Frankie Goes to the Hofburg, or Napoléon II, Regent of Austria?
Imagine: while the Paris government is expecting a rising in the Vendée for that "silly little girl" Hélène, or something from Compiègne (for Orléans) or Henri (in the south), Henri gets his own little "Vol de l'Aigle" going from the Channel Coast
out of curiosity, who's likely to be head of this Republican government? Thiers is already excluded because he isn't a deputy for Paris, nor even a Parisian. Any suggestions?
But if everyones thinking your running to England first, across the continent, whats the point now? Wouldnt it have made more sense for him to not have "left" for England and stayed in the Vendee or something first?
Seems a around about way to do this that doesnt make alot of sense to be fair.
Seems a around about way to do this that doesnt make alot of sense to be fair.
This is (still) a fascinating timeline, and I'm particularly following the events in France with interest.
One question, though - you keep referring to the grandson of Louis Philippe as the Dauphin. Wasn't the heir to the throne called the Prince Royal under the July Monarchy?
One question, though - you keep referring to the grandson of Louis Philippe as the Dauphin. Wasn't the heir to the throne called the Prince Royal under the July Monarchy?
thank you
he was. Louis Philippe has slipped into reactionary mode faster/harder here with the Bonaparte/Bourbon team-up. So he's trying to emphasize his grandson's "legitimacy" as heir to the throne
Ah, I see. That makes sense, and fits with his dramatic proclamations of refusing to abdicate after initially being invited to take the throne because of his willingness to be a more explicitly constitutional monarch.
Now he would start his advanced from a point somewhat closer to Paris and most important from somewhere absolutely unexpected
Je Me Souviens
Soundtrack: Étienne Nicolas Méhul - Joseph en Égypt: Vainement Pharaon dans sa reconnaissance - Champs paternels [1]
*exterior* *Paris* *we see the tricolour flag fluttering in the breeze over the Tuileries* *the Palais Bourbon* *we see that the doors of the Palais de Luxembourg [home of the chambre des pairs] has been chained shut* *so to have the doors of Notre Dame* *all over Paris posters are put up announcing a national election to be held on the 26 July 1843 [2]* *announcing that all citizens who qualify should go vote [3]*
*exterior Hôtel de Ville* *cut to interior Dupont de l'Eure, the "interim head of government" is at work in his office [4]*
Dupont de l'Eure: *not looking it up, what is it Alexandre [5]?
LeDru Rollin, Minister of the Interior: news from La Rochelle.
Dupont de l'Eure: the Orléans women are up to something?
LeDru Rollin: not exactly. The king's sister suffered a heart attack.
Dupont de l'Eure: is she dead?
LeDru Rollin: no. But she has been moved to the hospital. Apparently it is serious, but she'll recover.
Dupont de l'Eure: I want that on the front of every newspaper in France. Particularly those at Compiègne. It might entice the king to come out of the castle because he wants to be with his sister if she breathes her last.
LeDru Rollin: if she drops like a fly, we wouldn't have to worry about the king having a brain to react. We all know she's been doing that job for him for years.
Dupont de l'Eure: exactly. And in the same issue, I want you to re-publish that cartoon of the king's landau driving over the body of the dead civilians in his haste to get away from Paris after the Massacre of the Rue des Capucines [6].
LeDru Rollin: *smiles like he's just caught Santa Claus*
*cut to Compiègne*
Louis Philippe: *puts down the paper*
Marie Amélie: *sympathetically* poor Adélaïde, to have endured so much and then die like this.
Louis Philippe: *nods impassively*
Marie Amélie: don't you think the [grand]children should be sent to Louis and Marie [of Saxe-Altenburg]. Just for safety.
Louis Philippe: and have them lose their support like the comte de Chambord did for fleeing to England and then returning? Don't be absurd. Besides...the Belgians will hardly be likely to welcome them in more than they would us.
Marie Amélie: you're wrong about Chambord.
Louis Philippe: the boy's doing the same thing he has for the last eighteen months, marching up and down the countryside
Marie Amélie: since he landed at Saint-Valéry on the 8th, not a single member of his former support has flocked to his side. Troops from Lyon - flying the oriflamme and wearing the Royal Lyonnais uniform [7]- have already helped in Grenoble to declare its independence from Paris as early as the 9th. By the 15th they had St-Etienne and Bourg-en-bresse, by the 17th of April they had taken Toulon and Cannes, Marseilles surrendered day before yesterday [28th April].
Louis Philippe: and the massacre at Limoges that he caused on the 10th?
Marie Amélie: *not looking up from her needlework* you put down the risings in Besançon, Lyons and Dijon last year, how did that work for you, Philippe? Chambord doesn't need to do anything. He just needs to make that they hate him less than what they hate the new republic.
Louis Philippe: exactly. He is willing to drown France in blood!
Marie Amélie: *sweetly* isn't that what you did, Philippe?
Louis Philippe: not on French soil!
Marie Amélie: whether its on French soil or not matters little. The difference is that Chambord hasn't asked these men to lay down their lives for him. They volunteered.
Louis Philippe: and they will demand recompense for it. Say we fought for you now you have to rule like we say.
Marie Amélie: you've spent thirteen years painting him as someone who wouldn't do that. Do you really believe he wouldn't? When your refusal to do that when it would've saved our grandson's inheritance was laid bare for all the world to see?
Louis Philippe: a king does not abdicate. I have seen what happens to kings who do. My father voted for my cousin's execution. Napoléon and Charles X both died in exile. I will die in France.
Marie Amélie: as long as you believe you have a choice in the matter. Chambord's at least doing something. Abbeville surrendered on the 11th, Amiens on the 13th after they refused him entry, he went around to Dury and attacked them at dawn from Dury and Bocage. Four thousand government soldiers put to flight by seven hundred Norman farmboys and fishermen-
*cut to flashback of Henri at Abbeville* *he's seated on horseback* *dressed in the cloak of a pilgrim, with the hood thrown back* *the oriflamme he hoisted on the beach fluttering off a lance in his right hand*
Henri: *now clean shaven for the first time we've seen him in a while [8]* I assure you, messieurs, I come in peace to restore order to France.
Mayor of Abbeville: forgive us, Monseigneur, but your words ill-accord with the flag in your hand.
Henri: *looks at oriflamme* this is for my enemies. It is not for my friends.
Mayor: And anyone who does not agree with you is your enemy?
Henri: anyone who sides with that tawdry republic in Paris is my enemy. And the enemy of all Frenchmen. If you do not allow me to pass, soon they will come for you, and Abbeville will lose her virginity [9] in a mass of senseless bloodshed, Monsieur.
Mayor: you may enter, Monseigneur, however the oriflamme remains outside.
Henri: then I shall not enter at all, Monsieur, and I bid you good day *Ney raises arm for his "assemblage" Henri has taken to referring to as the Régiment de Normandie [10] to go around Abbeville*
Mayor: *frantically* if Monseigneur were to enter with the oriflamme at rest, then the town would know you come in peace.
Henri: *makes order for the soldiers to stop* *smiles sharkishly* will you tell those cretins from Paris the same when they arrive at your gates, I wonder, Monsieur? *rides past the mayor into town* *oriflamme held high rather than "at rest"
*cut to Amiens* *the square in front of the Cathedral* *the survivors of the four thousand troops in Amiens are lined up - as if on parade - while Henri rides by on a black horse* *his former pilgrim's coat is discarded and he is in the grey tunic with black cuffs and collar of the Régiment de Normandie* *the locals are watching the scene*
Henri: Amiénois, these are the men who could not even defend you! Against less than a tenth of their number. This is what Paris thinks of the proud city of Amiens! If I had been an invading army of Spaniards or English, this city's streets would now be running with blood! [11]
One resident: they fired on their king!
Henri: *turns horse* who said that?
One of his Normands brings the Amiénois to him
Henri: *forces the resident to look at the soldiers* *loudly to crowd* I did not bring you here because they fired on their king. I brought you here because they fired on Frenchmen. Not an invading army, not even an army at all. This republic will take your sons and make them serve in their wars, they will drive their carriages over the corpses of your sons. They will make them commanders of the garrisons that will turn their guns inward on you. Your best farms, your factories, your town hall, will be given to their friends and allies. And in a bid to convince them of your loyalty, we will be reduced to Cain killing Abel and from such disorder, you will become the slaves to Paris. And on that day, you will cry out for relief, and none shall listen. None shall heed you [12].
*from the cathedral we hear the organist playing Vive le Roi Henri* *Henri's soldiers start singing the second stanza Au diable guerres, Rancunes et partis ! Comme nos pères, Chantons en vrais amis [13]* *the crowd joins in for the chorus* *we zoom out on even some of the defeated soldiers brightening as they join in singing*
*cut back to present at Compiègne*
Marie Amélie: -then he took Breteuil, Bucqouy and Péronne between the 17th and the 25th. I wouldn't be surprised if he's at Chantilly by month's end.
Louis Philippe: Compiègne comes first.
Marie Amélie: *dropping the bomb about how she knows this* yes, but he said in his last letter he wouldn't want to disturb your leisure. He'd only show up if you invited him.
Louis Philippe: woman! have you any idea what you've done! How you've endangered you, me, the [grand]children?
Marie Amélie: *sharply* if you had listened to me in July 1830, we would not be in danger now. But instead, just like our wedding night when you asked me if you were better than the duc de Berri, it's always come down to a matter of pride with you. *breaks off the colour thread she's using* you forget that I lowered myself to marry you...remember? The traitorous cousin and the fallen daughter of a king? And you have never treated my opinion with the same respect as you have Adélaïde's. I wonder if I were so close to death you would be thinking about risking your life to rush across the country to be at my bedside.
Louis Philippe: *lamely* of course I would
Marie Amélie: *threads the needle with new colour cotton* *sadly* I'd like to believe that as sincerely as you do, Philippe.
Louis Philippe: you doubt it?
Marie Amélie: *ignoring the question* you were so busy focusing on that he was tramping aimlessly around the country, you didn't realize there was a pattern to it. After Dijon: Charolais, Montleul, Lyons, Beaugé, Valéry-
Louis Philippe: *we see his mouth count as he realizes* all the old Condé estates[14].
Marie Amélie: but you never asked where he was going. You just assumed he was on some sort of madcap dash through France. So...his next stop will be Beauvais on the Chantilly road. Then Clermont, then Chantilly, L'Isle Adam, and Paris, if he gets that far.
Louis Philippe: but not here?
Marie Amélie: his words were that *quoting* on account of your age and the great services you have done France, your...repose here is well earned. He suggests that you either spend time with your grandchildren or that you take up a study of history, it's full of lessons.
Louis Philippe: arrogant whelp. He's been out of France for thirteen years, and now he presumes to-
Marie Amélie: if he were the arrogant whelp of your imaginings, he would send his loyalists to Compiègne to have you arrested, perhaps beheaded for treason...but he doesn't. He simply recommends you stay here. He would not want to follow your coffin to Reims. What sort of omen would that be?
