This is over several days/weeks rather than all in the same day. For those who wanted to see a "bit more" of what Metternich did (if not how he fell), I hope you approve:
Soundtrack:
Carl Gottlieb Reissiger - Die Felsenmühle von Estalières [1]
*exterior* *Meidlinger Vertiefung [2] of Schönbrunn Palace* *we see Frankie - stripped to the waist - working furiously in the garden* *there are old scars - clearly war wounds - that have started fading* *and ones on his back and chest that are clearly newer* *also, some fading bruises on his face* *a cut to his left nostril* *Empress Karoline walks in, dressed in mourning*
Karoline: *gently* Frankie?
Frankie: *ignores her and continues hoeing a furrow*
Karoline: *waits for a beat* *then tries again*
Frankie: *continues working*
Karoline: *approaches* *gently touches his shoulder* Napoléon [3].
Frankie: *looks up at her, as if he's just realized she's there* Oma, what is it?
Karoline: the children came to call me, Frankie. They said they asked you to help them build a sandcastle?
*we see the "castle" the children were building* *we see how much Frankie's done* *we've got ramparts, earthworks, a moat, and various other "accessories" that were
clearly not the kids' idea*
Frankie: *sheepishly looking around* I might've got a bit...carried away.
Karoline: you think? *gently leads him to the bench and sits down* are you sleeping at all?
Frankie: something tells me you've already got the answer to that.
Karoline: oh, your Standejsky is very good [at lying for you]. Marmont too. But just because I'm an old woman, doesn't make me a fool.
Frankie: *half-smiling* if you're
old, Oma, than
Mama must be
ancient.
Karoline: he [your grandfather] loved you a lot, he'd tell everyone how proud he was of you. I think that's what panicked Metternich. Or rather,
why he panicked.
Frankie: *touches scar on his chest* *it looks like a brand or hot piece of metal was used*
this is not a man who was panicked, Oma. It's from a man who has been carefully and meticulously planning this for a long time.
Karoline: *sadly* I still cannot believe what he did to you.
Frankie: I'm a nobody, Oma. A sparrow flying through a hallway, in at one end and out at the other, and neither the sparrow nor the hall is any different for my arrival or departure.
Karoline: *grips the side of his face* you are
not a nobody. You are the
grandson of the emperor of Austria and the
regent of the empire. And it's time you start
behaving like it. Avoiding council meetings and leaving government business in my hands for Ferdinand is
not going to solve the problem. Indeed, they're already whispering that you are a
coward as well as a
bully for having driven Prince Metternich out but done
nothing since.
Frankie: forgive me for mourning my grandfather
and my son, Oma.
*flashback to Amalie going into premature labour on a table in an inn en route back from Venice* *the baby born dead* *Frankie being dragged roughly from her side* *her screaming and crying*
Frankie: Amalie is terrified to leave the apartments. Therese wakes up screaming. Leopold is too scared to leave Eugène, Nardus and Lorenz alone.
*flashback to Leopold and the other three boys in a cell in the Karlau Prison in Graz*
Leopold: I want to see my father.
Guard: *snorts and turns around*
Leopold: *kicks his shins* I
said I want to see my father. That means you
take me to see my father!
Guard: *laughs scornfully as he bends over* and who are you...little Herr Bonaparte, they say your father wants to be emperor one day.
Leopold: my father will have your head
Guard: will he now? *shoves Leopold back into the floor* *walks off laughing*
Frankie: and that was done to me by my own [great] uncles. It's now the second time that I've been stabbed in the back by my uncles.
Forgive me, Oma, for feeling like telling Austria, the Empire and all of Europe to kindly go
fuck itself and I'll leave for Texas or Mexico.
Karoline: *forces him to look at her again* you are
not going to Mexico. You can go in 1848, when Franzi is eighteen.
Until then, you
finish what the Hell you started ten years ago. Am I clear, Frankie?
Frankie: and if I don't?
Karoline: if you don't, you'll have proved them all right. That you're
scared of them. That you're
incapable. That you're
incompetent. And who do you think
benefits by that? Not Ferdinand. Not Franzi. Not
anyone except Metternich. So...
clean yourself up, pick yourself up, and you go and show them that you're your father's son. You think
he would've left Metternich alone in exile? The man's
hardly Talleyrand or Fouché.
