One of the great things about this site is the fact that we're literally here to set butterflies flapping (or rip their wings off, as necessary) and see what could happen in a million and one different ways. I am so excited to see what happens and Kellan has and will always have my full support and enthusiasm for their writing and ideas!
WI Napoléon II: Bourbon Hostage?
- Thread starter Kellan Sullivan
- Start date
I have a certain fondness for a match between Charlotte and her Gloucester cousin 😌
Anyone would be better than freaking Leopold.
And besides, no Charlotte of Mexico is a bonus IMO.
The Room Where It Happens
New
Soundtrack: Johann Simon Mayr - Le Due Duchesse - Overture
*Exterior* *Chateau de Compiègne* *cut to seeing the royal hunting party-led by the comte d'Artois- crashing through the trees in pursuit of a deer* [1]
*Cut to a carriage bowling along with Louis XVIII [1]* *opposite the king sits the little Napoléon II* *between two leading members of the Bonaparte court: Josèphine and Hortense de Beauharnais* *in a calèche, some ways behind follows Hortense's sons alongside Ferdinand, Duc de Chartres and Louis, Duc de Nemours*
*Both women seem to be enjoying whatever conversation they're having with Louis [2]*
*Cut to interior of the chateau* *clearly the council room* *present are all the senior males of the royal family- Artois, both his sons, the aged princes de Condé and Conti [3] and his son, the duc de Bourbon- less the duc d'Orléans*
Louis XVIII: as your Highnesses are no doubt aware, the time is drawing near for our emissaries to depart for Vienna and there is an important matter to discuss before we do-
Artois: should the Duc d'Orléans not be present?
Louis XVIII: so he can tell the czar what we wish to do ahead of time?
Artois: and yet you trust Prince Talleyrand to speak for us?
Louis XVIII: we do not trust Talleyrand, but he is far more in tune with what is happening in Europe than any of us can claim to be.
*clear grumbles about this*
Louis XVIII: since we have discussed the matter at length and we grow weary of this repetitive topic, are we all in agreement that Monseigneur François is not to be returned to Austrian custody if it can be helped.
Angoulême: your Majesty is not concerned that the English will support the Austrians in this matter?
Louis XVIII: while I have no doubt that the English may...prefer to keep an ace up their sleeve in the form of Monseigneur François, my talks with both Lord Aberdeen and Castlereagh, and the duke of Wellington suggests that they are weary of war. They no more want a Napoléon to return to power in France than we do.
Angoulême: *nods*
Louis XVIII: which brings us to the matter of General Bonaparte himself.
Artois: the matter of money?
Louis XVIII: *looks at his brother in surprise*
Artois: he is demanding the two million francs he is promised. *to Louis* General Tascher de la Pagerie [4] told Charlot [5] that that both his cousin and his wife's uncle [6] had received letters to that effect from General Bonaparte.
Louis XVIII: *looks at the duc de Berri, clearly annoyed at having his moment stolen*
Berri: *looks completely unbothered by this*
Louis XVIII: the question of this...bribe- and let us be clear, this is a bribe-
Condé: it's a mark of tribute, sire. As though to some Asiatic khan.
Louis XVIII: *nods*
Artois: *to Conti* when Bonaparte was First Consul, what was the pension he settled on your Serene Highness?
Conti: *produces a notebook* *he's clearly written this down* *he pages to the right entry* in 1797, the Directoire awarded me an annual allowance of fifty-thousand francs. *looks up* seldom paid and often late. *pages on* in 1804, First Consul Bonaparte awarded me double that, one hundred thousand francs annually. But it too was seldom paid and when there were French troops in Spain, it wasn't paid at all [7]. Even when I had to billet those troops in my own house.
Louis XVIII: is there a point to this, brother?
Artois: during our exile, we had no island to call home, we lived in the health-and-well-being of the sovereign as any vizier does the sultan. The Prince Regent of England refused to receive us, the emperor of Russia turned you out at Mittau as soon as it became inconvenient for him...and by God's grace we were able to undertake necessary economies to survive. And now General Bonaparte is whining because his allowance of two millions is late?
Louis XVIII: they were promised to him, brother.
