The Lady of the Lake
I always had the feeling that Auguste of Bavaria and her sister-in-law Hortense did not see eye to eye most of the time. In some letters that Auguste wrote to Eugène’s old secretary Darnay years after her husband’s death, she even makes herself quite clear about this. Fun fact: She refers to Hortense as »la Dame du Lac«, the Lady of the Lake. And I guess that’s precisely how overly romantic Hortense saw herself. Handing out magic swords to random wanderers passing by her castle at Lake Constance? Somebody found her calling.
All excerpts translated from »Auguste Amélie de Leuchtenberg. Lettres au baron Darnay« published by Christophe Pincemaïlle, Editions des Falaises, Rouen 2020
Ismaning, 13 August 1831
[…] It is sad that the Lady of the Lake has put herself in the position of being treated as almost a stranger and feared [? unclear] by those who would have been happy to console her, had she wished to conduct herself with prudence and dignity! I have probably been blamed for distancing myself from her, but I have been convinced for a long time that our principles are completely opposed. She wants to be perceived as an important person, to be talked about at all costs and to make herself famous by her intrigues, while I live withdrawn from the world and its grandeur, I exist only to fulfil the painful task that a beloved husband has left me […].
Followed by a lot of »Woe is me«, because that was actually a discipline that both ladies excelled in if necessary. But as far as Hortense’s character is concerned and the way Eugène’s sister constantly craved everybody’s attention, absolutely and exclusively, as far as this is concerned I could not agree more. That is exactly the feeling that I get when I read Hortense’s memoirs.
Speaking of which – Hortense actually had some of her adventures published already in 1834 (»La Reine Hortense en Italie, en France et en Angleterre«). And Auguste read them. 😁
Rome, 8 January 1834
[…] I cannot understand the Lady of the Lake and her obsession to have her memoirs printed so that people will pay attention to her. She is incorrigible. Her way of paying her pensions is also something new. […]
Not sure what the novelty was that Auguste refers to in the last sentence. The pensions were probably those of Josephine’s old friends and servants – at Josephine’s death, her children had split up the duty to pay those pensions between themselves. Auguste was still paying those that had been Eugène’s share.
However indignant Auguste was about Hortense’s intentions, she seems to have immediately purchased a copy of the book. She read it while still on her trip through Italy, where she also met Joseph Bonaparte’s family, Julie Bonaparte-Clary and her daughter Charlotte, who had been married to Hortense’s son Napoléon-Louis and had been a widow since 1831, after her husband had died of measles during the Carbonari uprising. Of course, this death also played a big role in Hortense’s book about those days.
Livorno, 2 July 1834
[…] I left the Countess de Survilliers [Julie Clary] still in the same state of suffering, which she bears with angelic patience. […] It is always with pleasure that I visit these respectable people. Poor Princess Charlotte still feels very keenly the loss she has made. She is a charming person. […]
I have read the Memoirs of the Lady of the Lake. She would have done better not to occupy the public with her, especially at the expense of others, for her family is not well treated in it, and what she says, among other things, about the illness of the late Prince, is quite untrue, and according to what Charlotte told me, the other facts are no more accurate. She promises us more, God knows what it will be.
LOL. Auguste, immediately fact-checking her sister-in-law! 😂
Can't really say for certain cause I haven't read Hortense's work that was mentioned, but at least based on the contents of this letter, potentially lying about her own son's death for clout is really, really icky :P
