The Kingdom of Holland was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte for his brother Louis Bonaparte, who became the first King of Holland in 1806. Louis was – unhappily – married to Napoleon’s stepdaughter Hortense, who was thus the first – and as it would turn out the last – Queen of the Kingdom of Holland. [read more]
Read part one here. Read part two here. The new Empress of the French took care of petitions, planned dinners and became a patron of the arts. She often awoke together with her husband before going about her toilette. She was given an allowance of 600,000 francs to maintain her household. Her days hardly ever [read more]
Read part one here. Joséphine had to rely on a man she met while in prison, General Hoche, to rebuild her life. All her property had been taken from her. She wrote to her mother in Martinique, currently being blockaded by the British, “You have without a doubt heard about all the awful things that [read more]
Read the first part here. Hortense was now free to respond to the charms of Charles de Flahaut, a man she had long admired. She was staying in Geneva when she met him as he was part of her mother’s entourage. They could not be together long as his military duties required him to go [read more]
Hortense de Beauharnais was born on 10 April 1783 as the daughter of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie but by that time her parents’ marriage was in deep trouble. When her mother wrote to her father informing him of her birth, he wrote back, “If I had written to you during my first [read more]
Oud-Amelisweerd in the Netherlands doesn’t really look like it has much of a royal connection. It was built in the 13th century, but it was destroyed by French troops in 1672. It wasn’t rebuilt until 1770. It passed through noble hands before being sold to King Louis Napoleon of Holland in 1808. He held the [read more]
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