Louis Philippe: exiled, in other words.
Marie Amélie: safe.
Louis Philippe: it's the same thing.
*we fade to black as we see what she's been embroidering* *the golden lilies of France on a blue ground* *with the half-stitched slogan of "Qu'à Reims on danse" [15]*
[1] in vain did Pharoah recognize... Fields of my fathers.
[2] the anniversary of the July Revolution. I debated making it Bastille Day, but I suspect that doing so would sort of immediately piss the rest of Europe off
[3] while the OTL Second Republic was for universal male suffrage, that's not to say they will be here. Especially if they know that Henri is a) also for universal male suffrage and b) one of those people who can go vote. To say nothing of the Orléanists etc. The OTL Second Republic was the same, the revolution was in February, the elections in June and the constitution only ratified in November 1848
[4] I know Dupont de l'Eure seems a bit of a cheap cop out to just take the guy from the OTL Second Republic, but a) he's one of the oldest members of the Chamber of Deputies and b) he happens to be the only one of the 6 oldest brought in by the 1842 election who happens to skews "republican" (the rest are all conservatives or "majorité ministrelle"/"majorité conservatrice")
[5] LeDru Rollin. While he isn't a Parisian or a Parisian deputy (he represented Sarthe, and was from Fontenay), he's a political ally of Dupont de l'Eure
[6] figure there was an OTL cartoon of this published about Napoléon III after Sedan, why not. The Massacre of the Rue des Capucines is a similar event to OTL's:
[8] Henri's likely clean-shaven to make him "less recognizable" in event of escape (where all pictures circulated of him likely have him sporting a beard. Also, it doesn't seem irrational that he would've made some vow at Saint-Valéry to "not grow a beard until he has been crowned at Reims" (apparently, according to tradition, a French king was not allowed to have a beard at his coronation). This would also help distinguish "his" supporters (I could see them following the fashion) from the Orléanists (who are no doubt bewhiskered)
[9] Abbeville is known as "Abbeville la Pucelle" (Abbeville the Virgin/Maiden) because it's never been captured. It was also held in high regard by every Capetian king from Charles le Sage to Louis XVIII, honoured with being allowed to display the coat of arms of France on the city coat of arms and to bear the slogan "Fidelis" (I am faithful)
[10] like Royal Lyonnais, the regiment de Normandie hasn't existed since 1791 (when it became part of the 5e Regiment of the Line), but I could see Henri styling the recruits he has gained as this. While many likely are not soldiers, that doesn't exclude the various local aristocrats who, if not having private armies, likely did serve in the French army. As well as actual soldiers of the French army that was based in Normandie (not sure what regiments were stationed there at this time), who have flocked to Henri's banner with the mentality of "rather with him than against him".
[11] Henri IV besieged the city of Amiens (then held by the Spanish) after 6 months. The lifting of the Siege led to the Peace of Vervins six months later on 2 May 1598. The day the city surrenders to Henri de Chambord (April 13 1843) is also the 245th anniversary of the publication of the Edict of Nantes.
[12] this is Henri paraphrasing Samuel's warning about a king in 1 Samuel 8:11-17. It's not so much him villainizing the government in Paris as it is him reminding them what happened last time there was a republic. While he doesn't say "I'm the only one who can protect you from it", if any of them know their Bible, in verse 18, Samuel utters the warning "and on that day when you cry out for relief, the Lord will not hear/answer you". Henri's fully conscious that this opportunity will not duplicate itself. But there's also the Old Testament imagery of Joseph (Champs paternelles), Samuel, Elijah (to the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel: call him [Baal] louder, he heareth not, with knives and lancets cut yourselves...none will listen, none heed you".
[13] they skips over the second verse not because they aren't loyal to Henri but because it's sort of their "mission statement": oh terrible wars / grudges and partisanship! / like our fathers / let us sing as true friends
[14] the Condés held the titles of "comte de Charolais", "sieur de Montleul", "sieur de Beaugé", "comte de Valéry" (I'm assuming it's in the Auvergne, not Saint-Valery in Normandie), duc d'Albret (in Navarre), come de Alais (not sure if it falls in Provence or Languedoc), duc de Mercoeur (in the Auvergne), duc de Fronsac (in Aquitaine), prince de la Roche-sur-Yon (where Henri had the apple/potato thrown at him), marquis de Graville (just outside of Rouen), etc etc. Thus, Henri's journey wasn't a leisurely holiday as it was portrayed or mocked by Louis Philippe, but rather this is him bouncing around between the estates that Louis Philippe robbed him of. This is him underlining both his right to inherit France and his right to inherit those estates. And like Amélie points out: you were so blind to it, you never saw the pattern. Just like he likely never noticed the pattern of his wife's embroidery
[15] "to Reims we dance", with the unfinished part being "singing as they do in Paris, Vive le Roi Henri!". Henri's "patronizing" response to Louis Philippe is insulting, but it's also him trying to keep the old man safe, the encouragement of hobbies is "don't do anything stupid". Also, Henri and his sister had a very close relationship with their grandfather (even before the exile), and it would be very difficult for either to imagine a scenario where a grandfather isn't as interested in his grandkids. And TBF, I can't find anything to indicate that Louis Philippe - for all his portrayal of Caroline de Berri as a bad mother and trying to tout his family as the "better" alternative - was particularly close/involved in his grandchildren's lives in a similar way. By contrast, there is reams of evidence that Marie Amélie was involved. Also, Henri's avoidance of his cousin's "residence" is him replying the same as the title says "Je me souviens" (I remember [i.e. how you stood by])
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*exterior* *Paris* *we see the tricolour flag fluttering in the breeze over the Tuileries* *the Palais Bourbon* *we see that the doors of the Palais de Luxembourg [home of the chambre des pairs] has been chained shut* *so to have the doors of Notre Dame* *all over Paris posters are put up announcing a national election to be held on the 26 July 1843 [2]* *announcing that all citizens who qualify should go vote [3]*
*exterior Hôtel de Ville* *cut to interior Dupont de l'Eure, the "interim head of government" is at work in his office [4]*
Dupont de l'Eure: *not looking it up, what is it Alexandre [5]?
LeDru Rollin, Minister of the Interior: news from La Rochelle.
Dupont de l'Eure: the Orléans women are up to something?
LeDru Rollin: not exactly. The king's sister suffered a heart attack.
Dupont de l'Eure: is she dead?
LeDru Rollin: no. But she has been moved to the hospital. Apparently it is serious, but she'll recover.
Dupont de l'Eure: I want that on the front of every newspaper in France. Particularly those at Compiègne. It might entice the king to come out of the castle because he wants to be with his sister if she breathes her last.
LeDru Rollin: if she drops like a fly, we wouldn't have to worry about the king having a brain to react. We all know she's been doing that job for him for years.
Dupont de l'Eure: exactly. And in the same issue, I want you to re-publish that cartoon of the king's landau driving over the body of the dead civilians in his haste to get away from Paris after the Massacre of the Rue des Capucines [6].
LeDru Rollin: *smiles like he's just caught Santa Claus*
*cut to Compiègne*
Louis Philippe: *puts down the paper*
Marie Amélie: *sympathetically* poor Adélaïde, to have endured so much and then die like this.
Louis Philippe: *nods impassively*
Marie Amélie: don't you think the [grand]children should be sent to Louis and Marie [of Saxe-Altenburg]. Just for safety.
Louis Philippe: and have them lose their support like the comte de Chambord did for fleeing to England and then returning? Don't be absurd. Besides...the Belgians will hardly be likely to welcome them in more than they would us.
Marie Amélie: you're wrong about Chambord.
Louis Philippe: the boy's doing the same thing he has for the last eighteen months, marching up and down the countryside
Marie Amélie: since he landed at Saint-Valéry on the 8th, not a single member of his former support has flocked to his side. Troops from Lyon - flying the oriflamme and wearing the Royal Lyonnais uniform [7]- have already helped in Grenoble to declare its independence from Paris as early as the 9th. By the 15th they had St-Etienne and Bourg-en-bresse, by the 17th of April they had taken Toulon and Cannes, Marseilles surrendered day before yesterday [28th April].
Louis Philippe: and the massacre at Limoges that he caused on the 10th?
Marie Amélie: *not looking up from her needlework* you put down the risings in Besançon, Lyons and Dijon last year, how did that work for you, Philippe? Chambord doesn't need to do anything. He just needs to make that they hate him less than what they hate the new republic.
Louis Philippe: exactly. He is willing to drown France in blood!
Marie Amélie: *sweetly* isn't that what you did, Philippe?
Louis Philippe: not on French soil!
Marie Amélie: whether its on French soil or not matters little. The difference is that Chambord hasn't asked these men to lay down their lives for him. They volunteered.
Louis Philippe: and they will demand recompense for it. Say we fought for you now you have to rule like we say.
Marie Amélie: you've spent thirteen years painting him as someone who wouldn't do that. Do you really believe he wouldn't? When your refusal to do that when it would've saved our grandson's inheritance was laid bare for all the world to see?
Louis Philippe: a king does not abdicate. I have seen what happens to kings who do. My father voted for my cousin's execution. Napoléon and Charles X both died in exile. I will die in France.
Marie Amélie: as long as you believe you have a choice in the matter. Chambord's at least doing something. Abbeville surrendered on the 11th, Amiens on the 13th after they refused him entry, he went around to Dury and attacked them at dawn from Dury and Bocage. Four thousand government soldiers put to flight by seven hundred Norman farmboys and fishermen-
*cut to flashback of Henri at Abbeville* *he's seated on horseback* *dressed in the cloak of a pilgrim, with the hood thrown back* *the oriflamme he hoisted on the beach fluttering off a lance in his right hand*
Henri: *now clean shaven for the first time we've seen him in a while [8]* I assure you, messieurs, I come in peace to restore order to France.
Mayor of Abbeville: forgive us, Monseigneur, but your words ill-accord with the flag in your hand.
Henri: *looks at oriflamme* this is for my enemies. It is not for my friends.
Mayor: And anyone who does not agree with you is your enemy?
Henri: anyone who sides with that tawdry republic in Paris is my enemy. And the enemy of all Frenchmen. If you do not allow me to pass, soon they will come for you, and Abbeville will lose her virginity [9] in a mass of senseless bloodshed, Monsieur.
Mayor: you may enter, Monseigneur, however the oriflamme remains outside.
Henri: then I shall not enter at all, Monsieur, and I bid you good day *Ney raises arm for his "assemblage" Henri has taken to referring to as the Régiment de Normandie [10] to go around Abbeville*
Mayor: *frantically* if Monseigneur were to enter with the oriflamme at rest, then the town would know you come in peace.
