This might seem a smidge on the side of random, but apparently it actually happened. When Napoléon was negotiating for the marriage of his stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais to the Bavarian princess, Auguste Amalie, it was suggested to him (by some of his ministers, as well as some at the court in Münich), that he should put aside Josèphine and marry Auguste instead. His response was righteous indignation that anyone dare suggest such an idea (I’m not sure if this is where his (apocryphal?) comment comes from about “deserting a good woman” and that if Italy/Egypt had been a disaster, Josèphine would’ve stuck by him and all that, originated). So, while no one was certain that Josèphine was the reason he had no children (he had said of his ‘Clioupatre’, Pauline Foures ‘the little fool doesn’t know how to have one [a child]’), and Josèphine pointed to Eugène and Hortense as proof that she wasn’t the problem, Napoléon was charmed by the portrait of Auguste on a cup presented to him, and sent it on to Eugène. So, what if he takes the decision to put Josèphine aside (besides all his family having a month long party), and marry Auguste instead? I can’t think – given his personality, and affection for Josèphine, Eugène and Hortense – that he would throw them to the wolves. Hortense is after all married to his brother, Eugène is a competent and loyal soldier, and Napoléon’s busy negotiating a marriage for their cousin, Stéphanie to the heir to Baden (despite Jérôme Bonaparte preferring Stéphanie’s company to his wife’s OTL). Josèphine is the only outlier here. AFAIK, she and Auguste got along well OTL, but here, Auguste’s coming to Paris to poach her husband, so maybe not such an amicable relationship?
WI: Napoléon Marries Auguste Amalie of Bavaria?
- Thread starter JonasResende
- Start date
Considering Auguste's OTL fecundity (7 kids, 6 surviving, in just over eleven years, not astounding by any means, but she and Eugene must've really liked each other
), might it be possible that we see more than one child?
And how does Josèphine react when the girl who was coming to Paris to be her daughter-in-law, is now coming to Paris to be her replacement? Auguste was apparently quite tactful, so she might be averse (although the Bonapartes might encourage it) to rubbing Josèphine's nose in it. And how might the Bonapartes react to this new girl in their midst? And what does Nappy do with Eugène? Where does he marry the boy to (since it's unlikely that he'll throw the boy under the first 1806 equivalent of a bus)? I know there was talk of a Hessian girl for Napoléon as well at one point (although Luise of Hesse-Kassel might be a bit old for Eugène)
), might it be possible that we see more than one child?And how does Josèphine react when the girl who was coming to Paris to be her daughter-in-law, is now coming to Paris to be her replacement? Auguste was apparently quite tactful, so she might be averse (although the Bonapartes might encourage it) to rubbing Josèphine's nose in it. And how might the Bonapartes react to this new girl in their midst? And what does Nappy do with Eugène? Where does he marry the boy to (since it's unlikely that he'll throw the boy under the first 1806 equivalent of a bus)? I know there was talk of a Hessian girl for Napoléon as well at one point (although Luise of Hesse-Kassel might be a bit old for Eugène)
I must admit, I find the idea of a half-German second son of Napoléon strangely appealing. Maybe he gets a nominal overlordship of the German territories (I know the crown of the kingdom of Italy was supposed to go to a second son of Napoléon, but if he's half-German that might be a tad awkward, so Eugène presumably stays in control there (unless Joseph or Lucien are willing to step up to the plate like they weren't OTL).
What about marrying Eugène to the dowager queen of Etruria after Lucien turns her down? It'd piss Elisa off no end (she and Maria Luisa hated one another IIRC), and Maria Luisa would see it as a way of getting her "son's" kingdom back. Plus it'd keep an alliance between Napoléon and the Borbons (although I think he was tiring of that by 1806).
What about marrying Eugène to the dowager queen of Etruria after Lucien turns her down? It'd piss Elisa off no end (she and Maria Luisa hated one another IIRC), and Maria Luisa would see it as a way of getting her "son's" kingdom back. Plus it'd keep an alliance between Napoléon and the Borbons (although I think he was tiring of that by 1806).
I think this specifically refers to a second son. I certainly don’t consider that very exciting, but I don’t really consider dynastic politics as a whole very exciting.
What would be interesting is the political ideology and the political role such a child would play.
