3u84 200

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

DESIREE
QUEEN OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY

DESIRfiE
QUEEN OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
BARON HOCHSCHILD BY
MRS. M. CAREY

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NEW-YORK
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
1890

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Copyright, 1890, by
Dodd, Mead & Company.

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PREFACE
Historians have devoted whole chapters,
and even volumes, to some of the women
who took part in the remarkable events of
the close of the eighteenth and the beginning
of .the nineteenth century. Thus Madame
Roland, Madame Tallien, and Madame Re
camier have, for different reasons, become
personages as well known as Danton and
Robespierre, as Bernadotte and Moreau, as
Fouche and Talleyrand, and many other men,
to whom war and politics, from 1789 to
1815, furnished opportunities for making for
themselves great names.
I have often been astonished at the slight
notice which has been taken by French
authors of a woman, French as well as those
I have mentioned, and who, like them, took
part in the great events of the times, and
whose life was a rare example of the caprices

PREFACE

of fate, or rather, 1 should say, of the impene
trability of the designs of Providence.
I wish to undertake what these authors
have neglected. I shall not pretend to write
a history — the word sounds inappropriate
when writing of a woman who was neither
a Jeanne d'Arc nor an Elizabeth of England.
My aim is to preserve from oblivion some
memorials collected in my youth, and thus
to show respect to the memory of Queen
Desiree of Sweden and Norway.
I was twenty-three years old when, at Queen
Desiree's request,,! was attached to the court
as chamberlain. I owed this favour to the old
friendship between Her Majesty and my father,
who under the Restoration had represented
Sweden and Norway at Paris, and who had
then been a constant visitor at the hotel of
the Countess of Gotland — it was under this
name that Her Majesty, first as princess royal
and afterwards as queen, lived in France from
1810 to 1823. My father having made me
acquainted with the society in which he had

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PREFACE

moved at that time, 1 was able to recall to the
queen persons and events which interested
her, and Her Majesty was led naturally to
speak to me of the different phases of her
life. To the statements which 1 received directly
from the queen I have added those given me
by my father, and those which I have ob
tained from papers preserved in the private
archives of the royal family, a few extracts
from which may be of interest to the reader.
BeUinga (Sweden), August, 1888.

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DESIREE
QUEEN OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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>ERNARDINE-EUGENIE-DE- SIREE CLARY was born
at Marseilles, on the 8th
of November, 1781. M. Clary, her
father, was a dealer in, and manufac
turer of, silk goods. He possessed a
considerable fortune for those times,
thanks to which circumstance his
children received a careful education.
Desiree, having been placed in a con
vent at an early age, retained only a

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

confused recollection of her paternal
home, and could only recall an inci
dent here and there of her early child
hood. There was one which it gave
her great pleasure to relate. "One
day," said she, "a soldier came to
our house, furnished with a billet for
lodgings. My father, who had no
desire to see the quiet of his house
hold disturbed by the uproar usually
made by soldiers, politely sent him
away with a letter to his colonel, in
which he begged the latter to send
him an officer instead. The soldier
whom he sent away was the quarter
master Bernadotte, who was after
wards to marry me and become
king." This incident must have taken place
after the return «f the Royal-Marine
regiment from Corsica, when she
who related it was too young for it
to have made any impression upon

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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her.1 It is probable that she heard
the details of it from her husband
himself, and that Madame Clary cor
roborated them.
The suppression of the convents
interrupted Desiree's education. Soon
after her return to Marseilles, she had
the misfortune to lose her father.2
Her eldest brother became the head
of the business establishment. Al
though a married man, he continued
to share everything with his mother
and his sisters Julie and Desiree.
Two other sisters had already separate
establishments, one having married
M. Anthoine de Saint -Joseph, the
other M. Villeneuve.
It was undoubtedly in the year
1794 that the event took place which
1 Bernadotte was promoted quartermaster on
the 21st of June, 1786, and retained that rank till
the nth of May, 1788.
2M. Francois Clary died at Marseilles on
January 20, 1794-

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

brought Desiree Clary into connection
with the Bonapartes, and which had
such an important influence upon her
life. The following is her account of the
affair: ' ' My brother had been arrested,
1 know not for what reason, and his
wife was in a state of extreme anxiety,
for the procedure of the Revolution
ary tribunals was terribly expeditious.
My poor sister-in-law, who imagined
she saw her husband already guillo
tined, resolved to save him by attempt
ing to make application to the repre
sentative of the people, M. Albitte,
who was passing through Marseilles.
Not wishing to go alone, she took me
with her. We were shown into a
large room in front of the cabinet of
the man upon whom it seemed to us
that the life of my brother depended.
There was a great crowd of people
there, who had come to ask for par
dons or favours. We seated ourselves

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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in a corner, where fatigue, the heat
of the crowded room, and the emo
tions through which 1 had passed
since the day before overcame me so
entirely that I fell asleep.
"The noise of a door being shut
wakened me, and I found myself in
darkness except for the light which
fell upon the carpet from a lantern
outside the apartment. My sister-in-
law was no longer near me, and all
the other petitioners had also disap
peared. My sister-in-law, so she ex
plained to me afterwards, had been
unwilling to waken me when her
turn came to go in to see Albitte;
after her audience was over she could
not rejoin me, being compelled to
hasten to the prison with the order
for her husband's release, and think
ing that 1 would know perfectly well
how to return without her.
"Meanwhile, there I was, some-
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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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what frightened, and not in the least
comprehending the situation, when I
perceived that I was not alone. When
1 suddenly moved on being aroused,
a man who was coming out of the
representative's apartment approached
me and, looking at me with surprise,
enquired why I was in such a place
at such an hour. When I explained
what had happened to me, he reas
sured me in regard to my brother's
fate, and added : ' A young girl like
you ought not to go alone on the
streets after dark ; 1 will accompany
you to your home.' We started out ;
and on the way we talked so much
that by the time we reached my
brother's house we had become quite
good friends. When we parted I
told him that my mother would cer
tainly wish to thank him herself for
the care he had taken of me, and for
this reason I begged him to come soon

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and see us. ' So one of these days
you will introduce me to your family?'
said he. 'With pleasure ; but mean
time I should like to be able to tell
my friends the name of him who has
protected me this evening.' 'Very
well ; you may tell them that my
name is Joseph Bonaparte.'
" That is the way," said Queen De
siree, "that the Clarys and the Bona-
partes became acquainted."
Joseph Bonaparte came the next
day, and soon came again. He be
came much attached to his little pro
tegee, who, on her part, was not
insensible to his attentions. Soon he
became an intimate friend of the Clary
family, and at the end of a few weeks
he proposed to Desiree that he should
marry her as soon as she reached her
sixteenth year.
Joseph often spoke to his friends of
one of his brothers, an artillery officer,

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

who had just distinguished himself
at the siege of Toulon. When this
brother came to make a short visit
to his family, who then lived at Mar
seilles, Joseph brought him to see the
Clarys. The description which Queen De
siree gave me of Napoleon, as he ap
peared to her at that time, does not
correspond with the idea which 1 had
formed of him from his portraits.
These, it seemed to me, represented
a grave, stern man — one would say
even taciturn — while , according to her,
the young man whom Joseph Bona
parte introduced to her was extremely
lively and even boyishly playful.
"His arrival," the queen said,
" made a change in our plans for
the future. We had not known him
long when he said to us, ' In all well-
managed households either the hus
band or the wife must be the one to

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SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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yield. You, Joseph, have no decision
of character, and neither has Desiree,
while Julie and I know very well what
we want. You will do much better,
then, to marry Julie. As for Desiree,'
added he, as he took me on his lap,
' she shall be my wife.' And that was
the way I came to be betrothed to
Napoleon." In order to explain the facility with
which the decrees of the future Caesar
were accepted on this occasion, it
must be remembered that Desiree
was too young to experience any very
serious feeling, and that Joseph justi
fied the opinion that Napoleon had
formed of his character. It is also
possible that Napoleon perceived the
love of Julie for Joseph.
Napoleon only remained a short
time at Marseilles, but before his de
parture Madame Clary had consented
to his marriage with her youngest

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

daughter, and it was agreed that it
should take place as soon as the
young girl had reached her sixteenth
year. Meantime, Madame Clary, ac
companied by her son Nicolas and
Desiree, established themselves near
Julie, whose marriage with Joseph had
been celebrated a short time after the
incident I have just related.
The lovers wrote frequently to each
other during the first months which
followed their engagement. Their
letters have doubtless been burned,
but, by chance, copies have been pre
served of a few of those written by
Desiree to her betrothed. They prove
how dear he was to her. In one
of them she says to him : " I wrote to
you without knowing where or how
my letter would reach you. I cannot
think how you could have forgotten
to send me your address from Aix.
You surely might have written, if you

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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had chosen, at least two words to
your faithful Eugenie,1 who since you
left her is so very sad ; who cannot
sleep, cares for nothing, and is utterly
restless far from the friend whom she
loves so dearly. You know how
much I love you, but I should never
know how to tell you all that I feel.
Absence and separation have no ef
fect upon the feeling you have inspired
in me ; in a word, you are my life.
"A representative, a friend of
Joseph, has come to see us. He tells
us that at Paris there is much to
amuse one. 1 hope that all the gay
pleasures of that city will not make
you forget quiet Marseilles, and that
your walks in the Bois de Boulogne
with Madame T  will not efface
from your memory those you took
on the river banks with your faithful
1 Napoleon almost always called her by this
name.