Frankie: you think I didn't want his head on a stick to protect my family?
Karoline: your family isn't just your woman and children now. Your family is the
entire dynasty. Your grandfather left them in
your hands because he
knew you would fight to the last drop of your blood for them. If you stay here, doing nothing, you're not protecting them. What's worse, you're not even trying
. And Metternich wins. And he can do whatever the Hell he likes. If there's no throne for Franzi to inherit one day...what will happen then? Will you be able to look at yourself in the mirror knowing you just stood there - like the duc d'Orléans - and waited for them to raise their axes to kill you? The boy I raised is not so cowardly. *leaves him alone on the bench*
*interior* *Hall of Ceremonies at Schönbrunn* *Emperor Ferdinand and Empress Maria Anna are seated on the thrones at the head of the room* *around them on tabourets are seated Frankie, Archdukes Franz Karl and Franzi, the Archduchess Sophie* *the rest of the courtiers are standing around* *we see Metternich's stalwart ally, the Comte de Bombelles enter*
Bombelles: *bows* your Majesty.
Ferdinand: *loudly to the court* it is our great pleasure to announce to you all, that in recognition for his long and unremitting labours to our family, we have charged the Comte de Bombelles to be our representative and minister plenipotentiary to the court in Paris for the coronation of his Majesty, the king of France [4].
*courtiers applaud politely*
Bombelles: your Majesty does me much honour.
Ferdinand: it is simply what is owed, my dear Comte. And once the coronation is over, it is our further honour, for us to appoint you as our ambassador to Stockholm.
Bombelles: to Sweden, sire?
Ferdinand: yes. And his Most Christian Majesty has proved
more than generous to be happy to return to you the chateau d'Orangis that belonged to your family
Oberhofmeister: *hands a rolled up title deed and a set of keys to Bombelles*
Ferdinand: the owner's were killed in the tragedy of the late war, and the house is now standing empty. The king was most kind in returning it to you and yours.
Bombelles: I have no words, sire. We are most grateful.
*Frankie leads a second round of applause*
*to the soundtrack of the applause we see the guard who had mocked and shoved Leopold in Graz lying in a sentrybox at a crazy angle, blood pooling around him* *we see guards that dragged Frankie away from Amalie being smothered by pillows in their beds* *we see the commandant who led the arrest of Frankie, Amalie and co in Venice start choking at dinner in a restaurant in Vienna* *nobody else in the restaurant, neither other patrons nor staff, even look up, despite the man's repeated cries for "help me!"* *finally he keels over dead* [5]
*interior* *Chinesisches Kabinett at Schönbrunn* *Frankie is sitting working at a desk* *talking to Schwarzenberg, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs*
Frankie: -then make sure that we have the full reports on all the current ambassadors. I want to know which of them are still taking their orders from Metternich. If they refuse, I'll have them
all recalled to Vienna if I have to.
Schwarzenberg: of course, sir.
Footman: Her Majesty, the French Empress.
Frankie: *wryly* speak of the Devil. *smiles as he rises*
Madame.
*someone hurries in with a chair for her to be seated*
Frankie: *to the servant* you may remove it, the Comtesse Bombelles has no need of it. *to Schwarzenberg* thank you Felix, you may go.
Schwarzenberg: *bows out of the room as if Frankie's mother isn't even there*
Marie Louise: *as soon as the door is closed* do you think this is funny? *despite the fact that Marie Louise is only a year older than her stepmother and considerably younger than Madame Royal, she has not "aged well"* *she is grey and dowdy* *while neither of the other women can be said to be "glamourous" or "beautiful", there is a certain aura of dignity to their bearing noticeably "absent" from the former empress of the French and duchess of Parma*
Frankie: that depends what
this is.
Marie Louise: *thrusts ambassadorial brief into Frankie's hand*
Frankie: *doesn't even look at it* ah...you see, I thought by doing it I was being
kind.
Marie Louise: what does a
viper like
you know of kindness?
Frankie: very little, I'm afraid. After all, I'm a
Bonaparte. What could I
possibly know of
kindness?
Marie Louise: you have
banished me?
