Soundtrack:
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto no. 4, F Min, RV297 "Winter" - Allegro non Molto
*interior* *Frankie's at breakfast* *with his kids and Amalie* *even if he's more reading the newspaper than paying attention to his kids* *we aren't shown what he's reading, just the headline "Greece Has an Heir!"* *zoom in shows the subtitle that tells us that King Othon and Queen Sophia are happy to announce the arrival of their firstborn, a hale and hearty son and heir they have named "Alexander"*
Raguse: *enters* your Majesty?
Frankie: *not even lowering the paper*
Raguse: your brother is here to see you.
Amalie: *looks up from where her hair is being combed out* Comte Walewski is here? I thought he was in Paris.
Raguse: No, madame. It's-
Frankie: the other one. *puts down the paper* *to Raguse* How much do you think he'll ask to go away?
Raguse: he wants to see you.
Frankie:
pity we can't always get what we want, isn't it.
Raguse: shall I se-
Frankie: *sternly* Leopold, do
not throw porridge at your sisters!
Leopold: *ignores the directive and next thing Karoline has a face full of porridge*
Karoline: *naturally does not take this lying down* *and next thing she is throwing food at her brother*
Frankie: *rolls eyes* *climbs up from the table* *scoops his son and daughter up* *puts them facing one another* *arranges it that Leopold's arms are on Karoline's shoulders* *Karoline's are on Leopold's* *like they're dancing*
now...you both stand like that until you say you're
sorry to one another and that you
love one another, or you can keep standing like that all day. *to Amalie* keep an eye on them. And if they move before they've done what I said...you have my permission to
Austerlitz them. *to his other daughter* come Therese *holds out hand*
Amalie: were are you going?
Frankie: well, in life, we might not always get what we
want. But sometimes you get what you
need.
Therese: *takes her father's hand* *sticks her tongue out at her siblings when she thinks her dad's not looking*
Frankie: Therese, do that again, and I will make you stand with them. *walks out of room*
Raguse: *looks down at two kids* you know...when Bonaparte said I needed to do
more to deserve being named maréchal, I don't think
this was what he meant. *watches as Leopold licks porridge off Karoline's face like a dog*
Amalie: *laughs at the picture*[1]
Therese: *practically skipping alongside her father* is vis like Uncle Riton? [2]
Frankie: *as they walk* more like...daddy's uncles Joseph and Louis.
Therese: I don't like Uncle Louis. He scares me.
Frankie: don't worry, lammchen, he used to scare his wife as well *looks at the Gerard portrait of Josephine, flanked by Gerard's portraits of Hortense and Eugène* *Hortense's portrait is still hung with black crepe*[3]
Therese: *seems mollified by this answer*
Frankie: *sits down in armchair in salon* *to footmen* remove the other chairs.
Therese: *watches them carrying the sofa out the other entrance to the room* why vey doing vat?
Frankie: *pulls her onto his knee* so that your uncle doesn't get any...ideas [4]
Usher: *opens doors once the sofa is gone* Monsieur Charles, Comte Léon
Léon: *pompously strides into the room*
Frankie: *whispers to his daughter* my-my, Toad of Toad Hall would probably have fit better [5]
Léon: beg your pardon?
Frankie: I wasn't talking to you,
Monsieur Léon.
Léon: can we talk?
Frankie: you can speak, I can't promise that I'll listen
Therese: *leans into her dad to watch*
Léon: alone
Frankie: *at footmen* you heard the man.
*once alone*
Léon: *looks pointedly at Therese*
Frankie: *whispers something to her* *she jumps off his knee and starts walking around the room looking at the pictures of her various relatives* my good behaviour guarantor. Means that I won't say anything I'll regret.
Léon: of course.
Frankie: of course, your Majesty or your Serene Highness, whichever is comfortable for you,
Monsieur Léon.
Léon: *baulks at this* *then seemingly decides to "catch more flies with honey"*
Frankie: *folds hands in lap* *amiably* now that all the...cock measuring is out of the way...how can I be of assistance?
Léon: *clearly surprised* since your Serene Highness offers...there is the matter I spoke of in my letters.
Frankie: I get more than twenty letters in
a single day, how *pointedly*
my father coped with running all of Europe...I have no idea.[6]
Léon:
our father, sir.
Frankie: *innocently* isn't that what I said? So...what did you write about? *flashback to him burning the letters without even having opened them*
Léon: the terms and conditions of
our father's will.