Henri: *makes order for the soldiers to stop* *smiles sharkishly* will you tell those cretins from Paris the same when they arrive at your gates, I wonder, Monsieur? *rides past the mayor into town* *oriflamme held high rather than "at rest"
*cut to Amiens* *the square in front of the Cathedral* *the survivors of the four thousand troops in Amiens are lined up - as if on parade - while Henri rides by on a black horse* *his former pilgrim's coat is discarded and he is in the grey tunic with black cuffs and collar of the Régiment de Normandie* *the locals are watching the scene*
Henri: Amiénois, these are the men who could not even defend you! Against less than a tenth of their number. This is what Paris thinks of the proud city of Amiens! If I had been an invading army of Spaniards or English, this city's streets would now be running with blood! [11]
One resident: they fired on their king!
Henri: *turns horse* who said that?
One of his Normands brings the Amiénois to him
Henri: *forces the resident to look at the soldiers* *loudly to crowd* I did not bring you here because they fired on their king. I brought you here because they fired on Frenchmen. Not an invading army, not even an army at all. This republic will take your sons and make them serve in their wars, they will drive their carriages over the corpses of your sons. They will make them commanders of the garrisons that will turn their guns inward on you. Your best farms, your factories, your town hall, will be given to their friends and allies. And in a bid to convince them of your loyalty, we will be reduced to Cain killing Abel and from such disorder, you will become the slaves to Paris. And on that day, you will cry out for relief, and none shall listen. None shall heed you [12].
*from the cathedral we hear the organist playing Vive le Roi Henri* *Henri's soldiers start singing the second stanza Au diable guerres, Rancunes et partis ! Comme nos pères, Chantons en vrais amis [13]* *the crowd joins in for the chorus* *we zoom out on even some of the defeated soldiers brightening as they join in singing*
*cut back to present at Compiègne*
Marie Amélie: -then he took Breteuil, Bucqouy and Péronne between the 17th and the 25th. I wouldn't be surprised if he's at Chantilly by month's end.
Louis Philippe: Compiègne comes first.
Marie Amélie: *dropping the bomb about how she knows this* yes, but he said in his last letter he wouldn't want to disturb your leisure. He'd only show up if you invited him.
Louis Philippe: woman! have you any idea what you've done! How you've endangered you, me, the [grand]children?
Marie Amélie: *sharply* if you had listened to me in July 1830, we would not be in danger now. But instead, just like our wedding night when you asked me if you were better than the duc de Berri, it's always come down to a matter of pride with you. *breaks off the colour thread she's using* you forget that I lowered myself to marry you...remember? The traitorous cousin and the fallen daughter of a king? And you have never treated my opinion with the same respect as you have Adélaïde's. I wonder if I were so close to death you would be thinking about risking your life to rush across the country to be at my bedside.
Louis Philippe: *lamely* of course I would
Marie Amélie: *threads the needle with new colour cotton* *sadly* I'd like to believe that as sincerely as you do, Philippe.
Louis Philippe: you doubt it?
Marie Amélie: *ignoring the question* you were so busy focusing on that he was tramping aimlessly around the country, you didn't realize there was a pattern to it. After Dijon: Charolais, Montleul, Lyons, Beaugé, Valéry-
Louis Philippe: *we see his mouth count as he realizes* all the old Condé estates[14].
Marie Amélie: but you never asked where he was going. You just assumed he was on some sort of madcap dash through France. So...his next stop will be Beauvais on the Chantilly road. Then Clermont, then Chantilly, L'Isle Adam, and Paris, if he gets that far.
Louis Philippe: but not here?
Marie Amélie: his words were that *quoting* on account of your age and the great services you have done France, your...repose here is well earned. He suggests that you either spend time with your grandchildren or that you take up a study of history, it's full of lessons.
Louis Philippe: arrogant whelp. He's been out of France for thirteen years, and now he presumes to-
Marie Amélie: if he were the arrogant whelp of your imaginings, he would send his loyalists to Compiègne to have you arrested, perhaps beheaded for treason...but he doesn't. He simply recommends you stay here. He would not want to follow your coffin to Reims. What sort of omen would that be?
Louis Philippe: exiled, in other words.
Marie Amélie: safe.
Louis Philippe: it's the same thing.
*we fade to black as we see what she's been embroidering* *the golden lilies of France on a blue ground* *with the half-stitched slogan of "Qu'à Reims on danse" [15]*
[1] in vain did Pharoah recognize... Fields of my fathers.
[2] the anniversary of the July Revolution. I debated making it Bastille Day, but I suspect that doing so would sort of immediately piss the rest of Europe off
[3] while the OTL Second Republic was for universal male suffrage, that's not to say they will be here. Especially if they know that Henri is a) also for universal male suffrage and b) one of those people who can go vote. To say nothing of the Orléanists etc. The OTL Second Republic was the same, the revolution was in February, the elections in June and the constitution only ratified in November 1848
[4] I know Dupont de l'Eure seems a bit of a cheap cop out to just take the guy from the OTL Second Republic, but a) he's one of the oldest members of the Chamber of Deputies and b) he happens to be the only one of the 6 oldest brought in by the 1842 election who happens to skews "republican" (the rest are all conservatives or "majorité ministrelle"/"majorité conservatrice")
[5] LeDru Rollin. While he isn't a Parisian or a Parisian deputy (he represented Sarthe, and was from Fontenay), he's a political ally of Dupont de l'Eure
[6] figure there was an OTL cartoon of this published about Napoléon III after Sedan, why not. The Massacre of the Rue des Capucines is a similar event to OTL's:
[7] the Royal Lyonnais regiment hasn't existed since 1791 (when it became part of the 27th Regiment of the Line), but I could see the city volunteers adopting those as their "official uniform". Not so much to stress their loyalty to the crown but to underline that they are not answerable to Paris
[8] Henri's likely clean-shaven to make him "less recognizable" in event of escape (where all pictures circulated of him likely have him sporting a beard. Also, it doesn't seem irrational that he would've made some vow at Saint-Valéry to "not grow a beard until he has been crowned at Reims" (apparently, according to tradition, a French king was not allowed to have a beard at his coronation). This would also help distinguish "his" supporters (I could see them following the fashion) from the Orléanists (who are no doubt bewhiskered)
[9] Abbeville is known as "Abbeville la Pucelle" (Abbeville the Virgin/Maiden) because it's never been captured. It was also held in high regard by every Capetian king from Charles le Sage to Louis XVIII, honoured with being allowed to display the coat of arms of France on the city coat of arms and to bear the slogan "Fidelis" (I am faithful)
[10] like Royal Lyonnais, the regiment de Normandie hasn't existed since 1791 (when it became part of the 5e Regiment of the Line), but I could see Henri styling the recruits he has gained as this. While many likely are not soldiers, that doesn't exclude the various local aristocrats who, if not having private armies, likely did serve in the French army. As well as actual soldiers of the French army that was based in Normandie (not sure what regiments were stationed there at this time), who have flocked to Henri's banner with the mentality of "rather with him than against him".
[11] Henri IV besieged the city of Amiens (then held by the Spanish) after 6 months. The lifting of the Siege led to the Peace of Vervins six months later on 2 May 1598. The day the city surrenders to Henri de Chambord (April 13 1843) is also the 245th anniversary of the publication of the Edict of Nantes.
[12] this is Henri paraphrasing Samuel's warning about a king in 1 Samuel 8:11-17. It's not so much him villainizing the government in Paris as it is him reminding them what happened last time there was a republic. While he doesn't say "I'm the only one who can protect you from it", if any of them know their Bible, in verse 18, Samuel utters the warning "and on that day when you cry out for relief, the Lord will not hear/answer you". Henri's fully conscious that this opportunity will not duplicate itself. But there's also the Old Testament imagery of Joseph (Champs paternelles), Samuel, Elijah (to the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel: call him [Baal] louder, he heareth not, with knives and lancets cut yourselves...none will listen, none heed you".
[13] they skips over the second verse not because they aren't loyal to Henri but because it's sort of their "mission statement": oh terrible wars / grudges and partisanship! / like our fathers / let us sing as true friends
[14] the Condés held the titles of "comte de Charolais", "sieur de Montleul", "sieur de Beaugé", "comte de Valéry" (I'm assuming it's in the Auvergne, not Saint-Valery in Normandie), duc d'Albret (in Navarre), come de Alais (not sure if it falls in Provence or Languedoc), duc de Mercoeur (in the Auvergne), duc de Fronsac (in Aquitaine), prince de la Roche-sur-Yon (where Henri had the apple/potato thrown at him), marquis de Graville (just outside of Rouen), etc etc. Thus, Henri's journey wasn't a leisurely holiday as it was portrayed or mocked by Louis Philippe, but rather this is him bouncing around between the estates that Louis Philippe robbed him of. This is him underlining both his right to inherit France and his right to inherit those estates. And like Amélie points out: you were so blind to it, you never saw the pattern. Just like he likely never noticed the pattern of his wife's embroidery
[15] "to Reims we dance", with the unfinished part being "singing as they do in Paris, Vive le Roi Henri!". Henri's "patronizing" response to Louis Philippe is insulting, but it's also him trying to keep the old man safe, the encouragement of hobbies is "don't do anything stupid". Also, Henri and his sister had a very close relationship with their grandfather (even before the exile), and it would be very difficult for either to imagine a scenario where a grandfather isn't as interested in his grandkids. And TBF, I can't find anything to indicate that Louis Philippe - for all his portrayal of Caroline de Berri as a bad mother and trying to tout his family as the "better" alternative - was particularly close/involved in his grandchildren's lives in a similar way. By contrast, there is reams of evidence that Marie Amélie was involved. Also, Henri's avoidance of his cousin's "residence" is him replying the same as the title says "Je me souviens" (I remember [i.e. how you stood by])
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The Merchant of Venice
Soundtrack: Peter von Lindpaintner - Die Sizilianische Vesper - Sinfonia
*exterior* *Rome* *look at the Trevi Fountain* *Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers* *the Spanish steps* *finally we cut to a drawing room of the Palazzo Quirinale* *it is crowded with cardinals, dignitaries, all of Roman society* *and a gaggle of Bourbons and Bonapartes like the comtes de Saint-Leu and Triel* *the pope is christening the second-born son of Ferdinando II of Sicily and Louise d'Artois* *Madame Royal is the godmother, holding the baby at the font* *Angoulême is the godfather* *Clémentine d'Orléans is standing proxy for the baby's other godmother, the Queen of Hungary and Lombardy [Maria Anna of Savoy]* *Clémentine's husband, Danduccio [2], is holding the baby's other godfather, the duke of Calabria* *the baby is christened Enrico Antonio, Duke of Taranto[1]* *a title card says that he will always be known in the family as "Arrigo[2]"*
*cut to Palazzo Correr in Venice* *Frankie is sitting at the left of the (vacant) seat at the head of the table* *around the rest of the table are clustered several of the Italian Habsburgs* *the grand duke of Tuscany* *Francesco IV and his sons* *Rainier and his sons* *Fritz of Teschen* *we've clearly walked in halfway through this conversation*
Frankie: let me make sure I understand this, Onkel Rainier, you wish to be restored to the governorship of Milan?