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

little Eugenie. Write to me as soon
as possible ; not to reassure me of
your love, our hearts are too surely
united ever to be separated, but to give
me an account of your health, which
was not good when you left me. Oh,
my friend, take care of your life so as
to preserve that of your Eugenie, who
could not live without you I Keep
the vows you made to love me as
faithfully as I shall keep those I made
to you."Joseph has given me your address,
otherwise I should have been very
much worried to know how to write
to you ; please, if you move, write to
me so that I can keep you informed
of every thing ; for I hope that you are
doing on your part, as I am on mine,
every thing possible to hasten the mo
ment of our union for life.
' ' Do not forget what you prom
ised me ; send me your picture as

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SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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soon as possible; it will be such a
great comfort to your sweetheart."
All the expressions of this letter
show the sincere feeling of her who
wrote them, and whose child's heart
already expressed itself in woman's
words. When Joseph Bonaparte was ap
pointed to a government mission to
Genoa, Madame Clary also went and
established herself there with Desiree
and Nicolas. Their sojourn there
was greatly prolonged, which ren
dered the correspondence between the
lovers more difficult. Napoleon either
could not or would not leave Paris,
where his position was becoming
more and more important ; but if his
letters to Desiree were less frequent,
he did not forget to send messages to
Eugenie in those which he wrote to
Joseph. His feeling for her would
perhaps have borne the test of time

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

and absence if the charms of another
had not effaced from his memory
the lovely young girl whom he had
promised to marry.
It was during the summer of 1795
that General Bonaparte fell in love
with Madame de Beauharnais. From
that time forth his letters to Joseph
showed plainly that his feelings had
changed. He speaks only very sel
dom of his betrothed. Desiree, on her
part, felt chilled by the indifference
betrayed in Napoleon's letters, and at
the same time she heard accounts of
his attentions to Madame de Beauhar
nais. For some time she ceased to
write. At last, on the 6th of Sep
tember, Napoleon openly expressed
his design of breaking the engage
ment, in a letter to Joseph.
" Farewell, my dear friend," he
wrote ; " keep up your spirits, all is
turning out well ; be merry and have

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SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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an eye to my affairs, for I have been
foolish enough to set up an establish
ment. Since you are not in it and
since you wish to remain in a foreign
country, it is necessary to bring the
engagement with Eugenie to an end
or to break it."
Two days after he wrote to his sis
ter-in-law asking her to inform Desiree
of the change which had taken place
in his feelings. By the advice of her
mother and her brother-in-law De
siree released Napoleon from his en
gagement. In a book which has lately appeared
under the title of " Napoleon I. and
His Times," the author, Mr. Roger
Peyre, gives a very different account
of the breaking of the engagement.
Speaking of General Bonaparte, he
says: He was not more fortunate in love affairs.
His elder brother Joseph had made a rich and

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

happy marriage with Julie Clary, the daughter
of one of the most influential merchants of
Marseilles. Desiree Clary, Joseph's sister-in-
law, had made a deep impression upon him,
and at first seemed to encourage this incipi
ent sentiment. But early in July, ,795, she
ceased to write to him during a journey made
>n L.guria. The depression which this caused
him shows itself in a letter to his elder
brother. He asks him if one passes the river
of Lethe in going to Genoa, and charges him
not to give his picture to one who seemed to
forget him unless she again asked for it.
It is true that Napoleon expresses
himself thus in writing to his brother,
but it is not just to represent Desiree
Clary as a fickle girl. She had not
ceased to love the man she had prom
ised to marry, but feeling herself
supplanted in his affections by an
other, she yielded to a natural feeling
of pride in ceasing, for a time, to write
to him. In judging her one must
not lose sight of the fact that she had
not, at that time, reached her four-

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25

teenth year, and that in spite of the
intellectual precocity evinced in her let
ters, she of course did not possess that
spirit of resignation which is only ac
quired through trials. She suffered
cruelly from his desertion. She has
said so herself ; and the letters written
to her young girl friends in answer to
those received from them prove that
she had told them of her deep sorrow.
A more positive evidence of her feel
ings is found in the letter which she
wrote to Napoleon when he had, by
his marriage, rendered their separation
irrevocable. A woman would have
kept silent ; a child does not know the
laws of conventionality ; and the more
deeply she has loved, the less possible
is it for her to comprehend that one can
cease to love, and that she must in the
future treat as a stranger the man to
whom she has given her whole heart.
The following is the letter, a copy of
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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

which was found among some papers
which by chance escaped being de
stroyed :
You will doubtless be astonished to receive
this letter after my long silence ; but I can no
longer resist my desire to justify myself in
your estimation. If I no longer possess either
your love or your friendship, at least let me
retain your esteem, which is the only comfort
left me. You are angry with me because I did
not answer your last letter. It is true, and I
was wrong, but did so slight a fault merit such
anger? And besides, a little pique and jeal
ousy was the cause of the suspension of my
correspondence. I was told that you were pay
ing attention to a rich and beautiful woman,
and it appears that it was your present wife to
whom you were at that time so devoted; this
report made me angry with you, and was the
cause of all my troubles. But, tell me, did I
deserve to be so cruelly treated? Did you
not remember that we were engaged ? Had I
not promised that if I ceased to love you I would
tell you and ask you to return to me the pledges
of my love, which you still have ? Had I done
so ? You, then, were in the wrong. If you

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27

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are just you will acknowledge it. You have
made me unhappy for the rest of my life, and
still I am weak enough to pardon you for all.
And now you are married. Poor Eugenie is no
longer permitted to love you or think of you.
And you said you loved me ; and yet the delay
of a letter is sufficient to make you irrevocably
angry with her whom you called your dear
Eugenie and engage yourself to marry another.
You, to be married ! I cannot get accustomed
to the thought ; it kills me, 1 cannot survive
it ; I will show you that I am more faithful to
my pledges, and in spite of your having
broken the ties which united us, I will never
engage myself to another, will never marry ;
my misfortunes will teach me to understand
men and to distrust my own heart. I asked
you, through your brother, for my portrait ; I
now ask for it again. You cannot care for it
now that you have one of a wife who is doubt
less dear to you; and any comparison which
you might make between them would be only
to my disadvantage, your wife being superior
in all respects to the poor Eugenie, who sur
passes her perhaps only in her intense love
for you.
After a year's separation 1 expected to be so

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

blessed ; 1 hoped to see you soon and become
the happiest of wives in marrying you ! But
this is all over ! Your marriage has blotted
out all my happiness. It is true that I had be
haved badly to you ; but you would have found
me so tender, so faithful, that I dare flatter my
self you would have pardoned all. The day
of your departure from Marseilles was a sad one
for me, but then I had the hope of being one
day united to you ; now, the only consolation
which remains to me is to know that you are
assured of my constancy, and then I wish todie.
Life is a heavy burden to me since I can no
longer devote it to you.
1 wish you all sorts of happiness and pros
perity in your marriage ; I trust that the wife
you have chosen will make you as happy as I
had hoped to do, and as you deserve. But in
the midst of your happiness do not forget
Eugenie entirely, and pity her fate.
There is no date to this manu
script, but it is evident that if the let
ter had been sent directly, Napoleon
must have received it a short time af
ter his marriage with Josephine, doubt
less in August, 1796. Desiree Clary