Frankie: *nods* what about them, Monsieur?
Léon: I wish to know if you plan to honour the terms, your Serene Highness.
Frankie: or?
Léon: pardon?
Frankie: the way in which you asked the question suggested that there is a second half to it, probably with what you will do if I do not respond in the way you wish. Or do you simply plan on throwing a tantrum like so many of my uncles do when I tell them "no".
Léon: no threats, no tantrums...I was simply hoping we could settle this as a matter between two gentlemen.
Frankie: I am glad to hear that. i was afraid my refusing to see you in London was going to be a matter of issue. Now...which were the terms you wish me to honour.
Léon: His Majesty, our father left me an inheritance. A rather sizeable one, three hundred thousand francs per year [7], from the timber harvested in the Moselle Département.
Frankie: that
is a rather sizeable amount. After all, with that amount, the Mexican Republic could pay off the king of the French inside a decade.
Léon: *look like "why do I care?"*
Frankie: my sons were both only granted fifteen thousand francs by his Majesty, the king of France.
Economies and all that, you understand hopefully. [8]
Léon: then your Serene Highness will not keep to the will?
Frankie: *snaps* Standeisky! [9]
Standeisky: *pops in through the other door* yes, sir?
Frankie: *to Léon in French* he's my treasurer, secretary, aide-de-camp, valet and coachman if need be. *to Standeisky in German* would you bring me my ledger? I can't remember where i left it. *Standeisky leaves* *calls Therese to him* *makes a fuss with her on his knee as he makes small talk with Léon while they wait for Standeisky* *turns out Léon has several more requests based on terms of the will* *he wishes to be entitled "prince" and to be allowed the surname "Bonaparte"*
Frankie: so we can have another
Prince Napoléon
Bonaparte to cause misery to the world?
Léon: not all sir, it was simply the wishes of our father.
Frankie: *bored tone as he looks up from remonstrating with Therese who is pulling at a loose thread where a button on his jacket has come off* why is it that when a man dies on a small island in the south Atlantic, watched over by loyal lackies and enemy guards alike...with
nothing to leave as an inheritance, he thinks he can freely dispose of the inheritances of others?
Léon: our father was a far better ruler than many in Europe-
Frankie: do you know what our father also said?
That there is no excusing a general who has taken knowledge acquired in the service of his country to deliver up her borders and her towns to the yoke of foreigners. That such an act condemns you by every principle of honour, religion or morality. And where was France in 1815? We had foreign troops in Paris. The Prussians wishing to blow up the Pont d'Iena. We were left in debt to foreign powers that took us until after his death to pay off. He preached
liberté, egalié, fraternité by giving a liberty that multiplied the amount of widows and orphans in France by hundredfold, an equality that simply aped the actions of kings - he referred to Louis XVI as the grand bumpkin before he became emperor, and as "our beloved uncle" to my mother - and a fraternity that still tears France in two. *sarcastically* Of course he was a better ruler than many in Europe.
Standeisky: *returns with ledger*
Frankie: thank you, Colonel. *opens ledger* *piece of paper falls out* *Therese picks it up and hands it to him* thank you. *opens it* *to Léon* well, what do you know...found my copy of my father's will as well.
Léon: *shifts uncomfortably*
Frankie: *holds will up* *scans it for his place* *reads* ah- here it is. To my son, Charles Léon, I leave a sum of three hundred thousand francs -*to Léon* nothing about three hundred annually it seems. *reads* for the purchase of an estate. This is conditional of him entering the magistracy so that...blah-blah-blah *over top of page* were you planning on entering the magistracy, Monsieur?
Léon: *swallows*
Frankie: *reading* this amount is to be settled on him out of moneys due to Charles on a debt of honour and gratitude to me by his Royal Highness, Eugène, Viceroy of Italy, and through the kindness of her Majesty, the Empress. *to Léon* here's that part I was talking about where I said that a dead man feeling he has the right to request things no living man would dare. Unfortunately for you, once that sentence finishes, it goes on to the bequest to Comte Walewski's son. There is
nothing about you being awarded the title
Prince, the surname
Bonaparte or that I am somehow
beholden to a man such as yourself-
Léon: the Empress said that she has signed over the administration of the funds from Reichstadt to you.