Rainier: to be restored, nephew, implies that I forfeited it at some point.
Fritz of Teschen: *in admiral's uniform* I think that's technically what it's called when you cross the border. Immediately you forfeit your rights.
Rainier: *glares at Fritz* if you wish to be so pedantic, then I would venture that his Serene Highness' authority as regent doesn't extend to Italy.
Francesco, Prince of Modena: he is to act as Ferdinand's representative, and since Ferdinand is king of Lombardy and thus it is firmly included in his remit.
Rainier: of course the one who benefits the most from this will take his side.
Francesco: I am not taking sides, I am simply pointing out that your argument has no merit.
Rainier: *to Frankie* your grandfather wouldn't have done this.
Frankie: *calmly* that's what my mother said as well. Because neither of you could believe that the man is pissed off because he's had to waste how many troops just fighting to keep you in place when you had troops at your disposal. What did you do with them? Nothing. It was easier to wait until Radetzky and Haynau...Vienna cannot keep getting distracted by Italy burning-
Leopoldo II of Tuscany: because you now have bigger worries in Vienna.
Frankie: *looks at him levelly* because history has shown what happened to my father's empire when he over-extended it. I need capable people in place. And unfortunately, that does not include you, Onkel Rainier.
Rainier: *looks outraged*
Frankie: go ahead. *looks at him inquisitively* tell us what you have been doing in Milan for the last twenty years
Rainier: I have done my best to bring the attentions of the Milanese to his Majesty.
Frankie: *looks at page in front of him* and the only thing you succeeded in doing was to prevent an excessive tax, which was levied later anyway. The rest of the time you have spent tending to your garden at Monza. There is even some suspicion at Vienna that did not oppose your brother-in-law's entrée to Milan because you hoped that you would benefit from some of the "reordering" that the French wished to do.
Rainier: *looks aghast* who is suspecting this?
Frankie: does it matter? That is the reason that his Majesty has removed you from the post. In addition to that, for the last twenty years, you haven't seem to have done much of anything. Even requests I've made of you either go unanswered or you tell me that you simply don't have the ability to do so. These are not large requests. I asked you to attend simple military reviews and you plead illness or that you have scheduling conflicts. These are your troops, Onkel, is it any surprise to anyone here that they were unwilling to fight for you? There is only so much you can pay a man to die for you before even that is not enough for him anymore.
*people at the table who did fight alongside their troops nod in agreement*
Frankie: *softer* but the emperor is not unreasonable. He is willing to allow you to stay at Monza. He is even willing to reward you.
Several other archdukes at the table: reward him?
Frankie: *in tone like there was never any doubt* of course. *looks at Rainier's son, Leopold* Leopold is to be married to Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria-
Rainier: that's his reward? Marriage of my son to a barren girl?
Frankie: she's very beautiful [3], and her father is even willing to toss in a fantastic dowry. Leopold is to be made the new governor of the Theresianum-
Rainier: what for?
Frankie: it may have escaped your notice, Onkel, but Leopold proved himself more than adequate in the campaign, particularly when it came to the engineering which allowed us to capture several cities [4]. It is the emperor's wish that he put those skills to good use in training the next generation of soldiers. Including the Archduke Franz [Joseph].
Leopold: it is an honour, your Serene Highness.
Rainier: no, it certainly is not. It's an insult!
Frankie: *ignoring the outburst* Onkel Rainier, on the second matter, your son, Ernst *looks at Rainier's second son* is to be sent to Pressburg. To the cavalry there. As a reward for he and his cavalry helping us to recapture Milan as well as several territories along the coast, the emperor has agreed to his marriage to Elisabeth of Saxony [5], nomination to the order of the Golden Fleece and several other benefits to be discussed if he accepts.
Ernst: *looks shocked that he's getting anything at all*
Frankie: and lastly, his Majesty would like to nominate whichever of your younger sons you deem suitable for the clergy.
Leopoldo of Tuscany: what on earth for?
Frankie: since Onkel Rudolf *crosses himself* God rest his soul has gone to his final reward, there is a...gap in the Habsburg market for a member of the family in the cloth. I offered either Leopold or Eugène [his sons] for this, but I was turned down since their appointment was deemed to be...likely contentious with both his Holiness and the other heads of Europe. Most of all because of their age. So the emperor is forced to looking at cousins who are...close to being of age, *looks at Fritz* your brother [Wilhelm] for instance or...*mentally counts* one of your sons Onkel Rainier. *aside* we really don't have that many "young" ones left. *normal voice* the emperor deemed it "easier" for someone on the cusp of manhood to be...redirected...than it would for *looks at Fritz* you or your brother [Karl Ferdinand].
Francesco IV of Modena: and what's wrong with my son [Ferdinand Karl]?
Frankie: nothing, your Royal Highness, which is why his Majesty wishes for Ferdinando to marry Princess Hildegarde of Bavaria. It is unfortunate that your brother and his wife [Maria Karoline of Teschen] have produced another daughter, which means that his Majesty is in talks with Archdukes Ferdinand Karl [6] to nominate your son as his heir to his lands in Hungary and Galicia, should his uncle have no heir.
Ferdinand Karl the Younger: *similar expression to Ernst's at the thought of getting anything*
Francesco IV: and if he were to have a male heir? The archduchess is still young and healthy.
Frankie: then the emperor is also discussing with Archduke Maximilian that your son will be named as heir to his lands in Austria. Otherwise, those lands will pass to whomever Onkel Rainier or Onkel Karl [of Teschen] nominates for the clergy.
Francesco IV: *stands up* those are Este lands.
Frankie: *calmly* technically they are the emperor's lands and he can do with them as he sees fit. They were willed to your brothers by the late Elector of Cologne [Maximilian of Austria] and were part of his inheritance as well as lands he owned as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. To call them Este lands would be as ridiculous as for the grand duke [of Tuscany] to announce that he wishes for his younger son to be named heir to the grand duchy of Salzburg!
*scattered laughs from the table*
Frankie: it was Prince Metternich's decision that the two inheritances not be united, so you may take it up with him, should you so wish.
Francesco IV: *sits down again*
Frankie: lastly I come to the matter of the Ligurian Gulf. *looks at Fritz* Archduke Friedrich is to be named governor of the ports along the newly conquered territory and to focus on getting them up to scratch so as to avoid the threat of a Sardinian reconquering expedition.
Francesco IV: and who is to be viceroy of Milan? You?
Frankie: *gives the duke an odd look* don't be absurd. Nobody with two cents to rub together would ever trust a Bonaparte in charge of Milan. In fact, I think we should all congratulate his Royal Highness, the Hereditary Prince of Modena, on his appointment as viceroy [7]. As well as his Grand Ducal Highness on that the race to be empress of Brasil is now between the king of Sardinia's sister [Cristina] and his daughter, Auguste. *leads round of applause*
*fade to black*
[1] this is to avoid giving offense to the de la Trémoïlles (who claim to be prince of Taranto), and let's assume that Alexandre Macdonald has been killed in the fighting of the last few years, so the title is "technically" vacant. But it manages to combine the "historic" (prince of Taranto) and the "Napoleonic" (duke of Taranto)
[2] Danduccio was Carlo III's name in the family. As for Arrigo apparently comes from the German "Heinrich", other sources say it's an independent name from the Latin "Arrigus". Clémentine and Danduccio's "role" is less of a snub than excluding them entirely. But it also underlines that they are now "minor" members of the family and they're there at the suffrance of the others (only because they're representing others)
[3] roughly true, Adelgunde and Alexandrine were the only ones of Ludwig I's daughters included among the Gallery of Beauties. Although from the pictures I can find, Hildegarde's face is pretty enough (even in her later years) if not beautiful
[4] this was Leopold's special skillset OTL as well, that he managed to build up a completely "modern" corps of engineers in the Austrian army (albeit this was only in the 1860s/1870s). Chalk it up to the war having been hard on several of the greybeards of OTL, meaning that there's more "room at the top.
[5] OTL duchess of Genoa
[6] yup, they really need some new names. Ferdinand Karl the Elder (b.1781) and his wife, Maria Karoline have two daughters now: Elisabeth Hedwig (b.1841) and Theresia Henriëtte "Jettie" (b.1843)
[7] I know Tuscany seems like it was "stiffed" here, but Leopoldo II's sons are too young (8yo and 5yo) to be credible candidates for much. Naming Leopoldo II as viceroy of Lombardy with Modena in the way is a bit of a logistical nightmare, since both sides are always going to be accusing him of favouring the other. Modena's got the Ligurian Coast, but the appointment of Fritz of Teschen as governor means that it's de facto "semi independent". Francesco IV's younger son is heir to his uncle's lands in Austria. Rainier's sons' "elevation" is more to make his being sacked more palatable, but also to neutralize the family (both boys are being taken far away from Italy and Italian affairs, potentially as a trust issue). With the exception of Tuscany (which got Lucca as stipulated in the Vienna agreement), everybody's getting something. Might not be what they want, but it's more than they had and certainly more than they deserve (in Rainier's case). I was going to go with Metternich's idea for an Italian chancellery but I couldn't find exactly what that would've either entailed or looked like (despite the plan for it dating from 1818)
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*exterior* *Rome* *look at the Trevi Fountain* *Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers* *the Spanish steps* *finally we cut to a drawing room of the Palazzo Quirinale* *it is crowded with cardinals, dignitaries, all of Roman society* *and a gaggle of Bourbons and Bonapartes like the comtes de Saint-Leu and Triel* *the pope is christening the second-born son of Ferdinando II of Sicily and Louise d'Artois* *Madame Royal is the godmother, holding the baby at the font* *Angoulême is the godfather* *Clémentine d'Orléans is standing proxy for the baby's other godmother, the Queen of Hungary and Lombardy [Maria Anna of Savoy]* *Clémentine's husband, Danduccio [2], is holding the baby's other godfather, the duke of Calabria* *the baby is christened Enrico Antonio, Duke of Taranto[1]* *a title card says that he will always be known in the family as "Arrigo[2]"*
*cut to Palazzo Correr in Venice* *Frankie is sitting at the left of the (vacant) seat at the head of the table* *around the rest of the table are clustered several of the Italian Habsburgs* *the grand duke of Tuscany* *Francesco IV and his sons* *Rainier and his sons* *Fritz of Teschen* *we've clearly walked in halfway through this conversation*
Frankie: let me make sure I understand this, Onkel Rainier, you wish to be restored to the governorship of Milan?
Rainier: to be restored, nephew, implies that I forfeited it at some point.
