Frankie Goes to the Hofburg, or Napoléon II, Regent of Austria?
but that's the convenient thing about being dead: as the poem St. Ninian's says:
Leon is used by many of them as a stick to hit Frankie with because he's the version of Frankie that had no claim on anything (not head of house, not legitimacy, not his grandfather, not powerful friends and allies, or even the popularity etc) and they can make into anything they want. Leon would be a "penniless dupe" you could pay to go away. Or just exclude altogether.
Karl of Teschen might have considered taking over the regency himself (not sure why he wasn't asked OTL). But then he sees how opposed Ludwig, Johann and (no doubt there are others) are, and decides that Frankie is the "best option". Similarly to how Frankie decides on Leopold of Baden as the "best stopgap" for the German Confederation. They're going to oppose anyone getting all the power. Which means you need to impose someone "outside" the system to keep thieves honest: namely Baden and Frankie.
Do You Hear The People Sing?
Soundtrack: Louis-Aîmé Maillart - Overture to Les Dragons de Villars [2]
*exterior* *Lyons* *we see soldiers in French uniform in the streets* *we see the hauling down of the city flag stamped with the arms of France and Navarre in the middle, emblazoned with the silver lion of Lyons and the motto "Montjoie Saint Denis" beneath* * *a conventional tricoleur is run up in its place*
*exterior* *we see soldiers in French uniforms dumping corpses in a mass grave* *another soldier holds a hand to his nose indicating the smell*
*interior* *courtroom* *a judge hands down a sentence to men and two women in front of him* *we can see the reaction this provokes* *the audience in the court room starts shouting and crying* *we hear a child shouting "Gramère!"* *an older boy jumps to his feet and is yanked forcibly back down by the person sitting next to him* *the sentenced do not look humbled, or even scared* *their chins are raised and shoulders thrown back in defiance* *their lips are moving but we can't hear what they're saying over the roar of the courtroom*
*then we hear what the judge hears* *and we understand why his face blanches*
Sentenced: *singing* Entendez vous dans nos campagnes? Les cris impurs des scélérats? Qui viennent jusque dans nos bras! Prendre nos fils, nos femmes!
*joined by the audiences* Aux armes Lyonnais! Formez vos batallions! Marchez, marchez, le sang des bleus.
Child who cried "Grandma": Rougira nos sillons! [3]
*cut to Dijon* *we see the tumbrils of prisoners being driven into the square in front of the Palais de Ducs de Bourgogne* *the men and women are similar to their Lyonnais counterparts* *not afraid as they start to sing*
Prisoners: c'est nous les brigands, les Bourguignons. Les brigands du Roi! Du petit Roi Henri, ohé, Du petit Roi Henri, ohé! Arrivent les Bleus, les assassins, tous les voyous Orléannais. En avant derrière M'sieur Henri! Henri le Cinquième! Henri le Cinquième! [4] [5]
*even the soldiers look a little rattled at these people's singing*
*cut to Paris* *on all the newspapers headlines we see things like "Lorraine has declared for Henri", "Henri being acclaimed king in Aquitaine" "Vannes-Nantes-Rennes have signed a mutual defence pact" "Dauphiné and Provence have rallied under « dévoués à l'honneur, à la patrie et à le Roi Henri [6]»"*
*cut to the Théâtre Graslin in Nantes* *Henri enters the "royal" box to riotous applause and cheers* *the curtain rises on the première of Olympe de Gouges Le Tyran Détroné ou France Sauvée*
*cut to Louis Philippe in the late duc de Chartres' study at Saint-Cloud* *with him is Alexandre Dumas père* *Louis Philippe is showing him that the room has been redecorated for "the dauphin"*
Louis Philippe: to be used as a schoolroom.
Dumas: of course, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: *sits down on window bench* *rests his chin on the top of his cane* that's all you think?
Dumas: I think it ill-behoves a king whose kingdom is in flames to be worried more about wallpaper than quenching those flames, sire.
Louis Philippe: it's a phase, Monsieur Dumas. The French army entered Chambéry three days after quelling the riots at Lyons. They have had nothing but victories over the supposedly indefatigable armies of Radetzky to push him all the way back to Milan in the last month. True, Radetzky has scored some tactical victories over the French army, but the strategic victories look very much different. The Austrian is a magnificent organization, formiddable on paper, but highly ineffective in the matter of a defensive war.
Dumas: as your Majesty says
Louis Philippe: my agents in Vienna and Prague tell me that all of Austria is in a matter of stupefaction. The emperor's announcement to the Imperial Council that he wishes for the duke of Reichstadt to be regent- can you imagine that, Monsieur Dumas? - for the emperor's incompetent son. A boy two generations removed from obscurity in Corsica, will now decide the fate of Italy, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and countless other states-
Dumas: from him, I should say it's to be expected, Majesty. Names have a very heavy burden attached to them, sire, and his even more than most.
Louis Philippe: and what has his name gotten him? From what I've heard, he's absolutely frantic for this war to end before he gets swept out of power. He has no metier du souverain. What others - like Chambord and his henchmen - mistake for skill in their adoration, is merely a conman's trick. He is no brilliant general, name me one political decision of his that has been made successfully. His ideas for education, for an empire wide postal service, for a judiciary, a string of hospitals for the poor through the empire...where are they now? Lying fallow. To be sure, some fools like Baden and Saxony may implement some of them, but why do you think so many are unwilling to obey him? Because they know his time is short. Nobody in Austria will agree to him being regent. Not when all he has done is bring them war and death to keep what they had.
Dumas: and your Majesty?
Louis Philippe: my wars are necessary. To avenge the humiliation of Mexico and Havana, to blot out the disgrace of Egypt and to consolidate my dynasty.
Dumas: to speak of Mexico I'm told Prince Iturbide's wife recently had a little boy.
Louis Philippe: a perfect illustration of Reichstadt's "impotence". Where was the princess he promised Madame l'Imperatrice for her son? He has only been able to get the king of the Belgians' nephew for her daughter. And then marries the supposed Prince Imperial off to...one of the daughters of his generals?
Dumas: a Frenchwoman, sire [7]
Louis Philippe: I thought she was born in America.
Dumas: on a French vessel quarantined in Newark harbour, sire.
Louis Philippe: *makes grunt*
Dumas: I take it from your Majesty's...gloating over matters in Savoy and Piedmont, that you do not wish to acquiesce to Reichstadt's terms regarding the Rhine.
Louis Philippe: he has ordered me out of my rightful inheritance. Baden is a bastard, even the king of Bavaria agrees with that. I am simply reclaiming Baden as the legitimate heir [8], and the Palatinate is lawfully French, even Louis XIV thought so.
Dumas: I am not here to dispute what Louis XIV believed or not, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: no, you are here because I would like you to be my grandson's tutor.
Dumas: *bows* your Majesty, it is an honour.
Louis Philippe: then you accept?
Dumas: to educate the future of France is a colossal responsibility. And one I would be proud to undertake, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: see, Monsieur Dumas, even when the king is choosing wallpaper, he is still working for the future good of France. Do you think Monsieur Henri, sitting in his box at the opera, ignoring the plight of the men and women who have died for him, understand that?
Dumas: your Majesty does not believe that it would be a good idea to take the boot off the throat of the Bisontins now that they have been suitably punished. Victor [Hugo] stressed-
Louis Philippe: they will soon settle down. Monsieur Henri is a passing fashion, a phase. Winter is coming, Monsieur Dumas, and then? When all of Monsieur Henri's wretches are crowded into Nantes. How do you think the poor, the hungry, the cold, will regard a king they see being fed steaming plates of food on silver trays? Winter is the great equalizer.
Dumas: I understand that to mean that your Majesty will not consider relenting. In Besançon, Dijon, Lyons, the winter will be just as hard there as in Nantes.
Louis Philippe: if I relent now, I will look weak.
Dumas: your Majesty would look gracious.
Louis Philippe: Monsieur Dumas, I cannot arrest Monsieur Henri without causing the Revolution everyone fears. I cannot shoot him, I cannot exile him, since all of this indicates that I actually regard he and his rabble as a threat. I can only starve him out. I am in the most unenviable position of a person who has had a snake crawl into bed with them. If I irritate the creature, it will bite, and if I stay still, it may bite anyway. If Monsieur Henri had decided - at any point over the last few months - to head to Geneva from Lyons, or take ship from Marseilles or Toulon for Sicily, over the Pyrenees to Spain or find a tramp steamer- I hear his finances are not in a good state. Most of what he has is borrowed to the hilt. And his moving on is not so much a progress around the kingdom as it is his credit running out- to take him to England or Hamburg or the Americas...I would've gladly told them to welcome him with open arms. I know what it is like to be a penniless exile, running for your life, you see.
Dumas: of course, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: I cannot move and he cannot stay. And once the French realize that, they will quiet down. The duke of Reichstadt being named regent in Austria is already angering many Bonapartists from what Minister Soult, Marshal Oudinot and the Comte de Morny tell me. Even members of his own family who thought that perhaps his treatment of Léon was a one-off, have looked at how coldly he behaved towards Prince de Pontecorvo with disgust.
Dumas: both were neccessary, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: one can understand that they are unsure if they have any safety. Archduke Karl writes me from Vienna that that is the foremost of the archdukes' concerns. That they will not be safe if their great-nephew or cousin were to take over. And it provides a useful point: with Reichstadt in power in Vienna, who shared tutors with Monsieur Henri, who was educated in diplomacy by Prince Metternich as Monsieur Henri was...what hopes does an Austrian have of ruling France? They are already referring to Henri as the "other bastard[9]" and the "soldat à la crème".
Dumas: *remains silent* *just nods*
Louis Philippe: so as you can see, Monsieur Dumas, I am neccessary. [10]
*cut to Dumas climbing into his carriage in the cour d'honneur*
Victor Hugo: and? Did his Majesty say anything?
Dumas: lot of pretty words about how he's looking after the future of France. Wants me to be tutor to his grandson.
Hugo: what did you say?
Dumas: that I would be honoured. And I don't think he should be putting new wallpaper up yet. He believes he's illustrating his stability, his permanence.
Hugo: and you don't agree?
Dumas: my father was a mulatto, my grandfather a negro, my great-grandfather a monkey. Where my family starts, Louis Philippe's ends [11]
*fade to black as carriage drives out of the gates of Saint-Cloud*
[2] opera based on the novel, La Petite Fadette by George Sand: the story of twin brothers (essentially the jock and the musician-types) who fall in love with the same girl
[3] *sung to the tune of La Marseillaise* do you hear from the countryside? The impure cries of these wretches? They come into your midst! Take your sons [for their war], your wives! To arms Lyonnais! Form your batallions! The blood of the bleus [the French army], shall redden the furrows.
[4] we are the brigands, the Burgundians, the brigands of the king. Of little King Henri, ohé, of little King Henri, ohé. Then come the bleus, those murderers, with all their Orléanist thugs. Onward, we follow M'sieur Henri! Henri the Fifth! Henri the Fifth!
[5] Dijon, for all its indifference when Henri was in prison, the city (like Lyons) was one of Napoléon's biggest supporters during the Hundred Days - for similar reasons - while Charles X (as constable of the kingdom) had promised to put an end to the policy of the "droits réunis", Louis XVIII ignored him. While Dijon was apathetic before, they've probably realized that, no matter how many Bibles they swear on, Paris isn't going to believe them. So, Vive le Petit Roi Henri (little because he hasn't been crowned yet)
[6] devoted to honour, the fatherland and King Henri
[7] the daughter in question is Caroline Lallemand (b.1819): daughter of Henri Lallemand (a Napoléonic general, and late brother to Frankie's representative in Texas, Charles Lallemand) and Henriette Girard (niece of Stephen - born Étienne - Girard, the richest man in the United States, and first US multi-millionaire in history). Caroline got a substantial inheritance from her great-uncle Steve on his death in 1831. She's American born, but to two French Catholic parents (dad's from Metz, mom's from Bordeaux, born to a French father and an Irish mother). Pretty sure while the ex-empress of Mexico doesn't like the idea of a "gringo" daughter-in-law (she certainly didn't care for Alice Green OTL), Caroline's money and that she's "French by technicality" make her squint at it. The being born on a French vessel is because some sources say Henriette Girard was born in New Jersey in 1802, others say she was born in France.