Bourbon: if I may...your Majesty...the emperor currently has an army of a thousand men on Elba. Those thousand men must...quite naturally...be paid. He has ships ...which...quite naturally...are expensive. He holds his court in Elba as a miniature of that he held in Paris...that is expensive. He was allowed [8] to ship all his carriages and his horses to the island, in order to reside in the state to which he has become accustomed. [9] That is a further expense. We were given no province we could tax in order to pay for our livelihood. We paid our troops as best as we were able, and when we are no longer able to support them, many loyal soldiers were forced to seek employment in other armies. It is my fear, that should your Majesty decide to pay this allowance- as would be your Majesty's right- it will only encourage men to flock to Bonaparte's side. And when he is able to recruit enough men...he will leave Elba and march on Paris. Whether your Majesty pays or does not pay, the result will be the same.
*several murmurs of agreement*
Berri: *slowly* and it would also not be wise to forward so much money when the treasury is empty and the Prussians are talking of demanding reparations from France
Louis XVIII: *irritably* was that we promised to rename the Pont d'Iena not enough [10]? *aside* The do not wish to kill the injured cow, simply bleed it dry. *to the table* which brings us to the matter of what to do with the Bonapartes.
Conti: I understood that your Majesty had closed this topic with the decision of the usurper's son.
Louis XVIII: there are still other Bonapartes, cousin. And Bonaparte allies- the Murats and the Bernadottes-
Berri: General Tascher de la Pagerie's joining our side would be an indicator to the Clary's- and Bernadotte- that we will not challenge the choice of the king of Sweden by supporting King Gustaf.
Louis XVIII: *sighs* we had no intention of challenging the choice- however distasteful we find it.
Artois: and what of his brother-in-law in Spain?
Louis XVIII: what of him?
Artois: does your Majesty intend to support him against our cousin, King Charles?
Louis XVIII: Cousin Conti...how much support did King Charles lend you during your stay in Barcelona?
Conti: not a sou, sire.
Louis XVIII: we will not support Bonaparte's brother, but we see no reason to support that fat buffoon or his idiot son-
Angoulême: is that also why your Majesty is in favour of Murat in Naples?
Louis XVIII: Murat in Naples is a good way of ensuring that the south of Italy remains on friendly terms with France.
Berri: I am told that the grand duchess of Tuscany is currently at Montpellier...she is hoping that your Majesty will agree to support her in her efforts to retain Lucca [11] if she cannot hang on to Tuscany.
Louis XVIII: to what end?
Angoulême: the same reason as Murat in Naples, uncle. At present, from what I've heard, Prince Metternich wishes to colour the entire north of Italy- excepting Savoie- Habsburg. Lucca being a French-friendly state in the region could certainly be useful.
Louis XVIII: it's coastline also means that should the usurper leave Elba- as Cousin Condé suggests seems likely- landing in Lucca is the most likely place.
Bourbon: her other request is for the principality of Piombino, which is further from France but nearer to Elba.
Louis XVIII: *clearly irritable* money, land, titles...these Bonapartes behave as if somehow they are owed all of this by mere dint of their nephew being in my care. At least the Beauharnais requests [12] are manageable.
*fade to black*
[1] both habits they were known for. Charles was nicknamed "Robin des Bois" (Robin Hood) by his subjects for spending so much time in the woods hunting. And Louis XVIII was known as what would nowadays be termed a "speed freak" as he loved going for drives with the fastest teams of horses in the stables.
[2] Napoléon wasn't exactly known for his drawing room skills. The sort of man- like Pierre from War and Peace- who "had not the slightest idea of how to enter a drawing room. Still less how to leave one." Louis XVIII was known as a witty conversationalist. Even if both mother and daughter ARE pretending or sucking up, it's no doubt considerably less than they had to with Napoléon.
[3] the prince de Conti died in March 1814, but I can't find a cause of death (i.e. that he'd been ill before that), so it's not impossible he gets a few months longer. Condé was two years younger than him and made it to 1818.
[4] Jean Henri Robert Tascher de la Pagerie, cousin of Josephine and a general in the army. At the Restauration, the duc de Berri attempted to coax both Jean "Bon-Amour" and his brother, Pierre "Fanfan" to remain in France and join the royalist army. Jean was reportedly considering it before the Hundred Days.