Fritz of Teschen: *in admiral's uniform* I think that's technically what it's called when you cross the border. Immediately you forfeit your rights.
Rainier: *glares at Fritz* if you wish to be so pedantic, then I would venture that his Serene Highness' authority as regent doesn't extend to Italy.
Francesco, Prince of Modena: he is to act as Ferdinand's representative, and since Ferdinand is king of Lombardy and thus it is firmly included in his remit.
Rainier: of course the one who benefits the most from this will take his side.
Francesco: I am not taking sides, I am simply pointing out that your argument has no merit.
Rainier: *to Frankie* your grandfather wouldn't have done this.
Frankie: *calmly* that's what my mother said as well. Because neither of you could believe that the man is pissed off because he's had to waste how many troops just fighting to keep you in place when you had troops at your disposal. What did you do with them? Nothing. It was easier to wait until Radetzky and Haynau...Vienna cannot keep getting distracted by Italy burning-
Leopoldo II of Tuscany: because you now have bigger worries in Vienna.
Frankie: *looks at him levelly* because history has shown what happened to my father's empire when he over-extended it. I need capable people in place. And unfortunately, that does not include you, Onkel Rainier.
Rainier: *looks outraged*
Frankie: go ahead. *looks at him inquisitively* tell us what you have been doing in Milan for the last twenty years
Rainier: I have done my best to bring the attentions of the Milanese to his Majesty.
Frankie: *looks at page in front of him* and the only thing you succeeded in doing was to prevent an excessive tax, which was levied later anyway. The rest of the time you have spent tending to your garden at Monza. There is even some suspicion at Vienna that did not oppose your brother-in-law's entrée to Milan because you hoped that you would benefit from some of the "reordering" that the French wished to do.
Rainier: *looks aghast* who is suspecting this?
Frankie: does it matter? That is the reason that his Majesty has removed you from the post. In addition to that, for the last twenty years, you haven't seem to have done much of anything. Even requests I've made of you either go unanswered or you tell me that you simply don't have the ability to do so. These are not large requests. I asked you to attend simple military reviews and you plead illness or that you have scheduling conflicts. These are your troops, Onkel, is it any surprise to anyone here that they were unwilling to fight for you? There is only so much you can pay a man to die for you before even that is not enough for him anymore.
*people at the table who did fight alongside their troops nod in agreement*
Frankie: *softer* but the emperor is not unreasonable. He is willing to allow you to stay at Monza. He is even willing to reward you.
Several other archdukes at the table: reward him?
Frankie: *in tone like there was never any doubt* of course. *looks at Rainier's son, Leopold* Leopold is to be married to Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria-
Rainier: that's his reward? Marriage of my son to a barren girl?
Frankie: she's very beautiful [3], and her father is even willing to toss in a fantastic dowry. Leopold is to be made the new governor of the Theresianum-
Rainier: what for?
Frankie: it may have escaped your notice, Onkel, but Leopold proved himself more than adequate in the campaign, particularly when it came to the engineering which allowed us to capture several cities [4]. It is the emperor's wish that he put those skills to good use in training the next generation of soldiers. Including the Archduke Franz [Joseph].
Leopold: it is an honour, your Serene Highness.
Rainier: no, it certainly is not. It's an insult!
Frankie: *ignoring the outburst* Onkel Rainier, on the second matter, your son, Ernst *looks at Rainier's second son* is to be sent to Pressburg. To the cavalry there. As a reward for he and his cavalry helping us to recapture Milan as well as several territories along the coast, the emperor has agreed to his marriage to Elisabeth of Saxony [5], nomination to the order of the Golden Fleece and several other benefits to be discussed if he accepts.
Ernst: *looks shocked that he's getting anything at all*
Frankie: and lastly, his Majesty would like to nominate whichever of your younger sons you deem suitable for the clergy.
Leopoldo of Tuscany: what on earth for?
Frankie: since Onkel Rudolf *crosses himself* God rest his soul has gone to his final reward, there is a...gap in the Habsburg market for a member of the family in the cloth. I offered either Leopold or Eugène [his sons] for this, but I was turned down since their appointment was deemed to be...likely contentious with both his Holiness and the other heads of Europe. Most of all because of their age. So the emperor is forced to looking at cousins who are...close to being of age, *looks at Fritz* your brother [Wilhelm] for instance or...*mentally counts* one of your sons Onkel Rainier. *aside* we really don't have that many "young" ones left. *normal voice* the emperor deemed it "easier" for someone on the cusp of manhood to be...redirected...than it would for *looks at Fritz* you or your brother [Karl Ferdinand].
Francesco IV of Modena: and what's wrong with my son [Ferdinand Karl]?
Frankie: nothing, your Royal Highness, which is why his Majesty wishes for Ferdinando to marry Princess Hildegarde of Bavaria. It is unfortunate that your brother and his wife [Maria Karoline of Teschen] have produced another daughter, which means that his Majesty is in talks with Archdukes Ferdinand Karl [6] to nominate your son as his heir to his lands in Hungary and Galicia, should his uncle have no heir.
Ferdinand Karl the Younger: *similar expression to Ernst's at the thought of getting anything*
Francesco IV: and if he were to have a male heir? The archduchess is still young and healthy.
Frankie: then the emperor is also discussing with Archduke Maximilian that your son will be named as heir to his lands in Austria. Otherwise, those lands will pass to whomever Onkel Rainier or Onkel Karl [of Teschen] nominates for the clergy.
Francesco IV: *stands up* those are Este lands.
Frankie: *calmly* technically they are the emperor's lands and he can do with them as he sees fit. They were willed to your brothers by the late Elector of Cologne [Maximilian of Austria] and were part of his inheritance as well as lands he owned as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. To call them Este lands would be as ridiculous as for the grand duke [of Tuscany] to announce that he wishes for his younger son to be named heir to the grand duchy of Salzburg!
*scattered laughs from the table*
Frankie: it was Prince Metternich's decision that the two inheritances not be united, so you may take it up with him, should you so wish.
Francesco IV: *sits down again*
Frankie: lastly I come to the matter of the Ligurian Gulf. *looks at Fritz* Archduke Friedrich is to be named governor of the ports along the newly conquered territory and to focus on getting them up to scratch so as to avoid the threat of a Sardinian reconquering expedition.
Francesco IV: and who is to be viceroy of Milan? You?
Frankie: *gives the duke an odd look* don't be absurd. Nobody with two cents to rub together would ever trust a Bonaparte in charge of Milan. In fact, I think we should all congratulate his Royal Highness, the Hereditary Prince of Modena, on his appointment as viceroy [7]. As well as his Grand Ducal Highness on that the race to be empress of Brasil is now between the king of Sardinia's sister [Cristina] and his daughter, Auguste. *leads round of applause*
*fade to black*
[1] this is to avoid giving offense to the de la Trémoïlles (who claim to be prince of Taranto), and let's assume that Alexandre Macdonald has been killed in the fighting of the last few years, so the title is "technically" vacant. But it manages to combine the "historic" (prince of Taranto) and the "Napoleonic" (duke of Taranto)
[2] Danduccio was Carlo III's name in the family. As for Arrigo apparently comes from the German "Heinrich", other sources say it's an independent name from the Latin "Arrigus". Clémentine and Danduccio's "role" is less of a snub than excluding them entirely. But it also underlines that they are now "minor" members of the family and they're there at the suffrance of the others (only because they're representing others)
[3] roughly true, Adelgunde and Alexandrine were the only ones of Ludwig I's daughters included among the Gallery of Beauties. Although from the pictures I can find, Hildegarde's face is pretty enough (even in her later years) if not beautiful
[4] this was Leopold's special skillset OTL as well, that he managed to build up a completely "modern" corps of engineers in the Austrian army (albeit this was only in the 1860s/1870s). Chalk it up to the war having been hard on several of the greybeards of OTL, meaning that there's more "room at the top.
[5] OTL duchess of Genoa
[6] yup, they really need some new names. Ferdinand Karl the Elder (b.1781) and his wife, Maria Karoline have two daughters now: Elisabeth Hedwig (b.1841) and Theresia Henriëtte "Jettie" (b.1843)
[7] I know Tuscany seems like it was "stiffed" here, but Leopoldo II's sons are too young (8yo and 5yo) to be credible candidates for much. Naming Leopoldo II as viceroy of Lombardy with Modena in the way is a bit of a logistical nightmare, since both sides are always going to be accusing him of favouring the other. Modena's got the Ligurian Coast, but the appointment of Fritz of Teschen as governor means that it's de facto "semi independent". Francesco IV's younger son is heir to his uncle's lands in Austria. Rainier's sons' "elevation" is more to make his being sacked more palatable, but also to neutralize the family (both boys are being taken far away from Italy and Italian affairs, potentially as a trust issue). With the exception of Tuscany (which got Lucca as stipulated in the Vienna agreement), everybody's getting something. Might not be what they want, but it's more than they had and certainly more than they deserve (in Rainier's case). I was going to go with Metternich's idea for an Italian chancellery but I couldn't find exactly what that would've either entailed or looked like (despite the plan for it dating from 1818)
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And Frankie keeps his promise to the Wittelsbach about finding Adelgunde, Hildegard a husband. They've got archdukes for husbands, albeit not spectacularly important ones (ATM). Ferdinand Karl can do rather well for himself out of the Este lands in Hungary/Austria (Maximilian's lands were valued at something like 2 million guilders £13.5 million in 2010) at the time of his death, plus four or five castles, for instance). Ernst could end up as governor of Pressburg or the like if he plays his cards right.
But also demonstrating for all the Bismarckism of Frankie of convincing the various princes into giving constitutions he is still viewing the various governorship as fiefs to grant(or it is the emperor that view them like this), still to more effective rulers but casually treating them,plus the desire of Metternich of creating a minister/chancellor for Italy for the integration in the Austrian empire.
A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
Soundtrack: Fromental Halévy - Charles VI - Chant Patriotique: La France a l'horreur du servage - Guerre aux tyrans [1]
*exterior* *somewhere* *we see a bunch of men - stripped to the waist - digging a grave* *among them is Henri de Chambord [2]* *we see some more soldiers leading a cart - drawn by Henri's black horse he rode at Amiens - with bodies to fill it* *Henri seems to be fighting the urge to cover his nose*
Ney: *from the graveside* *he's older than Louis Philippe, nobody's expecting him to help dig graves* you'll get used to the stench, Majesty.
Henri: it's not the strench I mind. It's the pointlessness of it all.
Ney: *chuckling* did you think they were just going to hand it over if you asked nicely?