Half-Habsburg - which prior to Napoléon and after him - ruled a good portion of Italy. Seeing little Charles (figure Nappy would name his second son after his dad) become king of Italy when he has less dynastic links to the country (I know, Napoléon didn't have links to anywhere when he became emperor, but the Italians might prefer a half-Habsburg Bonaparte king to a half-Wittelsbach king) seems a push. Hence why I suggested as a sort of German viceroy for his brother, the French emperor.
If Auguste marry Napoleon Eugene will likely marry another German princess and at least stay as Viceroy of Italy. I think who a divorce of Napoleon and Josephine at this time will very likely include in the settlement a royal or semi royal bride and his own Kingdom or Dukedom for Eugene
Half-Austrian. This one is half-German. It's probably more a modern thing. But also Marie Louise's parents were born (and raised) in Italy, before coming to rule in Germany. The Wittelsbachs of Auguste's branch have never really ruled anywhere else (at least not in the last century).
Well, in general the line of Wittelsbachs that ruled Bavaria up until 1777 had a love-hate relationship with the Habsburgs - they married into the imperial family several times, tried for the imperial crown once or twice (got it once, couldn't keep it though). And then comes Karl Theodor who's willing to trade Bavaria to the Habsburgs for the Austrian Netherlands, and later Maximilian I who seems to be pretty chummy with Austria in the 19th century against Prussia (where someone like Maximilian II Emanuel might've played Austria and Prussia off against each other). So, perhaps this kid would cement the Wittelsbachs into an anti-Austrian policy?
As to the political ideaology/political role - I guess it would depend. If we see an analogue of OTL events, Napoléon overreaching himself (not sure how likely that would be with a POD in 1806) and falling around the mid-1810s, Junior's gonna be a kid of at most, eight years old (in 1815). That's a little older than the king of Rome was OTL, but his mother's father is also a lot less powerful than Rome's maternal grandfather. What happens to the kid? Are Britain and her allies willing to see the kid become the new ruler of France (thanks to his grandfather's secondary power status?) or do they still pull for a Restoration of sorts? I do feel that if they punish Napoléon they'll be a lot more severe on Maximilian here (most likely he doesn't defect at the end like OTL), choosing between siding against your traditional enemy (Austria/Prussia/Britain) or your traditional ally, who also happens to be your son-in-law/grandson (France) seems like a bit of no-brainer to me. Although, admittedly, the Zweibrucken branch of Wittelsbachs seem to have been more opportunists than anything else. And the ideology or political role would depend on whether the boy is - as previously mentioned - left esconced as emperor of the French or deposed as prince of Eichstatt? If the former, he's likely to develop on very different lines to the latter.
Napoléon had broken the Habsburg yoke on Italy, and while I don't see throwing Eugène under a bus, I don't see Nap giving him what is nominated as a secundogeniture for the French emperor (for all intents and purposes). So the only way Eugène would keep Italy is if his one-time-stepdad doesn't have a second son. Maybe @Yanez de Gomera or someone else can help out here and say if Eugène might be considered as a replacement for Naples (if Joseph still gets sent to Spain) instead of Murat, while Prince Charles Bonaparte gets the Iron Crown of Lombard?
Suggestions? Stéphanie's doing Baden, Jérôme is securing Württemberg. Maybe Princess Auguste of Saxony? I seem to think there was talk of her perhaps marrying a Bonaparte(-relative), but a match with Prince Joszef Poniatowski was viewed as a better option. Unfortunately it never came off. Eugène wedding Auguste and fathering the future dukes of Warsaw/kings of Poland by her could be fun. Otherwise, I wonder if Napoléon wouldn't be less interested in Eugène and thus perhaps M. de Beauharnais ends up as king of Sweden instead of Bernadotte (the original proposal, which was scuttled because someone (can't remember who) insisted that Eugène remain a Catholic rather than convert to the Church of Sweden).
Kaze
Banned
Unless Napoleon does not go to Russia or is defeated in some random battle (insert name here); the result would be the same for their love-child - Napoleon the Second spent the bulk of his life under house arrest and obscurity, a mere shadow of his father and his more ambitious cousin.
