under the tutelage of English governesses Miss Cole and Miss Flowers,[13] and family friends such as Prosper Mérimée[14] and Henri Beyle.[15]
In March 1839, on the death of their father in Madrid, the girls left Paris to rejoin their mother there.
Marriage
She first met Prince Louis Napoléon after he had become president of the Second Republic with her mother at a reception given by the "prince-president" at the Élysée Palace on 12 April 1849.[20] "What is the road to your heart?" Napoleon demanded to know. "Through the chapel, Sire", she answered.[21]
In a speech on 22 January 1853, Napoleon III, after becoming emperor, formally announced his engagement, saying, "I have preferred a woman whom I love and respect to a woman unknown to me, with whom an alliance would have had advantages mixed with sacrifices".
The marriage had come after considerable activity concerning who would make a suitable match, often toward titled royals and with an eye to foreign policy. The final choice was opposed in many quarters. Eugénie was considered of too little social standing by some.[24][25] In the United Kingdom, The Times made light of the latter concern, emphasizing that the parvenu Bonapartes were marrying into Grandees and one of the most important established houses in the peerage of Spain: "We learn with some amusement that this romantic event in the annals of the French Empire has called forth the strongest opposition and provoked the utmost irritation. The Imperial family, the Council of Ministers, and even the lower coteries of the palace or its purlieus, all affect to regard this marriage as an amazing humiliation..." [citation needed]
Eugénie found childbearing extraordinarily difficult. An initial miscarriage in 1853, after a three-month pregnancy, frightened and soured her.
After marriage, it did not take long for her husband to stray as Eugénie found sex with him "disgusting".[29][page needed] It is doubtful that she allowed further approaches by her husband once she had given him an heir.[21] He subsequently resumed his "petites distractions" with other women.
Empress
Public life
Eugénie faithfully performed the duties of an empress, entertaining guests and accompanying the emperor to balls, opera, and theater. After her marriage, her ladies-in-waiting consisted of six (later twelve)
She traveled to Egypt to open the
Her husband often consulted her on important questions.
She was a staunch defender of papal temporal powers in Italy and of
She was blamed for the fiasco of the French intervention in Mexico and the eventual death of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.[37] However, the assertion of her clericalism and influence on the side of conservatism is often countered by other authors.[38][39]
In 1868, Empress Eugénie visited the Dolmabahçe Palace in Constantinople, the home to Pertevniyal Sultan, mother of Abdulaziz, 32nd sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Pertevniyal became outraged by the forwardness of Eugénie taking the arm of one of her sons while he gave a tour of the palace garden, and she slapped the empress on the stomach as a reminder that they were not in France.[40] According to another account, Pertevniyal perceived the presence of a foreign woman within her quarters of the seraglio as an insult. She reportedly slapped Eugénie across the face, almost resulting in an international incident.[41]
Role in the arts
The empress was "perhaps the last Royal personage to have a direct and immediate influence on fashion".[42] She set the standard for contemporary fashion at a time when the luxury industries of Paris were flourishing.[43] Gowns, colors, and hairstyles "à l'impératrice" were avidly copied from the empress throughout Europe and America. She was famous for her large crinolines and for rotating her outfits throughout the day, with a different dress for the morning, afternoon, evening, and night.[44][42] The British satirical magazine Punch christened her variously as the "Queen of Fashion", "Imperatrice de la Mode", "Countess of Crinoline", and "Goddess of the Bustles".[45] She never wore the same gown twice, and in this way commissioned and acquired an enormous wardrobe, which she disposed of in annual sales to benefit charity. Her favored couturier, Charles Frederick Worth, provided hundreds of gowns to her over the years and was appointed the official dressmaker to the court in 1869.[46][47] In the late 1860s, she caused a shift in fashion by turning against the crinoline and adopting Worth's "new" slimmer silhouettes with the skirt gathered in the back over a bustle.[46][43]
Eugénie's influence on contemporary taste extended into the decorative arts. She was a great admirer of Queen
In 1863, the Empress established a museum of Asian art called the
Biarritz
In 1854, Emperor Napoleon III and Eugénie bought several acres of dunes in Biarritz and gave the engineer Dagueret the task of establishing a summer home surrounded by gardens, woods, meadows, a pond and outbuildings.