[8] while Louis Philippe's raison de guerre has never been discussed, this shows just how "tortured" an argument he had to come up with to justify it. While west bank of the Rhine is a revolutionary policy, he does have a "less radical" one if anyone asks: namely the Baden Succession. In a situation much too convoluted to go into in depth, when the grand duke, Ludwig I, died in 1830, that was officially the end of the house of Baden (by most European royal families' standards). The only reason that Leopold I (Gustav Vasa's brother-in-law) was allowed to succeed was because Franz I had chosen to recognize him as heir rather than let Bavaria claim it (which Prussia opposed as well) when Stephanie de Beauharnais' husband died in 1818. Louis Philippe (and the whole house of Orléans) descends from not just Liselotte - through whom he's claiming the Palatinate - but Auguste of Baden. Auguste is the representative of the senior line of Baden-Baden, and since Baden followed (by my understanding) some sort of male preference primogeniture rather than Salic Law (hence how Bavaria was able to claim it and why Leopold was married to Gustav's sister), Louis Philippe's "claim" is not that crazy: out there, to be sure, but probably a lot more credible than the War of the Palatinate Succession since Auguste didn't renounce her rights to Baden for her marriage. Mostly because it was likely deemed unnecessary
[9] l'Autrichien. Autre (other), chien (bastard). Nickname in the Grand Armée for an Austrian. Soldat à la crème (soldiers with cream), a pun on the red trousers and the white tunics of the Austrian uniform looking like strawberries and cream. Henri's never worn the uniform since he entered France, but the fact that he wore it at all...likely it does as much to diminish enthusiasm for him as the Prince Imperial serving in the British army did
[10] Louis Philippe's response to Jérôme Bonaparte, Prince de Montfort when asked if he wasn't being too harsh
[11] Dumas' response when someone tried to defend slavery to him. Ten bucks says Dumas' Richelieu in his Three Musketeers (published in 1844) is inspired by Louis Philippe?
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @kaiidth @SavoyTruffle @Wendell @nathanael1234 @Fehérvári @Guatemalan Nat-Synd @Valena
*exterior* *Lyons* *we see soldiers in French uniform in the streets* *we see the hauling down of the city flag stamped with the arms of France and Navarre in the middle, emblazoned with the silver lion of Lyons and the motto "Montjoie Saint Denis" beneath* * *a conventional tricoleur is run up in its place*
*exterior* *we see soldiers in French uniforms dumping corpses in a mass grave* *another soldier holds a hand to his nose indicating the smell*
*interior* *courtroom* *a judge hands down a sentence to men and two women in front of him* *we can see the reaction this provokes* *the audience in the court room starts shouting and crying* *we hear a child shouting "Gramère!"* *an older boy jumps to his feet and is yanked forcibly back down by the person sitting next to him* *the sentenced do not look humbled, or even scared* *their chins are raised and shoulders thrown back in defiance* *their lips are moving but we can't hear what they're saying over the roar of the courtroom*
*then we hear what the judge hears* *and we understand why his face blanches*
Sentenced: *singing* Entendez vous dans nos campagnes? Les cris impurs des scélérats? Qui viennent jusque dans nos bras! Prendre nos fils, nos femmes!
*joined by the audiences* Aux armes Lyonnais! Formez vos batallions! Marchez, marchez, le sang des bleus.
Child who cried "Grandma": Rougira nos sillons! [3]
*cut to Dijon* *we see the tumbrils of prisoners being driven into the square in front of the Palais de Ducs de Bourgogne* *the men and women are similar to their Lyonnais counterparts* *not afraid as they start to sing*
Prisoners: c'est nous les brigands, les Bourguignons. Les brigands du Roi! Du petit Roi Henri, ohé, Du petit Roi Henri, ohé! Arrivent les Bleus, les assassins, tous les voyous Orléannais. En avant derrière M'sieur Henri! Henri le Cinquième! Henri le Cinquième! [4] [5]
*even the soldiers look a little rattled at these people's singing*
*cut to Paris* *on all the newspapers headlines we see things like "Lorraine has declared for Henri", "Henri being acclaimed king in Aquitaine" "Vannes-Nantes-Rennes have signed a mutual defence pact" "Dauphiné and Provence have rallied under « dévoués à l'honneur, à la patrie et à le Roi Henri [6]»"*
*cut to the Théâtre Graslin in Nantes* *Henri enters the "royal" box to riotous applause and cheers* *the curtain rises on the première of Olympe de Gouges Le Tyran Détroné ou France Sauvée*
*cut to Louis Philippe in the late duc de Chartres' study at Saint-Cloud* *with him is Alexandre Dumas père* *Louis Philippe is showing him that the room has been redecorated for "the dauphin"*
Louis Philippe: to be used as a schoolroom.
Dumas: of course, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: *sits down on window bench* *rests his chin on the top of his cane* that's all you think?
Dumas: I think it ill-behoves a king whose kingdom is in flames to be worried more about wallpaper than quenching those flames, sire.
Louis Philippe: it's a phase, Monsieur Dumas. The French army entered Chambéry three days after quelling the riots at Lyons. They have had nothing but victories over the supposedly indefatigable armies of Radetzky to push him all the way back to Milan in the last month. True, Radetzky has scored some tactical victories over the French army, but the strategic victories look very much different. The Austrian is a magnificent organization, formiddable on paper, but highly ineffective in the matter of a defensive war.
Dumas: as your Majesty says
Louis Philippe: my agents in Vienna and Prague tell me that all of Austria is in a matter of stupefaction. The emperor's announcement to the Imperial Council that he wishes for the duke of Reichstadt to be regent- can you imagine that, Monsieur Dumas? - for the emperor's incompetent son. A boy two generations removed from obscurity in Corsica, will now decide the fate of Italy, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and countless other states-
Dumas: from him, I should say it's to be expected, Majesty. Names have a very heavy burden attached to them, sire, and his even more than most.
Louis Philippe: and what has his name gotten him? From what I've heard, he's absolutely frantic for this war to end before he gets swept out of power. He has no metier du souverain. What others - like Chambord and his henchmen - mistake for skill in their adoration, is merely a conman's trick. He is no brilliant general, name me one political decision of his that has been made successfully. His ideas for education, for an empire wide postal service, for a judiciary, a string of hospitals for the poor through the empire...where are they now? Lying fallow. To be sure, some fools like Baden and Saxony may implement some of them, but why do you think so many are unwilling to obey him? Because they know his time is short. Nobody in Austria will agree to him being regent. Not when all he has done is bring them war and death to keep what they had.
Dumas: and your Majesty?
Louis Philippe: my wars are necessary. To avenge the humiliation of Mexico and Havana, to blot out the disgrace of Egypt and to consolidate my dynasty.
Dumas: to speak of Mexico I'm told Prince Iturbide's wife recently had a little boy.
Louis Philippe: a perfect illustration of Reichstadt's "impotence". Where was the princess he promised Madame l'Imperatrice for her son? He has only been able to get the king of the Belgians' nephew for her daughter. And then marries the supposed Prince Imperial off to...one of the daughters of his generals?
Dumas: a Frenchwoman, sire [7]
Louis Philippe: I thought she was born in America.
Dumas: on a French vessel quarantined in Newark harbour, sire.
Louis Philippe: *makes grunt*
Dumas: I take it from your Majesty's...gloating over matters in Savoy and Piedmont, that you do not wish to acquiesce to Reichstadt's terms regarding the Rhine.
Louis Philippe: he has ordered me out of my rightful inheritance. Baden is a bastard, even the king of Bavaria agrees with that. I am simply reclaiming Baden as the legitimate heir [8], and the Palatinate is lawfully French, even Louis XIV thought so.
Dumas: I am not here to dispute what Louis XIV believed or not, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: no, you are here because I would like you to be my grandson's tutor.
Dumas: *bows* your Majesty, it is an honour.
Louis Philippe: then you accept?
Dumas: to educate the future of France is a colossal responsibility. And one I would be proud to undertake, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: see, Monsieur Dumas, even when the king is choosing wallpaper, he is still working for the future good of France. Do you think Monsieur Henri, sitting in his box at the opera, ignoring the plight of the men and women who have died for him, understand that?
Dumas: your Majesty does not believe that it would be a good idea to take the boot off the throat of the Bisontins now that they have been suitably punished. Victor [Hugo] stressed-
Louis Philippe: they will soon settle down. Monsieur Henri is a passing fashion, a phase. Winter is coming, Monsieur Dumas, and then? When all of Monsieur Henri's wretches are crowded into Nantes. How do you think the poor, the hungry, the cold, will regard a king they see being fed steaming plates of food on silver trays? Winter is the great equalizer.
Dumas: I understand that to mean that your Majesty will not consider relenting. In Besançon, Dijon, Lyons, the winter will be just as hard there as in Nantes.
Louis Philippe: if I relent now, I will look weak.
Dumas: your Majesty would look gracious.
Louis Philippe: Monsieur Dumas, I cannot arrest Monsieur Henri without causing the Revolution everyone fears. I cannot shoot him, I cannot exile him, since all of this indicates that I actually regard he and his rabble as a threat. I can only starve him out. I am in the most unenviable position of a person who has had a snake crawl into bed with them. If I irritate the creature, it will bite, and if I stay still, it may bite anyway. If Monsieur Henri had decided - at any point over the last few months - to head to Geneva from Lyons, or take ship from Marseilles or Toulon for Sicily, over the Pyrenees to Spain or find a tramp steamer- I hear his finances are not in a good state. Most of what he has is borrowed to the hilt. And his moving on is not so much a progress around the kingdom as it is his credit running out- to take him to England or Hamburg or the Americas...I would've gladly told them to welcome him with open arms. I know what it is like to be a penniless exile, running for your life, you see.
Dumas: of course, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: I cannot move and he cannot stay. And once the French realize that, they will quiet down. The duke of Reichstadt being named regent in Austria is already angering many Bonapartists from what Minister Soult, Marshal Oudinot and the Comte de Morny tell me. Even members of his own family who thought that perhaps his treatment of Léon was a one-off, have looked at how coldly he behaved towards Prince de Pontecorvo with disgust.
Dumas: both were neccessary, Majesty.
Louis Philippe: one can understand that they are unsure if they have any safety. Archduke Karl writes me from Vienna that that is the foremost of the archdukes' concerns. That they will not be safe if their great-nephew or cousin were to take over. And it provides a useful point: with Reichstadt in power in Vienna, who shared tutors with Monsieur Henri, who was educated in diplomacy by Prince Metternich as Monsieur Henri was...what hopes does an Austrian have of ruling France? They are already referring to Henri as the "other bastard[9]" and the "soldat à la crème".
Dumas: *remains silent* *just nods*
Louis Philippe: so as you can see, Monsieur Dumas, I am neccessary. [10]
*cut to Dumas climbing into his carriage in the cour d'honneur*
Victor Hugo: and? Did his Majesty say anything?
Dumas: lot of pretty words about how he's looking after the future of France. Wants me to be tutor to his grandson.
Hugo: what did you say?
Dumas: that I would be honoured. And I don't think he should be putting new wallpaper up yet. He believes he's illustrating his stability, his permanence.
Hugo: and you don't agree?
