His brother's execution could provide him the necessary political capital to get the position, imo. Kinda like Jarosław Kaczyński in Poland.
With Thiers' "removal" from the scene, La Réforme might take over a lot of Thiers' erstwhile subscribers., which means that Cavaignac can whip his readers into a frenzy to vote for him as well. He might not like Henri (for executing his brother in additioni to being royalty) but if Henri hadn't taken Thiers out of the equation, he would've had a much harder time winning. Also, Thiers' "support" probably broke down into factions, some of which Cavaignac could scoop up.

So "Vive Cavaignac!"
 
this is probably ASB, but what if "Henri's 1842-1843 Route" through France becomes "even more famous" than the route of Napoléon to march on Paris. That it becomes first a sort of "place of pilgrimage", later a tourist route, and in modern times, perhaps even the route for a Tour de France equivalent
 

VVD0D95

Banned
this is probably ASB, but what if "Henri's 1842-1843 Route" through France becomes "even more famous" than the route of Napoléon to march on Paris. That it becomes first a sort of "place of pilgrimage", later a tourist route, and in modern times, perhaps even the route for a Tour de France equivalent
If henri lasts and is successful as king? Then yes I can definitely see it
 
If henri lasts and is successful as king? Then yes I can definitely see it
even if he's not, it's why Napoléon had the Temple demolished in order to prevent it becoming a place of pilgrimage. It can end up actually becoming worse if he doesn't become king because then people will flock to it solely because the government's ordered them not to
 
Bringing In The Sheaves [1]
Soundtrack: Johan Helmich Roman - Drottningholmsmusiken - Allegro

*exterior* *Stockholm* *we see a parade of the changing of the guard at the royal palace*
*interior* *St. Reinold's Church in Dortmund* *we see a ten-year-old Carola Vasa walking down the aisle in a white dress* *she's clutching a bouquet of tulips, interspersed with the wheat-sheaves [1]* *she's smiling from ear to ear as she walks past the audience*
*in the pews we see Empress Karoline, Archduchess Sophie, her eldest two sons, and the Queen of Saxony* *also the duke of Nassau, Prince Frederik of the Netherlands and his wife, Luise of Prussia; Grand Prince Karl of Saxe-Weimar and his wife, Princess Sophie of the Netherlands; Archduchess Joseph of Austria, her stepson and daughter-in-law, Archduke and Archduchess Stephan; the duke of Teschen, the Crown Prince and Princess of Württemberg, the Dowager Duchess of Oldenburg, the duke and duchess of Saxe-Altenburg, King Ernst August of Hannover; the grand duke and duchess of Baden; the irrepressible Grand Duchess Charlotte is there with her son and daughters, Elizabeth and Ekaterina* *and lastly the camera stops on Archduchess Sophie's sister, Ludovika, Duchess in Bavaria, wife of the Bavarian Governor of the Palatinate, and her two oldest children: 12yo Ludwig Wilhelm and 9yo Helene [2]*
*finally the camera angle turns to see that she is walking ahead of Marianne of the Netherlands* *in a dress of silver tissue* *on the arm of her father, former King Willem I of the Netherlands* *carrying Marianne's ermine-trimmed train is her 12yo daughter, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, and her 15yo niece, Princess Louisa of the Netherlands*