Role in Franco-Prussian War
The Empress held anti-Prussian views and disliked the
After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Eugénie remained in Paris as Regent while Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial travelled to join the troops at the German front. When the news of several French defeats reached Paris on 7 August, it was greeted with disbelief and dismay. Prime Minister
The army was ultimately defeated, and Napoleon III gave himself up to the Prussians at the
From 5 September 1870 until 19 March 1871, Napoleon III and his entourage, including Joseph Bonaparte's grandson Louis Joseph Benton, were held in comfortable captivity in a castle at
After the Franco-Prussian War
When the Second Empire was overthrown after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the empress and her husband took permanent refuge in England and settled at
After the deaths of her husband and son, as her health started to deteriorate, she spent some time at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight; her physician recommended she visit Bournemouth which was, in Victorian times, famed as a health spa resort. During an afternoon visit in 1881, she called on the queen of Sweden, at her residence 'Crag Head'.[66]
Her deposed family's friendly association with the United Kingdom was commemorated in 1887 when she became the godmother of
On the outbreak of World War I, she donated her steam yacht Thistle to the British Navy. She funded a military hospital at Farnborough Hill as well as made large donations to French hospitals, for which she was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1919.[67]
Death, burial and aftermath
The former empress died on 11 July 1920, aged 94, during a visit to her relative the 17th Duke of Alba, at the Liria Palace in Madrid in her native Spain, and she is interred in the Imperial Crypt at St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, with her husband and her son. The British King George V attended her requiem.[68]
After World War I, Eugenie lived long enough to see the collapse of other European monarchies, such as those of Russia, Germany and
Legacy
The empress has been commemorated in space; the asteroid
She had an extensive and unique jewelry collection,[71] most of which later was owned by the Brazilian socialite Aimée de Heeren.[72][citation needed] De Heeren collected jewelry and was fond of the empress as both were considered to be the "Queens of Biarritz"; both spent summers on the Côte Basque. Impressed by the elegance, style and design of the jewelry of the neo-classical era, in 1858, she had a boutique in the Royal Palace under the name Royale Collections.[citation needed]
She was honoured by John Gould who gave the white-headed fruit dove the scientific name Ptilinopus eugeniae.
In popular culture
George W. M. Reynolds's penny dreadful The Empress Eugenie's Boudoir tells of the goings-on in the French court during the days of the Second Empire and features the titular empress as one of its lead characters.
Named for the empress, the Eugénie hat is a style of women's chapeau worn dramatically tilted and drooped over one eye; its brim is folded up sharply at both sides in the style of a riding topper, often with one long ostrich plume streaming behind it.[73] The hat was popularized by film star Greta Garbo and enjoyed a vogue in the early 1930s, becoming "hysterically popular".[74] More representative of the empress' actual apparel, however, was the late 19th-century fashion of the Eugénie paletot, a women's greatcoat with bell sleeves and a single button enclosure at the neck.[75]
Honours
- 475th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa of Spain, 6 March 1853[76]
- Dame of the Order of Saint Isabel of Portugal, 1854[77]
- Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Saint Charles of the Mexican Empire, 10 April 1865[78]
- Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, 1919[67]
- Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross of Austria[79]
Film portrayals
- In Suez (1938), Loretta Young plays her as the love interest of Ferdinand de Lesseps.
- In Juarez (1939), she was played by Gale Sondergaard, portrayed as a ruthless consort who joins her husband in setting Austrian Archduke Maximilian on the throne of Mexico, and then abandons him.
- In Violetas Imperiales (1932, 1952): Set in 19th-century Granada, Eugénie de Montijo (played by Simone Valère) asks a gypsy girl, Violetta (played by Carmen Sevilla), to read her fortune in her hand. Emboldened by Violetta's prediction that she will become a queen, Eugénie heads for Paris.