Henri: I knew they wouldn't. It's just that it always seems so effortless when you talk about it. Napoléon, the Vol de l'Aigle, Moscow-
Ney: I never saw Bonaparte digging graves for his men. *bitterly* he was always too busy filling them. [3]
Henri: *grunts as his shovel strikes a rock* he never lost. *irritatedly throws it out of the way*
Ney: what are you talking about? Big battle. Waterloo. I was there. Definitely lost that one. Leipzig, lost that one. Aspern...lost it. Then there was the whole mess in Russia, in Spain, in Egypt, you Don't believe the myth that he was some brilliant Alexander [the Great]. He wrote that one himself. I've spent the last twenty years telling silly schoolboys that.
Henri: how did you end up teaching school, of all things.
Ney: case of you can never stay in one place long, so you go from place to place. You need money to get from place to place, so you have to work. Soldier is a good option, but unless there's a war on, no real money in that at my age. Three things every town needs: a priest, a doctor and a schoolmaster. Christened Catholic to two Protestant parents, can't say the whole...Cult of the Supreme Being back then made me any more convinced of it. Eglé [his wife], she does religion. Me, it's just always felt- put it this way...I've always admired those who could believe. Even tried it for a bit out in America...didn't really feel any different to here in France. As for doctor, well, I know two forms of dealing with pain: one is a lead pill [i.e. bullet] or a bottle [of booze]. Besides, who better to teach a bunch of rowdy schoolboys about history, geography than someone who's been there?
*one of the other gravediggers* are there no taverns in America? Surely they must drink?
Ney: they drink. But compared to most Lorrains, they're amateurs. But all sorts of problems come to a tavern. First place anyone stops when coming to a town is the tavern. Run into lots of people you'd rather not have dealings with. I considered trekking down to Texas when Lallemand was doing his whole colony thing-
Henri: why didn't you?
Ney: two reasons. Called Emily and Joanna.
*gravedigger leans on his shovel* who're they, Marechal?
Henri: *carries on digging like he's heard this story before*
Ney: *launches into the story* *about his convenient little menage à trois in Carolina*
*first gravedigger* but aren't you married?
Ney: with a whole ocean and a death penalty between me and my wife. Until ten years ago, I thought that that would be the way it would stay.
*second gravedigger* so where are they now?
Ney: *shrugs* see...the thing about sleeping with another man's wife is that sooner or later, he's going to come home from his hunting trip. And you're going to wake up on the wrong end of a shotgun.
*gravediggers chuckle*
Henri: *looks around at the hole* this should be deep enough. It's already deeper than I am tall [4]. *gestures* I think we start laying them on that side, by you, Martin [aka gravedigger #1], and then we lay the rest this side, where Tanneguy [aka gravedigger 2] and I are standing.
*we see them slowly handing down the bodies from the cart* *when it's someone they know, they pause, say something we can't hear* *it seems to be some sort of anecdote about the deceased* *we see that it's also not just Henri's Regiment de Normandie, it's also soldiers in French army uniform* *even though the others don't seem to be to keen on laying them side by side, Henri tells them "right or wrong, they are our brothers, I will not leave them to the buzzards"* *finally we see them filling the grave in* *its now sundown* *the local priest is reciting the prayers for the dead*
Tanneguy: it's probably the first time some of them have listened to a priest in their life.
Ney: I envy people like you, Tanneguy.
Tanneguy: me, marechal?
Ney: people who can believe that there's something after this. Some divine judge that we are all to be held accountable to one day.
*cut to the Hôtel de Ville* *Dupont de l'Eure is now listening to the "acting" minister of war, General de Lamoricière explaining in front of tin soldiers spread out across the map*
Lamorcière: *moving the soldier - wearing a British uniform - from Clermont to halfway between Clermont and Amiens* our army under Colonel Cavaignac [5] has managed to prevent the comte de Chambord's...rabble from taking Clermont. We've managed to push them back as far as Ansauvilliers as of the 17th of May. And they took heavy casualties, the pretender was seen fleeing in the direction of Amiens like the coward he is.
Dupont de l'Eure: *looks at map* and what of Brittany and the Vendée?
Lamorcière: Colonel Bedeau has ensured that our army has been able to hold them - they're calling themselves the Régiment de Bretagne, sir-
Dupont de l'Eure: I don't care what they're calling themselves. I wish to know they have been dealt with.
Lamorcière: *moves rosbif soldier around a bit* we have successfully taken from Honfleur all the way via Le Mans to Orléans on the 13th, sir. Rennes surrendered on the 14th, as did Cherbourg. Brest and Nantes on the 15th. In the east, we've hurried regiments to Nevers and Charolais, suppressed Dijon- again- on the 19th of May.
Dupont de l'Eure: good, good. The quicker this is seen to fail, the better it will be for the republic. So far, the United States and the Sultan of Egypt are the only ones to have recognized the new government. Lord Palmerdton is apparently lobbying for British recognition, but all the British can agree on is that they will not accept Monsieur d'Orléans or in England.
Lamorcière: there is the option of recalling General Bugeaud and his troops from Algeria, sir. They could land all along the south coast and-
Dupont de l'Eure: are you mad? [6] the man is such an Orléans lapdog he gets a boner everytime he hears the words "Louis Philippe"! If he lands on the south coast it will be to claim the land for Monsieur d'Orléans. And then France truly will know civil war. I have no doubt that once Monsieur Capet's actions are exposed as little more than rank opportunism, and things will...settle down and the people will once more become magnanime et calme.
Lamorcière: this is the problem with kings, sir. They always insist on making things difficult for everyone else. Before last year, I had hoped we had heard the last of any of the Artois. That they would just...fade into obscurity...the same way their uncle did under the First Republic. To be treated as a curiosity or a joke. But now they're...acting just as badly as Bonaparte.
Dupont de l'Eure: clearly you don't know these Capets. They're rats. Just when you think you've drowned the last of them, they start swimming. Poison and dogs are the only way that they'll be gotten rid of. *picks up sheaf of papers* this is little Capet's most recent foray. *offers it to Lamorcière* printed in every paper south of Nantes.
Henri: *narrating* how diminishing is the rhetoric of Monsieur LeDru-Rollin? He compares this bloodshed as the difference between flesh and spirit, passion and intellect. That the people are not the political spirit's body or even it's heart, but it's blood, subject to passions and fluctuating humours. That you are incapable of thinking for yourself, France. Even your revolution was deemed as not planned but "par l'instinct, par le génie divin des masses". They say that you are emotional, sympathetic, and it requires a "head", that "thought" is the sole province of certain Parisian lawyers. After all, LeDru-Rollin points out that while freedom is to be enjoyed by all, rule is to be only held by the intellectual faculties of a Parisian brain, and thus of Parisian intellectuals! While legitimacy was left in the body of the people, only the "wise" and the "educated" are allowed to rule. The only ones who are regarded as trustworthy of the governance of this new republic is those who had devoted their lives to the study of it? That while shedding your blood might found their republic, only their wise governance can sustain it! You are allowed to go vote, but instead of being allowed to choose the best candidate to serve your needs, you are told that if you choose anyone but the candidates they select, you are only prostituting your votes! Enough of this: the people of France are not only the blood, or the head of the body...they are the hands that work, the feet that march, the guts who once saw the French flag flying over the Kremlin of Moscow, the walls of Jerusalem and the fortresses of Louisiane and Algeria! They are the lungs that shout "aux armes, citoyens!" and "Quand les autres trahiront" They are the wombs that bear the sons and daughters that have made France great, the breasts which nourished them. The heart that beats for a time when we were all brothers! The Hôtel de Ville is not the only one with a brain! To dismiss your actions in April 1843 as "instinctual" is to slander every Frenchman who is capable of thinking for himself! They presume that they have the only experience necessary to decide what is good for a fisherman in Brittany, a farmer in Navarre, a mother in Limoges whose son was killed in their massacre or a factory-worker in Lyons. Yet when you do attempt to assert your liberty, Paris sends men to butcher you as you stand in your foyers- [7]
Lamorcière: does he not realize that without a head, the body of the people would be perversely mutilated if the head were to be severed.
Dupont de l'Eure: little Capet is an idiot. He is as emotional as the rest. He has made the mistake of appealing to their...baser natures. But he is the one in whose name thousands have died. The government does not come from the people, as he believes. If it did, people would take it and then take it back according to their mood. [8] Monsieur Capet would do better to go back to digging graves at Ansauvilliers. I suspect that thanks to him, France will require a great many once this is done.
*cut to Ansauvilliers* *Henri is sitting - cramped - in a bathtub/trough in what looks like a barn* *he's looking pensive*
Ney: *pokes his head in* supper is ready.
Henri: what is it?
Ney: venison stew
Henri: *as he stands up* again?
Ney: best not to ask what's in it
Henri: it's rabbit, isn't it?
Ney: must've been a pretty big rabbit, then.
Henri: *tiredly* at least it's not fox.
Ney: *surprised* you've eaten fox?
Henri: in Scotland. Tastes like mutton. If you close your eyes and hold your nose.
Ney: sounds like politics. You can believe it is whatever you want it to be as long as you don't think about it.
Henri: *drying himself* *smiles bleakly* *turns to get dressed*
Ney: *looks at I always thought Bonaparte was joking when he said that the royals branded their offspring. *we see he's referring to a healed "brand" of three lilies on Henri's back just under his right shoulder*
Henri: true, unfortunately. Not sure where it started...Maman said it was with Henri le Grand, because of François de la Ramée claiming to be the son of Charles IX [9]. but I think it perhaps goes all the way back to Jean le Posthume. Prevent people claiming to be who they're not.
Ney: like Hervagault [10]?
Henri: *getting dressed* he said he was branded but the location was wrong. I read the report. His was the left calf. And done by his Holiness. Likely just a birthmark or a growth. When I was in Holland two years ago, I stopped in Delft to see the famous...Naundorff. He was out. So I spoke to his wife. No brand. Not even a tattoo that looks like a brand. Naturellement, my aunt was furious that I even went to see him, but I think it set her mind at ease knowing he wasn't her brother.
Ney: do you think he really died in the prison?
Henri: your conscience bothering you, so late in the day, Maréchal [11]?
Ney: no, Majesty, but I would hate to imagine being the one on whose conscience that would weigh.
Henri: give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and leave to God what is God's. He will punish the guilty. As for my cousin, I like to imagine that some pitying angel did take it on themselves to help him escape. And that he died at peace far from this vale of tears. However fanciful that may sound.
Ney: you don't think he'd still be alive? He's young enough to have been my son.
Henri: I don't think it's impossible he's still alive. But that gets us into a very tortured argument that would mean that France hasn't had a legitimate government in fifty years. My aunt believes he died in the Temple. And for her sake, that is what I believe. Even if it is horrific to imagine.
Ney: *calmly* if you are restored, Majesty, promise me that you will not condemn your cousins to that same fate.
Henri: do you truly believe I am the loup-garou from a children's story that would be such a barbarian? I am the product of another exile who showed me kindness when no one else in the world would've dared...striking them from the succession is as far as any vengeance from me will go. -now, come on, before there's none of that ghastly stew left for us.