*cut to Ca' Rezzonico* *Frankie is having a "moment" with Amalie in his office* *their foreheads are put together as they speak* *clearly the issues of the last few months have been forgotten as we see him putting a protective hand on her stomach*
Standejsky: *clears his throat*
Frankie: what is it Standejsky?
Standejsky: the Swedish ambassador is here to see you, sir.
Amalie: I thought he's only a charge d'affaires?
Frankie: he's taking Bernadotte as his example to give himself airs and graces.
Amalie: *as walking out* I'm not lying, Frank, I want that woman gone. She's upsetting Leopold deliberately, the girls are just getting confused. Worse is when she sits in on some of the classes and deliberately interrupts the masters [3].
Frankie: I'm starting to wish Giselle's run at La Fenice would be cut unseasonably short.
Amalie: can't you do anything? Shut it down? Yell fire in a theatre or something?
Frankie: *sighs* only by re-imposing Metternich's laws of censorship, and since I sort of repealed those, the minute I bring them back everyone will call it another "Vol de l'Aigle". She's a personal problem, not a state problem. So unless she toasts "Long Live the Republic" even Metternich would have his hands tied. *sits down behind desk* *to Standejsky* send the *mockingly* ambassador in.
Amalie: good thing I'm not Metternich.
Frankie: *grins* thank God for that. Much better tits.
Amalie: *rolls her eyes at him as she leaves*
Swedish Ambassador, Johan Wilhelm Bergman [4]: *comes to stand before Frankie's desk*
Frankie: if you're an ambassador, Monsieur Bergman, then this would be the part where you bow. And present your credentials.
Bergman: *looks slightly surprised by this*
Frankie: but since you are only to be a charge d'affaires, haven't presented your credentials and not accredited to any Habsburg court, I trust you will forgive me not offering you to be seated.
Bergman: the grand duke of Tuscany and the duke of Modena have, your Serene Highness.
Frankie: that is in your remit, Milan and Venice is not. I have no doubt that should you call at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, you will be treated the same. If you find it objectionable, you should take it up with the King of Sweden and ask to be promoted. Now...I assume you have not arrived to discuss diplomatic etiquette with me, Monsieur Bergman?
Bergman: most certainly not. My master wishes for me to present to you his objections to the recent...spectacle made of the called Prince of Sweden's wedding.
Frankie: I know of no spectacle, Monsieur. But then, aside from being unable to attend, I wasn't involved in the wedding. Anything that took place would be best taken up with the happy couple themselves.
Bergman: it was a royal spectacle. The bride wore ermine! The wedding invitations were sent out for the prince of Sweden-
Frankie: the bride wore ermine because she is a princess, both by birth and by marriage. To call him simply Prince Vasa makes it seem as though this is a mere morganatic marriage. So if that is your main objection-
Bergman: and the guests. The empress and the whole galaxy of archdukes?
Frankie: hardly a galaxy. If that was what your master had wished, he should've told them to invite the emperor and then it would really have been a spectacle.
Bergman: he is most displeased.
Frankie: again, I can only wonder why his Majesty would believe that I had anything to do with it.
Bergman: he doesn't believe that you had anything to do with it, sir, but he believes that you would be the correct avenue to speak through to Vienna about creating a repetition of such a scene. For the maintenance of good relations.
Frankie: so let me make sure I understand correctly why Maréchal Bernadotte feels offended: a soldier has been rightfully rewarded for his loyalty to the army he fights for, not unlike the king's own principality in Pontecorvo. The bride was allowed the dignity of her rank as a princess at the wedding. The soldier is being criticized for displaying his coat of arms and calling himself Prince Gustaf- rather than King Gustaf- and what you call a spectacle, I deem a family gathering. Does that about sum it up?
Bergman: there is the matter of allowing the marriage at all. And the prominent display of the liveries in the Swedish colours-
Frankie: they are blue and orange, the Nassau colours, not blue and gold, the Swedish colours. Did the king actually have any objections or was this simply an ennumeration of points of etiquette better suited to be addressed to a chamberlain or a scullery maid?
Bergman: there is also the matter of the unit that the called Prince of Sweden has sent to the pretender in France.
Frankie: Gustaf didn't mention that he was sending me soldiers.
Bergman: I mean the comte de Chambord, sir.
Frankie: *nods* what of it?
Bergman: the soldiers are being kitted out in blue-and-gold, and they're being called the Royal Suèdois, sir.
Frankie: blue and gold are the colours of France as well, Monsieur. And as for the Royal part, most of the units under the comte de Chambord have taken that etiquette to indicate their opposition to the republic.
Bergman: these are not Swedish soldiers.
Frankie: and the Darmstadt regiment that became my father's Imperial Guard didn't come from Darmstadt. They were also royal despite the fact that Darmstadt was only a landgraviate at the time. But what the queen of France [Madame Royale] deems to dub her bodyguards is again, not my concern. If she had called them the Regiment Royal Béarnaise would the king have taken such offense, even if they all came from Pau, like he does?
Bergman: he is not king in Béarn, sir.
Frankie: the king may consider it an honour that her Majesty is willing to grant such recognition to the not-Swedish soldiers at all by calling them thus. Of all people in France, she is the one who would have no love for King Carl or Sweden, yet she wishes to show her affection in such a manner...I would be honoured were there to be a Royal Corsican regiment- as unlikely as I know that is to happen. Perhaps the King should attempt to establish good relations between Stockholm and Paris once more. He has a granddaughter of some good French stock [5]...the comte de Chambord is unmarried... perhaps instead of being so touchy about it, the king should see what, I'm sure, was nothing more than a careless slip of the tongue by an old woman, as a potential olive branch.
Bergman: you cannot be serious, sir.
Frankie: it would be quite the feather in the cap to the rest of Europe, no? If a formerly parvenu house like the Bonapartes or the Bernadottes were able to supply a new queen to France? Alas, I have no cousins left of worthy stature or age to offer.
Bergman: they would never accept.
Frankie: why shouldn't they? The queen of France was proposed for Prince Gustaf's father before the Revolution [6]. Of course, when the comte was still in Vienna there was some talk of him marrying Prince Gustaf's daughter [7], but the matter of her needing to convert made Prince Gustaf uneasy, as he thought it would damage his chances of being restored. Still...I'm sure your master would be able to recognize how...tempting an offer such as making his daughter Queen of France...would be. After all, that spectacle in Dortmund that makes Sweden so uneasy would be representative of the family ties she could bring to the table. Which is, unfortunately, the main thing likely to stand in the way of the Bernadottes: they have no ties worth mentioning. Modena and Bavaria is hardly in the same wheelhouse as Prussia and the Netherlands.
Bergman: *looks like he's mulling this over*
Frankie: perhaps when you next write to your master, you should tell him that instead of believing me to be the root of all ills towards Sweden, he should be thanking me.
Bergman: thank you, your Serene Highness?
Frankie: His trusted friend, Prince Metternich, originally proposed that, instead of irritating Prussia in the Rhineland, or perhaps because he had hoped to receive those lands for himself, that Prince Gustaf be granted the former Swedish lands in Pomerania...right across the sea from Sweden. Fortunately, I was able to stop this madcap scheme...but if it had gone through [8]...I doubt you or I would only be talking about a few liveries and guests, Monsieur. Since if Prince Gustaf were to decide that, since he has remarried and has a hope of sons, he would waive his religious objections...your master would do well to wish him sons so as to avoid a Bourbon prince becoming king of Sweden.
Bergman: that would never happen [9].
Frankie: such are the times we live in, Monsieur. The son of an innkeeper from Pau became king of Sweden, the son of an artilleryman from Corsica is set to become the regent of Austria, the born bastard son of the grand duke of Baden - and Prince Gustaf's brother-in-law - to be the präsident of the German Confederation if the emperor's dies before his grandson is of age. Binding oneself to absolutes nowadays is to build on sand.