[5] the duc de Berri
[6] Jean's wife is Marcelle Clary, niece of both Désirée and Julie Clary
[7] I can't find if either of these allowances were paid (promptly or not), but given that the French state regularly needed the money elsewhere, I imagine paying an allowance to an old prince wasn't top of priorities. Bathilde d'Orléans, Duchesse de Bourbon, was promised the same allowances and they were never paid (although she refused to accept the 1804 increase from her son's murderer), so she had to resort to running a sort of pharmacy out of where she was staying in Barcelona. Her home in Barcelona was also used to billet French troops, so it's not impossible that her uncle, the prince de Conti, was subject to the same indignity
[8] yes. Napoléon also had a "mini-fleet" of several ships, although the "flagship" was a two-masted brig "L'Inconstant"
[10] OTL, when the Prussians were in Paris, they planned to blow up the Pont d'Iena. Louis sent one of his people to "sit there" the whole day to prevent them doing it, while he convinced the czar that he'd "rename it". Also, Prussia was the only one of the allies who were proposing reparations- 1.2 billion francs- from France at the congress of Chatillon already. The later sum agreed between the allies was originally 800 million and argued down by the French to 700 million.
[11] Elisa was in Montpelier in May and Graz in August (where she gave birth to her son, Fédéric). It's not impossible that, with her nephew in Louis XVIII's custody, she puts off travelling
[12] Hortense's main request OTL was that she be allowed to remain in France and keep custody of her sons. Eugène wrote that he had resolved to "peaceably the fate that the allied powers would be pleased to grant [him]." And his main concern was not for his own future, but for that of his wife "As for me, I came up by such a humble staircase that I will suffer no harm going back down. I feel sorrow only for my wife, who was born and brought up a Princess." Not sure what Josèphine's request would be, but I imagine it would be similar to Hortense's: she be allowed to remain in France, perhaps be allowed to return to Malmaison (from whence she'd been banished when Napoléon married Marie Louise; despite it being her house, she was only allowed to stay in Paris at the emperor's suffrance).
*Exterior* *Chateau de Compiègne* *cut to seeing the royal hunting party-led by the comte d'Artois- crashing through the trees in pursuit of a deer* [1]
*Cut to a carriage bowling along with Louis XVIII [1]* *opposite the king sits the little Napoléon II* *between two leading members of the Bonaparte court: Josèphine and Hortense de Beauharnais* *in a calèche, some ways behind follows Hortense's sons alongside Ferdinand, Duc de Chartres and Louis, Duc de Nemours*
*Both women seem to be enjoying whatever conversation they're having with Louis [2]*
*Cut to interior of the chateau* *clearly the council room* *present are all the senior males of the royal family- Artois, both his sons, the aged princes de Condé and Conti [3] and his son, the duc de Bourbon- less the duc d'Orléans*
Louis XVIII: as your Highnesses are no doubt aware, the time is drawing near for our emissaries to depart for Vienna and there is an important matter to discuss before we do-
Artois: should the Duc d'Orléans not be present?
Louis XVIII: so he can tell the czar what we wish to do ahead of time?
Artois: and yet you trust Prince Talleyrand to speak for us?
Louis XVIII: we do not trust Talleyrand, but he is far more in tune with what is happening in Europe than any of us can claim to be.
*clear grumbles about this*
Louis XVIII: since we have discussed the matter at length and we grow weary of this repetitive topic, are we all in agreement that Monseigneur François is not to be returned to Austrian custody if it can be helped.
Angoulême: your Majesty is not concerned that the English will support the Austrians in this matter?
Louis XVIII: while I have no doubt that the English may...prefer to keep an ace up their sleeve in the form of Monseigneur François, my talks with both Lord Aberdeen and Castlereagh, and the duke of Wellington suggests that they are weary of war. They no more want a Napoléon to return to power in France than we do.
Angoulême: *nods*
Louis XVIII: which brings us to the matter of General Bonaparte himself.
Artois: the matter of money?
Louis XVIII: *looks at his brother in surprise*
Artois: he is demanding the two million francs he is promised. *to Louis* General Tascher de la Pagerie [4] told Charlot [5] that that both his cousin and his wife's uncle [6] had received letters to that effect from General Bonaparte.
Louis XVIII: *looks at the duc de Berri, clearly annoyed at having his moment stolen*
Berri: *looks completely unbothered by this*
Louis XVIII: the question of this...bribe- and let us be clear, this is a bribe-
Condé: it's a mark of tribute, sire. As though to some Asiatic khan.
Louis XVIII: *nods*
Artois: *to Conti* when Bonaparte was First Consul, what was the pension he settled on your Serene Highness?
Conti: *produces a notebook* *he's clearly written this down* *he pages to the right entry* in 1797, the Directoire awarded me an annual allowance of fifty-thousand francs. *looks up* seldom paid and often late. *pages on* in 1804, First Consul Bonaparte awarded me double that, one hundred thousand francs annually. But it too was seldom paid and when there were French troops in Spain, it wasn't paid at all [7]. Even when I had to billet those troops in my own house.