Frankie: hardly, Madame, you have always said how you
wish to return to Paris. Now I have presented you with an
opportunity to do so. Your husband - my stepfather - is to be the emperor's new ambassador. And
you as his loyal, charming, smiling and dutiful wife are to accompany him to Paris. You may remain at Orangis or accompany him to Stockholm. It is all the same to me.
Marie Louise: you would separate me from my children? From my grandchildren.
Frankie: *coldly* and what am I to you, Madame? An
unpleasant reminder of a foolish mistake you made once upon a time? Is
that why I was imprisoned in Graz? Beaten? Burned? Starved? For
daring to oppose your beloved friend, Metternich. Why Amalie was beaten and went into premature labour on an inn's table? Why my
son is dead? Why Amalie only
barely survived? What of your grandchildren who were in prison in Graz for no other reason than having
me for a father? Did you raise a
finger to assist them?
Marie Louise: *stonily silent*
Frankie: do you hear that? It's my father, howling at you from the tomb...that you have finally become so
heartless that you are
worthy of being a Bonaparte. Your
son and
grandchildren owe their survival to the heir to the throne of France,
not to you. So...you may return to Paris. And take the Princesse de Lambesc [6] and her shabby mother with you.
Marie Louise: and you may do as you see fit here?
Frankie: I may do as the
empire sees fit, Madame. If I were to do as
I saw fit, my children and I should be aboard a steamer bound for Baltimore to visit Uncle Joseph.
Marie Louise: and what does the empire need? More war, I suppose.
Frankie: the empire needs
peace. But not peace at any price as Metternich would've sold us at. I've already instructed Trauttmansdorff in Berlin to reject the proposal of Princess Luise for Franzi on the terms they offer her.
Marie Louise: your father always refused to make peace when it was offered. Look how he ended up.
Frankie: so if Austria, Russia, Prussia and England had offered him peace, and in exchange for allowing him to keep the Rhine border, they demand that he surrender Brittany and Aquitaine, would he have agreed to it?
Marie Louise: that is not what Metternich has done. He has tried to obtain an honourable position for us to bargain from-
Frankie: except his honourable position, Madame, came at the price of every alliance that Austria has built. Why? Because
I built those for Austria and turned his policy on it's head. He was unable to see past his prejudices that
perhaps his continued alliance with Prussia is
not worth it-
Standejsky: *enters* your Serene Highness. *ignores Marie Louise* we've just received news from Stockholm that King Charles has died.
Frankie: *to Marie Louise* well, it looks like you will be travelling to Stockholm
before you head to Paris to carry the emperor's condolences. I bid you
bon voyage et bon chance, Madame. *kisses her hand in a way to indicate the interview is over*
*fade to black*
[1] the mill/house on the cliff of Estalières
[2] the children's garden in the eastern half of the park, one can still see the traces of the imperial playground, where there was a pavilion at the centre of a small animals enclosure, an ‘Indian’s hut’ made of straw but also (in keeping with the military cast of his upbringing) a little fortress with earth ramparts and an exercise ground. Also, the Robinson's Cave is where Frankie used to keep his garden tools
[3] Frankie has mentioned to Louise d'Artois that "only my mother calls me Napoléon", but it could also be the equivalent of a parent using your full name when angry with you
[4] Esterhazy is still the ambassador, but for coronations, monarchs often appointed a
special ambassador (like how Morny was sent to Russia for the coronation of Alexander II or Soult to England for Queen Victoria's).
[5] this is vengeance, Corsican style. These men are not given the publicity of a trial or an execution, just quietly disposed of in a place where they...likely felt safe. Frankie lasers in on the ones directly involved rather than poison/disband the whole regiment. He also ensures it that the deaths can easily be explained as "natural" (the guard was murdered in the sentrybox by a local criminal; the guards who were smothered died in their sleep after drinking too much; the commandant in Vienna found something in his food he was allergic to. It's swift and brutal, and while he doesn't make a habit of murdering/poisoning his political opponents - he probably has a guy for that that nothing can be traced back to him - this is personal.
[6] Marie Louise's governess, Victoire de Folliot de Crenneville married the Prince de Lambesc OTL. They had no children (since she was already in her fifties at the time of the marriage). I had this idea that Victoire's
daughter (b.1789) is the one to marry Lambesc instead, and that they managed to have at least a son (so the non-Habsburg house of Lorraine continues). Any thoughts?
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