And the Rest Is History (5 page)

Rose, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic, but destitute and a spendthrift, she agreed to become Josephine Bonaparte. For a wedding present he presented his bride with a gold medallion inscribed with the words
To Destiny
. On their wedding night he received a scar from Josephine's dog, Fortuna; while in bed the pug had viciously bit his ankle.

Forty-eight hours after their marriage, Napoleon left for Italy to embark on a war against the Austrians; Josephine stayed in France and embarked on an adulterous affair with Hyppolyte Charles. Devastated at their separation, Napoleon penned dozens of letters to his wife: “Come and join me, that at least, before death, we may be able to say, ‘We were many days happy.' A thousand kisses, and one even to Fortuna, notwithstanding his spitefulness. BONAPARTE.”

When word reached the general regarding his wife's affair, he threatened divorce. Josephine always referred to her husband's discovery of her infidelity as the “day of the catastrophe.” The unsavory revelation marked an abrupt shift in their relationship; Josephine never took another lover, whereas Napoleon was never without one. However, these liaisons stayed within the realm of physical and not emotional adultery. As he said, “My mistresses do not in the least engage my feelings. Power is my mistress.” After a stormy reunion, the couple reconciled and took up residence in the Tuileries Palace. As Josephine played her role as the wife of the most powerful man in the continent, her charm won over the populace. Napoleon recognized her as a political asset when he said, “I only win battles; Josephine wins hearts for me.”

Ironically, in 1884, the upstart Corsican, who had fought a revolution whose purpose was to end monarchy, was in Notre Dame Cathedral for his coronation ceremony, presided over by Pope Pius VII. At the last moment, Bonaparte took the crown from the pontiff's hand and placed it on his own head, thereby signifying that his power surpassed the Church's own. The kneeling Josephine was crowned Empress of France.

For the next two years, while Bonaparte was not subjugating Europe and Josephine was not on a ravenous spending spree, the two spent passionate days together. However, Bonaparte's meteoric rise proved the demise of their marriage. As emperor, he was desperate to have an heir. Initially Napoleon believed that their failure to have children lay with him, as Josephine was already a mother; however, when his mistress became pregnant, it became apparent that Josephine, either because she was in her late thirties or because her time awaiting execution had triggered an early menopause, was infertile. Napoleon declared that he had to obtain a divorce for “reasons of state,” as the throne was his main paramour. He began to compile lists of eligible princesses. Afterward, while the Bonapartes were dining, from the next room, Napoleon's secretary heard screams; Josephine did not take the news well of her forthcoming divorce.

The following day, servants took her possessions to the Château de Malmaison, a magnificent mansion near Paris, where her chief interest was strolling in her gardens. Eventually Josephine, now the Duchess of Navarre, admitted defeat. She knew that against another woman, she would win; against Napoleon's ambition, even she did not have a chance. At the divorce proceedings they declared their mutual love, despite the breaking of their hearts. Napoleon stated, “She has adorned thirteen years of my life; the memory will always remain engraved on my heart.” Josephine stated, “I am pleased to offer him the greatest proof of attachment and devotion ever offered on this earth.” Three months later Napoleon married the nineteen-year-old Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise, and within a year Napoleon had his long-awaited heir, to whom he gave the title “King of Rome.” Two years after the birth, Napoleon arranged for Josephine to meet the young prince “who had cost her so many tears.”

When Napoleon tore himself from Josephine, his once-charmed life became cursed. The erstwhile invincible general suffered military defeats, was eventually forced to abdicate, and was exiled to the island of Elba. There he attempted suicide, but the pill he had long carried had lost its potency. Marie Louise had taken a lover and refused to join him with their son. However, Josephine wrote to Napoleon telling him of her plans to leave for Elba, but destiny had another plan. While walking in her garden with Tsar Alexander, she became ill and passed away shortly after. Her dying words were, “Elba! Marie Louise, Napoleon.” When news of her death reached the defeated general on his island prison, he locked himself in his room for two days, refusing to see anyone.

With Josephine's death, Napoleon was left with his only remaining love, France, and he managed to escape and return to Paris. When the soldiers saw him, the air rang with shouts of
“Vive l'Empereur!”
After regaining control of his troops, Napoleon visited his shrine of Malmaison and went to the room in which his beloved had died. Before he departed, he retrieved some violets, Josephine's favorite, from her garden.