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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was then only fourteen years old, and
for this reason one cannot blame her
very severely for her conduct. The
very fact of her having written this let
ter is a proof of the purity of her senti
ments. It also proves her constancy.
The author of "Napoleon I. and His
Times " says, in speaking of Desiree
Clary : ' ' One may believe that she
afterwards regretted, even when she
was Queen of Sweden, the high rank
which she had missed." 1 think that
Napoleon must many times, even be
fore the downfall of his miraculous
fortunes, have repented of having
broken the engagement which would
certainly have assured to him a much
happier life than the one which was
his lot.
Wounds of the heart heal like all
others. After a while regrets become
memories, and memories, at first so
sad, come little by little to be cherished
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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

as real treasures. The younger the
wounded one is, the more prompt
the cure. In spite of the violence of
her grief, Desiree Clary was not long
in submitting to the universal law.
But if she pardoned the faithless one,
she always bore a bitter grudge against
her who had taken him from her.
" For a man of genius like Napoleon,"
said she, even sixty years after, "to
allow himself to be overcome by an old
coquette of notoriously doubtful repu
tation, he must have had no knowledge
of women. Even after her second
marriage Josephine caused herself to
be talked about, and it was not with
out good reasons that her husband
required her to come and join him
during the campaign in Italy, and on
his return from Egypt was willing to
divorce her. '
Madame Clary continued to reside in
Genoa as long as her son-in-law Joseph

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

3'

Bonaparte remained there. Desiree
liked the place, and was an object of
sympathy there on account of her per
sonal attractions as well as the wrongs
she had suffered from the man who
had deserted her. She became very
intimate with the wife of the French
minister to the Genoese republic. Ma
dame Faipoult's drawing-room was
the rendezvous of all the well-bred
Frenchmen who had taken refuge in
Genoa ; there one also met many offi
cers of the army of Italy. It was there
that General Duphot met Desiree and
courted her. He was a great favourite
of M. Faipoult, who hoped by marry
ing him to the sister-in-law of Joseph
Bonaparte to secure for him a prosper
ous career; but Mademoiselle Clary
manifested no inclination for this alli
ance, and allowed Duphot to go off to
the army without giving him the least
hope. But M. Faipoult did not give

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

up his project. Joseph Bonaparte hav
ing been in the mean time appointed
ambassador to Rome, whither his sis
ter-in-law was to accompany him, M.
Faipoult obtained the latter's authority
to tell Duphot that she would be glad
to see him again if he succeeded in be
ing attached to the embassy. In the
following letter, he tells his young
friend how he acquitted himself of his
commission :
Milan, thb 2 1 Brumaire, year vi.
It is with pleasure, my dear citoyenne, that
I employ a moment in giving you an exact ac
count of my doings. Being very glad to un
dertake the commission which had been given
me, I was about to write to Verona when I
met my dear general himself, the kind deliv
erer of Genoa. Then, after our warm greet
ings, I told him verbally what I had intended
writing to him. Duphot is consequently
happy; Duphot is as grateful as he is sensi
tive. This I can testily to any one. He starts
day after to-morrow for Rome. There he will
await with an impatience you can easily im-

33

agine the arrival of a family for whom he has
conceived esteem, veneration, attachment, etc.,
etc. Bonaparte has only given him a month's
leave. He must employ this short time in
makingsureofhishappinessforlife ; or rather
you, lovely and amiable little republican, must
then determine what reward one of the brav
est, most generous, and most kind-hearted
heroes in our army deserves.
This is what I had to tell you. I hope to
return as soon as possible to Genoa ; but al
though I shall be glad to be back again, 1 shall
be delighted to find that you are already on
the way to your new place of sojourn ; I
know how to make sacrifices for my friends.
My regards to all your household. Believe
me, with the sentiments of sincere attachment
which I shall always feel for you, Faipoult.
When asking leave of the general-
in-chief to go to Rome, Duphot had
told him of his hopes. Bonaparte,
who doubtless desired that his former
fiancee should be married as soon as
possible, granted the leave, and at the

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

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same time wrote as follows to his
brother : November 12, 1797.
General Duphot will hand you this letter.
I recommend him to you as a very excellent
man. He will speak to you of the marriage
which he wishes to contract with your sister-
in-law. I think such an alliance will be an
advantageous one for her ; he is a distin
guished officer.
Such an introduction, coming from
one whom the Bonaparte family con
sidered already its lawgiver, of course
decided Joseph to favour Duphot 's suit
for the hand of Desiree Clary. It is
very probable, too, that Desiree would
finally have agreed to the marriage
which was projected for her if the
death of Duphot had not put an end
to all plans of that sort. Nevertheless
it is not true that the marriage was
actually decided upon, as the biogra
phers of Duphot have asserted, basing

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their opinion on the expressions used
by Joseph Bonaparte in a despatch ad
dressed to Talleyrand, in which he
gives an account of the riot in which
Duphot lost his life.
In 1856, I was reading to Queen
Desiree the correspondence of Jo
seph Bonaparte, which had just been
published. When I came to the
passage in which the Ambassador
writes to the Minister of Foreign Af
fairs as follows : ' ' The new company
could freely enter the palace where
my wife and her sister, who was the
next day to become the wife of the
brave Duphot, had just been forcibly
carried by my secretaries and two
young artists," Her Majesty inter
rupted me with these words : " But
that is not true ! Joseph wanted to
make a fine sentence ; I should never
have married Duphot, who did not
suit my fancy at all."

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DESIREE, QUEEN OF

Joseph Bonaparte's fine sentence is
easily explained by his desire to please
his brother. Duphot being dead, there
was no obstacle to one's saying that
if he had lived, the wishes, not to say
the orders, of Napoleon would have
been realised. Such was not, how
ever, the actual fact. Not only did
Desiree Clary feel no love for Duphot,
but there were other obstacles to their
marriage. At least, so one may sup
pose from reading the following letter :
Legation at Genoa,
Liberty — Equality.
Genoa, the 26th Fructidor, year vi. of the
French Republic, one and indivisible.
Tbe Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo
tentiary of tbe French Republic to that of
Genoa.
To tbe citoyenne Eugenie Clary :
How has your delicate health borne the fa
tigue of a long jourhey ? How did you settle
in your own mind the little struggle between
the prospect of what was awaiting you at Rome

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

37

and your impatience to be there? What has
happened to you since then?
1 assure you that you have found a faithful
man. I received a charming letter from him.
He has been falsely accused. I wounded him
deeply by telling him of it. I depend upon
you to heal the wounds caused by my corre
spondence on the subject. 1 should like you (
to read the touching expressions of his feelings
dictated by his sensitiveness. They have won
for him an additional claim to my esteem and
affection, if it be possible to add to those he
already possesses.
My wife is very well. Her letters are full of
you. My regards to your dear mother and
compliments to the citizen Clary.
With respect and devotion, Faipoult.
What were the accusations referred
to in this letter ? It is to be supposed
that they had reference to certain pri
vate matters. Duphot had a son three
years old at that time, as is proven by
the petition addressed by his brother,
Pierre Duphot, to the commissioners
in charge of the organisation of the
4

38

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

Roman government, asking them to
allow an indemnity, ' ' such as it might
please them to determine," to the
family of the victim of the riot of the
27th of December, 1797. Was this
an illegitimate child? The petition
does not state; but it is probable,
and also it may be presumed that
the knowledge of this fact would
have shocked Madame Clary and her
daughter. Desiree Clary left Rome with Joseph
Bonaparte immediately after the fatal
affair of the 27th of December. Her
sojourn in the Eternal City had been
of so short duration that she had not
even had time to visit the church of
Saint Peter. Her only remembrance of
Rome was of the terrible scene which
she had witnessed from the head of
the stairway of the French embassy,
at the moment when the lifeless body
of the unfortunate Duphot was brought

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

39

in. " It is as if a picture of it were
before my eyes," she used to say.
On her return to France Desiree
Clary was soon surrounded by suitors
for her hand. In spite of her extreme
youth, her beauty and her fortune
would have been sufficient to attract
them; but the increasing importance
of the Bonaparte family added still
further to the advantages of an alli
ance with a sister-in-law of Joseph
Bonaparte. I heard her speak in the following
connection of one of the proposals of
marriage which she received. On his re
turn from a journey to Iceland in 1 856,
Prince Napoleon came to Stockholm.
The Duke of Abrantes, who accom
panied the prince, asked for a private
audience with the queen mother. I
was then in Her Majesty's service.
When I went to see the queen after
the audience was over, I found her

f* ¦•.;

40

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

smiling and dreamy: "To think,"
said she, "that I might have married
his father! Yes, once upon a time
Junot asked for my hand. He was
very awkward about it. He was so
timid that he sent Marmont to present
his petition to me. Ah ! if Marmont
had only spoken for himself, who
knows ? Perhaps 1 should have said
yes. He was such a handsome man I "
In 1798 Bernadotte, already closely
connected with Joseph Bonaparte,
asked for Desiree Clary in marriage.
He then occupied a prominent position
and deservedly enjoyed the esteem of
both parties. As minister of war, he
had refused his co-operation in the
coup d'etat which some of his com
panions in arms were meditating for
the purpose of overthrowing the Di
rectory, as, a little later, on the 18th
Brumaire, he made a similar refusal
of it to Bonaparte. Desiree did not

f

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

41

4\

know him very well; "but," she
used to say, " he was a different sort
of man from those I had refused, and
I consented to marry him when I was
told that he was man enough to
withstand Napoleon."
The marriage took place on the
30th Thermidor, Year VI., "before
Etienne Bouvet, municipal agent of
the commune of Sceaux-l'Unite."
Personally appeared at the house of the
commune [run the marriage-articles], in order
to contract marriage, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte,
thirty-five years of age, general of division of
the armies of the Republic, at present living
in this commune, son of the late Henry Ber
nadotte, procurator to the seneschal of Pau,
department of the Lower Pyrenees, and of
Jeanne de Saint-Jean, his wife, and Bernardine-
Eugenie-Desiree Clary, aged eighteen years,
minor daughter of the late Francois Clary, mer
chant of Marseilles, and of Francoise-RoseSomis,
father and mother, at present residing in Genoa,
which betrothed couple were accompanied
by Antoine Morin, aged twenty-six years, cap-
4*

42

DESIREE, queen of

tain in the 20th of horse chasseurs, at present
living in this commune ; Francois Desgranges,
aged fifty years, notary public, living in the
same commune ; Joseph Bonaparte, aged thirty
years, member of the Council of Five Hundred,
empowered to act for the citoyenne Francoise-
Rose Somis, widow of the late Francois Clary,
by the instrument hereinafter dated ; Justinien-
Victoire Somis, aged fifty years, freeholder,
residing in Paris, Place Vendome, No. 8, un
cle of the bride, and Louis Bonaparte, aged
twenty-six years, also a member of the Coun
cil of Five Hundred, residing in Paris, Rue
du Rocher, with his brother aforementioned.
After having had read in the presence of the
parties and the aforesaid witnesses : ist, . . .
4th, a copy of the record of birth of the afore
said citizen Bernadotte, of the 36th of January,
1763, taken from the registry of the commune
of Pau, and other extracts, . . I have pro
nounced in the name of the law that Jean-Bap-
tisteBernadotteandBernardine-Eug^nie-Desiree Clary are united in marriage. And I have
drawn up the present act in the presence of
the parties and aforesaid witnesses, who have
signed with me, as have also other relations
and friends present.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

43

Done in the house of the commune, at
Sceaux-l'Unite, the day, month, and year
aforesaid. J. Bernadotte.
B.-E.-Desiree Clary. Somis.
Lucien Bonaparte.
Christine Bonaparte. Bonaparte.
Maurin. F. Desgranges.
Clary Bonaparte.
Bouvet,
Municipal agent.

Napoleon was at this time in Egypt,
and brought no influence to bear upon
his brother Joseph with regard to the
marriage. On learningthatitwasunder
consideration, he had written from
Cairo, "I wish Desiree happiness if she
marries Bernadotte ; shedeserves it.''
General Bernadotte and his wife es
tablished themselves at Paris, where,
in the following year, Madame Ber
nadotte gave birth to a son. "The
king," said Queen Desiree to me,

44

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

45

speaking of Oscar 1., "was born In
the Cisalpine house, near the barrier
of Monceaux." (She pronounced it
Mousseaux.) The return of Bonaparte from Egypt
and the events which culminated in
the 1 8th Brumaire brought about a
meeting between Madame Bernadotte
and the man whom she had not seen
since the rupture which had caused
her such deep mortification. Now a
happy wife and mother she met him
without embarrassment, and the pleas-
antest relations were soon established
between them. More than once she
used her influence with Bonaparte to
turn his anger from those whom he
accused of placing obstacles in the way
of his designs. Not only Bernadotte,
but Moreau and other republicans who
were anxious to oppose the dictator
ship, then already foreseen, profited
by her influence.

*
6

The more real worth a general had,
the more his services were in demand.
Bernadotte was frequently absent, and
the young wife would have led a
lonely enough life, if she had not had
her son, whom she idolised, and if her
sister, Madame Joseph Bonaparte, had
not helped her to bear her solitude.
The two sisters loved each other ten
derly, and the few years by which Ju
lie was older than Desiree gave the
elder sister a salutary authority over
the younger. Besides, the latter be
ing of an indolent nature, a calm tem
perament, and an extremely honest
character, incurred fewer dangers than
other women as young and beautiful
as herself whose husbands were more
frequently on the battlefield than by
their own firesides.
There are among the papers left by
Queen Desiree some letters written to
her by her husband when he was in

46

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

47

command in La Vendee. They give,
better than I could possibly do, an
idea of the perhaps a-little-too-paternal
affection of Bernadotte for his wife :
Rennes, the i6th Floreal, year ix.
I send you, my good little one, a copy of the
letter 1 write to Joseph in regard to Ernouf.
It is sent to him by his aide-de-camp ; I beg
that you will inform yourself of it so as to be
ready to serve Ernouf by informingjoseph how
richly he deserves his esteem and friendship.
Since I set you to work in this connection,
you can judge of the interest I feel in the suc
cess of the affair. By recalling the circum
stances to Joseph's memory you will cause him
to attend to the matter, and then all will turn
outsatisfactorily. I knowyourtimidity and your
repugnance to asking favours ; but, my good
little girl, General Ernouf s situation is such,
that if he misses this opportunity, it will be
very difficult for him to find another as good.
1 hope that your love for me will cause you to go
at once to Morfontaine, as soon as you receive
my letter, if Joseph is not in Paris, and that
you will decide him to speak to his brother,
or at least to write to him. It would be much

|¦t

¦to-

better that he should see him ; that would doubt
less decide him.
I have not received a line from you since I
left ; I shall become jealous if you continue to
be so lazy. You know I do not like extremes,
but always a safe middle course.
I shall start for Morbihan on the i8th ; Ge
rard will be in Paris on the ioth of next month.
I wish you joy, and above all good sense.
My love for you will last as long as the life
J. Bernadotte.
P. S. — I am curious to know who are the
teachers whom you have secured. Love to
the family.
With this letter there is one from
General Ernouf, which I also copy :
Madame: General Bernadotte has informed
you of the disfavour from which I am at this
moment suffering. I implore you to be so
kind as to interest yourself in the matter. I
shall be very grateful for anything you can do
for me in connection with this unfortunate af
fair. I leave my fate in your hands.
I have the honor to be, yours respectfully, Ernouf.
Rennes, the i6th Floreal, year ix.

48

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

The act which affected General Er
nouf — his retirement — having been
recalled, it may be concluded that
Madame Bernadotte conscientiously
discharged the commission which
her husband had deputed to her.
I also copy a few more of General
Bernadotte's letters :
Pontivy, the 24TH Floreal, year ix.
In reply, my dear Desiree, to your letter of
the 19th Floreal, I begin by thanking you for
your kind intercession in behalf of General
Ernouf. The injustice with which he had
been treated has been felt by all the soldiers,
for no one imagined that he would be retired. I
have done my duty as chief officer in writing
in his behalf, and in requesting you to inter
est yourself in the matter concerning him 1
have yielded to the demands of friendship.
Whatever the issue may be, I shall be none
the less grateful for the care and promptness
with which you attended to my request.
I esteem you too much to be jealous, but
I love you enough to desire that you should be
happy ; one cannot be so when one is worried
or persecuted. . . .

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

49

&

Your docility overwhelms me, and I am in
ecstasies to know that you have at last de
cided to continue to take dancing-lessons. You
would be very good if you would be willing
to continue music. Then you would be divine.
Chiappe comes to see you too soon. But
his friendliness to me, his character, and your
reserve dispel my anxiety.
Farewell, my dear, 1 embrace you as I love
you, most tenderly, J. Bernadotte.
Pontivy, the 6th Prairial, year ix.
My Love : You have not yet told me, my
dear wife, whether you have at last made up
your mind to wean Oscar. He is so large that
it seems to me he is quite able to endure that
privation. However, you ought certainly to
be allowed to do whatever your short experi
ence and your tenderness for him cause you
to think best.
The desire to preserve your pretty face from
injury ought to incline you to the system of
vaccination, but on this point, as on the fore
going, you are entirely at liberty to choose. I
owe many thanks to Truguet. He has acted as
a most obliging colleague. General, fine fellow,
good-natured, and a bachelor, all so many titles
to win the favour of a young woman.
5

5°

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

51

I shall not buy any horses until some good
ones are offered to me ; yours, however, do
not seem to me able to serve you much longer.
It is silly to be anxious. Your youth ought
to make you happy ; my love and my devotion
ought to satisfy you. The spring-time of life
passes like a shadow, and winter, with its
frosts, will come to us only too quickly.
If, at the end of the month, Bonaparte does
not send me to the coast of Flanders, I will
write and remind him of his promise, and if
nothing new happens, you will be able, if you
like, to come and spend a month with your
husband. In spite of my desire to see you, I
am very anxious that you should go on with
yourstudies. Pleasant accomplishments, such
as dancing and music, are very essential. A
few lessons from M. Montel would be benefi
cial to you. I find I am giving you too much
advice; I will stop and send you a kiss on
your lips. Your husband, J. Bernadotte.

¦n'i

Army of tbe West.

French RepubUc.

Liberty — Equ ality .
Headquarters at Pontivy, the 8th Prair
ial, YEAR IX. OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, ONE
AND INDIVISIBLE. BERNADOTTE, COUNSELLOR OF
STATE, GENERAL IN CHIEF.
To his little one : I have written you
four or five letters, my dear Desiree, in the
last week ; I cannot conceive that you have
not received them.
I am very well. I sent you a long letter by
the last courier ; tell me all about yourself,
and let me know if the letter in which I spoke
of the package I intended to send you has
reached you.
You have said nothing about your progress
in dancing, music, and your other accomplish
ments. When one is far away, one is anxious
to know whether his little one profits by the
lessons she takes. Good-bye, I send you a kiss
on each of your dear little eyes ; do you the
same to Oscar. Your husband,
j. Bernadotte.

52

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

53

Pontivy, the i8th Prairial, year ix.
I should like to know, my dear Desiree, what
there could have been that was harsh in my let
ter of the 6th of which you complain in your
last. I have never intended, either in that or
in any of my other letters, to speak otherwise
than as a sincere and loving husband. I sin
cerely regret that you have found in them any
other meaning.
I do not wish to treat you as a child, but as a
dear friend and reasonable woman ; every ex
pression that I have used was meant to assure
you of this.
Gerard must have written to you. His let
ter must prove to you that you have your tastes
under your own control. I think as you do as
regards accomplishments; whatever desire one
may have, one acquires them slowly and the
work is tiresome. Nevertheless, with a little
patience and determination, it is possible to suc
ceed when one has not passed the fifth lus
trum. . . . Give me frequent accounts of
your health, and tell me you love me. I em
brace you tenderly. J. Bernadotte.
P. S. — Your little horse is in good condi
tion.

t

I have reproduced these letters be
cause, as I have said, they give an
exact idea of the nature of Berna-
dotte's feeling for his young wife.
One finds in them the sincere affec
tion of a mature man for a wife who
has just passed her childhood, the
constant care of a fatherly friend,
and at the same time a slight trace
of marital jealousy.
Bernadotte, on his part, gave his wife
no cause for jealousy. If occasionally
he happened to show attention to some
other woman, it was only to serve the
interests of his own ambition. Ma
dame Recamier, to whom he always
paid assiduous attention, manifested
some spite against him for this reason.
"Explain to me," said she one day to
Madame Bernadotte, "why it is that
when your husband happens to find
himself alone with me in a grove he
talks politics to me ! "
5*

;¦<¦ 5

54

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

55

The proclamation of the empire, and
Bernadotte's promotion to the dignity
of marshal, do not seem to have made
much impression on Madame Berna
dotte. Such extraordinary events had
taken place since she had been old
enough to reason on any subject that
she considered entirely natural what
to us appears wonderful. She would
more probably have been surprised if
her husband had not been included
among those promoted. It was the
same thing when the marshal became
Prince of Pontecorvo. She would have
been entirely indifferent to her title of
princess if she had not feared for a
time that she would be obliged to leave
France and go to live in Italy in accord
ance with the wish expressed by a
deputation from the little principality.
The reception of this deputation caused
her an emotion of anxiety, which,
however, was soon quieted, when she

*

learned that the title was only intended
as an honorary distinction.
When Bern »lntte was sent to Han
over as governor, and afterwards to
Hamburg as commander-in-chief of
the French troops in Lower Saxony,
his wife did not see him for a long
time. She, however, received fre
quent communications from him, and
wrote to him constantly, keeping him
informed of everything that was going
on in France. She was kept thor
oughly acquainted with such matters,
thanks to her sister and her brother-
in-law, with whom she lived in the
closest intimacy.
When Joseph Bonaparte was placed
by his brother on the throne of Na
ples, Madame Bernadotte was deeply
grieved, for she thought that she
would be forever separated from her
sister, who accompanied her husband.
She had, indeed, another sister in

56

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

Paris, Madame Villeneuve, but her re
lations with the latter, though very cor
dial, were influenced by the difference
in their ages. It was, then, with joy
that the field-marshal's lady welcomed
the return to France of Queen Julie,
who had not been willing to follow
Joseph to Spain. From that time till
1 8 1 4 J ulie and Desiree lived constantly
together, and one may say that their
children were brought up together
until the day when young Prince Os
car left for Sweden.
The Princess of Pontecorvo led a
quiet life in Paris, living in the hotel
which her husband had bought on the
Rue d'Anjou-Saint-Honore, which be
came the rendezvous for a circle of
intimate friends and relatives. One
would meet there her sisters, Queen
Julie, Mesdames Anthoine de Saint-
Joseph and Villeneuve ; her nieces,
who became the duchesses of Decres

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

57

and Albufera ; the Baroness Lejeune
and the Countess Joachim Clary ; Mes
sieurs Clary, de Chimay, Boulay de la
Meurthe ; and various other persons,
who, for the gratification of their own
taste or for political reasons, preferred
the quiet of the Rue d'Anjou to the
excitement of the Tuileries and Saint-
Cloud. The dislike which the Princess
of Pontecorvo felt for the Empress
Josephine and Queen Hortense, and
which was doubtless entirely recipro
cated, limited her appearances at court
to the official ceremonies. However,
her relations with Napoleon never
ceased to be cordial, although occa
sionally influenced by the distrust
which the emperor felt for Berna
dotte. Napoleon neglected no oppor
tunity to manifest his friendship for
the princess. When, at the con
ference of Erfurt, he received three
valuable pelisses from the Emperor

58

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

Alexander, he sent one of them to the
Princess of Pontecorvo.1 The fact is
of no great importance, but it proves
the character of their relations.
The princess many times used her
influence with the emperor in favour
of her husband and his friends. It was
not until after the battle of Wagram
that Napoleon allowed his aversion for
Bernadotte to become evident. One
may read in the " Memoirs " of Bour
rienne in what terms Bonaparte ex
pressed himself with regard to the man
whom he considered a rival. '* This
devil of a man," said he on the day
after the 18th Brumaire, "is almost
incapable of being bribed, he is disin
terested, he has intelligence." . . .
These were so many faults in the eyes
of the man who must have realised,
1 Constant relates in his " Memoirs " that the
emperor kept one of the pelisses, and gave the
third to his favourite sister, Pauline, who imme
diately made a present of it to M. de Canouvill^.

6

<r*

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

59

that he would not have succeeded in
placing the imperial crown upon his
head if all the French generals had
possessed Bernadotte's virtues.
Bernadotte was still under the ban
of his disfavour when he was called to
the succession to the throne of Swe
den. The Princess of Pontecorvo
received the announcement of her
husband's distinguished destiny with
perfect indifference. She had but lit
tle acquaintance with foreign countries
with the exception of Italy and Spain,
and would have had considerable diffi
culty in telling the exact situation of
the one whose name she now heard
so constantly repeated. " I thought,"
said she, "that it was like Pontecorvo,
a place of which we were to assume
the title." Learning that she would be
obliged to expatriate herself for good,
she was in despair. To leave her
family and her friends seemed to her

6o

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

6 I

too great a sacrifice. Certainly never
was royal crown less coveted.
She was, however, obliged to re
sign herself to taking the long journey
which her new dignity imposed upon
her. Her Royal Highness the Princess
Royal of Sweden arrived at Stock
holm a short time after her august
husband. The old king, Charles XIII., was
from the first deeply interested in the
adopted son whom the choice of his
subjects had bestowed upon him. It
was with paternal affection that he
welcomed to his family the wife of
the Bearnese soldier of fortune, the
daughter of the Marseilles merchant.
The princess royal was deeply
touched by it, but she, nevertheless,
could not resist the temptation to re
turn to France. Perhaps she would
have remained in Sweden if she had
been surrounded entirely by Swedes ;

but the French people who had ac
companied her would not hear of liv
ing in exile, and besides they were
very uncomfortable in a country where
the manners and customs were in
every respect different from their own.
Bernadotte, or, as he must hereafter
be called, the Prince Royal Charles-
John, made no opposition to her de
parture. It will doubtless never be
known what were at this time the se
cret thoughts of the heir-elect of the
Swedish nation with regard to his own
future. It is certain that he did not
feel himself secure from the accidents
of fate, and that he apprehended a po
litical movement which might recall to
the throne of Sweden the son and le
gitimate successor of Gustavus Adol
phus. Since he had been admitted to
the council of sovereigns, he was not
ignorant that a formidable coalition
was being formed against Napoleon,
6

62

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

and knowing from what he had seen
during his long sojourn in the north
of Germany how intensely the foreign
yoke was detested there, he foresaw
the approaching downfall of the des
pot who, at that very moment, seemed
more powerful than ever. It has been
said1 that at the conference of Abo,
in 1 812, the Emperor of Russia en
deavoured to flatter the Prince Royal
of Sweden by telling him that the
downfall of the Emperor of France
would not necessarily be followed by
the re-establishment of the Bourbons,
and that the Frenchmen who should
eventually offer the power to Berna
dotte could count upon the support
of Russia. This is not absolutely im
possible, for the conference of Abo
took place before Charles-John, by
drawing his sword against Napoleon,
had alienated the sympathies of the
1 Memoirs of Bourrienne.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

63

French. On the other hand, it is cer
tain that no act of Charles-John gives
any authority for the suspicion that
he had cherished the design of aban
doning his adopted country for pur
poses of personal ambition. In 1 810,
at the time of the first arrival of the
princess royal in Sweden, Charles-
John was of course ignorant of the
means which were to bring about the
downfall of Napoleon, but he fore
saw that downfall to be an inevitable
event, and calculated the effects of
it, and he must have preferred that his
wife should be in Paris when the criti
cal moment should arrive, where her
presence would give rise to no embar
rassments. Moreover, the princess,
by returning to France, would be able
to maintain her former relations with
his old friends, and keep him informed
with regard to many things which it
was to his interest to know.

64

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

65

Under the title of Countess of Got
land, the princess went back to live in
her hotel in the Rue d'Anjou. Find
ing there once more her old friends,
she resumed her old habits, and noth
ing would have betrayed her royal
rank if, from that time, one had not
met in her drawing-room all the
distinguished Swedes who passed
through Paris. She did not keep up
a Swedish court ; but a lady who had
lived in her family as companion for
several years, and who had gone with
her to Sweden, assisted her in doing
the honours of her receptions, while a
French gentleman, M. Gentil de Saint-
Alphonse, filled the position of major-
domo in her household.
The correspondence carried on be
tween Charles-John and his wife,
during the latter's long sojourn in
Paris, from 18 10 to 1823, has never
been found, and doubtless must have

b

been burned. It is probable that the
interest of it would be secondary, from
a political point of view, and that it was
principally taken up with the young
prince, Oscar, who was during all that
time separated from his mother. The
prince occupied himself in becom
ing identified with his new country,
whose language and ideas he adopted.
It is, however, known that the prin
cess royal several times acted as
mediator between Charles-John and
some of the French politicians, partic
ularly Fouche and Talleyrand, who
endeavoured to make use of the influ
ence of the ex-marshal, Bernadotte,
then Prince Royal of Sweden, in favour
of their master. It is also known
that these efforts miscarried because
the interests of Sweden thenceforth
took the lead of all other interests in
the eyes of the man who had loyally
accepted the mission to which the
6*

66

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

suffrages of the Swedish Diet had
called him.
The princess royal spent some sad
days in 1813 and 18 14. It was natu
ral that the course of conduct imposed
upon Charles-John by his duty to his
future subjects should incur for him
the blame of his former fellow-coun
trymen, but the princess was none the
less wounded each time that she heard
the blame expressed. In those times,
so sad for her, the person whom,
outside of her own family, she most
enjoyed meeting was the Queen of
Westphalia, the former Princess of
Wurttemberg. " She was," 1 have
heard her say, "a woman of much
heart, always ready to sacrifice herself
to duty. Although our husbands were
in opposing camps, she never ceased
to manifest her sympathy and friend
ship for me."
To the grief felt by the princess on

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

67

seeing Sweden at war with France,
was soon added the anxiety which
the future fate of her dearsistercaused
her. cm the 30th of May, 1814,
King Joseph wrote to his wife, " I
continue to think that if your health
permits you ought to go away with
the children, Nicot, Presles, and any
other persons you would like to have
with you. But at any rate you must
send the children away. Your sister's
house is your safest place." This
refuge Queen Julie was soon unable
longer to seek in her own country.
One of the first acts of the govern
ment of the Restoration was to forbid
the members of the family of Napo
leon to live in France. This was a
cruel blow to the Princess Royal of
Sweden, who would consequently be
separated from her sister. Louis
XVIII. having expressed his desire to
be kind to her, she hoped to be able

68

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

to intercede in favour of the ex-queen
of Spain. The king was inexorable.
It is related that the Duke of Riche
lieu, who was the bearer to her of the
sad news, discharged his disagreeable
duty with such grace that the princess
royal, who saw him then for the first
time, was charmed with the messen
ger, in spite of her great disappoint
ment. It is highly probable that the
princess appreciated the delicacy with
which the minister of Louis XVIII. an
nounced to her the failure of her peti
tion, for all who knew M. de Richelieu
agree that he was a very charming
man ; but it is certain that she never
spoke to him afterwards.
Charles XIII. died in 1818, and
Charles-John was crowned King of
Sweden and Norway. The new queen,
nevertheless, continued to live in Paris,
under the title of Countess of Got
land, continually finding new pretexts

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

69

t

for postponing her departure. She,
however, undertook a journey in
1822. The prince royal, Oscar, was
travelling on the Continent, andas, for
various reasons, it was considered in
expedient for him to visit France/the
mother and son met at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Almost twelve years had passed since
they had seen each other. The child
of eleven years had become a hand
some young man of whom the queen
might justly be proud. The few days
of their meeting at Aix-la-Chapelle
served to hasten the queen's depar
ture for Sweden, for they had caused
her to feel that the happiness of living
near her husband and son would fully
compensate for the loss of the per
sonal independence she enjoyed at
Paris. It was not, however, till 1 823
that she finally left France.
The queen profited by her journey
to Aix-la-Chapelle to visit Brussels

7°

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

and see her sister Julie, whose daugh
ter Zenaide was just then to marry her
cousin Charles, son of Lucien Bona
parte. The ex-queen of Spain, who
had on this occasion obtained permis
sion to go to Belgium, earnestly de
sired to prolong her visit, but for
this the consent of the French gov
ernment was necessary. Queen De
siree interested herself in her favour,
through a letter to Madame Recamier,
thefriend of Mathieu de Montmorency,
who was then minister of foreign af
fairs. Her letter has been published
in the correspondence of Madame Re
camier. Before returning to Paris, the queen
went to Switzerland and stopped some
time at Prangins. It was there that
she received the news of the betrothal
of her son to Princess Josephine of
Leuchtenberg, the eldest daughter
of Eugene Beauharnais. The former

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

7<

Viceroy of Italy had married a Prin
cess of Bavaria ; had been created, by
his father-in-law, Duke of Leuchten
berg and Prince of Eichstaedt, and had
established himself at Munich after the
fall of the Empire.
Charles-John would doubtless have
preferred an alliance with a royal
house, and that the future Queen of
Sweden and Norway should belong to
the Protestant religion ; but it was im
possible to make a better choice in
point of birth for the son of a general
of the Revolution, whose elevation to
the throne was of too recent date to
allow the remembrance of his humble
origin to be effaced from the memory
of the princes of ancient lineage. A
special clause in the marriage contract
partially remedied the inconvenience
which might result from the religion
of theyoungCatholic princess, by stip-
ulatingthat all the children born of her

72

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

union with the prince royal should be
brought up in the Protestant faith, ac
cording to the Confession of Augsburg.
The marriage of Prince Oscar and
the Princess Josephine took place by
proxy, and the Princess Royal of Swe
den and Norway left Munich attended
by a Swedish court to go to her hus
band. Queen Desiree left Paris at the
same time, so as to reach Stockholm
with her daughter-in-law. They met
at Lubeck, where a ship of the line
conveyed them within sight of the
royal castle of Stockholm. During the
passage the queen had ample time to
become acquainted with the young
girl who was henceforth to be her
chief companion. Josephine was
scarcely sixteen years old ; 1 have been
told that she carried her favourite doll
to Stockholm. She was consequently
at that time not much company for her
mother-in-law.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

73

A description of the festivities in
honour of the arrival of the queen and
the princess royal at Stockholm does
not come within the scope of this
narration. The queen had left Paris with
the firm determination of returning
thither, but the king would not hear
of being separated from her. In spite
of the circumstances which had kept
them apart during the twenty-five
years of their married life, Charles-
John was sincerely devoted to her
whom he had chosen as his compan
ion ; and besides, he had fully recog
nized, since his accession to the
throne, that the feminine element is
indispensable to a court. The queen
remained. Queen Desiree's remembrances of
her life seem to have been cut short
at this period; at least, when 1 had
the honour to be near her she was
7

74

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

rarely heard to speak of later events.
The thoughts of Paris, of her relatives
and friends whom she had left behind,
of her house always waiting to re
ceive her, preoccupied her constantly,
even though on reflection she agreed
never to return to the place where
she had led the life which best suited
her tastes. She had, however, no
reason to complain of her fate. The
king had organised a staff for the
royal household, and a numerous
court, who made every effort to ren
der life agreeable for her ; but the per
sons by whom she was surrounded
were indifferent to the things which
interested her. During the first years
of her residence in Sweden, she could
talk over past days with her niece, the
Countess Marcelle Tascher de la Pa-
gerie, who had accompanied her with
the title of mistress of the court ; but
when the latter returned to Paris, she

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

7S

was left entirely isolated. Her exist
ence became monotonous. The king
had lost the habit of family life during
the long years he had passed sepa
rated from conjugal companionship ;
the prince royal and his young wife
lived, it is true, in the royal palace, but
they had a separate establishment.
The queen, indeed, saw her royal
husband every day, and her children
as frequently as possible, but the
greater part of the time she spent in
her own apartments, regretting the
time when, free from all convention
alities, she had lived in France sur
rounded by relatives and devoted
friends. The birth of her grandchildren was
a source of sincere joy to the queen.
The Princess Josephine gave birth suc
cessively to four sons and a daughter.
The future of the dynasty seemed then
to be assured, and the queen shared

76

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

77

with Charles-John the just pride which
this assurance inspired.
In accordance with the ancient
Swedish custom, Charles-John had
been consecrated and crowned a short
time after his accession to the throne.
The queen strongly desired also to be
crowned, but for a long while she met
with difficulties each time that she
expressed a desire on the subject. She
carried her point at last, however,
and on the 21st of August, 1829, the
crown of the queens of Sweden was
placed upon her head, in the parish
church of Saint Nicolas, at Stockholm.
A picture has perpetuated the remem
brance of this ceremony, which made
a deep impression upon the queen's
memory. What must have been, at
that solemh moment, the emotions
of her whose thoughts necessarily
reverted to the days of her childhood
passed in the modest paternal home,

of her youth spent in the midst of the
troubles of the Revolution, and the
first years of her marriage, when her
ambition did not soar beyond being
the wife of a republican soldier !
The early part of the life of Queen
Desiree is full of interest ; the last is
barren of it ; and it would be an un
grateful task to relate the manner
in which she spent the thirty years
which elapsed from her coronation
to her death. Having led, since her
arrival in Sweden, an entirely isolated
life, she suffered less from the death
of Charles-John, which took place in
1844, than she would have done if to
the sincere sorrow she felt had been
added an entire change of habits.
King Oscar, who adored his mother,
and watched over her with the tender
est care, was unwilling that she should
in any way alter her manner of living,
and she consequently continued to oc-
7*

78

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

cupy the same apartments which had
been hers since her arrival in Sweden ;
apartments designed for the sovereign
and now occupied by King Oscar II.
and Queen Sophia. The castle of
Rosersberg was the usual summer
residence of the queen-mother, who
had also at her disposal a part of the
castle of Drottningholm, where she
was in the habit of going to spend
some time with the king, her son,
when the court was established there,
so as to be convenient to Stockholm.
Occasionally Queen Desiree would
make a journey in order not to be sep
arated from the king. In this way
she more than once visited Norway
and often went to the southern part of
Sweden ; but she never had the cour
age to bring about the realisation of
her project of returning to Paris. Once
she embarked with this intention. It
was at Carlskrona, and on board a

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

79

frigate commanded by her grandson,
the Duke of Ostergotland, now King
of Sweden and Norway; but after
having gone a short distance from the
shore her courage failed and she hast
ened to land on Swedish ground,
which she was never again to leave.
Was it only her fear of sea-sickness
which caused her to change her plan,
or was it that she remembered at the
last moment that, after all, Paris could
no longer restore to her the past which
was so constantly the subject of her
thoughts ? She avowed only the first
of these reasons.
Queen Desiree passed through the
great sorrow of watching the slow de
cline of her son. King Oscar I. died
in 1859, but for some years previous
to his death this sovereign, who, on
account of his kindliness and wisdom
as well as his virtues, was worthy of
the esteem which his subjects have

8o

DESIREE, QJJEEN OF

shown for his memory, was only a
mere shadow of himself ; an affection
of the spinal marrow had weakened all
his faculties and compelled him to ap
point his son, the prince royal, regent.
The old queen thus sawthethird gener
ation of Bernadottes ascend the throne,
in the person of her grandson, King
Charles XV., but she did not long
survive her son. On the 17th of
December, i860, she quietly passed
away, without having even the slight
est indisposition to give warning of
her approaching death. Her daughter-
in-law, Queen Josephine, being in
formed that she had fainted, on her
return from a drive, arrived in time
to see her breathe her last.
Her remains were placed beside
those of her husband and son in the
royal vault of the Bernadottes in the
church of Riddarholm, at Stock
holm.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

8l

Queen Desiree united to great ami
ability an intelligence much superior
to that generally attributed to her by
those who met her only during the
last years of her life. Her illustrious
husband, whose worth and genius no
one more fully recognises than my
self, would probably never have risen
to his high position if he had not al
lowed himself to be guided on many
occasions by the advice of his wife.
If Bernadotte became Marshal of
France, if as governor and general-in-
chief in the North of Germany he at
tracted the attention of the Swedes
and obtained in consequence the suf
frages of the Diet of Orebro, which
called him to the throne of Sweden,
his wife's counsels were not without
share in his successes. Causes which
are apparently of no importance are
often productive of great results. The
destiny of Moreau, which at one point

82

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

bore a strong analogy to that of Berna
dotte, would probably have been bril
liant to the end of his life if the envy
and ill-temper of Madame Moreau had
not exercised an injurious influence
upon the conduct of the victor of Ho-
henlinden. Queen Desiree, however,
never boasted of the part she had
played. She thought it only natural
that she should have contributed to
her husband's glory. And besides,
she was never interested in political
matters. A true daughter of Mar
seilles, she loved pleasure and could
not endure pedantry.
I have said that the queen was
amiable. Indeed, she was never in
tentionally disagreeable to any one.
It was natural that during the thirty-
seven years that she spent in Sweden
her character should have been influ
enced by the isolated life to which she
was suddenly condemned, and that