- In The Song of Bernadette (1943), she is played by Patricia Morison; she credits the waters of Lourdes with curing the prince imperial.
- In The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), Emma de Caunes plays her during a fantasy sequence.
- In the miniseries Andrea Osvart.
Arms
-
Coat of arms as empress of the French
(1853–1870) -
Coat of arms as dame of the Order of Queen María Luisa
(1853–1920)
See also
Citations
- ^ McQueen, 2011; p. 2
- ^ Vizetelly, 1908; p. 62-63
- ^ Roger Price (2001). The French Second Empire: An Anatomy of Political Power. Cambridge University Press. pp. 47–48.
- ^ a b McQueen 2011, p. 3.
- ^ McQueen, 2011; p. 2-4
- ^ "Cipriano Palafox y Portocarrero, 8. conde de Montijo". Geneall (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred (1908). Court Life of the Second French Empire, 1852-1870: Its Organization, Chief Personages, Splendour, Frivolity, and Downfall. C. Scribner's sons. pp. 62–63. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- ^ Seward 2004, pp. 4–5.
- ^ a b c d e Mehl, Scott (28 December 2016). "Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of the French". Unofficial Royalty. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, pp. 16–18.
- ISBN 0-85033-820-4.
- ^ Seward 2004, p. 7.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, p. 17.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, pp. 13 et seq..
- ^ Kurtz 1964, pp. 18 et seq..
- ^ Seward 2004, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b Seward 2004, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Seward 2004, pp. 20–22.
- ^ Seward 2004, pp. 20–26.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, p. 29.
- ^ ISBN 0-312-01827-4.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, p. 50.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, pp. 55–59.
- ^ Duff 1978, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, pp. 45–52.
- ^ Duff 1978, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Duff 1978, pp. 126–129.
- ^ Kurtz 1964, pp. 90, 94.
- OL 5948939M.
- ISBN 0-7509-2979-0(2004)
- ^ "Fashion and Politics in Franz Xaver Winterhalter's Portrait of The Empress Eugénie surrounded by her Ladies-in-Waiting – Smarthistory". smarthistory.org. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- ^ "Interior of Governors Palace, Algiers, Algeria". World Digital Library. 1899. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ Louis Napoléon Le Grand. pp. 204–210.
- ^ Barker, Nancy Nichols (2011). Distaff Diplomacy: The Empress Eugenie and the Foreign Policy of the Second Empire. University of Texas. pp. 9–10.
- ^ Dolan 1994, p. 24.
- ^ Dolan 1994, pp. 24-25.
- ISBN 978-0-245-52418-9
- ^ Kurtz 1964.
- ^ Filon 1920.
- ^ Duff 1978, p. 191.
- ^ "Women in Power" 1840–1870, entry: "1861–76 Pertevniyal Valide Sultan of The Ottoman Empire"
- ^ a b James Laver (1995). Costume & Fashion. Thames & Hudson. p. 185.
- ^ a b Alexander Fury (18 September 2013). "Impress of an empress: The influence of Eugénie on luxury style is still felt today". The Independent. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ Stephane Kirkland (2013). Paris Reborn: Napoléon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City. St. Martin's Press. p. 58=59.
- ^ Therese Dolan (1994). "The Empress's New Clothes: Fashion and Politics in Second Empire France". Woman's Art Journal. 15 (1): 23.
- ^ a b Bonnie English (2013). A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th and 21st Centuries: From Catwalk to Sidewalk. Bloomsbury. p. 8.
- ^ Jess Krick (2000). "Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895) and the House of Worth". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ Madeleine Deschamps (1989). L'Art de Vivre: Decorative Arts and Design in France 1789-1989. The Vendome Press. p. 116.
- ^ "Cabinet ca. 1866, Alexander Roux, France". metmuseum.org. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ Barker, 2011; p. 12
- ^ a b Dominique Bonnet (21 March 2015). "La Musée Chinois de l'impératrice Eugénie à Fontainebleau" (in French). Paris Match.