*fade to black*

PS: Sorry for the heavy footnotes:

[1] the Vasa's coat of arms was a bundle of wheat. Plus, it emphasizes prosperity and fecundity, so why not
[2] this odd mixture of Catholic and Protestant isn't that weird. By the 19th century, thanks to improved transport, royalty often used family events as opportunities to do a bit of unofficial diplomacy and matchmaking. While it only became famous thanks to Queen Louise of Denmark doing it in the 1860s, Grand Duchess Charlotte [Elena Pavlovna] did it with her daughters, and Louise's father had actually established what Bismarck would later call "the whispering gallery of Europe" at Rumpenheim in the 1820s/1830s. And before that, the Badens (Carola's paternal-great-grandmother) and the Hesse-Darmstadts (specifically Princess George of Darmstadt) used to do it in the 18th century. The characters listed are all "related" to the bridal pair by some means:
Sophie, Ludovika, Marie of Bavaria (Gustaf Vasa's maternal cousins)
Frederik, Luise (Marianne's brother and sister-in-law)
Adolph of Nassau (Marianne's cousin)
The Crown Prince and Princess of Weimar (Marianne's niece)
Archduchess Joseph (Maria Dorothea of Württemberg) and her sisters, Princess Wilhelm of Baden and the duchess of Altenburg (and the duke of Teschen's late wife) are all cousins through Willem V
Archduke Stephan (the nephew of Gustaf's sister, Cecile)
The grand duchess of Baden (Gustaf's sister)
Only "independents" are Ernst August (who might be attending as head of the Steuerverein rather than as king of Hannover), Grand Duchess Charlotte (Ernst's niece through his wife) and the crown prince and princess of Württemberg
[3] Fanny is, ultimately, the house guest from Hell. She's lived on her own too long to be comfortable with not being able to do what she wants, when she wants. Worse, she knows her "star quality" and what a "scandal" it would cause if Frankie puts her out of the house, so she probably flaunts it. Given her origins (the daughter of a copyist/valet at the Eszterhazy staff) she likely "outdoes" the actual royals (like La Belle Françoise, OTL princesse de Joinville) in her "snobbery"/"pomposity" to show she's "made it". It'd be like having any superstar diva coming to stay. As for the interrupting the masters: imagine how nervous whoever the dance-teacher is if the "great" Fanny Eissler is sitting in on the class while they're teaching the girls "deportment"; worse, imagine how it would be if she openly contradicts the master. I did consider making the dance teacher a fellow ballerina like Carlotta Grisi or Paul Taglioni - Paul's dad was Frankie (and TTL Henri/Louise)'s dancing master - where there's a quart of jealousy involved: Grisi's rave reviews in the prima ballerina role in Giselle in 1841 and Fanny refused to dance with Marie Taglioni in 1844 because Marie was accorded the "premier" role instead of her.
[4] Bergman is technically out of his jurisdiction here, he was Swedish charge d'affaires to Rome 1841-1852, after which he was promoted to Swedish ambassador to Madrid. As charge d'affaires to Rome, Bergman holds the jurisdiction of "to the courts of Italy", but Lombardy-Venetia and Naples do not fall under that umbrella. However, Vienna at this point is between Swedish ambassadors (Lowenhielm left in 1842, and the next one was only appointed in 1845). And even the Swedish diplomats at Vienna are only "envoys" (rank below ambassadors, usually tasked with handling a specific situation rather than a permanent posting). A charge d'affaires ranks below an envoy in that they represent their nation not their king and thus - technically - are not extended the same courtesy as ambassadors/envoys/minister plenipotientaries, such as Amalie being obliged to curtsey. Their dealings are also supposed to be with the minister of foreign affairs, not the head of stat, and they have no authority to negotiate treaties or deals between states, by the standards of the Congress of Vienna. On an added note, from 1781 until 1956, no Swedish diplomat to Vienna held the rank of ambassador.
[5] while Eugènie of Sweden (b.1830) is very young, only turned 13yo in April 1843, Frankie isn't wrong when he sells her as "good French stock": her mother's a Beauharnais, her father's Navarrais and Marseillaise. "Working class" roots on the Bernadotte side (innkeeper at Pau and a silk merchant at Marseilles; sugar farmers on the Tascher de la Pagerie side). The main objection is likely to be her religion. But at the same time, this is Frankie using Henri's leverage of being the most eligible bachelor in Europe at the time to deflect from the matter of Gustaf
[6] this was more as a bit of banter between Louis XVI and Gustaf III than it being an actual proposal, but Eugènie's mother and grandmother are both Catholic, she's got ties to Bavaria and Modena (two ancient allies of France's)
[7] this may have actually been proposed. Carola - through her father - was heiress to some sizeable lands in Moravia and Bohemia that had been granted to Gustaf, and a court in exile always needs money, so marrying Henri and Carola doesn't seem crazy
[8] I'll leave it up to the readers to decide whether this was Frankie or Metternich's idea. But given how Metternich (seemingly) stabbed Prussia in the back for his own principality in Munster, I suspect nobody's going to be "verifying" whose idea it was.
[9] while the Swedish constitution after the coup that dethroned Gustaf IV limited the succession to males only, I'm unsure what rights girls had to inherit under Gustaf III's constitution. Still, Sweden has a precedent of a girl succeeding as queen, so it's not too unthinkable