Frankie: administration in terms of actually
ensuring there
are funds. I do not see a centime of that money. As for her not paying for you, don't worry, she doesn't even give me pocket money. *smiles* now, let's have a look and see what I can do for you. Now...I already settled your debts that you left behind in London - if I hadn't settled those debts, that lovely gentleman caller would've been there to slit your throat, not just beat you up. -Then there were other debts you've left in your wake in your journey from Innsbruck to Parma, then Parma here. Those are settled. Then we have the cost of your lodgings in Venice, that's twelve thousand francs a month. I have settled those. We have settled the financial inconveniences you caused to Monsieur le Baron Méneval- *smiles* how is he, by the way, I haven't seen him in years. If you see him, you must tell him to come visit me- *carries on running fingers down the ledger* then the inconvenience you caused to your mother and stepfather by taking them to court in an attempt to extort money from them. Then the same extortion racket towards Comte Walewski. Your outstanding rent on your apartments in Paris, your outstanding accounts to various tailors and that leaves us with a grand total of- Rezi, lammchen, can you read that *to Léon* my handwriting's terrible and she's just learning to read.
Therese: three...four...one...six...f...r
Frankie: *looks at her proudly* *then turns to Léon* so, three-thousand-four-hundred-and-sixteen francs is
all I owe you, Monsieur. *hands it to Standeisky* *then stands up*
Standeisky: sir...?
Frankie: would you see that a cheque is given for Monsieur Leon to draw at the Banco Imperiale-Royale? I don't think there's that much money in the house.
Standeisky: before you do that sir...that amount is actually what the Comte Léon owes your Serene Highness.
Léon: *looks worried*
Frankie: *looks at ledger* *then hands it to his brother to confirm* it seems we're at an impasse, Monsieur. You have no money to pay, yet you owe me. When you return to Prince Metternich or King Louis Philippe- I'm not sure which of them funded this wild goose chase- tell them...maybe next time. I'm willing to cancel the debt provided you leave town within the hour. You do not ever trouble Comte Walewski, Baron Méneval or your mother for money again...I don't care if you go home to France, or go to America and settle among the Iowa or board a ship bound for Bombay...all non-discussable options, but
we *this is the royal we* never want to even
know that there
exists a man such as Charles Léon ever again. Do we understand one another?
Léon: *doesn't say anything*
Frankie: I'm glad we had this opportunity to catch up. *smiles* enjoy your day, Toad of Toad Hall. *walks out of room with Therese and Standelsky*
*fade to black*
[1] this isn't Amalie being a disinterested mother, but more something along the lines of that she might be the main "maternal presence" that Karoline and Therese have (outside Tante Delinde). And rather than being the evil stepmom, she is probably more accepting of Karoline/Therese than what Fanny would be of Leopold (psychological case of the resentment of the absent mother for the ever-present "governess")
[2] Henri de Chambord. let's face it, I could see Frankie simply explaining it to his kids like this: it's simpler than dumping them into politics of who hates whom to simply play it off as "friends of daddy". "Oncle Riton" is probably just in private.
[3] mourning tradition that the portraits of the deceased would either be taken down or covered or festooned with black crepe until eighteen months after their death. And I wouldn't put it past Frankie that there are more portraits of the Beauharnais in the house than Bonapartes*
[4] aka sit down in Frankie's presence. It sounds petty, but Frankie allowing it is an immediate sign that he can be "soft"
[5] I know Wind in the Willows is still 70 years in the future, but this is more just to indicate both Frankie's low opinion of Léon (ironically, the previous name for Schloss Frohsdorf was "Krotenhof" (Toad Hall))
[6] Léon's guardian, Baron Ménéval. Even Napoléon berated the man's replacement (he got some severe freezer burn in Russia in 1812, and had to take off a few months to recover) with pointing to an overflowing inbox and saying "if Méneval were here, he'd have gotten rid of all of that. I wouldn't have to keep stopping to repeat myself!"
[7] actually, FWIG, that 300 000 francs was a once-off
[8] this is Frankie saying "no" to his brother by pointing out that his sons are both entitled to far less than the extravagant amount that Léon is claiming. Even when Léon was born the duc de Rovigo said of Napoléon's settlement on the boy that he will "cost the country's finances dearly as well as those of many gentlemen under the Empire and beyond"
[9] FWIG this is the same guy that became Governor of Illyria in 1849 OTL (he was a sort of equerry/ADC to Frankie since 1830, so likely, much like Marmont, he's been chilling in the background) from what I can find.
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