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Eva McLoughlin, Eugénie's marriage to Napoleon III
Maia Bradshaw Levy, Eugénie's role as a mother
Liv Cox, The death of Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial
Eugénie's marriage to Napoleon III
by Eva McLoughlin
Eugénie de Montijo was married to Louis Napoleon III and made Empress of France on 30th January 1853, their ceremony in Notre-Dame was a grand one, with many onlookers and riches, as shown by the emphasis of the gold surroundings in their wedding portrait. The wedding was extremely symbolic in welcoming a new era to France and there was diplomatic pressure on Louis Napoleon. Hence, similarities can be drawn between their wedding and that of Napoleon and Josephine, wishing to emulate their established air - particularly by using Napoleon’s coach for his own wedding. Eugénie's wedding dress was also described in Royal Romances as “white satin with a train four metres long. The bodice was sewn with diamonds and finished by a diamond-encrusted belt… she wore a magnificent diadem that had belonged to Joséphine” (1). The wedding was frowned upon as a bad match due to Eugénie's birth heritage, however, Eugénie drew the attention of the crowds and became well loved as an Empress despite previous rumors about her ‘impurity’ in the lead up to the wedding. His love for Eugénie is said to be reason for the haste on the wedding, claiming he was “very susceptible to feminine charm, and accustomed to having his desires satisfied” - he wished not to wait for Eugenie’s love, something he could only obtain with a marriage proposal (2).
Mariage de L. L. M. M. l'Empereur et l'Impératrice des Français, dans l'église de N.e D.e de Paris, le 30 janvier 1853 (c) Bibliothèque nationale de France
Quickly after the wedding, the couple were extremely close and Eugénie was keen to produce an heir for Louis Napoleon, however, suffered a miscarriage and afterwards their relationship took a downturn - Louis started having affairs due to Eugénie's sexual disinterest, many women of whom were high ranking, such as the wife of Louis’s foreign minister. Despite all this, the birth of the Prince Imperial is said to be what truly saved their marriage, his existence became the focal point of both their lives and love. When asked by a writer what were her [Eugénie's] favourite moments from her reign, Royal Romances recorded “she replied, “First and foremost, the christening of the Price Imperial””(3). Eugénie and Louis remained close in diplomatic affairs, both involved in many aspects of society in their own ways. When Louis Napoleon passed after problems with an undiagnosed bladder stone, Royal Romances stated “[her] grief at the death of her husband was restrained compared to what she had felt at the death of her father”, and with that, she became widowed (4).
(1) Marshall Cavendish, Royal Romances 26. Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie (1988).
(2) Pierre de Lang, The Secret of an Empire: The Empress Eugénie (1894), p. 28. Available online here.
(3) Marshall Cavendish, Royal Romances 26.
(4) Ibid.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
Empress Eugénie & the Prince Imperial (1862) (c) Metropolitan Museum of Art
Eugénie's role as a mother
by Maia Bradshaw Levy
The Empress Eugénie became a mother in 1856 when the Prince Imperial was born as her first and only child. She was known to be a very caring and compassionate mother all throughout the Prince Imperial’s short lifetime. In this portrait of the Empress and the Prince Imperial from 1862 she can be seen gently caressing her son with a tender expression. This is a notably informal portrait compared to most photographs of the Imperial Family, they are wearing non-official clothing and are sat in a natural position. It is distinctly intimate, which makes the show of affection feel more genuine. After the untimely death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, there were rumours that he only left to fight in Zululand where he died because Empress Eugénie was too overbearing and restrictive but the opinion of those close to them was that they shared a deep bond and affection. Eugénie was said to have experienced an “inexpressible grief” after he was gone, showing the love and connection she had with him was strong (1). It seems as if they had a strong relationship during the short 23 years the Prince Imperial was alive.