Louis XVIII: is there a point to this, brother?
Artois: during our exile, we had no island to call home, we lived in the health-and-well-being of the sovereign as any vizier does the sultan. The Prince Regent of England refused to receive us, the emperor of Russia turned you out at Mittau as soon as it became inconvenient for him...and by God's grace we were able to undertake necessary economies to survive. And now General Bonaparte is whining because his allowance of two millions is late?
Louis XVIII: they were promised to him, brother.
Bourbon: if I may...your Majesty...the emperor currently has an army of a thousand men on Elba. Those thousand men must...quite naturally...be paid. He has ships ...which...quite naturally...are expensive. He holds his court in Elba as a miniature of that he held in Paris...that is expensive. He was allowed [8] to ship all his carriages and his horses to the island, in order to reside in the state to which he has become accustomed. [9] That is a further expense. We were given no province we could tax in order to pay for our livelihood. We paid our troops as best as we were able, and when we are no longer able to support them, many loyal soldiers were forced to seek employment in other armies. It is my fear, that should your Majesty decide to pay this allowance- as would be your Majesty's right- it will only encourage men to flock to Bonaparte's side. And when he is able to recruit enough men...he will leave Elba and march on Paris. Whether your Majesty pays or does not pay, the result will be the same.
*several murmurs of agreement*
Berri: *slowly* and it would also not be wise to forward so much money when the treasury is empty and the Prussians are talking of demanding reparations from France
Louis XVIII: *irritably* was that we promised to rename the Pont d'Iena not enough [10]? *aside* The do not wish to kill the injured cow, simply bleed it dry. *to the table* which brings us to the matter of what to do with the Bonapartes.
Conti: I understood that your Majesty had closed this topic with the decision of the usurper's son.
Louis XVIII: there are still other Bonapartes, cousin. And Bonaparte allies- the Murats and the Bernadottes-
Berri: General Tascher de la Pagerie's joining our side would be an indicator to the Clary's- and Bernadotte- that we will not challenge the choice of the king of Sweden by supporting King Gustaf.
Louis XVIII: *sighs* we had no intention of challenging the choice- however distasteful we find it.
Artois: and what of his brother-in-law in Spain?
Louis XVIII: what of him?
Artois: does your Majesty intend to support him against our cousin, King Charles?
Louis XVIII: Cousin Conti...how much support did King Charles lend you during your stay in Barcelona?
Conti: not a sou, sire.
Louis XVIII: we will not support Bonaparte's brother, but we see no reason to support that fat buffoon or his idiot son-
Angoulême: is that also why your Majesty is in favour of Murat in Naples?
Louis XVIII: Murat in Naples is a good way of ensuring that the south of Italy remains on friendly terms with France.
Berri: I am told that the grand duchess of Tuscany is currently at Montpellier...she is hoping that your Majesty will agree to support her in her efforts to retain Lucca [11] if she cannot hang on to Tuscany.
Louis XVIII: to what end?
Angoulême: the same reason as Murat in Naples, uncle. At present, from what I've heard, Prince Metternich wishes to colour the entire north of Italy- excepting Savoie- Habsburg. Lucca being a French-friendly state in the region could certainly be useful.
Louis XVIII: it's coastline also means that should the usurper leave Elba- as Cousin Condé suggests seems likely- landing in Lucca is the most likely place.
Bourbon: her other request is for the principality of Piombino, which is further from France but nearer to Elba.
Louis XVIII: *clearly irritable* money, land, titles...these Bonapartes behave as if somehow they are owed all of this by mere dint of their nephew being in my care. At least the Beauharnais requests [12] are manageable.
*fade to black*
[1] both habits they were known for. Charles was nicknamed "Robin des Bois" (Robin Hood) by his subjects for spending so much time in the woods hunting. And Louis XVIII was known as what would nowadays be termed a "speed freak" as he loved going for drives with the fastest teams of horses in the stables.
[2] Napoléon wasn't exactly known for his drawing room skills. The sort of man- like Pierre from War and Peace- who "had not the slightest idea of how to enter a drawing room. Still less how to leave one." Louis XVIII was known as a witty conversationalist. Even if both mother and daughter ARE pretending or sucking up, it's no doubt considerably less than they had to with Napoléon.
[3] the prince de Conti died in March 1814, but I can't find a cause of death (i.e. that he'd been ill before that), so it's not impossible he gets a few months longer. Condé was two years younger than him and made it to 1818.