*fade to black*
[1] sorry for linking the whole opera, the piece in question starts at the 18:15 mark (ironically enough)
[2] figure Edward II and Louis XVI are both attested to digging ditches/foundations alongside the men, why not include Henri in that. Besides, if he's only sharing the good parts with the men, he's not going to remain popular very long.
[3] Ney is old, and after spending roughly eighteen months with Henri, he's probably come to the realization that Napoléon genuinely treated him like shit (mean, as Ney himself says, the only letter he wrote came back with an answer from not even Nappy himself, just his secretary, of "Murat did it better. You should've died with your back to the wall than live with this disgrace"). It's not that Henri isn't "harsh" or "critical", but I think, even if he doesn't respect Ney for his actions, he does respect his age. And, like Henri, Marmont, Frankie, Savary etc, Ney's a man who has spent half his life time away from France. He probably views everything with a sort of jaded cynicism
[4] according to what I can find, Henri was just under 6'1" (185cm), the duchesse de Berri 5'11", Charles X was 5'10", Louis XVI was 5'9", Josephine de Beauharnais 5'7", Marie Antoinette was 5'6", where Napoléon was 5'5" (Napoléon III an inch shorter) and Robespierre was 5'2", so him judging it "deep enough" is probably because it is
[5] Louis Eugène Cavaignac, brother of arch-republican Godefroi Cavaignac. The soldier is in British uniform just to symbolize the "enemy"
[6] this would be Thomas Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie. Dupont de l'Eure's son was involved in a duel with the man in the 1830s and they became bitter rivals afterwards. Bugeaud's loyalty to the Orléans is not being exaggerated, they offered him the presidency, the ministry of war, of agriculture and industry and the government of Algeria during the Second Republic to try to get him onside, he refused them all and contented himself with being part of the army of observation for events in Italy (where he died)
[7] the Second Republic OTL used the language of body and family to try to get the message across, so Henri tossing that language back at them, and then underlining it by seamlessly combining things like the 1812 campaign, the conquest of Louisiana and Algeria, as well as the Crusade of St. Louis, he doesn't talk about what flag was flying, but rather that it was a French flag. He quotes the chorus of the Marseillaise (aux armes, citoyens) and a Vendéan standby "La Chant de Fidelité" (better known in its German version of "Wenn Alle Untreu Werden"), "when others betray, let us be faithful, Comrades, let us defend tradition...we, the heirs of the noble Franks, we fight for our descendants". The Frank/Gaul dichotomy of France was used as early as the Valois (possibly earlier), where anything "good" and "noble" in French culture was a product of the noble, hardworking and courageous Franks, where anything bad or chaotic (like a revolution) was the product of their Gaulish lineage.
[8] while LeDru-Rollin and Alphonse Lamartine were very eloquent speakers and did make convincing arguments, unfortunately the result ended up so muddled that by March 16 1848, just three weeks after the original revolution, the demonstrations of Parisian workers and the National Guard seeking to defer the elections so they could organize, were stripped of their legitimacy by Lamartine: government no longer issued from the people, but rather government opposed the people, he also defined government as the small group of morally enlightened men who had no authority but moral authority, but they had the monopoly on that authority. To the request about postponing the elections, he replied he would rather die than see the independence of the nation infringed in such a manner.
[9] while there's a lot of ink spilled on the "false dauphins", François de la Ramée got there first in 1595 by claiming to be the legitimate son of Charles IX and Elisabeth of Austria, whom Catherine de Medici had (for some reason) removed from the succession. Henri IV greeted the news with a laugh and said "had he done this when I was still at Dieppe, he would be king of France and not I" (alluding to his victory over the Catholic League at Arques).
[10] one of the many false Louis XVII's. He claimed to have been branded by the pope. Also, remember reading a story once where there was also a royal imposter who wasn't branded/marked in such a way
[11] Ney - alongside Berthier, Josephine and Barras, as well as a host of others including Luise of Prussia, her sister, Charlotte, the duke of Brunswick, and I can't remember who else - was allegedly supposed to have facilitated Louis XVII's escape/survival. According to some theories going around at the time, that was why he was executed. Granted, once Ney was dead, that only left Barras to speak, but since he had been out of favour since 1799, nobody gave him much credit. Henri isn't asking if Ney was involved, he's asking if Ney's feeling guilty about what the Republic did to a defenseless child?
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*exterior* *somewhere* *we see a bunch of men - stripped to the waist - digging a grave* *among them is Henri de Chambord [2]* *we see some more soldiers leading a cart - drawn by Henri's black horse he rode at Amiens - with bodies to fill it* *Henri seems to be fighting the urge to cover his nose*
Ney: *from the graveside* *he's older than Louis Philippe, nobody's expecting him to help dig graves* you'll get used to the stench, Majesty.
Henri: it's not the strench I mind. It's the pointlessness of it all.
Ney: *chuckling* did you think they were just going to hand it over if you asked nicely?
Henri: I knew they wouldn't. It's just that it always seems so effortless when you talk about it. Napoléon, the Vol de l'Aigle, Moscow-
Ney: I never saw Bonaparte digging graves for his men. *bitterly* he was always too busy filling them. [3]
Henri: *grunts as his shovel strikes a rock* he never lost. *irritatedly throws it out of the way*
Ney: what are you talking about? Big battle. Waterloo. I was there. Definitely lost that one. Leipzig, lost that one. Aspern...lost it. Then there was the whole mess in Russia, in Spain, in Egypt, you Don't believe the myth that he was some brilliant Alexander [the Great]. He wrote that one himself. I've spent the last twenty years telling silly schoolboys that.
Henri: how did you end up teaching school, of all things.
Ney: case of you can never stay in one place long, so you go from place to place. You need money to get from place to place, so you have to work. Soldier is a good option, but unless there's a war on, no real money in that at my age. Three things every town needs: a priest, a doctor and a schoolmaster. Christened Catholic to two Protestant parents, can't say the whole...Cult of the Supreme Being back then made me any more convinced of it. Eglé [his wife], she does religion. Me, it's just always felt- put it this way...I've always admired those who could believe. Even tried it for a bit out in America...didn't really feel any different to here in France. As for doctor, well, I know two forms of dealing with pain: one is a lead pill [i.e. bullet] or a bottle [of booze]. Besides, who better to teach a bunch of rowdy schoolboys about history, geography than someone who's been there?
*one of the other gravediggers* are there no taverns in America? Surely they must drink?
Ney: they drink. But compared to most Lorrains, they're amateurs. But all sorts of problems come to a tavern. First place anyone stops when coming to a town is the tavern. Run into lots of people you'd rather not have dealings with. I considered trekking down to Texas when Lallemand was doing his whole colony thing-
Henri: why didn't you?
Ney: two reasons. Called Emily and Joanna.
*gravedigger leans on his shovel* who're they, Marechal?
Henri: *carries on digging like he's heard this story before*
Ney: *launches into the story* *about his convenient little menage à trois in Carolina*
*first gravedigger* but aren't you married?
Ney: with a whole ocean and a death penalty between me and my wife. Until ten years ago, I thought that that would be the way it would stay.
*second gravedigger* so where are they now?
Ney: *shrugs* see...the thing about sleeping with another man's wife is that sooner or later, he's going to come home from his hunting trip. And you're going to wake up on the wrong end of a shotgun.
*gravediggers chuckle*
Henri: *looks around at the hole* this should be deep enough. It's already deeper than I am tall [4]. *gestures* I think we start laying them on that side, by you, Martin [aka gravedigger #1], and then we lay the rest this side, where Tanneguy [aka gravedigger 2] and I are standing.
*we see them slowly handing down the bodies from the cart* *when it's someone they know, they pause, say something we can't hear* *it seems to be some sort of anecdote about the deceased* *we see that it's also not just Henri's Regiment de Normandie, it's also soldiers in French army uniform* *even though the others don't seem to be to keen on laying them side by side, Henri tells them "right or wrong, they are our brothers, I will not leave them to the buzzards"* *finally we see them filling the grave in* *its now sundown* *the local priest is reciting the prayers for the dead*
Tanneguy: it's probably the first time some of them have listened to a priest in their life.
Ney: I envy people like you, Tanneguy.
Tanneguy: me, marechal?
Ney: people who can believe that there's something after this. Some divine judge that we are all to be held accountable to one day.
*cut to the Hôtel de Ville* *Dupont de l'Eure is now listening to the "acting" minister of war, General de Lamoricière explaining in front of tin soldiers spread out across the map*
Lamorcière: *moving the soldier - wearing a British uniform - from Clermont to halfway between Clermont and Amiens* our army under Colonel Cavaignac [5] has managed to prevent the comte de Chambord's...rabble from taking Clermont. We've managed to push them back as far as Ansauvilliers as of the 17th of May. And they took heavy casualties, the pretender was seen fleeing in the direction of Amiens like the coward he is.
Dupont de l'Eure: *looks at map* and what of Brittany and the Vendée?
Lamorcière: Colonel Bedeau has ensured that our army has been able to hold them - they're calling themselves the Régiment de Bretagne, sir-
Dupont de l'Eure: I don't care what they're calling themselves. I wish to know they have been dealt with.
Lamorcière: *moves rosbif soldier around a bit* we have successfully taken from Honfleur all the way via Le Mans to Orléans on the 13th, sir. Rennes surrendered on the 14th, as did Cherbourg. Brest and Nantes on the 15th. In the east, we've hurried regiments to Nevers and Charolais, suppressed Dijon- again- on the 19th of May.
Dupont de l'Eure: good, good. The quicker this is seen to fail, the better it will be for the republic. So far, the United States and the Sultan of Egypt are the only ones to have recognized the new government. Lord Palmerdton is apparently lobbying for British recognition, but all the British can agree on is that they will not accept Monsieur d'Orléans or in England.
Lamorcière: there is the option of recalling General Bugeaud and his troops from Algeria, sir. They could land all along the south coast and-
Dupont de l'Eure: are you mad? [6] the man is such an Orléans lapdog he gets a boner everytime he hears the words "Louis Philippe"! If he lands on the south coast it will be to claim the land for Monsieur d'Orléans. And then France truly will know civil war. I have no doubt that once Monsieur Capet's actions are exposed as little more than rank opportunism, and things will...settle down and the people will once more become magnanime et calme.
Lamorcière: this is the problem with kings, sir. They always insist on making things difficult for everyone else. Before last year, I had hoped we had heard the last of any of the Artois. That they would just...fade into obscurity...the same way their uncle did under the First Republic. To be treated as a curiosity or a joke. But now they're...acting just as badly as Bonaparte.
Dupont de l'Eure: clearly you don't know these Capets. They're rats. Just when you think you've drowned the last of them, they start swimming. Poison and dogs are the only way that they'll be gotten rid of. *picks up sheaf of papers* this is little Capet's most recent foray. *offers it to Lamorcière* printed in every paper south of Nantes.