Dumas: my father was a mulatto, my grandfather a negro, my great-grandfather a monkey. Where my family starts, Louis Philippe's ends [11]
*fade to black as carriage drives out of the gates of Saint-Cloud*
[2] opera based on the novel, La Petite Fadette by George Sand: the story of twin brothers (essentially the jock and the musician-types) who fall in love with the same girl
[3] *sung to the tune of La Marseillaise* do you hear from the countryside? The impure cries of these wretches? They come into your midst! Take your sons [for their war], your wives! To arms Lyonnais! Form your batallions! The blood of the bleus [the French army], shall redden the furrows.
[4] we are the brigands, the Burgundians, the brigands of the king. Of little King Henri, ohé, of little King Henri, ohé. Then come the bleus, those murderers, with all their Orléanist thugs. Onward, we follow M'sieur Henri! Henri the Fifth! Henri the Fifth!
[6] devoted to honour, the fatherland and King Henri
[7] the daughter in question is Caroline Lallemand (b.1819): daughter of Henri Lallemand (a Napoléonic general, and late brother to Frankie's representative in Texas, Charles Lallemand) and Henriette Girard (niece of Stephen - born Étienne - Girard, the richest man in the United States, and first US multi-millionaire in history). Caroline got a substantial inheritance from her great-uncle Steve on his death in 1831. She's American born, but to two French Catholic parents (dad's from Metz, mom's from Bordeaux, born to a French father and an Irish mother). Pretty sure while the ex-empress of Mexico doesn't like the idea of a "gringo" daughter-in-law (she certainly didn't care for Alice Green OTL), Caroline's money and that she's "French by technicality" make her squint at it. The being born on a French vessel is because some sources say Henriette Girard was born in New Jersey in 1802, others say she was born in France.
[8] while Louis Philippe's raison de guerre has never been discussed, this shows just how "tortured" an argument he had to come up with to justify it. While west bank of the Rhine is a revolutionary policy, he does have a "less radical" one if anyone asks: namely the Baden Succession. In a situation much too convoluted to go into in depth, when the grand duke, Ludwig I, died in 1830, that was officially the end of the house of Baden (by most European royal families' standards). The only reason that Leopold I (Gustav Vasa's brother-in-law) was allowed to succeed was because Franz I had chosen to recognize him as heir rather than let Bavaria claim it (which Prussia opposed as well) when Stephanie de Beauharnais' husband died in 1818. Louis Philippe (and the whole house of Orléans) descends from not just Liselotte - through whom he's claiming the Palatinate - but Auguste of Baden. Auguste is the representative of the senior line of Baden-Baden, and since Baden followed (by my understanding) some sort of male preference primogeniture rather than Salic Law (hence how Bavaria was able to claim it and why Leopold was married to Gustav's sister), Louis Philippe's "claim" is not that crazy: out there, to be sure, but probably a lot more credible than the War of the Palatinate Succession since Auguste didn't renounce her rights to Baden for her marriage. Mostly because it was likely deemed unnecessary
[9] l'Autrichien. Autre (other), chien (bastard). Nickname in the Grand Armée for an Austrian. Soldat à la crème (soldiers with cream), a pun on the red trousers and the white tunics of the Austrian uniform looking like strawberries and cream. Henri's never worn the uniform since he entered France, but the fact that he wore it at all...likely it does as much to diminish enthusiasm for him as the Prince Imperial serving in the British army did
[10] Louis Philippe's response to Jérôme Bonaparte, Prince de Montfort when asked if he wasn't being too harsh
[11] Dumas' response when someone tried to defend slavery to him. Ten bucks says Dumas' Richelieu in his Three Musketeers (published in 1844) is inspired by Louis Philippe?
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @kaiidth @SavoyTruffle @Wendell @nathanael1234 @Fehérvári @Guatemalan Nat-Synd @Valena
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What Power Art Thou? [1]
Soundtrack: Albrecht Lortzing - Overture to Regina
*exterior* *Dillengen in the Rhineland* *Frankie is once again in his "fancy" chamberlain's uniform* *he's standing at the side of the road* *we see a carriage procession arrive* *the door to one of the coaches opens* *a slender woman steps down*
Frankie: *bows deeply* your Royal Highness, I bid you welcome to Dillengen as its new duchess.
Woman: *smiles coquettishly* and the new duchess greets the new regent.
Frankie: if only my position were as secure as yours, Madame la Duchesse.
Woman: perhaps if you were in Vienna instead of- *laughs as he holds onto his plumed hat against the wind* playing dress-up in the Rhineland, it would be.
Frankie: that is precisely why I'm here, Madame. No need to endure all the points and stares and whispers. *presents the mayor, the town's chief cleric and a few other high-ranking local dignitaries to her*
*the mayor makes a polite speech welcoming her to town* *then she and Frankie get into the coach*
Woman: the way Gustav spoke in his letters, it was all but assured that you would be.
Frankie: unfortunately, Prince Metternich's web is rather vast, it's one of those...puddles...you are not aware of how deep it is until you step into it. And then you are right up to your middle.
Woman: *takes letters out* from your daughters. Mostly asking when you're coming home. If you're well, safe, and lucky.
Frankie: lucky?
Woman: seems someone told them about your father's words of "I don't ask if a man is a good general, I ask if he's lucky".
Frankie: and Leopold and Eugen?
Woman: think there's one or two letters in there from Leopold. A picture from Eugen.
Frankie: anything from Amalie?
Woman: she is well. She is very busy. With Nardus and Lorenz. She asked me to tell you that they are well, and that they miss their papa.
Frankie: that's all?- -you had them vaccinated like I asked?
Woman: with my own daughters, Carola and all the other children at the school.
Frankie: I can see why Gustaf gets that look on his face when he talks about you, Marianne.
Marianne: I just figure go big or go home, Besides, it's easier for the children if they see the others get vaccinated and nothing bad happens to them [2].
Frankie: *nods as the carriage passes into the town*
Marianne: why Dillengen?
Frankie: well, it's a town with traditional Nassau connections. I was trying to leverage the elector of Kassel for Fulda, but his words to me was that he'd supported me since the beginning of the war, and unless I give him Prussian land as far as Arnsberg, we don't have a deal.
Marianne: and you won't give it to him?
Frankie: I have no problem giving it to him. If it were up to me I'd kick Prussia out of the Rhineland entirely. But until the truce becomes a treaty, I have to play nice. It helps me, if I were to give every prince what he asks for the first time he asks for it, I would wake to find all of Germany in my waiting room each morning. Most of them I got a large enough dose until next year at the jubilee.
Marianne: I heard it was spectacular.
Frankie: you should've come. You were invited.
Marianne: I didn't want to be seen in public with Gustav so...flagrantly after Louise died.
Frankie: you wouldn't have been there with him. You were my guest.
Marianne: *laughs* would that have been any better?
Frankie: I'm immune to it. Maybe it would've scared enough of them off.
Marianne: perhaps.
Frankie: *takes a tube from the seat* you'll need that, it's rather important. Your matrikels creating you sovereign duchess of Dillengen, princess of Corvey [3], countess of Dortmund, lady of Dietkirchen, Ravensburg, Sankt Gerold and Sierburg.
Marianne: *slowly mouths the words* all the lands that Papa held when-
Frankie: *nods* his reward for recognizing the Batavian Republic. It was sort of how I got everybody on board to agree to it. And...plus that Dortmund and Corvey are both in Prussian territory, I managed to play it off to your one-time brother-in-law that it was...suitable compensation for the pain and suffering of being married to his dolt of a brother.
Marianne: I don't know what to say.
Frankie: I'm told thank you is a good place to start.
Marianne: yes, of course. You have my unending gratitude, your Serene Highness, but it seems rather outsize considering the meagre job I've been doing.
Frankie: you and Gustaf plan to get married, no?
Marianne: well, we have spoken about it.
Frankie: your son will need something to inherit. Can't have the future king of Sweden be little lord landless.
Marianne: *sadly* assuming there's a son. Afraid Louise and I have had similar luck with boys.
Frankie: well, I hope there is, because otherwise Prussia will want their lands back. Actually, they'll probably want it back when they hear about you getting remarried. But I figured there's plenty of places for you to pick to raise your children...and any more that might come from this. The Prussian king has some conditions though. Namely that, as Prussian princesses, Charlotte and Elisabeth [her daughters] are to still be allowed to Berlin to get to know their cousins. That he and the queen are allowed to visit them, should they so wish. And that their marriages will be subject to Berlin's discretion.
Marianne: they were always very kind to me.
Frankie: I told him that it would be at your discretion, not his. Your brother backed me on this. We both agreed on that since it's both girls. I think if there had been a boy, we'd have had a problem. The marriages part...well, there's likely to be much water under the bridge between now and then. Charlotte's only eleven, after all. Not withstanding the whole situation like the king of Hannover recently had with his daughter where neither he nor the queen of England could agree on who should arrange her marriage.
Marianne: I hear you have been asked to be godfather to the queen's new daughter born last month.
Frankie: I haven't accepted yet.
Marianne: why not?
Frankie: because it will cause a storm of protests. From the English first and foremost. Not to mention Prussia and Russia, if Louis Philippe is still in power by the time of the christening in February, I suspect he'll have an axe to grind as well. I'm sure I have great-uncles in Vienna who will add a few quarts of jealousy about me being asked and the insult that Uncle Ferdinand wasn't.
Marianne: or nobody could protest. It's a girl. If it had been a prince of Wales I'm sure they would care.
Frankie: it's still England. Maybe I'll get lucky and Prussia will break the truce so I won't have to go.
Marianne: you don't like England?
Frankie: I don't mind England. It's just all those...English people. The Germans [aka Victoria, her mother, Albert, Queen Adelaide, the Weimars, the Cambridges] there I rather like though.
Marianne: *laughs as the carriage stops in front of the city hall* *there are soldiers drawn up in blue and orange uniforms*
Commandant: *barks at soldiers to salute*
*door opens*
Commandant: *snaps salute*
Marianne: *removes her hat and returns the salute*
Commandant: welcome to Dillengen, your Royal Highness.
Marianne: *looks at Frankie* you arranged this?
Frankie: what's a war without a happy reunion?
Marianne: oh Gustav *kisses the commandant almost brazenly*
Frankie: *watching them* if only life gives us all such happy endings.
*fade to black*
[1] also known as the "Cold Song" from Purcell's King Arthur
[2] I'm unsure what the policy on smallpox vaccinations in Italy was at the time. Under Napoléon they were mandatory - just like the registration of births and deaths - and you could go to jail (or even be given the death penalty) for refusing. But then one of the popes in the 1820s walked it back to "its optional". So I could see a lot of people going "see, the pope says we don't have to". While it sounds ridiculous and one would think that by 1842, the spectre of smallpox is eradicated, the fact of the matter is that after the Franco-Prussian War in Germany 181 000 people died in a smallpox epidemic. France had lost 200 000 to smallpox during the war, a tenth of which (23400) were soldiers, Bismarck complained that he lost more troops to disease in the 7 Weeks War than he lost to the Austrians. Austrian losses, to disease, were a relatively mild 938. For example, Württemberg had only introduced mandatory vaccination for their military in 1829, Prussia in 1834, Hannover in 1837 (it was one of the first acts of Ernst August's reign), Baden in 1840, the kingdom of Saxony only in 1868! Darmstadt, by contrast had it mandatory for not just soldiers, but apprentices and university students, since 1807 ,Kassel since 1815, Nassau since 1818, and parts of Westphalia in 1821. For comparison, deaths in Prussia from smallpox were four times greater than Bavaria and Württemberg (who came to both insist on vaccination at birth, versus Prussia who didn't wish to involve herself) in an outbreak in the 1840s or 1850s IIRC. Imperial Germany only passed a law enforcing vaccination in April 1874
[3] decided to retcon Furstenberg being given Corvey, he's only duke of Ratibor,
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @kaiidth @SavoyTruffle @Wendell @nathanael1234 @Fehérvári @Guatemalan Nat-Synd @Valena
*exterior* *Dillengen in the Rhineland* *Frankie is once again in his "fancy" chamberlain's uniform* *he's standing at the side of the road* *we see a carriage procession arrive* *the door to one of the coaches opens* *a slender woman steps down*
Frankie: *bows deeply* your Royal Highness, I bid you welcome to Dillengen as its new duchess.