[4] Jean Henri Robert Tascher de la Pagerie, cousin of Josephine and a general in the army. At the Restauration, the duc de Berri attempted to coax both Jean "Bon-Amour" and his brother, Pierre "Fanfan" to remain in France and join the royalist army. Jean was reportedly considering it before the Hundred Days.
[5] the duc de Berri
[6] Jean's wife is Marcelle Clary, niece of both Désirée and Julie Clary
[7] I can't find if either of these allowances were paid (promptly or not), but given that the French state regularly needed the money elsewhere, I imagine paying an allowance to an old prince wasn't top of priorities. Bathilde d'Orléans, Duchesse de Bourbon, was promised the same allowances and they were never paid (although she refused to accept the 1804 increase from her son's murderer), so she had to resort to running a sort of pharmacy out of where she was staying in Barcelona. Her home in Barcelona was also used to billet French troops, so it's not impossible that her uncle, the prince de Conti, was subject to the same indignity
[8] yes. Napoléon also had a "mini-fleet" of several ships, although the "flagship" was a two-masted brig "L'Inconstant"
and
[9] Pons l’Héraut writes, in a chapter on Napoleon’s coaches on Elba, the Frenchman noted that “the emperor brought in his train a quantity of fine coaches and horses, which could only have been an annoying complication and excessive expense for a temporary establishment”
[10] OTL, when the Prussians were in Paris, they planned to blow up the Pont d'Iena. Louis sent one of his people to "sit there" the whole day to prevent them doing it, while he convinced the czar that he'd "rename it". Also, Prussia was the only one of the allies who were proposing reparations- 1.2 billion francs- from France at the congress of Chatillon already. The later sum agreed between the allies was originally 800 million and argued down by the French to 700 million.
[11] Elisa was in Montpelier in May and Graz in August (where she gave birth to her son, Fédéric). It's not impossible that, with her nephew in Louis XVIII's custody, she puts off travelling
[12] Hortense's main request OTL was that she be allowed to remain in France and keep custody of her sons. Eugène wrote that he had resolved to "peaceably the fate that the allied powers would be pleased to grant [him]." And his main concern was not for his own future, but for that of his wife "As for me, I came up by such a humble staircase that I will suffer no harm going back down. I feel sorrow only for my wife, who was born and brought up a Princess." Not sure what Josèphine's request would be, but I imagine it would be similar to Hortense's: she be allowed to remain in France, perhaps be allowed to return to Malmaison (from whence she'd been banished when Napoléon married Marie Louise; despite it being her house, she was only allowed to stay in Paris at the emperor's suffrance).
Poor Louis - I felt close to pulling out my hair reading all those demands. At least he's still set on keeping Frankie
thank you
In Louis defense, he seems to be trying to avoid unnecessary drama- he doesn't bring the matter of Frankie up because...well, he knows that it's "not the time or place". Artois and Angoulême (probably Berri) are behind Madame Royal in "keeping him". I imagine that Condé and Bourbon would both like to slit little Frankie's throat- sort of Old Testament revenge for Napoléon's murder of Enghien.- Conti might not feel strongly either way, he's simply there to lend weight to Condé and Artois' argument of "let Boney wait, he's only been doing this for three/four months, we coped for twenty years with far less", but I doubt that he's fond of Louis XVIII*, so he might come down on the Artois side.
*basically Conti's dad died leaving astronomical debts. In order to pay off the debts, the then comte de Provence essentially bought all the Conti estates (save L'Isle Adam, Stors and Triel) at knockdown prices that were a fraction of what they were worth. Then with the Revolution, Conti lost the three estates he'd reserved a life interest in for himself. When the emigrés left France, Conti had very little in the way of wealth that he could put at the emigrés disposal (like Condé had), so he didn't really "feature". It was also why he declined to participate in the emigré court- he didn't have the money (or the credit) to join them and he wasn't the greatest fan of Provence (not sure if this was just because of the estates or if there were other reasons too). When the summons was sent to him to attend the Angoulême wedding, he replied that if Louis XVIII could pay for his travel. As pointed out above, the allowances that he was promised OTL never seem to have materialized, or if they did, were either short or late. He certainly wasn't living in a palace/mansion (I understand it was basically a glorified apartment building) or holding court.
ironically, he and Napoléon could compare notes on this, since
Np.
And really hoping that Frankie is allowed to let his administrative and military talents flourish in france.