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Very well said Frankie! Never underestimate someone based on what they were born as or into. You may find yourself pleasantly or nastily surprised later if you do.
 
Very well said Frankie! Never underestimate someone based on what they were born as or into. You may find yourself pleasantly or nastily surprised later if you do.
how cool would it be if Carola were to end up as Queen of France though? Her jewellery alone that she brought to her OTL wedding covered a whole billiard table (and then some) FWIG. And Eugènie also wouldn't be a bad bet (both are still young enough that they haven't been confirmed yet), although I'm not sure if there was a reason (like her health) for why she never married OTL.
 
how cool would it be if Carola were to end up as Queen of France though? Her jewellery alone that she brought to her OTL wedding covered a whole billiard table (and then some) FWIG. And Eugènie also wouldn't be a bad bet (both are still young enough that they haven't been confirmed yet), although I'm not sure if there was a reason (like her health) for why she never married OTL.
That would be very interesting.
 
how cool would it be if Carola were to end up as Queen of France though? Her jewellery alone that she brought to her OTL wedding covered a whole billiard table (and then some) FWIG. And Eugènie also wouldn't be a bad bet (both are still young enough that they haven't been confirmed yet), although I'm not sure if there was a reason (like her health) for why she never married OTL.
Either Carola and Eugenie would be interesting and unusual as Queen of France, but they are both well related enough (Carola has Baden and Bavarian ties + Beauharnais (so she and Eugenie are related through their mothers) for birth and many other countries, including Austria, for marriage… Eugénie has Bavaria and Modena + Brazil and her Beauharnais/clary blood as birth, and part of the same connections of Carola for marriage, meaning who both could be seen as sort of “Napoleonic princesses” but neither has Bonaparte blood). Without doubt both would bring a good dowry and a lot of jewels (Eugenie would likely receive a good share of Desiree/Josephine jewels), who is not a bad thing
 
is also Franz and Karoline of Bavaria's goddaughter (the source of her first two names "Carolina Franziska") so she could have appeal as an Austrian proxy. Since Austria's archduchess stores are looking a bit depleted: highest ranked one available is Archduchess Maria Elisabeth (half-sister of Archduke Stephan) (b.1831)
 