Woman: *smiles coquettishly* and the new duchess greets the new regent.
Frankie: if only my position were as secure as yours, Madame la Duchesse.
Woman: perhaps if you were in Vienna instead of- *laughs as he holds onto his plumed hat against the wind* playing dress-up in the Rhineland, it would be.
Frankie: that is precisely why I'm here, Madame. No need to endure all the points and stares and whispers. *presents the mayor, the town's chief cleric and a few other high-ranking local dignitaries to her*
*the mayor makes a polite speech welcoming her to town* *then she and Frankie get into the coach*
Woman: the way Gustav spoke in his letters, it was all but assured that you would be.
Frankie: unfortunately, Prince Metternich's web is rather vast, it's one of those...puddles...you are not aware of how deep it is until you step into it. And then you are right up to your middle.
Woman: *takes letters out* from your daughters. Mostly asking when you're coming home. If you're well, safe, and lucky.
Frankie: lucky?
Woman: seems someone told them about your father's words of "I don't ask if a man is a good general, I ask if he's lucky".
Frankie: and Leopold and Eugen?
Woman: think there's one or two letters in there from Leopold. A picture from Eugen.
Frankie: anything from Amalie?
Woman: she is well. She is very busy. With Nardus and Lorenz. She asked me to tell you that they are well, and that they miss their papa.
Frankie: that's all?- -you had them vaccinated like I asked?
Woman: with my own daughters, Carola and all the other children at the school.
Frankie: I can see why Gustaf gets that look on his face when he talks about you, Marianne.
Marianne: I just figure go big or go home, Besides, it's easier for the children if they see the others get vaccinated and nothing bad happens to them [2].
Frankie: *nods as the carriage passes into the town*
Marianne: why Dillengen?
Frankie: well, it's a town with traditional Nassau connections. I was trying to leverage the elector of Kassel for Fulda, but his words to me was that he'd supported me since the beginning of the war, and unless I give him Prussian land as far as Arnsberg, we don't have a deal.
Marianne: and you won't give it to him?
Frankie: I have no problem giving it to him. If it were up to me I'd kick Prussia out of the Rhineland entirely. But until the truce becomes a treaty, I have to play nice. It helps me, if I were to give every prince what he asks for the first time he asks for it, I would wake to find all of Germany in my waiting room each morning. Most of them I got a large enough dose until next year at the jubilee.
Marianne: I heard it was spectacular.
Frankie: you should've come. You were invited.
Marianne: I didn't want to be seen in public with Gustav so...flagrantly after Louise died.
Frankie: you wouldn't have been there with him. You were my guest.
Marianne: *laughs* would that have been any better?
Frankie: I'm immune to it. Maybe it would've scared enough of them off.
Marianne: perhaps.
Frankie: *takes a tube from the seat* you'll need that, it's rather important. Your matrikels creating you sovereign duchess of Dillengen, princess of Corvey [3], countess of Dortmund, lady of Dietkirchen, Ravensburg, Sankt Gerold and Sierburg.
Marianne: *slowly mouths the words* all the lands that Papa held when-
Frankie: *nods* his reward for recognizing the Batavian Republic. It was sort of how I got everybody on board to agree to it. And...plus that Dortmund and Corvey are both in Prussian territory, I managed to play it off to your one-time brother-in-law that it was...suitable compensation for the pain and suffering of being married to his dolt of a brother.
Marianne: I don't know what to say.
Frankie: I'm told thank you is a good place to start.
Marianne: yes, of course. You have my unending gratitude, your Serene Highness, but it seems rather outsize considering the meagre job I've been doing.
Frankie: you and Gustaf plan to get married, no?
Marianne: well, we have spoken about it.
Frankie: your son will need something to inherit. Can't have the future king of Sweden be little lord landless.
Marianne: *sadly* assuming there's a son. Afraid Louise and I have had similar luck with boys.
Frankie: well, I hope there is, because otherwise Prussia will want their lands back. Actually, they'll probably want it back when they hear about you getting remarried. But I figured there's plenty of places for you to pick to raise your children...and any more that might come from this. The Prussian king has some conditions though. Namely that, as Prussian princesses, Charlotte and Elisabeth [her daughters] are to still be allowed to Berlin to get to know their cousins. That he and the queen are allowed to visit them, should they so wish. And that their marriages will be subject to Berlin's discretion.
Marianne: they were always very kind to me.
Frankie: I told him that it would be at your discretion, not his. Your brother backed me on this. We both agreed on that since it's both girls. I think if there had been a boy, we'd have had a problem. The marriages part...well, there's likely to be much water under the bridge between now and then. Charlotte's only eleven, after all. Not withstanding the whole situation like the king of Hannover recently had with his daughter where neither he nor the queen of England could agree on who should arrange her marriage.
Marianne: I hear you have been asked to be godfather to the queen's new daughter born last month.
Frankie: I haven't accepted yet.
Marianne: why not?
Frankie: because it will cause a storm of protests. From the English first and foremost. Not to mention Prussia and Russia, if Louis Philippe is still in power by the time of the christening in February, I suspect he'll have an axe to grind as well. I'm sure I have great-uncles in Vienna who will add a few quarts of jealousy about me being asked and the insult that Uncle Ferdinand wasn't.
Marianne: or nobody could protest. It's a girl. If it had been a prince of Wales I'm sure they would care.
Frankie: it's still England. Maybe I'll get lucky and Prussia will break the truce so I won't have to go.
Marianne: you don't like England?
Frankie: I don't mind England. It's just all those...English people. The Germans [aka Victoria, her mother, Albert, Queen Adelaide, the Weimars, the Cambridges] there I rather like though.
Marianne: *laughs as the carriage stops in front of the city hall* *there are soldiers drawn up in blue and orange uniforms*
Commandant: *barks at soldiers to salute*
*door opens*
Commandant: *snaps salute*
Marianne: *removes her hat and returns the salute*
Commandant: welcome to Dillengen, your Royal Highness.
Marianne: *looks at Frankie* you arranged this?
Frankie: what's a war without a happy reunion?
Marianne: oh Gustav *kisses the commandant almost brazenly*
Frankie: *watching them* if only life gives us all such happy endings.
*fade to black*
[1] also known as the "Cold Song" from Purcell's King Arthur
[2] I'm unsure what the policy on smallpox vaccinations in Italy was at the time. Under Napoléon they were mandatory - just like the registration of births and deaths - and you could go to jail (or even be given the death penalty) for refusing. But then one of the popes in the 1820s walked it back to "its optional". So I could see a lot of people going "see, the pope says we don't have to". While it sounds ridiculous and one would think that by 1842, the spectre of smallpox is eradicated, the fact of the matter is that after the Franco-Prussian War in Germany 181 000 people died in a smallpox epidemic. France had lost 200 000 to smallpox during the war, a tenth of which (23400) were soldiers, Bismarck complained that he lost more troops to disease in the 7 Weeks War than he lost to the Austrians. Austrian losses, to disease, were a relatively mild 938. For example, Württemberg had only introduced mandatory vaccination for their military in 1829, Prussia in 1834, Hannover in 1837 (it was one of the first acts of Ernst August's reign), Baden in 1840, the kingdom of Saxony only in 1868! Darmstadt, by contrast had it mandatory for not just soldiers, but apprentices and university students, since 1807 ,Kassel since 1815, Nassau since 1818, and parts of Westphalia in 1821. For comparison, deaths in Prussia from smallpox were four times greater than Bavaria and Württemberg (who came to both insist on vaccination at birth, versus Prussia who didn't wish to involve herself) in an outbreak in the 1840s or 1850s IIRC. Imperial Germany only passed a law enforcing vaccination in April 1874
[3] decided to retcon Furstenberg being given Corvey, he's only duke of Ratibor,
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @kaiidth @SavoyTruffle @Wendell @nathanael1234 @Fehérvári @Guatemalan Nat-Synd @Valena
Plus Marianne gets some land thrown in, so Prussia's losing a few more square miles of the Rhineland. Specifically Dortmund, at the centre of all that lovely coal and steel in the Ruhr. And putting it in the hands of not only a friend (Gustaf Vasa) but also someone who has a business brain (Marianne). Even if Gustaf is the world's worst ruler (no proof that he would be as good as his grandpa), he's at least a good soldier, and Marianne's more than capable of picking up the political slack. Can anyone else say power-couple?
Is it weird of me to imagine that there was a bit of "geographic horse trading" here?
Gustaf gives up his right to the Lordship of Wildenfels in Oldenburg to the duke of Oldenburg.
In exchange, the duke of Oldenburg gives up the county of Birkenfeld in the Bavarian Palatinate to Gustaf
Gustaf then swaps the county of Birkenfeld to Louis I of Bavaria in exchange for the creation of his wife as duchess of Dillengen (reason being that Bernadotte caused problems enough in 1829 to prevent him marrying Marianne just because Gustaf was called "Prince of Sweden" in the wedding announcement, so I doubt they would take too kindly to the news he's building up a little empire for himself).
And getting back the county of Birkenfeld, Ludwig I now appoints Max in Bavaria (Sisi's dad) as governor in the Bavarian Palatinate.
Gustaf gives up his right to the Lordship of Wildenfels in Oldenburg to the duke of Oldenburg.
In exchange, the duke of Oldenburg gives up the county of Birkenfeld in the Bavarian Palatinate to Gustaf
Gustaf then swaps the county of Birkenfeld to Louis I of Bavaria in exchange for the creation of his wife as duchess of Dillengen (reason being that Bernadotte caused problems enough in 1829 to prevent him marrying Marianne just because Gustaf was called "Prince of Sweden" in the wedding announcement, so I doubt they would take too kindly to the news he's building up a little empire for himself).
And getting back the county of Birkenfeld, Ludwig I now appoints Max in Bavaria (Sisi's dad) as governor in the Bavarian Palatinate.
The Prague Waltz
Soundtrack: Anthony Philip Heinrich - The War of the Elements and the Thundering of Niagara, a Capriccio[1]
*exterior* *Prague*
*interior of the royal palace once inhabited by Charles X* *only now its Franz I sitting in the chair* *listening to his ministers debating the terms for the peace with Prussia*
Metternich: your Majesty, I do not think we should antagonize Prussia unnecessarily by demanding too much of them. One never knows when Austria might need their assistance.
Kolowrat: of course, Prince Metternich, perhaps we should simply deliver up the Egerland to them in exchange for the land that Saxony is costing them? Maybe return Silesia in its entirety?
Albrecht of Teschen: I'd die before I see that happen.
Kübeck: all my colleague and I were saying, your Majesty, is that it is preferable to leave matters with Prussia... on an even-keel, so we do not have to be dealing with their anger and revanchism in a few years. *looks pointedly* I agree with your Royal Highness... Naturally... That we shouldn't return Silesia. But we shouldn't be dismembering Prussia's Rhine provinces as with the sort of temerity that we are currently.
Schwarzenberg: Kübeck, what does a Moravian like you know of German matters? Don't you have a harvest to get in before the snows?
