Hortense de Beauharnais

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (French pronunciation:

Early life

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte was born in

Hortense was described as having been an amusing and pretty child with long, pale golden-blonde hair and blue eyes. She received her education at the school of Madame

In 1802, at Napoléon's request, Hortense married his brother Louis Bonaparte. Hortense was reluctant to marry at first, but her mother persuaded her to accept the proposal for the political wellbeing and prosperity of the family.

Queen of Holland

Napoléon appointed his brother Louis as King of Holland in 1806 and Hortense accompanied her husband to The Hague. Hortense's reaction to her appointment as Queen of Holland was negative for two reasons. First, it was necessary for her to move there with Louis, with whom she did not get along. Second, she had to leave her life as a celebrated member of Parisian society. She had hoped to be "a Queen of Holland in Paris," but Napoléon did not agree.^[4] She was forced to depart to the Netherlands with Louis eventually, where she arrived on 18 June 1806.

Queen Hortense was pleasantly surprised^[4] when the Dutch public welcomed her warmly. She quickly became accustomed to life in the Netherlands and came to like the country. She attended official celebrations and ceremonies, visited the marketplaces where she made large purchases, and was much liked by the public, which annoyed her husband.^[4] She learned water-colour painting and made trips around the countryside. Nevertheless, she hated her stay there because of her relationship with King Louis. The couple lived in different parts of the palace and avoided each other at every opportunity, with Hortense describing herself as a prisoner.^[4] She also refused to give up her French citizenship and declare herself Dutch as Louis did.

In 1807 her first son died; she was allowed to stay in France subsequently, as the climate there was considered better for raising her other son

This forced Hortense to return to the Netherlands and reconcile with her husband. When Napoleon married Marie Louise, Hortense returned to the Netherlands temporarily, but found that the Dutch did not welcome her. She considered this the end of her marriage and left for France shortly before her husband abdicated the throne to their oldest living son,

Hortense was now free to respond to the romantic overtures of the man whom she had long admired, Colonel

In 1814 Flahaut had an affair with the Comédie-Française actress Mademoiselle Mars. When Hortense read Mars’ "passionate outpourings" in one of her letters to Charles, she ended the affair. Although Hortense still had a deep attachment to Charles and remained in correspondence with him initially, she then made up her mind to release him. When, months later, he had mentioned that he had met "a rich young woman who seemed to like him,” Hortense begged him to forget the promises he had made to her.^[6] In October that year she went on a pilgrimage to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of the Hermits at Einsiedeln Abbey in the Swiss canton of Schwyz. After renouncing her claims on Charles, she presented a bouquet of diamond hydrangeas to the Virgin and a ring for the abbot, having been blessed, she wrote, with "so many consolations, such happiness at Einsiedeln not to wish that my memory remain there after I had left."^[7]

Composer

Hortense de Beauharnais found love for music during her time in boarding school and she became a self-acclaimed amateur composer there (Beaucour, 2007). Though she did not have any known education in composition, it is said that she was a very talented singer and pianist. Fétis wrote about her in his article, Biographie Universelle des Musiciens, the following lines:

“Plantade was Queen Hortense’s singing-master when she was at Mad. Campan’s school; what her Majesty gained more especially from her lessons was a great capability of stint, she composed several pieces of this kind, among which is the one beginning with the words: ‘Partant pour la Syrie.’ This romance, which enjoyed a great vogue about 1810, again became popular in France after 1852.”^[8] While her stepfather, Napoleon, ruled over France, she wrote marches and the French Troops sung some of her songs.^[9]

Hortense was banished when

A collection of some of her writing, art, and compositions can be found in her “Livre d’art de la reine Hortense.”^[10]

Charities

Hortense donated to the poor often and was also known to be a favourite amongst them.^[2] She states in her memoirs, “Going to one of the mulatto houseservants I announced, ‘John, look at all this money granny gave me for the poor black people. Take me round to their cabins so I can give it to them.’”^[2]

Later years

At the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Hortense received the protection of Alexander I of Russia. At his instigation, Louis XVIII granted her the title of Duchess of Saint-Leu (duchesse de Saint-Leu) on 30 May 1814.^{[citation needed]} During the Hundred Days, however, Hortense supported her stepfather and brother-in-law Napoléon. In turn, Louis XVIII banished Hortense from France after Napoleon’s final defeat. She left Paris on 17 July 1815.^[11]

During her banishment, Hortense began to focus on writing her memoirs, composing and publishing her musical works, drawing, and painting.^[12] Her home became a center for French art and culture. Established artists, composers, and writers were all fascinated by the banished queen in Switzerland.^{[citation needed]}

Despite residing in

She traveled in Germany and Italy before she purchased the Château Arenenberg in the Swiss canton of Thurgau in 1817. She lived there until she died of cancer on 5 October 1837, at the age of fifty-four. She is buried next to her mother Joséphine in the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church in Rueil-Malmaison. After her death, her remaining legitimate son, Charles-Louis Napoleon, returned to Paris, where he became Emperor Napoleon III.

A portrait of Hortense hangs at James Monroe’s Highland, the Virginia plantation home of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States. It was one of three portraits Hortense gave to Monroe's daughter Eliza, with whom she attended school in France. (The other two portraits are of Hortense's brother Eugène de Beauharnais and of Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, the headmistress of the school Hortense and Eliza attended.) Eliza named her daughter, Hortensia Monroe Hay, in honour of her Godmother Hortense.^[17]

Issue

With Louis Bonaparte, she had three sons:

• Napoléon Louis Charles Bonaparte
  (10 October 1802 - 5 May 1807), who died when he was four years old.
• Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte
  on 23 July 1826.
• Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, later Napoleon III (20 April 1808 - 9 January 1873), who married Eugénie de Palafox, Countess of Montijo on 29 January 1853. They had one son.

With

• Duke of Morny in 1862.^[4]

• Arenenberg

References

Further reading

• Epton, Nina (1976). Josephine: The Empress and her Children. London: Norton.
  ISBN 0-393-07500-1
  .
• Scarisbrick, Diana (2019). Margaret de Flahaut (1788–1867): A Scotswoman at the French Court. Cambridge
  OCLC 1076395537
• Smith, William H.C. (2007). The Bonapartes: The History of a Dynasty. Bloomsbury Academic.
  ISBN 978-1-852855-78-9
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hortense de Beauharnais.

• Hortense - La Reine d'Hollande
• Queen Hortense - A Life Picture of the Napoleonic Era - 1910 book by L. Mühlbach, as an eText from Project Gutenberg
• Spencer Napoleonica Collection at Newberry Library
• Free scores by Hortense de Beauharnais at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Hortense de Beauharnais House of Beauharnais Born: 10 April 1783 Died: 5 October 1837
Dutch royalty
Vacant Title last held by Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily as Consort of the Austrian Netherlands	Queen consort of Holland 5 June 1806 – 1 July 1810	Vacant Title next held by Wilhelmine of Prussia as Queen of the Netherlands