The Plagues [1]
For @HortenseMancini wondering what will happen to Adélaïde-Hélène:

Soundtrack: Carl Czerny - Introduction and Variations Brillantes on Gli Arabi nelle Gallie, Op. 234

*exterior* *Compiègne* *a carriage enters the courtyard of the chateau* *the footman opens the door and we catch a glimpse of a skirt tumbling out*
Louis, Dauphin de Viennois (age 6): Mamma! Mamma! *breaks the line and runs to Hélène, Duchesse de Chartres* *his brother, the 4yo duc d'Orléans hangs back* *hiding behind his grandmother's skirt*
Hélène: Monseigneur le Dauphin *extends hand* [2]
Louis: *shakes it* *although the disappointment is clear on his face*
Madame Adélaïde: *descends from the coach*
Louis Philippe: sister, we had heard you were at death's door.
Adélaïde: fiddlesticks. I'm tough as old boots
Marie Amélie: *sotto voce* and I'm sure if we boiled a pair, they'd be softer.
Adélaïde: what was that your Majesty?
Marie Amélie: *smiles sweetly* I was only expressing my relief that the rumours of your demise were greatly exaggerated, sister *kisses cheeks*

*cut to salon in Compiègne* *the dauphin keeps trying to tell his mom about what he and his brother have been doing for the last few months* *we can see by the look on Hélène's she's listening but really doesn't care [3]*
Louis Philippe: I heard you were evacuated on a Dutch ship from La Rochelle?
Adélaïde: only to bring us to Le Hâvre. There we were put ashore and sent upriver to Évreux
Louis Philippe: what on earth for?
Hélène: *spits* to see him.
Louis Philippe: who?
Adélaïde: *said like she's talking of a crate of dead rats* the comte de Chambord
Louis Philippe: he's at Évreux? I thought he was with the army fleeing to Troyes.
Usher: His Royal Highness, the Duc de Nemours; his Royal Highness the Prince de Joinville!
Marie Amélie: *looks up to see her sons* *nearly bursts into tears at the sight of them*
Nemours: *embraces his mother* *shakes hands with his father* a ruse, I'm afraid. The supposed army Bugeaud crushed at Pithiviers and Montargis was not the main army. The main army's been withdrawing to Lorraine.
Louis Philippe: less work for Bugeaud's army, mopping up the remnant.
Joinville: afraid Bugeaud hasn't been doing our side any favour by how his troops are behaving. Seize what they like without paying, setting fire to the fields- I think he thinks this is Algeria and these are Arabs that must be rooted out.
Louis Philippe: so what did Chambord want at Évreux?
Hélène: to talk. Said that we should have this settled before we enter Paris.
Louis Philippe: *chuckles* how's he going to enter Paris if he's withdrawing to Lorraine?
Usher: His Royal Highness, the Duc de Montpensier.
Louis Philippe: *looks at his youngest who's clearly ridden hard to give the news he's got* let me guess, you've met with Chambord as well?
Montpensier: no, I just came from Nogent to tell your Majesty that Marechal Bugeaud has won a great victory over Chambord's army. Everything between Paris and the Loire is in our hands.
Louis Philippe: now who the Hell has the right story?
Usher: His Majesty, the King of France and Navarre. Her Majesty the Queen of France and Navarre.
Angoulême: *walks in* that would be me, cousin.
Madame Royal: *glares at him*
Louis Philippe: h-h-h-o-o-w-w-w-w d-d-d-did y-y-y-ou get here?
Madame Royal: how did you get here, your Majesty.
Louis Philippe: *swallows*
Angoulême: we must've left Chantilly about an hour after Louis [Nemours] and François [Joinville].
Marie Amélie: *evinces none of her husband/sister-in-law's reticence* *makes a deep curtsey to the Angoulêmes*