Furthermore, the Empress Eugénie had a strong sense of justice and values as an Empress and as a mother which she believed fervently should be passed down to the Prince Imperial, especially for his eventual claim to the throne:
“The Empress laid stress upon the development of character above all things. She wanted instilled into her son independent judgement combined with proper respect for the rights of others, initiative and ‘the courage to think’ which, she said, ‘must precede the courage to act’” - From Augustin Filon, Recollections of The Empress Eugénie, a tutor of the Prince Imperial and personal secretary to Empress Eugénie, 1921 (2).
This perspective from someone who spent so much time with her and her son is a great insight into how she operated as a mother, with strength and honor. It feels as though she believed that in order to be a great Emperor some day, the Prince needed to be a decent and strong person first.
Augsustin Aime Joseph Le Jeune, carte-de-visite, mid 1860s, (c) National Portrait Gallery, Creative Commons.
In this portrait of the Imperial Family you can see the way each person is posed appears to correlate to their position in relation to the throne. Napoleon III sits staring dead on into the camera - showing dominance as the present Emperor himself - then the Prince Imperial stands next to him looking forward but away out of view - as if he is looking to the future where he will lead - and finally Eugénie stands behind them looking to the side, almost but not quite following the Prince’s gaze - as it is her role as a mother to guide him on his path to be the next Emperor.
The Empress was also a great ally, supporter and advocate of other women and mothers. She was known to go above and beyond to help fellow mothers in need, for instance when a French woman in Chislehurst who was expecting a baby but was struggling financially, Eugénie put together a layette by hand herself and gave it to the woman. In addition, she once helped a family of communist refugees, saying when criticised “Neither the mother nor the child is responsible for the faults of the father” which demonstrates her generosity as an Empress but more personally as a mother (3).
It can be said that the Empress Eugénie was a compassionate and generous mother with honor and strength.
References:
(1) 'The Death of the Prince Imperial' in The London Illustrated News, June 28th 1879. Available online here.
(2) Fillon, Augustin, Memoirs of the Empress Eugénie (1921), p. 6. Available online on Archive.Org.
(3) Legge, Edward, The Empress Eugénie and her son (1916), p. 55. Available online on Archive.Org.
The death of Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial
By Liv Cox
One of the most pivotal moments for Empress Eugénie was the death of her son the Prince Imperial. This moment of her life her sole purpose was to support the Prince Imperial as Napoleon the third had passed in 1873, with this Prince Imperial believed ” to go to war in order to defend his birthright” (1).
Yet due to the closeness of Queen Victoria and Empress Eugénie this was a continuous struggle however for the “punitive expedition against the Zulus” it was allowed though the first expedition would consequently be his last (2). His tragic death was depicted by Paul Joseph Jamin in 1982 in a portrait named La mort du Prince Imperial which directly translates to the death of the Prince Imperial.
Jamin, Paul Joseph. La mort du Prince Imperial (1882) (c) RMN Grand Palais
by W. & D. Downey, published by Cassell & Company, Ltd, carbon print, 1880, published 1892 (c) National Portrait Gallery, Creative Commons.
In this art piece we can see the fatal snapshot of his own horse abandoning him in an event of catastrophic misfortune as the saddle inherited from his father Napoleon the third broke and leaving him to fend for himself against the Zulus. With this portrait Jamin decided to show Prince Imperial to be forward facing and a willingness to fight. Focusing on the direction Prince imperial was facing this aligns with the fact that he was left with 17 assegai shots only towards the front. With this information the portrait has been used as a memory of courageousness and respect for the resident and brace Prince Imperial. For Empress Eugénie however, her memories of her son carried over into her mourning which can be seen in the portrait The Empress Eugénie curated by W&D Downey . The photographic portrait was taken in a chapel highlight reflection on the Empress. This piece highlights the mourning phase of her life and a high contrast from the regal portraits of her early life. Furthermore with the title of the Empress Eugénie we can infer that people remained a positive outlook on her as the Empire of France was revoked in 1880.
References
(1) Watson, Jo, 'Napoleon III and Eugénie ' podcast on The Mr T Podcast (2024)
(2) Alain Galoin, “The Death of the Imperial Prince”, History by Image [online], consulted on 01/29/2025. URL: https://histoire-image.org/etudes/mort-prince-imperial
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