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Hi, my name is Rosa!

I like the Napoleonic Wars (and specifically general Junot :3), Napoleon II, Ancient Rome (Antony is my babygirl), Imperial Russia and ww1. I doodle my fav historical figures yay

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One of the aspects of Napoleon II’s life which I find the most interesting is his relationships with his Habsburg family members, so I wanted to share some information about his relationship with his baby cousin Franz Joseph, who later became the Emperor of Austria-Hungary! Franz Joseph was born in 1830 so they only knew each other for two years, but it appears that they were quite close during that time.

The extracts I will share are from the writings of Baroness Louise von Sturmfeder, the nanny of Franz Joseph - I found in the extracts in the book ‘le fils de Napoleon’ by Baron Jean de Bourgoing, and apparently Sturmfeder’s book is not available to read online yet so I can only post the extracts that Bourgoing chose to quote.

Here is Napoleon II with his cousins Maria Carolina (the little girl) and Franz Joseph (the baby); and here is a portrait of toddler Franz Joseph playing with a set of toy soldiers that Napoleon II gave him.

extract no.1 - Sturmfeder, Archduchess Sophie and Franz Joseph watch Napoleon II reviewing a company of his battalion:

"The Archduchess, the little one and I stood at the window for more than fifteen minutes watching the Duke of Reichstadt inspect the guard today. A crowd of onlookers had gathered to see him. He seemed to take his duty very seriously and, as far as I could tell, tried to imitate his father in his bearing and the way he wore his hat. The Archduchess, to whom I reported my observations, told me that this was indeed his sole aim. After completing his inspection, he skillfully mounted a beautiful black horse, then galloped off, followed by his aide-de-camp and accompanied by the cries of joy, behind the closed window, of my little one who calls him 'Ada'."

extract no.2 - Napoleon II accidentally predicts Franz Joseph’s future:

"Yesterday, the Duke of Reichstadt was also here. He suddenly declared that he (Franz Joseph) would be a very belligerent prince. 'He was born under the sign of Leo and is being raised by a lady who has the storm in her veins, and thirdly, he is growing up to the sound of the drum, since the guard is stationed beneath his windows. Growing up to the sound of the drum is pleasant; but there are also men who are drums to be beaten; this is not pleasant!’"

(note - the comment about a storm is a pun on Sturmfeder’s name because sturm is German for storm. The comment about Franz Joseph’s star sign is probably a joke because other sources reveal that Napoleon II was interested in astronomy from a scientific perspective but thought astrology was a silly superstition)

extract no.3 - in June 1832 when Napoleon II is dying from tuberculosis, Archduchess Sophie convinces him to undergo the sacrament of the last Eucharist, which he was reluctant to do because he clung onto the delusion that he would recover from his sickness. Little Franz Joseph expresses concern:

"No one wanted to suggest it to him. Finally, the mother of my child decided to do it, and in fifteen minutes she obtained what the others wouldn't even have dared to offer. My little one often talks about him and says, ‘Wake Alfatti! Cure him!’ - Alfatti is Doctor Malfatti, who, when he hears himself called by that name, says, 'Ah! He takes all the evil (mal) from my name!’"

extract no.4 - after Napoleon II’s death:

"Marie-Louise wasn't crying, but she seemed completely devastated. She kept little Franzi (Franz Joseph) with her for almost an hour and talked with him. Suddenly, the little boy began to say, 'Good Eichstadt isn't sleeping'

Then, pointing to his portrait, which was on the desk, he said, 'Please, see the podet (portrait)!’

This is a difficult question because it all comes down to the nature vs nurture debate, which is something I haven’t fully formed my opinion on, but I’ll do my best to answer coherently!

He was a very fussy and bossy toddler, however it’s hard to tell how much of that was just normal toddler temperament and how much it was the effect of being spoilt. When he was three years old and he first arrived in Austria, his 12-year-old uncle Franz Karl refused to play with him because he didn’t want to play with a French boy, and although little Franz didn’t understand enough German to know what Franz Karl had said, he knew it was an insult and cried out “mother, I want that rascal taken away!” - some people may interpret this incident as a spoilt child trying to abuse his royal authority, while others may interpret it as a normal toddler tantrum. He also frequently threatened to have his nannies locked up in prison. The sources on his behaviour as a young child really differ depending on who wrote them - an Austrian police report from when he first arrived in Austria calls him “impetuous, willful, despotic”, but again you could just say that’s an exaggerated description of normal fussy toddler behaviour.

Meanwhile the letters of his French nannies show him to be a kind and caring little boy: when Madame de Montesquiou was sent away, Madame Soufflot sent the following letter to her describing the young prince’s reaction to the sad news:

“I cannot express the sorrow the prince felt this morning when, according to your intentions, Chan-chan told him of his misfortune and ours. We could only calm his tears and deep sighs, which came

from the depths of his heart, by assuring him that he would see you again. He wanted to write to you himself…”

And he had written at the bottom of the letter, with Madame Soufflot’s assistance since he had only just turned four:

 “I love my dear Maman Montesquiou with all my heart.”

So the records of his early childhood provide quite a complex image where he was both very bossy and very kind, and it’s unclear how much of that was just typical behaviour for a young child or whether he had been spoilt from his immensely privileged upbringing.

There are certainly some areas where being raised by his father in France could have led to personality flaws - throughout his life he oscillated between having a superiority complex, believing that the reason why nobody understood him was because he was so much more intelligent than them, and having an inferiority complex, believing that he did not deserve to be his fathers son, and had he been raised in France the sense of superiority would have been much stronger. He was also extremely stubborn and didn’t like being told what to do, and this would have been much worse if he’d been raised in France.

But on the other hand, there were several personality flaws that he developed in Austria as a result of childhood trauma. For example, after being told lies about both of his parents throughout his childhood, he found it very difficult to trust people and rarely confided in anyone. He could also be very judgmental. I think that if he had been raised in France he would have had a more positive opinion of humanity in general and would have been happier.

What were they feeding napoleon ii?? why is he gigantic

✨Habsburg genetics✨ - Marie-Louise and all her family members were tall and skinny.

His height did actually cause a lot of concern - because he grew 3 inches taller in 1826 and contracted tuberculosis in the same year, his deteriorating health was attributed to his growth spurt. Everyone thought that the problems with his lungs was because he had grown so tall so quickly that his lungs hadn’t developed properly!

But as to what were they feeding him - not much at all 😭 When he was little he had a big appetite and ate lots of food but then when he got older his appetite shrunk and whenever he was told to eat more he complained that he physically couldn’t and that he had a stomach the size of a child’s, which was proven to be a correct assessment as the doctor who did his autopsy remarked that his stomach was the size of a 12 year olds rather than a 21 year olds 🧐

Sadly the main body of information on his diet comes from the last months of his life when his appetite was even further diminished, but during that period he liked soup 🍲 and cherries 🍒