Henri: *narrating* how diminishing is the rhetoric of Monsieur LeDru-Rollin? He compares this bloodshed as the difference between flesh and spirit, passion and intellect. That the people are not the political spirit's body or even it's heart, but it's blood, subject to passions and fluctuating humours. That you are incapable of thinking for yourself, France. Even your revolution was deemed as not planned but "par l'instinct, par le génie divin des masses". They say that you are emotional, sympathetic, and it requires a "head", that "thought" is the sole province of certain Parisian lawyers. After all, LeDru-Rollin points out that while freedom is to be enjoyed by all, rule is to be only held by the intellectual faculties of a Parisian brain, and thus of Parisian intellectuals! While legitimacy was left in the body of the people, only the "wise" and the "educated" are allowed to rule. The only ones who are regarded as trustworthy of the governance of this new republic is those who had devoted their lives to the study of it? That while shedding your blood might found their republic, only their wise governance can sustain it! You are allowed to go vote, but instead of being allowed to choose the best candidate to serve your needs, you are told that if you choose anyone but the candidates they select, you are only prostituting your votes! Enough of this: the people of France are not only the blood, or the head of the body...they are the hands that work, the feet that march, the guts who once saw the French flag flying over the Kremlin of Moscow, the walls of Jerusalem and the fortresses of Louisiane and Algeria! They are the lungs that shout "aux armes, citoyens!" and "Quand les autres trahiront" They are the wombs that bear the sons and daughters that have made France great, the breasts which nourished them. The heart that beats for a time when we were all brothers! The Hôtel de Ville is not the only one with a brain! To dismiss your actions in April 1843 as "instinctual" is to slander every Frenchman who is capable of thinking for himself! They presume that they have the only experience necessary to decide what is good for a fisherman in Brittany, a farmer in Navarre, a mother in Limoges whose son was killed in their massacre or a factory-worker in Lyons. Yet when you do attempt to assert your liberty, Paris sends men to butcher you as you stand in your foyers- [7]
Lamorcière: does he not realize that without a head, the body of the people would be perversely mutilated if the head were to be severed.
Dupont de l'Eure: little Capet is an idiot. He is as emotional as the rest. He has made the mistake of appealing to their...baser natures. But he is the one in whose name thousands have died. The government does not come from the people, as he believes. If it did, people would take it and then take it back according to their mood. [8] Monsieur Capet would do better to go back to digging graves at Ansauvilliers. I suspect that thanks to him, France will require a great many once this is done.
*cut to Ansauvilliers* *Henri is sitting - cramped - in a bathtub/trough in what looks like a barn* *he's looking pensive*
Ney: *pokes his head in* supper is ready.
Henri: what is it?
Ney: venison stew
Henri: *as he stands up* again?
Ney: best not to ask what's in it
Henri: it's rabbit, isn't it?
Ney: must've been a pretty big rabbit, then.
Henri: *tiredly* at least it's not fox.
Ney: *surprised* you've eaten fox?
Henri: in Scotland. Tastes like mutton. If you close your eyes and hold your nose.
Ney: sounds like politics. You can believe it is whatever you want it to be as long as you don't think about it.
Henri: *drying himself* *smiles bleakly* *turns to get dressed*
Ney: *looks at I always thought Bonaparte was joking when he said that the royals branded their offspring. *we see he's referring to a healed "brand" of three lilies on Henri's back just under his right shoulder*
Henri: true, unfortunately. Not sure where it started...Maman said it was with Henri le Grand, because of François de la Ramée claiming to be the son of Charles IX [9]. but I think it perhaps goes all the way back to Jean le Posthume. Prevent people claiming to be who they're not.
Ney: like Hervagault [10]?
Henri: *getting dressed* he said he was branded but the location was wrong. I read the report. His was the left calf. And done by his Holiness. Likely just a birthmark or a growth. When I was in Holland two years ago, I stopped in Delft to see the famous...Naundorff. He was out. So I spoke to his wife. No brand. Not even a tattoo that looks like a brand. Naturellement, my aunt was furious that I even went to see him, but I think it set her mind at ease knowing he wasn't her brother.
Ney: do you think he really died in the prison?
Henri: your conscience bothering you, so late in the day, Maréchal [11]?
Ney: no, Majesty, but I would hate to imagine being the one on whose conscience that would weigh.
Henri: give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and leave to God what is God's. He will punish the guilty. As for my cousin, I like to imagine that some pitying angel did take it on themselves to help him escape. And that he died at peace far from this vale of tears. However fanciful that may sound.
Ney: you don't think he'd still be alive? He's young enough to have been my son.
Henri: I don't think it's impossible he's still alive. But that gets us into a very tortured argument that would mean that France hasn't had a legitimate government in fifty years. My aunt believes he died in the Temple. And for her sake, that is what I believe. Even if it is horrific to imagine.
Ney: *calmly* if you are restored, Majesty, promise me that you will not condemn your cousins to that same fate.
Henri: do you truly believe I am the loup-garou from a children's story that would be such a barbarian? I am the product of another exile who showed me kindness when no one else in the world would've dared...striking them from the succession is as far as any vengeance from me will go. -now, come on, before there's none of that ghastly stew left for us.
*fade to black*
[1] sorry for linking the whole opera, the piece in question starts at the 18:15 mark (ironically enough)
[2] figure Edward II and Louis XVI are both attested to digging ditches/foundations alongside the men, why not include Henri in that. Besides, if he's only sharing the good parts with the men, he's not going to remain popular very long.
[3] Ney is old, and after spending roughly eighteen months with Henri, he's probably come to the realization that Napoléon genuinely treated him like shit (mean, as Ney himself says, the only letter he wrote came back with an answer from not even Nappy himself, just his secretary, of "Murat did it better. You should've died with your back to the wall than live with this disgrace"). It's not that Henri isn't "harsh" or "critical", but I think, even if he doesn't respect Ney for his actions, he does respect his age. And, like Henri, Marmont, Frankie, Savary etc, Ney's a man who has spent half his life time away from France. He probably views everything with a sort of jaded cynicism
[4] according to what I can find, Henri was just under 6'1" (185cm), the duchesse de Berri 5'11", Charles X was 5'10", Louis XVI was 5'9", Josephine de Beauharnais 5'7", Marie Antoinette was 5'6", where Napoléon was 5'5" (Napoléon III an inch shorter) and Robespierre was 5'2", so him judging it "deep enough" is probably because it is
[5] Louis Eugène Cavaignac, brother of arch-republican Godefroi Cavaignac. The soldier is in British uniform just to symbolize the "enemy"
[6] this would be Thomas Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie. Dupont de l'Eure's son was involved in a duel with the man in the 1830s and they became bitter rivals afterwards. Bugeaud's loyalty to the Orléans is not being exaggerated, they offered him the presidency, the ministry of war, of agriculture and industry and the government of Algeria during the Second Republic to try to get him onside, he refused them all and contented himself with being part of the army of observation for events in Italy (where he died)
[7] the Second Republic OTL used the language of body and family to try to get the message across, so Henri tossing that language back at them, and then underlining it by seamlessly combining things like the 1812 campaign, the conquest of Louisiana and Algeria, as well as the Crusade of St. Louis, he doesn't talk about what flag was flying, but rather that it was a French flag. He quotes the chorus of the Marseillaise (aux armes, citoyens) and a Vendéan standby "La Chant de Fidelité" (better known in its German version of "Wenn Alle Untreu Werden"), "when others betray, let us be faithful, Comrades, let us defend tradition...we, the heirs of the noble Franks, we fight for our descendants". The Frank/Gaul dichotomy of France was used as early as the Valois (possibly earlier), where anything "good" and "noble" in French culture was a product of the noble, hardworking and courageous Franks, where anything bad or chaotic (like a revolution) was the product of their Gaulish lineage.
[8] while LeDru-Rollin and Alphonse Lamartine were very eloquent speakers and did make convincing arguments, unfortunately the result ended up so muddled that by March 16 1848, just three weeks after the original revolution, the demonstrations of Parisian workers and the National Guard seeking to defer the elections so they could organize, were stripped of their legitimacy by Lamartine: government no longer issued from the people, but rather government opposed the people, he also defined government as the small group of morally enlightened men who had no authority but moral authority, but they had the monopoly on that authority. To the request about postponing the elections, he replied he would rather die than see the independence of the nation infringed in such a manner.
[9] while there's a lot of ink spilled on the "false dauphins", François de la Ramée got there first in 1595 by claiming to be the legitimate son of Charles IX and Elisabeth of Austria, whom Catherine de Medici had (for some reason) removed from the succession. Henri IV greeted the news with a laugh and said "had he done this when I was still at Dieppe, he would be king of France and not I" (alluding to his victory over the Catholic League at Arques).
[10] one of the many false Louis XVII's. He claimed to have been branded by the pope. Also, remember reading a story once where there was also a royal imposter who wasn't branded/marked in such a way
[11] Ney - alongside Berthier, Josephine and Barras, as well as a host of others including Luise of Prussia, her sister, Charlotte, the duke of Brunswick, and I can't remember who else - was allegedly supposed to have facilitated Louis XVII's escape/survival. According to some theories going around at the time, that was why he was executed. Granted, once Ney was dead, that only left Barras to speak, but since he had been out of favour since 1799, nobody gave him much credit. Henri isn't asking if Ney was involved, he's asking if Ney's feeling guilty about what the Republic did to a defenseless child?
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Admittedly, it's sounds like a very Napoleonic thing to do, but Joseph II and Maria Theresia used to shuffle the deck like this with spare relatives as well. Archduke Maximilian started out in Hungary, then he was posted to Bohemia in Joseph's reign, when the former governor of Bohemia - Albert of Teschen - moved on to Brussels after the death of Charles de Lorraine. For now, those governorships are still in the emperor's gift basket to bestow.
As for granting a constitution, where has Frankie encouraged a prince to do that? He's touted the value of educating the masses, of establishing a central judiciary in Frankfurt, a single currency for the Reich, etc, but he hasn't breathed a word about a constitution. In fact, Henri's the one that's on about constitutions (mostly because he knows France won't accept him without one), Frankie is...ambivalently silent on the matter. And given his dad's flouting of the very constitution he drew up, I suspect that Frankie would prefer to remain...unfettered.
he's not treating them casually at all. High handed? Yes. But nothing that they can go back and whinge and plot over. They all got something (if some got more than others, that's the way of things) out of it. Even Rainier who acts all offended is coming out ahead. It's Machiavelli's principle in Chapter 22 of the Prince (and also why Metternich keeps turning up like a bad penny: he's not capable or loyal, but he is able):
I was considering using that idea for Milan, but I couldn't find any descriptions of how it would work or what exactly were Metternich's plans (I'm sure Frankie could potentially finesse/update them, since they were made in 1817/1818 already FWIG)