Kübeck: at least, your Serene Highness, I know what to do to ensure that nemám ani holý kokot! [2]
Kolowrat: *stepping in* we are not the ones dismembering the Rhineland. Regardless of to si myslíš ty a pár ludi v Berlín [3]. What Prussia has been obliged to surrender in the Rhineland is where our armies have driven the French out. The Prussians are more than welcome to assist in some way, but if they think that they will march in when it's done and demand compensation when they are the grasshopper to the Austrian ants gathering food all summer[4], they are sorely mistaken.
Kübeck: and how long do you think it will be, with this Salamúnske-rozhodnutie [5] of an opiči mozog [6] like yourself before Austria is overwhelmed by having nothing left to give?
Metternich: Freiherr von Kübeck is entirely right of course. The king of Prussia is appealing to both the czar and the queen of England to mediate in this dispute. And while neither was willing to get involved in the war, now that England is finally free of her... distractions in both China and America-
Albrecht: so that dustup is finally settled then?
Metternich: you will admit, your Imperial Highness that losing 5000 men with only one survivor is a harsh blow for any government. As I am made to understand, the United States have agreed to a peace by which they are to accept the British border, to retrocede the New Ireland Colony, and to set the boundary with the British in western North America at the *pauses to think* adder, cobra, viper, some sort of snake, River. It's a good argument for a swift peace with Prussia. Since I'm inclined to believe that given...developments over the last few months in France, Britain will choose to back the French king against Austria, if only for the sake of form rather than any real desire to do so. If such comes to pass, Austria will be left alone and friendless.
Franz: *curious tone* and I wonder who is to blame for putting all of Austria's eggs in a Hohenzollern basket?
Metternich: your Majesty, I have always worked for the good of Austria, even if charlatans *glares around table* would accuse me of doing otherwise. Co-operation with Prussia is simply the least trouble regarding German matters.
Kolowrat: you mean capitulation to them? Allow things to revert to a status quo ante bellum, when Austria has the advantage?
Metternich: France had the advantage of Europe for twenty years, did it make her any friends?
Kolowrat: so now you are in favour of making friends., Metternich?
Kübeck: I think that that is because the prince fears that the Prussians will leverage Radetzky's defeats in Piedmont to make gains elsewhere. To distance Austria's allies from her.
Kolowrat: and accepting of this peace on Prussia's terms would cost us the goodwill of those selfsame allies.
Metternich: but gain us the friendship of Prussia and leave us with a free hand to deal with Sardinia and France in north Italy.
Kübeck: to be fair, Prince Metternich, while I am inclined to agree with your idea of peace, Präsident Kolowrat makes a valid point. For Austria to sign a separate peace with Prussia merely to deal with Italy is foolish. Not only will it cost us the goodwill of the German states, but perhaps you have forgotten that the only reason we have been able to defeat the Sardinians so far is thanks to the fact that the Royal Guelphic Legion and a vast number of Württemberg and Saxon troops have assisted us. Were we to withdraw from the Rhineland, Saxony and Silesia as the Prussians demand, those areas would, no doubt, be flooded with all those Prussian soldiers withdrawn from various battles.
Schwarzenberg: *smiles at Kübeck* first sensible thing you've said that I actually agree with.
Metternich: so your Serene Highness favours prolonging the war with Prussia?
Franz: *before Schwarzenberg can respond* we do not favour prolonging the war, lest the balance tilt against us. However, what we also do not wish for is to lose the advantage we have gained in the war at the peace talks. And that is precisely what asking of us.
Metternich: not at all, your Majesty, Prussia has shown herself more than willing to accept defeat and lay down her arms, acknowledge Austria's präsidentship of the Bund. They are even willing to ally with Austria in a future war.
Schwarzenberg: no surprise that you bought into that, Prince Metternich. Mostly since that is your type of language. It says everything and nothing at the same time. Was Austria's präsidentship ever in doubt?
Metternich: after recent...developments in Vienna-
Albrecht: say it, Prince Metternich, that your proposal of a tribunal of archdukes to serve as regent for my cousin was voted down.
Metternich: *smug look* with the nomination of the duke of Reichstadt to serve as de facto ruler of Austria, there is a concern in Berlin that that extends to the präsidentship of the Bund as well. Prussia is willing to acknowledge the Austrian selection of regent in return for peace.
Franz: *irritably* they choose their words poorly since the king seems to imply that I either invited or requested his advice on how to run things in my own family. I can only chalk up that he believes that Frankie's regency will extend to the Bund to the fact that he either didn't read the notice I sent to all foreign courts that it was for the Habsburg lands only, or that the memorandum was deliberately misinterpreted.
Albrecht: it wouldn't be the first time, your Majesty. I've heard from London that the duke of Kendal [Prince Albert] has had a rough go of it in Parliament of late, first for criticizing the peace with the United States [7], and then because of the publication of the comte de Chambord's *hooks fingers* supposed will in various English newspapers. It is well known that Kendal and Chambord are friendly, but he has found it decidedly difficult to calm the waters that that...misunderstanding...has stirred up. Had it not been for the queen's refusal, some hotheaded liberals would have advocated for war with France to ensure that the Utrecht Settlement was upheld. Of course, the other revelation that the comte de Chambord is believed to be little more than Austria's latest attempt to dethrone a ruler of France to ensure a "friendly government" has no doubt played another part in which Mr. Napier and Lord Beauvale [8] have both spoken of as a "cooling" of relations.
Franz: for Louis Philippe to publish the...redacted version as he did was most irresponsible of him.
Schwarzenberg: still, your Majesty cannot deny that it was a shrewd move. He has ensured that Britain will not meddle in France's internal affairs by believing that Chambord will be a "friendlier" government.
Franz: *tiredly* if only I could not find a way to ensure that the Prussians do not meddle in Austrian affairs.
*footman enters with a card on a salver* *offers card to Franz*
Franz: *looks at card* *to footman* well, tell him then, what're you telling me for?
*footman scurries over to Albrecht* *whispers to him*
Albrecht: *rises* *bows to Franz* it is my honour, gentleman, to announce to you the birth of your Majesty's newest subject, my son, the Archduke Franz Karl Albrecht Viktor of Austria.
*polite applause*
*cut to Metternich sitting in a study opposite the Prussian ambassador*
Metternich: sadly, Baron von Canitz, it would seem that the emperor has surrounded himself with fools who urge Austria towards the abyss by refusing your master's most generous terms.
Canitz: and there is no way of urging him from this path?
Metternich:unfortunately, the emperor remains mistaken that the chorus of vultures which peck at a Rhenish carcass are allies of any permanence. Allies which would strengthen the Austrian throne rather than weaken it. That it simply compromises any chance of making peace with Prussia in the future.
Canitz: you told him of Prussia's willingness to accept the regency?
Metternich: I did. He replied that it was no business of Berlin what he does in Vienna and what he sees as a Habsburg matter. *knock at door*
Canitz: but it concerns all of Germany that we may soon have to bow and scrape to a Bonaparte. Surely he can understand how he needs Prussian assistance now more than ever?
Metternich: I have tried to make him see that. To see that such a move would be a disaster in public relations. But the emperor can be a stubborn old fool when he wants to. *knock at door again*
Canitz: it would cause all sorts of widespread chaos across Germany. Why...a rash of liberal uprisings that these new powers would be ill-suited to control.
Metternich: this is my chi- *knock at the door* *barks* what?
Secretary: *pokes his head around* there's a messenger here from the emperor, sir. He says it's urgent that he speaks to you. And Ambassador Canitz.
Metternich: *gives look at Canitz like "you see the stupidity I have to put up with?"* *smirks to Canitz* the salvation of an Austro-Prussian rapprochement may be at hand, Baron *to secretary* show him in.
Messenger: *enters* *with a tube under his arm*
Metternich: what is your message?
Messenger: *hands the tube to Metternich* your matrikels, sir, as requested, creating you the new Duke of Münster, Prince von Coesfeld and Count von Lingen [9]. His Majesty bids you good day. *leaves*
Metternich: *face blanches as he realizes this isn't a prank and the papers in the tube actually say this*
*fade to black*
[1] while often credited as the first time American composer before the ACW, Heinrich was actually born "Antonìn Filip Heinrich" in Schonbüchel/Krásný Buk in Bohemia and only migrated after his businesses (something to do with textiles and cotton spinning from what I gather) were ruined by the war with Napoléon. And Heinrich, despite his emigration to the "Land of the Free" never accepted citizenship and always identified as a Bohemian (not unlike Dvořák was to do fifty years later when offered). Sadly, unlike Dvořák, Heinrich's fame in America was brief and he died (as many composers have - Vivaldi, Mozart) in poverty in a New York gutter in 1861.
[2] I don't have a bare dick (I have nothing)
[3] that only you and a couple of people in Berlin think that! A response to an outrageous or indefensible statement
[4] the fable of the grasshopper and the ants is that when he saw the ants slaving away, the lazy grasshopper bade them to join him in song and merriment. The ants refused. Then when winter broke, the grasshopper, cold and starving begged the ants for food. Interpretation: Schwarzenberg is saying that the Prussian have no right to make any demand on the Austrians beyond that which they have contributed to
[5] Solomonic judgement: a decision which satisfies everybody by simultaneously screwing them over
[6] monkey brain
[7] OTL there was a criticism of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in Parliament as well. Led unsurprisingly by Palmerston, who felt it had been too lenient. There might be criticisms here by many who feel it was "too harsh". They wouldn't mind the Snake River border in Oregon (chalk that up to Harrison forcing them to take a stance on the matter), but they might feel that taking land aside from what they originally wanted in Maine, is sure to sour relations for a long time to come.
[8] Charles Napier, British admiral; Beauvale is Lord Melbourne's brother (to make it even more fun, Beauvale's sister, Emily, is married to Palmerston - albeit after a very long affair which Beauvale disapproved of)
[9] these are all territories in the Prussian Rhineland. And handed over, in front of the Prussian ambassador, likely compromises any "credibility" Metternich had to the Prussians
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*exterior* *Prague*
*interior of the royal palace once inhabited by Charles X* *only now its Franz I sitting in the chair* *listening to his ministers debating the terms for the peace with Prussia*
Metternich: your Majesty, I do not think we should antagonize Prussia unnecessarily by demanding too much of them. One never knows when Austria might need their assistance.
Kolowrat: of course, Prince Metternich, perhaps we should simply deliver up the Egerland to them in exchange for the land that Saxony is costing them? Maybe return Silesia in its entirety?
Albrecht of Teschen: I'd die before I see that happen.
Kübeck: all my colleague and I were saying, your Majesty, is that it is preferable to leave matters with Prussia... on an even-keel, so we do not have to be dealing with their anger and revanchism in a few years. *looks pointedly* I agree with your Royal Highness... Naturally... That we shouldn't return Silesia. But we shouldn't be dismembering Prussia's Rhine provinces as with the sort of temerity that we are currently.
Schwarzenberg: Kübeck, what does a Moravian like you know of German matters? Don't you have a harvest to get in before the snows?
Kübeck: at least, your Serene Highness, I know what to do to ensure that nemám ani holý kokot! [2]
Kolowrat: *stepping in* we are not the ones dismembering the Rhineland. Regardless of to si myslíš ty a pár ludi v Berlín [3]. What Prussia has been obliged to surrender in the Rhineland is where our armies have driven the French out. The Prussians are more than welcome to assist in some way, but if they think that they will march in when it's done and demand compensation when they are the grasshopper to the Austrian ants gathering food all summer[4], they are sorely mistaken.
Kübeck: and how long do you think it will be, with this Salamúnske-rozhodnutie [5] of an opiči mozog [6] like yourself before Austria is overwhelmed by having nothing left to give?
Metternich: Freiherr von Kübeck is entirely right of course. The king of Prussia is appealing to both the czar and the queen of England to mediate in this dispute. And while neither was willing to get involved in the war, now that England is finally free of her... distractions in both China and America-
Albrecht: so that dustup is finally settled then?