- ^ McQueen, 2011; p. 228-230
- ^ Hôtel du Palais: Merimée.
- ^ Prince & Porter 2010, p. 678.
- ^ "Hotel du Palais, former Villa Eugenie". Grand Hotels of the World.
- ^ a b c d Wawro, 2003; p. 35
- ^ a b Horne, 1965; p. 36
- ^ a b c du Camp, 1949; p. 280
- ^ Milza, 2009, pg. 80–81
- ^ Milza, 2009, p. 81
- ISBN 978-2-262-02607-3.
- ^ Milza, Pierre (2006). Napoleon III. pp. 711–712.
- ISBN 2-01-27-9098-4.
- ^ Barker 2011, p. 10.
- ^ Farnborough Hill school website
- ^ Bournemouth Visitors Directory 2 February 1881
- ^ a b Seward 2004, pp. 293–294.
- ^ Guillot, Kévin. "L'impératrice Eugénie et la famille royale britannique" [Empress Eugénie and the British Royal Family]. Monarchie Britannique! (in French). Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ "Solar System Exploration: Asteroids – Moons". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2011. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ The Marguerite Necklace of Empress Eugenie
- ^ Aimee de Heeren wearing the Marguerite Necklace Archived 10 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-1-56367-973-5. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-517-57439-3.
- ^ Calasibetta, p. 93.
- ^ "Real orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina Maria Luisa". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish): 167. 1887. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ "Condecorações de Napoleão III" [Decorations of Napoleon III]. Academia Falerística de Portugal (in Portuguese). 3 February 2011. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ^ "Soberanas y princesas condecoradas con la Gran Cruz de San Carlos el 10 de Abril de 1865" (PDF), Diario del Imperio (in Spanish), National Digital Newspaper Library of Mexico: 347, retrieved 14 November 2020
- ^ "Sternkreuz-orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, Vienna: Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1918, p. 332
References
- Aubry, Octave (1939). Eugenie: Empress of the French. London: Cobden-Sanderson.
- Du Camp, Maxime (1949). Souvenirs d'un Demi-Siècle: Au Temps de Louis-Philippe et de Napoléon III 1830-1870 (in French). Hachette.
- Duff, David (1978). Eugenie and Napoleon III. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0688033385.
- Filon, Augustin (1920). Recollections of the Empress Eugénie. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
- Anthony Geraghty, The Empress Eugenie in England: Art, Architecture, Collecting, London: The Burlington Press, 2022
- Horne, Alistair (1965). The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71. New York: St. Martin's Press.
- Kurtz, Harold (1964). The Empress Eugénie: 1826–1920. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. LCCN 64006541.
- Leroy, Alfred (1969). The Empress Eugénie. London: Heron Books.
- McQueen, Alison (2011). Empress Eugénie and the Arts: Politics and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century. Burlington: Ashgate. ISBN 9781409405856.
- "Hôtel du Palais". Merimée. Ministry of Culture. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- Prince, Danforth; Porter, Darwin (2010). Frommer's France 2011. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470641774.
- Sencourt, Robert (1931). The Life of the Empress Eugénie. London: Ernest Benn.
- ISBN 0-7509-29790.
- Stoddart, Jane T. (1906). The Life of the Empress Eugénie. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
- Tschudi, Clara (1899). Eugenie: Empress of the French. A Popular Sketch. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.
- Wawro, Geoffrey (2003). The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521584364.
Further reading
- Smith, Nancy (2017). Original Scarlett O'Hara: Similarity to the French Empress Eugenie who Impacted the Lincoln White House, Mexico, the Civil War and America's Gilded Age. Columbus: Biblio Publishing. ISBN 978-1622494064.
External links
- Eugenie de Montijo.com - The Empress of the French and Paris Les Halles
- Pronunciation of name by French speaker
- Newspaper clippings about Eugénie de Montijo in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW