Napoléon's Secret Boudoir

May 29, 1814,...on this day Empress Joséphine died. Her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, wrote to Emperor Napoleon in Elba the following day: "Sire, je remplis un devoir bien pénible pour mon cœur. J'ai l'honneur d'informer Votre Majesté qu'avant-hier, à midi, nous avons perdu Vous la meilleure des amies, ma sœur et moi la plus tendre des mères. Une maladie maligne et putride a terminé sa vie en quatre jours. Elle est morte avec le courage, le calme et la résignation d'un ange. Tout ce qu'elle nous a dit de Vous dans la derniers moments de sa vie nous a assez prouvé combien elle Vous était sincèrement attachée."

Napoleon never received Eugène's letter.

I have received an invitation to the imperial court... 💗💗💗

Oh, I will of course do my utmost to follow the regulations...otherwise the Grand Marshal will be angry with me, but... 🤫

"Start grinding your teeth..."

The artist saw him only briefly. For moments. And created this aura.

Paoli said: "Napoleone...you are completely a man from Plutarch!"

"I should have stayed in Egypt, then I would now be Emperor of the Orient!" he said when he arrived on Saint Helena.

Yes, he was a hero of antiquity . Because that's what he always wanted to be. 🏹🌿

In a French Facebook group, I was offered a letter someone wrote to Adèle in 1831. Adèle was in Mirambeau. Cholera was raging in France. She was safe in her château...

My heart beats when I read her name... Madame La Comtesse Du Châtel...Not Duchâtel...

But Du Châtel! How flattering! How ravishing... 🌹👑🌹

Summer breeze in winter...🥵

~~ I feel like a New Year's present. His New Year's present...for Marie Louise! What I experienced yesterday is absolutely ridiculous! I was officially presented at court in the Empress's private chambers, together with Anetka Potocka (who hates me!). His young empress is heavily pregnant; her babytummy is round and looks very cute. When their chamberlain, Monsieur de Beauharnais, called my name, I approached the imperial couple and curtsied. I didn't look at him, Napoléon, my lover! (to be precise, my occasional lover. He only visits me to see the boy. Afterwards, he pushes me into the bedroom for ten minutes on the sheets, then he strokes my cheek, I pretend to be grateful, and that's it!) No, I didn't look at him during my court presentation. It was too embarrassing! His face was just a white speck in the corner of my eye. I saw only the young Empress, his beloved Louise. She looked at me, unsuspecting. Her large blue eyes saw right through me; to her, I was nothing more than a foreign countess. I felt uneasy, somehow guilty. This young woman knew nothing about it. That her beloved husband was cheating on her, even if only sporadically. With me!.... and other women. Marie Louise knew nothing. Before me sat a diamond-laden girl in pink satin, rosy-cheeked, overheated, an indifferent, real princess. Lied and betrayed...by me!...and her all-powerful husband. Why did he do that to me! Such perfidy, such a deceitful performance!

I was glad when it was over. I will never wear that heavy court dress and long court coat again. (He paid for everything, even the jewelry!) I don't belong at his court! I'm not welcome there anyway. What I've done! Oh God, the whole world knows! Does he intend to introduce me as his official mistress someday? His Pompadour! Never! I'd rather shoot myself! I saw his ladies-in-waiting... I don't think I've ever seen so many elegant, graceful, beautiful women... Goddesses, fairies, angels...And all these beauties adore him!

If I'm lucky, he'll eventually fall in love with one of those beautiful French women.