Metternich: you will admit, your Imperial Highness that losing 5000 men with only one survivor is a harsh blow for any government. As I am made to understand, the United States have agreed to a peace by which they are to accept the British border, to retrocede the New Ireland Colony, and to set the boundary with the British in western North America at the *pauses to think* adder, cobra, viper, some sort of snake, River. It's a good argument for a swift peace with Prussia. Since I'm inclined to believe that given...developments over the last few months in France, Britain will choose to back the French king against Austria, if only for the sake of form rather than any real desire to do so. If such comes to pass, Austria will be left alone and friendless.
Franz: *curious tone* and I wonder who is to blame for putting all of Austria's eggs in a Hohenzollern basket?
Metternich: your Majesty, I have always worked for the good of Austria, even if charlatans *glares around table* would accuse me of doing otherwise. Co-operation with Prussia is simply the least trouble regarding German matters.
Kolowrat: you mean capitulation to them? Allow things to revert to a status quo ante bellum, when Austria has the advantage?
Metternich: France had the advantage of Europe for twenty years, did it make her any friends?
Kolowrat: so now you are in favour of making friends., Metternich?
Kübeck: I think that that is because the prince fears that the Prussians will leverage Radetzky's defeats in Piedmont to make gains elsewhere. To distance Austria's allies from her.
Kolowrat: and accepting of this peace on Prussia's terms would cost us the goodwill of those selfsame allies.
Metternich: but gain us the friendship of Prussia and leave us with a free hand to deal with Sardinia and France in north Italy.
Kübeck: to be fair, Prince Metternich, while I am inclined to agree with your idea of peace, Präsident Kolowrat makes a valid point. For Austria to sign a separate peace with Prussia merely to deal with Italy is foolish. Not only will it cost us the goodwill of the German states, but perhaps you have forgotten that the only reason we have been able to defeat the Sardinians so far is thanks to the fact that the Royal Guelphic Legion and a vast number of Württemberg and Saxon troops have assisted us. Were we to withdraw from the Rhineland, Saxony and Silesia as the Prussians demand, those areas would, no doubt, be flooded with all those Prussian soldiers withdrawn from various battles.
Schwarzenberg: *smiles at Kübeck* first sensible thing you've said that I actually agree with.
Metternich: so your Serene Highness favours prolonging the war with Prussia?
Franz: *before Schwarzenberg can respond* we do not favour prolonging the war, lest the balance tilt against us. However, what we also do not wish for is to lose the advantage we have gained in the war at the peace talks. And that is precisely what asking of us.
Metternich: not at all, your Majesty, Prussia has shown herself more than willing to accept defeat and lay down her arms, acknowledge Austria's präsidentship of the Bund. They are even willing to ally with Austria in a future war.
Schwarzenberg: no surprise that you bought into that, Prince Metternich. Mostly since that is your type of language. It says everything and nothing at the same time. Was Austria's präsidentship ever in doubt?
Metternich: after recent...developments in Vienna-
Albrecht: say it, Prince Metternich, that your proposal of a tribunal of archdukes to serve as regent for my cousin was voted down.
Metternich: *smug look* with the nomination of the duke of Reichstadt to serve as de facto ruler of Austria, there is a concern in Berlin that that extends to the präsidentship of the Bund as well. Prussia is willing to acknowledge the Austrian selection of regent in return for peace.
Franz: *irritably* they choose their words poorly since the king seems to imply that I either invited or requested his advice on how to run things in my own family. I can only chalk up that he believes that Frankie's regency will extend to the Bund to the fact that he either didn't read the notice I sent to all foreign courts that it was for the Habsburg lands only, or that the memorandum was deliberately misinterpreted.
Albrecht: it wouldn't be the first time, your Majesty. I've heard from London that the duke of Kendal [Prince Albert] has had a rough go of it in Parliament of late, first for criticizing the peace with the United States [7], and then because of the publication of the comte de Chambord's *hooks fingers* supposed will in various English newspapers. It is well known that Kendal and Chambord are friendly, but he has found it decidedly difficult to calm the waters that that...misunderstanding...has stirred up. Had it not been for the queen's refusal, some hotheaded liberals would have advocated for war with France to ensure that the Utrecht Settlement was upheld. Of course, the other revelation that the comte de Chambord is believed to be little more than Austria's latest attempt to dethrone a ruler of France to ensure a "friendly government" has no doubt played another part in which Mr. Napier and Lord Beauvale [8] have both spoken of as a "cooling" of relations.
Franz: for Louis Philippe to publish the...redacted version as he did was most irresponsible of him.
Schwarzenberg: still, your Majesty cannot deny that it was a shrewd move. He has ensured that Britain will not meddle in France's internal affairs by believing that Chambord will be a "friendlier" government.
Franz: *tiredly* if only I could not find a way to ensure that the Prussians do not meddle in Austrian affairs.
*footman enters with a card on a salver* *offers card to Franz*
Franz: *looks at card* *to footman* well, tell him then, what're you telling me for?
*footman scurries over to Albrecht* *whispers to him*
Albrecht: *rises* *bows to Franz* it is my honour, gentleman, to announce to you the birth of your Majesty's newest subject, my son, the Archduke Franz Karl Albrecht Viktor of Austria.
*polite applause*
*cut to Metternich sitting in a study opposite the Prussian ambassador*
Metternich: sadly, Baron von Canitz, it would seem that the emperor has surrounded himself with fools who urge Austria towards the abyss by refusing your master's most generous terms.
Canitz: and there is no way of urging him from this path?
Metternich:unfortunately, the emperor remains mistaken that the chorus of vultures which peck at a Rhenish carcass are allies of any permanence. Allies which would strengthen the Austrian throne rather than weaken it. That it simply compromises any chance of making peace with Prussia in the future.
Canitz: you told him of Prussia's willingness to accept the regency?
Metternich: I did. He replied that it was no business of Berlin what he does in Vienna and what he sees as a Habsburg matter. *knock at door*
Canitz: but it concerns all of Germany that we may soon have to bow and scrape to a Bonaparte. Surely he can understand how he needs Prussian assistance now more than ever?
Metternich: I have tried to make him see that. To see that such a move would be a disaster in public relations. But the emperor can be a stubborn old fool when he wants to. *knock at door again*
Canitz: it would cause all sorts of widespread chaos across Germany. Why...a rash of liberal uprisings that these new powers would be ill-suited to control.
Metternich: this is my chi- *knock at the door* *barks* what?
Secretary: *pokes his head around* there's a messenger here from the emperor, sir. He says it's urgent that he speaks to you. And Ambassador Canitz.
Metternich: *gives look at Canitz like "you see the stupidity I have to put up with?"* *smirks to Canitz* the salvation of an Austro-Prussian rapprochement may be at hand, Baron *to secretary* show him in.
Messenger: *enters* *with a tube under his arm*
Metternich: what is your message?
Messenger: *hands the tube to Metternich* your matrikels, sir, as requested, creating you the new Duke of Münster, Prince von Coesfeld and Count von Lingen [9]. His Majesty bids you good day. *leaves*
Metternich: *face blanches as he realizes this isn't a prank and the papers in the tube actually say this*
*fade to black*
[1] while often credited as the first time American composer before the ACW, Heinrich was actually born "Antonìn Filip Heinrich" in Schonbüchel/Krásný Buk in Bohemia and only migrated after his businesses (something to do with textiles and cotton spinning from what I gather) were ruined by the war with Napoléon. And Heinrich, despite his emigration to the "Land of the Free" never accepted citizenship and always identified as a Bohemian (not unlike Dvořák was to do fifty years later when offered). Sadly, unlike Dvořák, Heinrich's fame in America was brief and he died (as many composers have - Vivaldi, Mozart) in poverty in a New York gutter in 1861.
[2] I don't have a bare dick (I have nothing)
[3] that only you and a couple of people in Berlin think that! A response to an outrageous or indefensible statement
[4] the fable of the grasshopper and the ants is that when he saw the ants slaving away, the lazy grasshopper bade them to join him in song and merriment. The ants refused. Then when winter broke, the grasshopper, cold and starving begged the ants for food. Interpretation: Schwarzenberg is saying that the Prussian have no right to make any demand on the Austrians beyond that which they have contributed to
[5] Solomonic judgement: a decision which satisfies everybody by simultaneously screwing them over
[6] monkey brain
[7] OTL there was a criticism of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in Parliament as well. Led unsurprisingly by Palmerston, who felt it had been too lenient. There might be criticisms here by many who feel it was "too harsh". They wouldn't mind the Snake River border in Oregon (chalk that up to Harrison forcing them to take a stance on the matter), but they might feel that taking land aside from what they originally wanted in Maine, is sure to sour relations for a long time to come.
[8] Charles Napier, British admiral; Beauvale is Lord Melbourne's brother (to make it even more fun, Beauvale's sister, Emily, is married to Palmerston - albeit after a very long affair which Beauvale disapproved of)
[9] these are all territories in the Prussian Rhineland. And handed over, in front of the Prussian ambassador, likely compromises any "credibility" Metternich had to the Prussians
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Wishful thinking, the only way he would stope that is when he's politically dead or literally dead.
To be fair, I suspect Kolowrat, Kubeck and Schwarzenberg are less "we don't want peace" than they're against Metternich's "peace at any price". Metternich's idea gets them peace, but costs them all the good will that Frankie's been building up of late and returns Austria to a pariah state. Only difference is that this time it will be even worse than before since the middle-sized states (Weimar, Brunswick, Nassau, both Hesses, Oldenburg and Baden) will immediately disregard Austria as much as the big four (Württemberger, Bavaria, Hannover and Saxony). None of those states simply want Austria to simply replace Prussia as the neighbourhood bogeyman, but they're not going to object to Prussia being cut down to size. Especially when they are getting piecces of the pie.
Metternich and Kübeck are right though. The problem with ensuring loyalty through carving up a carcass is that when the carcass is finished, that loyalty is as well.
Figure even if the documents are fake (or perhaps Metternich's authority is only in those cities), the damage to his reputation as "neutral" is done. Not saying that whoever takes over his lead in negotiations will do any better, for all his "new broom", Schwarzenberg was pretty Metternichian in his attitude towards Prussia. I'm not sure who that would be? Trauttmannsdorf (the Austrian ambassador to Berlin) might be compromised as being "too close to Metternich" while AFAIK, Ficquelmont (who succeeded Metternich OTL) is still in Naples or Florence, probably dealing with the Sardinians.
Metternich or Franz?
Metternich, obviously. Don't have any ill will towards poor old franz
Precisely as to why they need to apprach this without Metternich's meddeling, they need gains but at the same time they need to preserve their image, not scrapping for any promises of peace like beggars.
Saints Before The Altar Bending, Watching Long in Hope and Fear [1]
Soundtrack: André Érnest Modeste Grétry - Richard, Coeur de Lion: Ô Richard, ô mon Roi
*exterior* *Chateau de Chambord [2]* *Henri is engaged in a snowball fight with a couple other young men* *even Alexandre Dumas talking to Victor Hugo takes a snowball to the face from Henri* *several of the others - Ney, Fitz-James and Noailles - laugh at this*
*we see a large group of people pressing in to see him* *some of them have clearly travelled far just to see the sight*
*as they pack it in, a youngish man - between Henri and Frankie's ages - in a French soldier's uniform steps forward* *by the arm he's holding a wizened old man wearing a very ill-fitting, very faded, Ancien Regime military uniform*
Soldier: *salutes Henri*
Henri: *acknowledged the salute* *but removes his own hat when the soldier doesn't remove his shako* It's not custom when speaking to your king, Captain, that both of us keep our hats on.
Soldier: *looks uncomfortable*
Henri: *turns to old man* and who is this?