*cut to them all now sitting and talking* *definite Ancien Regime rules since Angoulême and Madame Royale are in the chair with arms, while Orléans boys are on tabourets [4]* *Louis Philippe, Madame Adélaïde and Hélène stand at the fireplace to avoid the "degradation" of having to take a chair with no arms* *Marie Amélie, OTOH, seems more than happy - relaxed even - to be sitting in the chair with no arms [5]* *courtiers and servants are notably absent from the room* *the doors are closed, the windows shuttered* *it makes it very clear that this is a "private" meeting*
Angoulême: the reason that we have travelled here is to hammer out some sort of...détente...to draw a line under the events of the past. To start afresh. Henri does not with for the air to be clouded with the stench of acrimony.
Adélaïde: does not wish, then perhaps he should leave France. Since he is the main cause of this acrimony.
Marie Amélie: *sharply* Adéle, shut up and listen! *small voice to Madame Royale* forgive me your Majesty, I've been wanting to do that for years.
Madame Royal: *smiles indulgently*
Adélaïde: *looks like she's just been slapped* *but rallies* the people, the chamber of deputies gave my brother the crown-
Madame Royal: And just like with my father, they took it away again. We all saw how that ended. Oh, that's right...your father was the man who voted for that to happen. So of course you remember. How is he nowadays? Oh...that's right. *vicious smile* They beheaded him as well.
Angoulême: we are not here to debate who's right and who's wrong. Or whose method is more effective at keeping a throne. Henri's main concern is that we present a united front.
Hélène: *snorts* not bloody likely. See my son cheated out of his inheritance.
Madame Royal: Hardly cheating if you had nothing and lost nothing.
Louis Philippe: what are his terms for his rapprochement.
Adélaïde & Hélène: *both look horrified*
Angoulême: you acknowledge myself as head of the house-
Louis Philippe: that was never in question.
Angoulême: -when we enter Paris, you can either ride alongside us as duc d'Orléans or be dragged in chains as "spoils of war"-
Hélène: he first has to take Paris. He's getting a little ahead of himself
Madame Royal: *smirks* says the woman who couldn't even raise La Rochelle? Left in a packet boat I heard.
Louis Philippe: Cavaignac won't just invite him in.
Angoulême: -which brings us to the last of his demands. You order Bugeaud to stand down.
Louis Philippe: I am not the one who unleashed him.
Angoulême: no. But you are the one he fights for, cousin. So he will obey an order from you.
Louis Philippe: and if he does not?
Angoulême: then Henri will treat him as an enemy combattant. And after what he did to Thiers, I'm sure General Bugeaud would like to retire with some honour.
Louis Philippe: I want it in writing, that Henri will grant my family and I clemency. That any who fought for us will be allowed to remain unmolested. And restitution of family properties.
Angoulême: *smiles* I take it you accept then?
Louis Philippe: I will do what is best for France.
Madame Royal: if only you had had such sentiments in 1830. We'd have been spared all this butchery.
Hélène: Chambord brought us to it, we did not choose this except for him!
Madame Royal: Henri brought you to it? It is only thanks to Henri that there is still a head on your shoulders. It was his mercy that appealed to anyone to send a ship to La Rochelle to rescue you you ungrateful wretch. It is his mercy that has gone without troops so that he can spare men to protect your sons in this palace.
While you have been experiencing your...interesting condition-
Angoulême: Marie, don't *he doesn't sound overly concerned about it*
Louis Philippe: *to Hélène* what is she talking about?
Madame Royal: I just want to know if it was a boy or a girl. I already suspect I know who the father is.
Hélène: *stares her down*
Madame Royal: fine. You were already planning to "go to the country" for the summer so as to avoid scrutiny. Take conveniently ill somewhere and be forced to stay...then miraculously recover before the leaves turned. Madame Adélaïde knew. She was possibly the only one who did...one or two servants you knew would lie for you...and then you got driven from Paris. You didn't want to come to Compiègne, ostensibly because you wanted to rouse the Vendée...which *looks at Adélaïde* as an intelligent woman you must've known would be next to impossible so soon after Henri had been through there. Madame Adélaïde "took ill" as a convenient excuse for you to be forced to stay in La Rochelle. And I'm sure if we consult the records, there'd have been a child born around...July? June? that well, the mother sadly died in childbirth.
Louis Philippe & Marie Amélie: *both staring at their daughter-in-law in disbelief*
Madame Royal: Caroline at least had the excuse she was raped. But what was yours with Monsieur Asseline [6]?
Hélène: *breaks down crying*you don't know how it feels. To be deprived of a husband so early. To be alone-
Madame Royal: have you ever spent three years locked in a single room with no news of the outside world, Madame? To hear your brother's screams next door as they flog him. I have seen and experienced things that would make the most hardened of soldiers throw up. You wish to use your loneliness as a shield for your weakness, at least Caroline bore her punishment- as unjust as she knew it to be- in silence. With dignity. Who do you think would rally to your side if they knew? It is Henri's mercy that has seen you be returned to your children than slandered like his mother was, like mine was. *gets out of chair walks over to Hélène, lifts her chin to look her in the eye*
so...when you encounter the king, you will approach, you will dip the lowest révérance you are capable of, and then, you will thank him for sparing your miserable excuse of a life.
Joinville: I assume Henr- his Majesty will want us to join his army, Madame? Our forces with his?
Angoulême: I wasn't aware you had forces, François. Where have you been hiding them all this time? Perhaps they would've been of an assistance to your brother when he lost his leg?
*we see that he's referring to the fact that Nemours only has a single leg*
Joinville: I did not mean soldiers, I meant-
Angoulême: the journalists, writers, bankers? Who would be on yourside? Messieurs Hugo, Tocqueville and Dumas are already on Henri's side, as is Madame Sand, Madame d'Agoult, Messieurs Rothschild, Fould, Cottier & André...the way I hear it, half the cast and orchestra performing Auber's Charles Édouard [7] tonight at the Opéra are supporting Henri. Your assistance is appreciated, François, but he did not gather you here to be "useful" to him. He gathered you here to ensure that you will not be able to claim that you are owed for anything you've done.
Adélaïde: such arrogance.
Angoulême: Madame. There have been many times over the years that I have been extraordinarily grateful that we never married. I fear that if we had, I should've been caught between my duty to the king and your ambitions. Henri is not arrogant. He merely wished to...as he put it, avoid confusion about who did what. Do you remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard [8], Madame? Or has your aumonier taken an indefinite leave of absence? Henri pointed out that "the kingdom of France is not the kingdom of Heaven"
Montpensier: but he will need us. We have the better knowledge of France. The army. The capital-
Madame Royal: if your knowledge of France is so useful how is it that none of you has been able to use it to stop Henri? Your army is used to fighting highly mobile Algerines who attack and then leave. As Bugeaud has shown, he erects gibbets when fighting against men who are defending their homes. Henri simply wishes to keep it clear who the men are fighting for and who they are fighting against.
Montpensier: and Paris? Does he plan to put it under siege to gain entry?