Napoleon reigned once more, for a hundred days, until his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. This time he was placed under an even heavier guard on the island of St. Helena. There he finally met an opponent even history's greatest general could not defeat: death. In 1821 he passed away holding a picture of Josephine. In a locket around his neck were the crushed violet petals from her garden. Bonaparte's last words were to his first love:
“France, armée, tête d'armée, Josephine”
(“France, the army, the head of the army, Josephine”).

6

1836

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I
n nineteenth-century England, the country's greatest boast was, “The sun never sets on the British Isles.” In like fashion, the sun never set on the couple who steadfastly referred to themselves as “we two.”

Alexandrina Victoria Hanover was born in Kensington Palace in London; there, when she was eighteen, the Archbishop of Canterbury informed her that with the death of her uncle, King William IV, she was to inherit the throne of England. Her response, “I beg Your Grace to pray for me.” However, Victoria, unlike her famous predecessor Queen Elizabeth I, did not want to bear the splendid burden of royalty alone.

Victoria's destiny, Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel of Saxe-Coburg, was born to a family whose main claim to fame was its connection to many of Europe's monarchs. His life was supposed to be a mere footnote in German history, but fate arranged otherwise.

The first time Victoria met Albert was on May 18, 1836, in London, where he arrived as the result of a royal matchmaker. King Leopold I of Belgium decided to try to arrange a marriage between his nephew and niece. However, Victoria was not impressed with her chubby, self-absorbed cousin; similarly, Albert, who was extremely serious, found her to be too frivolous for his taste. No tears were shed when Albert returned to Germany, but Cupid's arrow did leave an impression, and although she was introduced to the most eligible bachelors of Europe, three years later the queen invited her cousin for another visit.

It was love at second sight. She wrote to their Uncle Leopold to thank him “for the prospect of
great
happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy.” As a monarch, she had to be the one to propose, which she did three days later, and on February 10, 1840, they were wed in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace. She decided to forgo the traditional bridal dress color of the day: silver for the upper classes and blue for the lower ones. Instead she chose white, a tradition that became an established one. The ring that the queen slipped on her beloved's finger was engraved with the date she had proposed. Victoria's own ring was a diamond-encrusted snake with ruby eyes biting its tail, which in its era was a symbol for eternity. On her dress, over her heart, she wore a present from her groom, a sapphire and diamond brooch. Her dress had a six-foot train; her wedding cake measured nine feet. The next day, Victoria wrote, “What I can do to make him happy will be my greatest delight.”

Despite the saying that opposites attract, their union was based on commonalities: Victoria and Albert were born in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife; their families had royalty in their blood, and, as Victoria's mother was from Germany, they spoke the same language. Moreover, they were both victims of unhappy childhoods: When Albert was five his parents divorced and his exiled mother never saw him again; Victoria's father passed away when she was an infant, and her mother was comparable to any Brothers Grimm fairy-tale villainess. The couple found the affection, companionship, and trust that neither had experienced while growing up. Victoria's first act as queen, when she moved into Buckingham Palace, was to symbolically give her mother a bedroom far from her own. In response, her mother gave her as a nineteenth-birthday present a copy of
King Lear
.

The popular view of Queen Victoria is the embodiment of sexual repression; urban legend has it that she ordered all the piano legs in her palaces to be covered with skirts because of their suggestiveness to female anatomy. Similarly, her advice to her daughters on their wedding nights was, “Lie back and think of England.” The quotation most associated with her is, “We are not amused.” However, she bore nine children in seventeen years, and their conception was as much a result of her love for her husband as it was duty to her country.

Prince Albert's position when he came to live in his adopted homeland was difficult. He was a foreigner in the British castle and thus vulnerable to suspicion. Moreover, in the male-dominated epoch he was in a subservient role, as it was his wife who was one of the most powerful leaders in the world. She was the marquee attraction; he was merely her understudy. His lesser status was reflected in his title of prince consort, rather than king. Three months after his marriage he wrote to a friend, “I am only the husband, and not the master of the house.”