Soldier: this is my grandfather, Charles Labuscaigne, your Ro...your Majesty.
Henri: we are pleased to meet you, Colonel Labuscaigne.
Colonel Labuscaigne: *bows* your Majesty...I was born on the day your grandparents [the Comte and Comtesse d'Artois] got married. I was part of his blessed Majesty, St. Louis [XVI]'s bodyguard at the Tuileries. I fought with *looks at the marquis de Rochejaquelein* his brother, the prince de Talmont, Messieurs Elbée and Cathalineau in the Vendée after they killed the king. *points to leg* seventeen years in prison for it, sire. And then my son fought for your Majesty in 1832. Since he died there, this is the happiest day of my life.
Henri: do you not take comfort in that your grandson is continuing your proud tradition?
Labuscaigne: bah! swore the oath to that filthy Orléans! I hoped that by bringing him here to see your Majesty, he would learn some sense.
Captain Labuscaigne: *looks embarrassed*
Henri: *kisses Colonel Labuscaigne's forehead, as though it were his own grandfather* as your king, I am grateful for your family's devoted loyalty and sacrifice, mon Colonel. And as your king, I charge you to forgive your grandson's foolishness. He is young, we do foolish things, not all of us have a wise grandfather to guide us.
Labuscaigne: *looks at Henri as though he is asking him to learn to fly*
Henri: I ask this both as your king, mon Colonel, and as a man who was also robbed of his father and had it not been for older and wiser heads, I should've trod the same path.
Labuscaigne: *looks at his grandson* *looks at Henri like "you're not playing fair"*
Henri: our Saviour asked us to forgive our enemies as we do our neighbours...probably because they are often times, the same people.
*few moments pass* *then Captain Labuscaigne is caught off guard by his grandfather hugging him* *the old man is actually crying* *the surprise on the captain's face shows that this is probably as unexpected as it is emotional*
Labuscaigne: *to his grandson* look after his Majesty, Richard.
*cut to Henri walking to the Royal Entrance of the chateau de Chambord* *surrounded by a motley crew of Ney, Fitz-James, a frowning Rochejaquelein, a concerned looking Berryer and a chattering Dumas [4] and Hugo* *some Lyonnais-uniformed soldiers - Henri's "bodyguard" - attempt to bar the access of the crowd who are following Henri around like a bunch of puppies either to get a glimpse of him or in the hopes that he will talk to them* *Henri pauses talking to the man next to him as he hears one of the "guards" stopping the crowd*
Henri: *loudly to guardsman* oh, let them come in! they're part of the family!
*cut to Paris* *we see a lot of people clamouring for newspapers* *but the vendor has sold out* *in the hands of one of them, we see a drawing entitled "the first embrace these ten years" showing Henri facilitating the Labuscaignes' "reconciliation"*
Victor Hugo: *voice-over reading the article* the wild popular enthusiasm...leaped and gleamed about him like a fire. Wherever he went, the enthusiasm of the crowd was almost dangerous. When a futile attempt was made to keep them from surging into the Royal Entrance, the little king turned around and shouted in his voice "Oh! Let them come in, they're part of the family!" No words can describe the delirious joy of that mass of humanity, already vibrating with passion, on which that speech fell like a spark upon a heap of powder. With one, long, delighted cry, the French- for there were no Bonapartists, no Orléanists, no Légitimists or Republicans, only Frenchmen who hurled themselves upon the flushed, bright-eyed youngster and carried him shoulder high into his chateau. I will attest that I don't know how he got out alive.
*cut to cabinet du roi at Chambord* *Henri is sitting there with the man he was speaking to outside*
Henri: what you are asking of me, Monsieur le Duc, is rather hefty burden to shoulder.
Charles, Duc de Choiseul-Praslin: I beg of your Majesty, Fanny is threatening to divorce me, to take away the children, I have- I regret to say I have nowhere else to turn.
Henri: no doubt as the daughter of Marechal Sebastiani she is likely to have the sympathy of the duc d'Orléans. Fortunately for you, divorce is illegal in France since my great-uncle was restored.
Praslin: your Majesty, I don't ask for my own sake, but for the sake of my children, please do not let such a matter cloud my family's name. [5]
Henri: *nods slowly* is there any truth to Madame la Duchesse's allegations about your governess?
Praslin: which allegations, sire?
Henri: that the maid wishes to become the madame. That the governess wishes to become the mother.
Praslin: if those are Mademoiselle Delusys-Desportes' ambitions, I swear to your Majesty I have no knowledge of them.
Henri: and Madame la Duchesse's...other allegations?
Praslin: I will swear to God Himself, your Majesty, that we are not having the affair my wife believes. I simply remarked that, compared to the other governesses my daughters have had, Henriette has managed better with Laurette and Louison [6] who have taken to her "as though she were their mother". Fanny got upset as is her want and the next thing I knew, I was being slandered in every salon in Paris as having an affair with my daughters' governess, as wishing to separate them from their mother, as being an unfit father [7].
Henri: have you considered retrenching the governess.
Praslin: it would buy me a respite of - at best , your Majesty - a few weeks. Until a new governess would be hired and within that time, Fanny would have made up her mind that we were having an affair - the same as she has for every other governess over the last ten years - and out the door they go. It's a dizzying parade. And now, with Laurette being due to make her début at court...please, sire. Only you can save my honour.
Henri: *sighs* *turns to desk* *writes something* *hands it to Choiseul-Praslin* that is my order of separation for the pair of you. *writes something else* *hands it to the duc* that is my permission for you to...leave the kingdom for a season...hopefully the absence will quiet some tongues. Go to England, go to Rome, go to America, for all I care, but you remaining here with this tempest brewing will end in grief for all involved. The scandal will taint your daughters' prospects - the prince de la Trémoïlle's son [8] is already sniffing around the eldest, isn't he? - but rather the scandal of an absent father than the scandal of parental discord.
Praslin: *clearly doesn't want to leave his daughters with their mother*
Henri: I have allowed you to be separated. But I will not allow you to divorce, even if I suspect that, for all concerned, that may be the best solution. Leaving town for a season may bring some fresh perspective on things.
Praslin: Fanny will fire Henriette, the minute I leave town.
Henri: your concern for Mademoiselle Delusys-Desportes' welfare is touching and does you credit, Monsieur le Duc. But I fear that you being around to defend her is only making matters worse. If it is acceptable to you, perhaps you should encourage Mademoiselle Delusys to visit the duc de Reichstadt's school in Venice. I am sure she will feel quite at home there. Provided of course that you do not accompany her.
Praslin: I had no intention to, sire
Henri: I'd recommend in the opposite direction to whichever path she takes. Wouldn't want anyone in Paris thinking you're lying and that you only wanted to get out of the light to kiss and cuddle without confirming their suspicions.
Praslin: *kneels at Henri's feet* *kisses his hand frantically* you have my boundless gratitude, your Majesty.
Henri: I should like to call on you and the duchesse some time in the next year. Perhaps at your daughter's wedding?
Praslin: *nods speechlessly*
*fade to black*
[1] from the 1816 Christmas carol "Angels from the Realms of Glory". Saints are generally defined as those who are persecuted for their (religious) beliefs, such as the Vendéans, the Chouans, the Lyonnais and Bisontins. But there are other allusions "shepherds in the fields abiding" (the fact that most of Henri's support is coming from the provinces, not Paris). "Sages leave your contemplations, brighter visions gleam afar" (Dumas and Hugo, no doubt there are some of the other literatti - to say nothing of the politicians - who are paying attention to this as well). "Sinners wrung with true repentance, doomed for guilt to endless pains" (could be the supporters of Orléans, the Republic or the die-hard Bonapartists. Or it could tie to the decay of justice in France, one of the chants for Advent is "Rorate Coeli" (heavens drop down sweet dews of justice)). "Though an infant now we view him, he shall fill his father's throne" (the constant references to Henri - and Frankie - as a "boy" who's unsuited/incapable of ruling).
[2] royalist stand-by song of the Revolution, sung most famously at the fatal Banquet of Cockades by Louis XVI's Regiment des Flandres on 1 October 1789. "They drew their swords and waved them about; they tore off their tricolor cockades, trampled them under their feet, and replaced them by white ones (the old Bourbon color)."
[3] upriver from Nantes and Henri's personal property, the gift from the nation back in 1820, Louis Philippe arresting him there is surrounded by a barbed wire electrified fence and a moat filled with crocodiles. And, once again, Henri going on a "raid" into the heartland of France. Problem is that this time, Chambord is half the distance from Paris (180km) that Dijon was (~320km). Also from Nantes to Chambord, he's passed through some pretty "royalist" territory along the Loire, even more irritating for Louis Philippe would be the fact that the county of Blois (where Chambord is situated) was Orléans territory until the Revolution. This is more than a squatter in your home that you can't get rid of, this is making it very personal.
[4] Dumas was described by one contemporary that "his tongue is like a windmill, once it starts it's getting it to stop which is a problem"
[5] Choiseul-Praslin has nine children, the oldest of whom is sixteen, the youngest three, at this point.
[6] the two eldest daughters, Laure (b.1826) and Louise (b.1828)
[7] the Choiseul-Praslin-Sebastiani marriage was a horrible scandal of the day (although only in 1847). In 1839, after the birth of their ninth kid and third son, the duc ceased "conjugal relations" with his wife, Fanny Sebastiani. Problem was that according to her former classmate, Marie d'Agoult (mistress of Franz Liszt), Fanny was the "virtuous nymphomaniac", so she took this poorly. The duc wasn't exactly the world's most faithful husband (as was customary for those days) but things reached "boiling point" when the new governess entered the household (that was already in turmoil) in 1841. Suddenly, Fanny had someone to accuse of sleeping with her husband (although most sources of the day agree that the affair wasn't physical), trying to take her place and threatened the duc with divorce. The scandal of such a matter when his eldest daughter was on the brink of marriageable age would've ruined her prospects, so the duc appealed to his father-in-law. Unfortunately, father-in-law, while he mediated, took his only child's side. Choiseul-Praslin, who had hitched his wagon to Sebastiani's star politically, had no choice but to accept. More unfortunate was that Fanny didn't "go quietly", she made scene after scene in Paris alleging that she wanted a divorce but more pointedly was her accusations that her husband wished to replace her (and he was bedding Mademoiselle Henriette Delusys-Desportes) and especially damaging: that he was an unfit father. Which even Choiseul-Praslin's enemies found hard to believe, given he was actually a "good dad" by all accounts. He tried to marry Henriette off, but him offering to foot the bill for her dowry (albeit he forwarded it through his eldest daughters, who adored their governess) was deemed by many as "proof" of the affair, and nobody really wanted to get involved. It didn't help that Fanny (again, by her contemporaries' judgements, she was similar to Juana la Loca's behaviour, bipolar, schizophrenic, or whatever caused that) kept firing Henriette and Choiseul-Praslin kept taking her back because she was the only governess that his kids liked (which added fuel to the fire about alienating the kids from the mom). Needless to say, caught up in this vicious cycle was enough to prompt the duc to murder his wife (depending on the version of events). His suicide in his jailcell while awaiting trial was a big factor in the 1848 Revolutions
[8] OTL Éléonore de la Trémoïlle is born a boy, Charles Antoine
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*exterior* *Chateau de Chambord [2]* *Henri is engaged in a snowball fight with a couple other young men* *even Alexandre Dumas talking to Victor Hugo takes a snowball to the face from Henri* *several of the others - Ney, Fitz-James and Noailles - laugh at this*
*we see a large group of people pressing in to see him* *some of them have clearly travelled far just to see the sight*
*as they pack it in, a youngish man - between Henri and Frankie's ages - in a French soldier's uniform steps forward* *by the arm he's holding a wizened old man wearing a very ill-fitting, very faded, Ancien Regime military uniform*
Soldier: *salutes Henri*
Henri: *acknowledged the salute* *but removes his own hat when the soldier doesn't remove his shako* It's not custom when speaking to your king, Captain, that both of us keep our hats on.