*cut to Hôtel de Ville* *we see the new president of France, Godefroi Cavaignac swearing his oath to the people [9]*
*cut to the council room at the Hôtel de Ville*
Bedreau, Minister of War: your Excellency, on behalf of the people of France I insist that you recall General Bugeaud. His troops are rampaging south of Paris. There is even a concern among the farmers that he will burn their crops and slaughter their cattle as he ordered in Algeria.
Cavaignac: how many men does the National Guard have at its disposal to deal with him?
Nicolas Changarnier, Commander of the National Guard: around a hundred thousand, but they are scattered throughout France. Not including all the soldiers that the comte de Chambord keeps returning to Paris [10]. And if we pull the 45e from the German frontier-
Bedreau: we would leave the border to Chambord?
Changarnier: he will not part with it any more than we have. In fact, he's been clearing the Badenois out of Alsace since he got there.
Cavaignac: I do not like it any more than you, Bedreau, but perhaps it would be the easiest: once we have dealt with that pestilence Dupont de l'Eure decided to bring in from Algeria, we would be able to throw our full force on Chambord. And rid ourselves of the Bourbons root and branch.
Jules Dufaure [11], Minister of the Interior: Excellency...if I may make a suggestion. And this might serve to quell the royalist mood throughout France as well as sparing our own troops from unnecessary bloodshed- why not use Chambord to rid ourselves of Bugeaud?
Bedreau: are you insane? We would be allowing the pretender as near to Paris as Sénart!
Changarnier: What would you rather have, General? We currently have three French armies on French soil. We do not have the manpower or the capacity to face one or the other without recalling the troops from Algeria or Piedmont. If we allow Chambord to have the Rhine border, he will cut off any supply to the troops in Piedmont. Keeping him from doing that. We pull our troops back to defend Paris and the surrounds as much as we can. While recalling the National Guard from the provinces. Bugeaud and Chambord are going to come to battle royal anyway...you've seen the cartoon in this morning's papers. By withdrawing and allowing them to duke it out, we will illustrate to France (and the world) that the Republic is not for anarchy and that this is merely a squabble between two equally out-of-touch parties. It will serve to bolster the republic as not being some rampaging tyrant like the 1793 republic was, and to France that we merely want order.
Cavaignac: or it could be seen by the French as cowardice and abandonment.
Changarnier: strategy, Excellency. Chambord has the larger army, but it is starving, hasn't been paid in months. Morale is broken and the factions are beginning to show. Bugeaud has the better troops. Having looked at the reports of his previous battles...while Chambord is a skilled soldier without question, he is the stuff of a colonel, not a general or a marshal [12]. His best generals - like Ney, Villevallio and Carfort - are old or others - like Cadoudal and Pontfarcy [13] - are Breton fanatics little better than Bugeaud. If we were to use one problem to clean up another, not only will we rid ourselves of one potential pestilence but the rats will eat one another.
Cavaignac: and you just assume that whoever is left will meekly surrender?
Changarnier: no, but they will find Paris harder to take with their armies exhausted and their credibility tarnished as petty and vindictive.
Cavaignac: you have a point. Although I still do not wish for-
*we hear an explosion* *the glass in the windows rattles* *a white-faced messenger scurries in* *hands a note to Cavaignac*
Cavaignac: *reads it* *then passes it to Bedreau* it's out of our hands now. Bugeaud's troops have opened fire on Paris. Can your one hundred thousand National Guardsman or the 45e get here fast enough, General Changarnier?

