The Happy Days of the Empress Marie LouiseImbert de Saint-Amand
History
The Happy Days of the Empress Marie Louise
Imbert de Saint-Amand
Marie Louise, Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1791-1847
The Austrian court did everything with the best possible grace, knowing
that Napoleon set great store by the details of etiquette. Everything
was exhumed from the archives which bore on the weddings of Louis XIV.,
Louis XV., the great Dauphin, the father of Louis XVI., of Louis XVI.
himself. The old gentlemen of the court of Versailles, and especially M.
de Dreux-Brézé, the master of ceremonies at the end of the old régime,
were consulted at every step. Napoleon was very anxious that in pomp and
majesty the wedding of Marie Louise should not only be quite equal, but
even superior to that of Marie Antoinette, for he thought himself of far
more importance than a dauphin of France. He was given what he wanted.
Speaking of the Princess's escort, Count Otto said in despatch to the
Duke of Cadore, dated February 19, 1810: "In order to give the part
its full importance, the Emperor of Austria has appointed to it Prince
Trautmannsdorff, who on all great occasions holds the highest rank in
the kingdom. The Dauphiness had been accompanied by a nobleman of no
very lofty position. Moreover, the Emperor has given orders to
deepen all the tints: the suite of the Dauphiness consisted of six
ladies-in-waiting and six chamberlains; the future Empress will have
twelve of each. The Emperor will choose the most distinguished and
best-known personages of the Empire for these functionaries, and the
Empress has reserved for herself the right of naming the ladies most
prominent for their old families and their position in society. In a
word, the Minister has assured me that no pains will be spared to make
the train most brilliant."
Points of etiquette kept the French Ambassador very busy. He wrote,
February 21, 1810, to the Duke of Cadore: "In reading carefully the
historic summary enclosed in Your Excellency's despatch, I found but
few matters requiring comment, but these seemed to me of sufficient
importance to warrant my calling your attention to them. They are as
follows:
"1. Since the religious ceremony is the most solemn, it seems that it
is here that the distinction between the Dauphiness and the new Empress
should be most distinctly marked. The first-named sat in an armchair,
placed in front of the altar, but without a canopy, the Queen Marie
Leczinska, daughter of King Stanislas, having a place, under a canopy,
between the King and Queen of Poland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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