Most people have heard of the famous love between Emperor Napoleon of France and his wife Josephine but it’s not very well known that Napoleon divorced Josephine because she couldn’t bear him an heir and married for a second time. But who was that second wife? This story tells you all about her. Marie-Louise was the daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria and was only nineteen when she was told she must marry Napoleoan to cement an alliance. Before she was married Marie-Louise was in love an equerry in her father’s court whom she had to give up when she married though she still loved him. Napoleon was far from an ideal husband since even though he was divorced from Josephine he was still in love with her and he treated Marie-Louise pretty dreadfully. Fortunately for her Napoleon was exiled only four years after their marriage and died a few years later which left Marie-Louise free to marry the love of her life and go on to have a happy future.
Tag Archives: pamela’s picks
Pamela’s Picks: Madame Tussaud: A Novel Of The French Revolution by Michelle Moran
Most people know about Madame Tussaud’s wax museum but probably don’t know much about the woman behind it. While this is a fictionalized story we still learn in Madam Tussaud: A Novel Of The French Revolution by Michelle Moran much about who Madame Tussaud really was. Marie Grosholtz was born in Germany and later moved with her family to France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Curtius who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. It was Dr. Curtius who taught Marie the art of wax modelling. In adulthood Marie had connections both to the French royal family (she became a sculpting teacher to one of the sisters of King Louis XVI) as well as the revolutionaries who played prominent parts in the French Revolution. Her family was careful to play both sides during the revolution since they did not know which one would emerge victorious. Marie was imprisoned by the revolutionaries and was lucky to emerge alive. She married Francois Tussaud in 1795 and although the marriage did not last she kept her new last name. Later Marie moved to London where she opened a museum. Marie Tussaud died in 1850 but her name and fame live on.
Pamela’s Picks: The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
The Red Queen is the second book in the Cousins War series (the first book being The White Queen about Elizabeth Woodville wife of King Edward IV) which is set in medieval England during the War of the Roses. I’ve always found this part of British history confusing since there are so many people with the same names (too many Richards and Henrys and Edwards and the crown goes back and forth between them like a football) so reading about them this way, as characters in a novel helps as it gives them distict personalities. The main character is Lady Margaret Beaumont, a Lancastrian descended from Edward III, whom we see grow up from a young girl convinced of her holiness, wanting to be just like Joan of Arc and enter a convent, to becoming the mother of Henry Tudor who later becomes King Henry the VII. Margaret is not a very likeable heroine, she’s always convinced that she’s right and that her way is the only way, she blames others for her problems, but she’s still interesting in how she schemes to put her son on the throne, even putting aside the love of her brother in law as that would not be best for her plan. The book ends with Margaret looking like she will get her wish as Henry Tudor and Richard III meet on Bosworth Field. Though we know how that battle will end from history books I look forward to seeing how it will play out in the next book in The Cousin’s War series which according to Wikipedia will be called The White Princess and will focus on Princess Elizabeth of York the daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and daughter-in- law of Margaret.