Soldier: *looks uncomfortable*
Henri: *turns to old man* and who is this?
Soldier: this is my grandfather, Charles Labuscaigne, your Ro...your Majesty.
Henri: we are pleased to meet you, Colonel Labuscaigne.
Colonel Labuscaigne: *bows* your Majesty...I was born on the day your grandparents [the Comte and Comtesse d'Artois] got married. I was part of his blessed Majesty, St. Louis [XVI]'s bodyguard at the Tuileries. I fought with *looks at the marquis de Rochejaquelein* his brother, the prince de Talmont, Messieurs Elbée and Cathalineau in the Vendée after they killed the king. *points to leg* seventeen years in prison for it, sire. And then my son fought for your Majesty in 1832. Since he died there, this is the happiest day of my life.
Henri: do you not take comfort in that your grandson is continuing your proud tradition?
Labuscaigne: bah! swore the oath to that filthy Orléans! I hoped that by bringing him here to see your Majesty, he would learn some sense.
Captain Labuscaigne: *looks embarrassed*
Henri: *kisses Colonel Labuscaigne's forehead, as though it were his own grandfather* as your king, I am grateful for your family's devoted loyalty and sacrifice, mon Colonel. And as your king, I charge you to forgive your grandson's foolishness. He is young, we do foolish things, not all of us have a wise grandfather to guide us.
Labuscaigne: *looks at Henri as though he is asking him to learn to fly*
Henri: I ask this both as your king, mon Colonel, and as a man who was also robbed of his father and had it not been for older and wiser heads, I should've trod the same path.
Labuscaigne: *looks at his grandson* *looks at Henri like "you're not playing fair"*
Henri: our Saviour asked us to forgive our enemies as we do our neighbours...probably because they are often times, the same people.
*few moments pass* *then Captain Labuscaigne is caught off guard by his grandfather hugging him* *the old man is actually crying* *the surprise on the captain's face shows that this is probably as unexpected as it is emotional*
Labuscaigne: *to his grandson* look after his Majesty, Richard.
*cut to Henri walking to the Royal Entrance of the chateau de Chambord* *surrounded by a motley crew of Ney, Fitz-James, a frowning Rochejaquelein, a concerned looking Berryer and a chattering Dumas [4] and Hugo* *some Lyonnais-uniformed soldiers - Henri's "bodyguard" - attempt to bar the access of the crowd who are following Henri around like a bunch of puppies either to get a glimpse of him or in the hopes that he will talk to them* *Henri pauses talking to the man next to him as he hears one of the "guards" stopping the crowd*
Henri: *loudly to guardsman* oh, let them come in! they're part of the family!
*cut to Paris* *we see a lot of people clamouring for newspapers* *but the vendor has sold out* *in the hands of one of them, we see a drawing entitled "the first embrace these ten years" showing Henri facilitating the Labuscaignes' "reconciliation"*
Victor Hugo: *voice-over reading the article* the wild popular enthusiasm...leaped and gleamed about him like a fire. Wherever he went, the enthusiasm of the crowd was almost dangerous. When a futile attempt was made to keep them from surging into the Royal Entrance, the little king turned around and shouted in his voice "Oh! Let them come in, they're part of the family!" No words can describe the delirious joy of that mass of humanity, already vibrating with passion, on which that speech fell like a spark upon a heap of powder. With one, long, delighted cry, the French- for there were no Bonapartists, no Orléanists, no Légitimists or Republicans, only Frenchmen who hurled themselves upon the flushed, bright-eyed youngster and carried him shoulder high into his chateau. I will attest that I don't know how he got out alive.
*cut to cabinet du roi at Chambord* *Henri is sitting there with the man he was speaking to outside*
Henri: what you are asking of me, Monsieur le Duc, is rather hefty burden to shoulder.
Charles, Duc de Choiseul-Praslin: I beg of your Majesty, Fanny is threatening to divorce me, to take away the children, I have- I regret to say I have nowhere else to turn.
Henri: no doubt as the daughter of Marechal Sebastiani she is likely to have the sympathy of the duc d'Orléans. Fortunately for you, divorce is illegal in France since my great-uncle was restored.
Praslin: your Majesty, I don't ask for my own sake, but for the sake of my children, please do not let such a matter cloud my family's name. [5]
Henri: *nods slowly* is there any truth to Madame la Duchesse's allegations about your governess?
Praslin: which allegations, sire?
Henri: that the maid wishes to become the madame. That the governess wishes to become the mother.
Praslin: if those are Mademoiselle Delusys-Desportes' ambitions, I swear to your Majesty I have no knowledge of them.
Henri: and Madame la Duchesse's...other allegations?
Praslin: I will swear to God Himself, your Majesty, that we are not having the affair my wife believes. I simply remarked that, compared to the other governesses my daughters have had, Henriette has managed better with Laurette and Louison [6] who have taken to her "as though she were their mother". Fanny got upset as is her want and the next thing I knew, I was being slandered in every salon in Paris as having an affair with my daughters' governess, as wishing to separate them from their mother, as being an unfit father [7].
Henri: have you considered retrenching the governess.
Praslin: it would buy me a respite of - at best , your Majesty - a few weeks. Until a new governess would be hired and within that time, Fanny would have made up her mind that we were having an affair - the same as she has for every other governess over the last ten years - and out the door they go. It's a dizzying parade. And now, with Laurette being due to make her début at court...please, sire. Only you can save my honour.
Henri: *sighs* *turns to desk* *writes something* *hands it to Choiseul-Praslin* that is my order of separation for the pair of you. *writes something else* *hands it to the duc* that is my permission for you to...leave the kingdom for a season...hopefully the absence will quiet some tongues. Go to England, go to Rome, go to America, for all I care, but you remaining here with this tempest brewing will end in grief for all involved. The scandal will taint your daughters' prospects - the prince de la Trémoïlle's son [8] is already sniffing around the eldest, isn't he? - but rather the scandal of an absent father than the scandal of parental discord.
Praslin: *clearly doesn't want to leave his daughters with their mother*
Henri: I have allowed you to be separated. But I will not allow you to divorce, even if I suspect that, for all concerned, that may be the best solution. Leaving town for a season may bring some fresh perspective on things.
Praslin: Fanny will fire Henriette, the minute I leave town.
Henri: your concern for Mademoiselle Delusys-Desportes' welfare is touching and does you credit, Monsieur le Duc. But I fear that you being around to defend her is only making matters worse. If it is acceptable to you, perhaps you should encourage Mademoiselle Delusys to visit the duc de Reichstadt's school in Venice. I am sure she will feel quite at home there. Provided of course that you do not accompany her.
Praslin: I had no intention to, sire
Henri: I'd recommend in the opposite direction to whichever path she takes. Wouldn't want anyone in Paris thinking you're lying and that you only wanted to get out of the light to kiss and cuddle without confirming their suspicions.
Praslin: *kneels at Henri's feet* *kisses his hand frantically* you have my boundless gratitude, your Majesty.
Henri: I should like to call on you and the duchesse some time in the next year. Perhaps at your daughter's wedding?
Praslin: *nods speechlessly*
*fade to black*
[1] from the 1816 Christmas carol "Angels from the Realms of Glory". Saints are generally defined as those who are persecuted for their (religious) beliefs, such as the Vendéans, the Chouans, the Lyonnais and Bisontins. But there are other allusions "shepherds in the fields abiding" (the fact that most of Henri's support is coming from the provinces, not Paris). "Sages leave your contemplations, brighter visions gleam afar" (Dumas and Hugo, no doubt there are some of the other literatti - to say nothing of the politicians - who are paying attention to this as well). "Sinners wrung with true repentance, doomed for guilt to endless pains" (could be the supporters of Orléans, the Republic or the die-hard Bonapartists. Or it could tie to the decay of justice in France, one of the chants for Advent is "Rorate Coeli" (heavens drop down sweet dews of justice)). "Though an infant now we view him, he shall fill his father's throne" (the constant references to Henri - and Frankie - as a "boy" who's unsuited/incapable of ruling).
[2] royalist stand-by song of the Revolution, sung most famously at the fatal Banquet of Cockades by Louis XVI's Regiment des Flandres on 1 October 1789. "They drew their swords and waved them about; they tore off their tricolor cockades, trampled them under their feet, and replaced them by white ones (the old Bourbon color)."
[3] upriver from Nantes and Henri's personal property, the gift from the nation back in 1820, Louis Philippe arresting him there is surrounded by a barbed wire electrified fence and a moat filled with crocodiles. And, once again, Henri going on a "raid" into the heartland of France. Problem is that this time, Chambord is half the distance from Paris (180km) that Dijon was (~320km). Also from Nantes to Chambord, he's passed through some pretty "royalist" territory along the Loire, even more irritating for Louis Philippe would be the fact that the county of Blois (where Chambord is situated) was Orléans territory until the Revolution. This is more than a squatter in your home that you can't get rid of, this is making it very personal.
[4] Dumas was described by one contemporary that "his tongue is like a windmill, once it starts it's getting it to stop which is a problem"
[5] Choiseul-Praslin has nine children, the oldest of whom is sixteen, the youngest three, at this point.
[6] the two eldest daughters, Laure (b.1826) and Louise (b.1828)
[7] the Choiseul-Praslin-Sebastiani marriage was a horrible scandal of the day (although only in 1847). In 1839, after the birth of their ninth kid and third son, the duc ceased "conjugal relations" with his wife, Fanny Sebastiani. Problem was that according to her former classmate, Marie d'Agoult (mistress of Franz Liszt), Fanny was the "virtuous nymphomaniac", so she took this poorly. The duc wasn't exactly the world's most faithful husband (as was customary for those days) but things reached "boiling point" when the new governess entered the household (that was already in turmoil) in 1841. Suddenly, Fanny had someone to accuse of sleeping with her husband (although most sources of the day agree that the affair wasn't physical), trying to take her place and threatened the duc with divorce. The scandal of such a matter when his eldest daughter was on the brink of marriageable age would've ruined her prospects, so the duc appealed to his father-in-law. Unfortunately, father-in-law, while he mediated, took his only child's side. Choiseul-Praslin, who had hitched his wagon to Sebastiani's star politically, had no choice but to accept. More unfortunate was that Fanny didn't "go quietly", she made scene after scene in Paris alleging that she wanted a divorce but more pointedly was her accusations that her husband wished to replace her (and he was bedding Mademoiselle Henriette Delusys-Desportes) and especially damaging: that he was an unfit father. Which even Choiseul-Praslin's enemies found hard to believe, given he was actually a "good dad" by all accounts. He tried to marry Henriette off, but him offering to foot the bill for her dowry (albeit he forwarded it through his eldest daughters, who adored their governess) was deemed by many as "proof" of the affair, and nobody really wanted to get involved. It didn't help that Fanny (again, by her contemporaries' judgements, she was similar to Juana la Loca's behaviour, bipolar, schizophrenic, or whatever caused that) kept firing Henriette and Choiseul-Praslin kept taking her back because she was the only governess that his kids liked (which added fuel to the fire about alienating the kids from the mom). Needless to say, caught up in this vicious cycle was enough to prompt the duc to murder his wife (depending on the version of events). His suicide in his jailcell while awaiting trial was a big factor in the 1848 Revolutions
[8] OTL Éléonore de la Trémoïlle is born a boy, Charles Antoine
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @kaiidth @SavoyTruffle @Wendell @nathanael1234 @Fehérvári @Guatemalan Nat-Synd @Valena @maw