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

83

those who knew her only during the
last years of her life, being ignorant
of her past, — the chief subject of her
thoughts, — should not always have
appreciated her real worth. She had
been all her life the pet of men and
of fate ; it is not, therefore, aston
ishing that at times she appeared
impatient or capricious. A pleasant
word timely spoken sufficed to bring
back the smiles to her lips and make
her forget her vexation ; but such a
word was not always at the command
of those who surrounded the queen,
and they frequently mistook the quick
emotions of the spoiled child for real
anger. They were wrong.
Queen Desiree had a slight figure,
and must have been pretty, judging
from her portraits, particularly the full-
length one painted by Gerard, which
is at the royal palace of Stockholm.
She was, even in old age, very graceful

84

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

and one could see plainly that she
had been exceedingly winning.
The day before he landed in Sweden
Charles-John had adopted the religion
of his future subjects. This was an
indispensable matter. Queen Desiree
remained a Roman Catholic until her
death. I must acknowledge that she
was far from being a devotee, and her
opinions in matters of religion were
influenced by the circumstances under
which her youth had been passed.
Her religious instruction had been
neglected at a period when men were
generally too much preoccupied with
savingtheir heads to have time to think
of their souls. Utterly opposed to
anything like hypocrisy, she never
affected sentiments which were not
natural to her, and always remained
somewhat indifferent in matters of re
ligion. Her daughter-in-law, brought
up in Munich in the strictest prin-

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

85

ciples of the church of Rome, was
in despair at her indifference. To
please her, Queen Desiree went to
mass and attended, after a fashion,
to her religious duties, but she at
tached no importance to these prac
tices, which she considered rather as
inconvenient concessions. Afterprom-
ising to go to confession she was
greatly embarrassed as to what she
should say, not considering that her
love of dress and the pleasure she
took in the opera deserved the harsh
name of sins.
Never having been able to learn to
understand the Swedish language, she
did not often have an opportunity to
gratify her love for the drama, but on
opera nights she might always be seen
in the royal box ; she appeared there
only a few hours before her death.
As may be seen from General Berna-
dotte's letters to his wife, Queen De-

86

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

siree had in her youth paid much
attention to music. "I was playing
the overture to the 'Calife de Bag
dad,'" said she to me, "when I was
informed of the death of Charles XIII.
I have never touched my harpsichord
since, for I thought that aqueen should
not play badly."
During the last years of her life the
queen was very anxious about her
house in the Rue d'Anjou, which was
threatened by the projected improve
ments in Paris. She recognised the
improbability, almost even the im
possibility, of a journey to France,
but the thought that the demolishers
would attack the house in which she
had passed the happiest years of her
life was very painful to her. If I am
not mistaken, the Emperor Napoleon
IIL, being informed by his representa
tive at Stockholm of the queen's anx
iety on the subject, granted a respite.

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SWEDEN AND NORWAY

87

However this may be, the house, with
its dependencies, which extended as
far as the Rue de la Madeleine, re
mained intact until the death of its
royal proprietor.
I have endeavoured to represent
Queen Desiree as I remember her.
The effort will doubtless be considered
incomplete from more than one point
of view, but its aim will be attained
if those who take the trouble to look
it over recognise the fact that Desiree
Clary, Queen of Sweden and Norway,
was always worthy of her destiny,
and an excellent woman.

#

fl

V

APPENDIX.
In connection with the memoir of Queen
Desiree, a decided interest attaches to the fol
lowing extracts from the papers of the Bona-
partes; the passages have, it is believed, never
before been translated into English. The first
is from the "Fragment Historique," written by
King Joseph, in 1830, during his residence at
Point Breeze, New Jersey ; the others are from
the letters of Napoleon to Joseph, printed like
the " Fragment Historique" in Baron Du Casse's
"Memoires et Correspondance Politique et
Militaire du Roi Joseph." See Du Casse, I. 60,
129-140; II. 123,274. — Trans.

»9

I

1.
" After the 13th Vendemiaire, General Bona
parte received the command of the Army of
the Interior, which had its headquarters at
Paris. He there married the widow of General
Beauharnais, who had met his death during
the Terror, after having presided over the Con
stituent Assembly and commanded the Army
of the Rhine. This destroyed the hope which
my wife and I had entertained of seeing the
realization of a plan we had formed some years
before for the marriage of her younger sister
to my brother Napoleon. Lapse of time and
prolonged absence decided the matter other
wise."

II. Napoleon to Joseph, Semur, May 23, 1795.
"Yesterday I visited the estate of Ragny,
belonging to M. de Montigny. If you were a
man to make a good bargain, you would do
9'

92

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

well to come and buy this estate, paying eight
millions of assignats ; you could invest in it
sixty thousand francs of your wife's dowry ; I
desiTe and advise you to do so. Remember
me to your wife, to Desiree, and to the
family.''
III. Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, June 25, 1795.
" I shall take care to execute for your wife
the commissions she desires. Desiree asks me
for my portrait, and 1 am going to have it
done ; you will give it to her if she continues
to desire it ; if not, keep it for yourself. In
whatever circumstances fortune may place
you, you know well, my dear brother, that
you cannot have a better friend, one who is
more dear to you, or who more sincerely de
sires your happiness. Life is a light and fleet
ing dream. If you go away, and think that it
may be for some time, send me your portrait;
we have lived together so many years, and so
closely united, that our hearts have become
one, and you know how entirely mine belongs
to you. In writing these lines I feel an emo
tion such as I have seldom experienced in my
life ; I feel that it will be long before we see
each other again ; and I can write no more."

SWEDEN AND NORWAY

93

IV. Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, July 7, 1795.
' ' I have heard no news from you since you
started. It must be that in going to Genoa
one crosses the River Lethe, for Desiree has
not written to me since she has been in
Genoa."V, Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, July 19, 1795.
"Still no letter from you, and it is more
than a month since you set out ! Neither
have I had any letter from Desiree since she
went to Genoa. . . .
" 1 await your letters with impatience, and
also news of all your circle. My greetings to
your wife, whom I greatly desire to salute at
Paris, where one can live more happily than
at Genoa. Here a straightforward and prudent
man, who interferes with no one but his
friends, can live with all the expansion and
liberty imaginable, and is, in fact, absolutely
free."
VI. Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, July 25, 1795.
"I am general on duty with the Army of
the West, but my illness keeps me here. I
am expecting more detailed letters from you ;

94

DESIREE, QUEEN OF

I believe you have taken pains not to tell me
a word about Desiree; I don't even know
whether she is still living."
VII. Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, July 30, 1795.
" The conclusion of peace with Spain makes
offensive war in Piedmont certain. The plan
I have proposed is being discussed, and will
infallibly be adopted. If I go to Nice, I shall
see you, and Desiree also."
VIII. Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, August i, 1795.
" I have received no letters from you since
your No. 4, dated the 25th Messidor; I have
not yet received No. 2 ; perhaps the English
have captured it. Send me news oftener.
You never speak of Mademoiselle Eugenie. . .
" Adieu, my friend ; gaiety and no anxiety,
courage and friendliness ! My compliments
to Julie, and something or other to the silent
one ! "
IX. Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, August 9, 1795.
"I have received from Desiree a letter which
seems to me to be very old ; you have never
mentioned it."

Is"' ,'
fa

SWEDEN AND NORWAY 95
September 6 the letter of rupture, men
tioned by Baron Hochschild, was written.

X. Napoleon to Joseph (King op Naples), Paris,
March 31, 1806.
"You will perceive that 1 have created six
fiefs in your kingdom. I think that you
ought to give the most considerable, with the
title of Duke of Tarento, to Marshal Berna
dotte. I have given Berthier NeufchStel, be
cause I ought to think first of the one who has
served me longest, and has never failed me.
Your relationship with Bernadotte requires
that you should give him particular privileges
in your palace, since his children are your
nephews, and that you should assure him a
revenue of four or five hundred thousand
livres."
XI. Napoleon to Joseph, St. Cloud, June 5,
1806.
"Of the enclaves of Benevento and Ponte
corvo I have made two duchies : that of Bene
vento for Talleyrand, and that of Pontecorvo
for Bernadotte. I am aware that these terri
tories are not rich ; but I will give these

96 DESIREE.

duchies a supplementary endowment. Talley
rand is rich enough not to need it. I will
take care of the endowment of that of Berna
dotte. Occupy these territories, at first, under
the form of a military occupation. You per
ceive that in giving the titles of duke and
prince to Bernadotte, I am acting out of con
sideration for your wife ; for 1 have in my
army generals who have served me better, and
upon whose attachment I can count with more
security. But I have thought it suitable that
the brother-in-law of the Queen of Naples
should have an exalted rank in your kingdom."

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YALE UNIVERSITY

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