I wouldn't call Napoléon II unambitious. He was just up against a machine dedicated to keeping him away from doing anything - he tried to become king of Poland with the 1830 Revolution there, same goes for France, Parma, and the Habsburgs put him forward as a candidate for the throne of Greece OTL IIRC, etc. He declared that if God would dismount His celestial throne, he [Napoléon] would ascend it. And then when Napoléon II died, he declared "my life, from cradle to tomb, has been nothing more than a great nothing"
Kaze
Banned
I agree with you that Nappy the Second was ambitious - he wanted to be something more than a footnote in history, but could not be let to do so. However, I will say that Napoleon the Third was over-ambitious - his reach far exceeded his grasp within the domains of Mexico, Italy, and starting a war with Prussia. But now, let us get back to the problem at hand - a Bavarian princess for Napoleon would give him some help with holding some of the Germanic states but not all - there would be an undercurrent that he was an usurper, tyrant, and the Germanic princes would look for any chink in the armor to exploit and send Napoleon the First into exile. It was the same problem he had with an Austrian princess as I outline before - it would be a matter of time before his in-laws stabbed him in the back and try to return back to the days before the French Revolution. If one wants to truly secure a position of Napoleon in France, one must do away with all the Bourbons - all of them, every brother or cousin that could in theory take the throne - this would rob the Congress of Vienna's attempt at putting things back before the French Revolution, they would be saddled with a sad choice - let France become a republic (unthinkable and impossible), recognize that Napoleon was the only ruler France could have, or set up a regency where Napoleon II would rule sending his father into exile.
As to stabbing him in the back, I think with a lesser match than an Austrian archduchess (i.e. a Bavarian princess), it might not run the same at all. Bavaria would have a reason to ally with France (she'd done so before against Austria), and Baden and Saxony were relatively stalwart supporters until they weren't. Of the south German states, Württemberg is the wild card, and that more because he's related to everyone of note (the king of Great Britain, Napoléon and the czar, not to speak of the king of Prussia and half the major princes in Germany (through Russia)). I'm not saying the Germans would be crazy about the French, and probably vice versa, but they'd gotten a Hell of a lot more out of Napoléon (like royal titles, land expansions etc) than what they might be allowed to keep if Austria set the clock back. Saxony is an example, if they stuck with Nappy until the bitter end, they'd lose everything, but they didn't have a reason to side against France until they did OTL.
As to the complete extinction of the Bourbons, that's pretty ASB. Even if we got rid of Louis XVIII, Artois, and his two sons, there'd be Bourbon princes in Spain, Naples and Parma, not to mention the duc d'Orléans and his brothers/sons. And then there's half Bourbon princelings in Portugal, Tuscany and Austria (among others) who might still mount a claim. So, I'd pretty much dismiss the possibility of mass annihilation being plausible. Discrediting them shouldn't be an issue - the Spanish Borbons were losers for all intents and purposes; Naples' king was holed up in Sicily, and the duke of Parma a minor, while Orléans was regarded with suspicion by the main line Bourbons. And IIRC, the duke of Wellington that was one of the ones who was actually willing to leave Napoléon in place after the 100 Days, since he felt that France had made their choice as to the ruler that they wanted.
So apparently, Napoléon DID try to get a legitimate princess for Eugène OTL - Maria Amelia of Naples (Louis Philippe's wife) - but was turned down. What if, as a double/triple butterfly, Josèphine slips on a bar of soap as she's getting out of the bath, cracks her head open and dies. Napoléon is now a widower, and decides to marry to the girl he was negotiating for Eugène to wed (Auguste Amalie), and somehow, Maria Amelia is persuaded to agree to Eugène's suit (she was miserably unhappy about several of her younger sisters marrying before her. When one of them (Cristina, I think) got married, Maria Amelia burst into tears and complained about "you're [Cristina] leaving me all alone!". So perhaps she feels a little more desperate and agrees to the marriage.
Maria Carolina of Austria, the mother of Marie Amalie was well know for her hate of revolutionary France and Napoleon and that was the main obstacle to a wedding between Maria Amalia and Eugene. Her Spanish cousin, the Queen of Etruria, has the same age and would be easier to persuade. Or a princess of Saxony will complete the circle of alliances in Germany
So, maybe Carolina has a heart-attack when the embassy arrives? I'd imagine it was sometime in 1804-1806 or so, around about the same time that her siblings (the duchess of Parma (1804), Archduke Ferdinand (1806) died. Archduke Maximilian died in 1801 (and he and Ferdinand were both younger than her) died. She was the last of Maria Theresia's children to die, so if we take a decade off her life and let her die in 1805, then will King Nosey agree? And how would this affect Eugène's prospects in Italy? Would he get the Neapolitan crown rather than Joseph Bonaparte/Murat? I could see that being an awkward moment if the Bonapartes think that now Josèphine's dead, her kids are no longer Nappy's proteges.