*fade to black*

[1] not a literal plague, but as Henri pointed out, they've painted/slandered him as a "rabid Catholic". So...why not channel full Old Testament symbolism of king, priest and prophet: Moses. After all, not unlike the Plagues of Egypt, Henri has served to highlight the impotence of placing faith elsewhere
That line of "into your streets, into your house, into your bed, until you break, until you yield". Even the analogy of locusts "I send the locusts [soldiers] on the wind such as the world has never seen, on ev'ry leaf on ev'ry stalk until there's nothing left of green". "Upon your cattle, upon your sheep, upon your oxen in the field" (the fears of Bugeaud's retaliation. "I send the thunder from the sky, I send the fire raining down" [cannon fire].
[2] this is a little boy who hasn't seen his mother since April - it's now September (so nearly six months) - and he gets a brush-off
[3] comes back to the whole July Monarchy not having to present themselves as a "bourgeois" family, and so Hélène becomes, as Princess Mathilde Bonaparte described the Prince Imperial: "there are three of us who love that boy: the emperor, myself and the empress avec une devoir" (with her mind). Like Empress Eugènie, Hélène could be accused of "she only loves her son as heir to the throne". Unlike Eugènie, with Hélène it isn't necessarily rubbish. She's described as ambitious and only married her husband to be "queen of the French" disregarding the wishes of her family in this matter.
[4] chairs with arms are for kings, tabourets for dukes.
[5] this is a woman who wore a hair-shirt under her dresses every day of the July Monarchy, and who called the crown her husband had accepted "a crown of thorns", who supported the reconciliation between the two branches, and who asked that she only be buried as "Duchesse d'Orléans" and not "Queen of the French". Of course she's happier
[6] there were rumours about a possible liaison between the widowed Helene and her late husband's secretary, Adolphe Asseline, OTL as well. Difference was there, she was protected as mother to the heir. How does Madame Royal have this information at her disposal? Asseline's uncle was her confessor, then Louis XVIII's, Asseline's aunt was in the household of the duc de Crussol (Mathilde Bonaparte's father-in-law), and numerous other overlaps between the Paris court and the court at Frohsdorf both OTL and TTL that wouldn't have been too difficult for someone to put the pieces together.
[7] Auber wrote an opera/ballet on Lambert Simnel at this time OTL. Why not go for Bonnie Prince Charlie, a figure who roused a whole nation to rebellion, but was ultimately defeated by government troops. Who was an absolutist, a rabid Catholic etc (slanders used against the Jacobites and French Legitimists are shockingly similar. Even Hortense de Beauharnais commented on it).
[8] Matthew 20:1-16. Basically the vineyard owner goes out and hires workers at three different times of day. At the end of the day, those he hired in the morning wish to object to the fact that the ones hired later are paid the same as them. The moral of the parable is that regardless of when you convert, you are still assured of an equal place in Heaven. Henri is using this to illustrate that he is the owner of the vineyard (France), and that he will not be paying for "lack of work". Nemours lost his leg fighting for Henri, but its unclear what Joinville has been doing (he was a navy man, so I could see him not having a big role). Montpensier has been with Bugeaud (probably in a "mascot" capacity)
[9] inspired by the way the Belgians "swear in" their king. Also, allows Cavaignac to show his "dedication" to the people. I imagine a swearing in in front of the deputies (given that's what happened with Louis Philippe) would have monarchical overtones as well
[10] the soldiers Chambord returns are likely the die-hard republican or Orléanist sort who wouldn't fight for him anyway rather than he just sends all of them back at once
[11] same guy that was later Prime Minister of France
[12] Napoléon said this of Eugène de Beauharnais as well
[13] Villevallio is born in 1767, while Carfort is born in 1774. Joseph de Cadoudal (b.1784) was one of the leaders of the 1832 Chouannerie (his older brother was executed in 1801 for taking part in the first) and Camille, Comte de Pontfarcy (b.1792) is actually from Anjou/Maine.

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Waiting for someone to open the gates of Paris, to get the Republicans to flee like the cowards they are.
They talk about Henri tanking his reputation by this feud with Bugeaud: Can you imagine if the republicsns/their radical opposition (Blanc, Blanqui, Dupont de l'Eure) have whipped the Parisians into a frenzy about how the streets will run with blood blah-blah-blah...and Henri shows up and NOTHING happens. Just business as usual. No arrests, no massacres, not even an extra police presence. He just SITS at the Tuileries and does NOTHING. Doesn't dissolve the government or anything else they predicted
 
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