WI: Prince Imperial Born a Girl

The Empress Eugènie's distaste for sex was well known. According to some sources, she barred Napoléon III from her bed following the birth of the Prince Imperial (though the actual reason was because the doctors had recommended her not giving birth again AFAIK and I can't think that any woman who'd been dosed that much with laudanum during the birth (in an attempt to postpone the birth of the Prince Imperial until the date of the king of Rome's birth:confused: which meant she would've been dosed for four days!! Napoléon IV was born 16 March, Napoléon II the 20 March.:eek:) would remotely want to repeat the experience willingly.

Now, what if on 16 March, when the Prince Imperial was born, and the story goes that Eugènie was weak from the birth (hello, she's been in labor since the previous night!) when she asked if she'd produced a son. Napoléon, afraid of exciting her, told her no. She asked if it was a girl. Again the negative response. Eugènie, rather agitatedly and probably confusedly too, asked frustratedly: "Well then what is it?"

Say it had been a girl and she would be subjected to the horrors of a birthing again in the hopes for a boy. And how might the Bonapartes react? Obviously Plon-Plon if he weren't an atheist would pull a Louis XVIII and run to the chapel to thank God for securing his place in the succession, here he might just go visit his latest mistress (can't remember if Cora Pearl was on-scene yet). What would the future of this Princess Imperial be?
 
Well, she wouldn't be called a "Princess Imperial" for a start. :)
The French would be less amenable to NIII in the sixties if his heir was an anti-clericalist liberal. Anyone to the left of NIII would want this guy on the throne ASAP/start the Third Republic, so there's gonna be more assassination attempts, one of which might succeed. However, as Plon-Plon was known as a coward in battle, the conservative elements won't have much respect for him, especially as soldiers like Bazaine get more and more influence. Also, not having a 'son and heir' will make NIII's regime seem weaker.
Provided the Franco-Prussian War goes as OTL, Wilhelm will want the Bonapartes out and all that changes is that we don't get an entertaining Zulu story and some European prince gets a wife. However, anything could happen in the interim.
I would tend to say that Eugenie would be encouraged to try again and again until she got it 'right', as it were, but I get the feeling that she'd die trying, leaving NIII in a Pedro II type of situation - apathy.
The quicker NIII is deposed, the more likely it is that the Bourbons will be restored yet again, almost certainly with the Chambord-Orleanist dela that was on the cards in the seventies, but if Chambord is still too pig-headed about flags and le Comte de Paris is still too bloody polite, then we'd end up with a Third Republic without the Bonapartist tendency, which will have copious butterflies. There's no way in hell the legitimists are regaining their crown, that's for sure.
 
The woman was exhausted - unsurprisingly after already being in labor for upwards of 36 hours - and IMHO he cared enough that his first concern was her, then the newborn. I can't remember if it was with the king of Rome or with the Prince Imperial, but the Emperor was so concerned with his wife, that it wasn't until the baby started crying that he even noticed it. But it nevertheless sounds something that the Beauharnais side of him would do, and it makes for a touching anecdote.
 
The woman was exhausted - unsurprisingly after already being in labor for upwards of 36 hours - and IMHO he cared enough that his first concern was her, then the newborn. I can't remember if it was with the king of Rome or with the Prince Imperial, but the Emperor was so concerned with his wife, that it wasn't until the baby started crying that he even noticed it. But it nevertheless sounds something that the Beauharnais side of him would do, and it makes for a touching anecdote.
Not mentioning it was a girl would reveal empathy. But admitting it's not a boy and then saying it's not a girl either.... I wouldn't blame the empress to punch him right in the goatee.
The prospect of a hermaphrodite or a dead baby isn't exactly more soothing than knowing it was a girl.
 
Not mentioning it was a girl would reveal empathy. But admitting it's not a boy and then saying it's not a girl either.... I wouldn't blame the empress to punch him right in the goatee.
The prospect of a hermaphrodite or a dead baby isn't exactly more soothing than knowing it was a girl.

Could make for an amusing anecdote (and serve as reason) for the more established families of Europe to laugh at about how parvenu the Bonapartes are.
 
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