One was the mistress of Napoleon I, the other of his nephew Napoleon III. The Polish Marie Walewska and the Italian Virginia de Castiglione share another point in common than that of having seduced a French emperor. They both did it for their country.
1is January 1807 in the village of Brony in Poland. Napoleon I is on the road to Warsaw. It was then that a very beautiful young woman of 20 managed to cut through the crowd gathered to welcome the one whom the Poles saw as the liberator of their country that, a few years earlier, Prussia, Austria and Russia s ‘were shared. Her name is Marie Walewska, is a countess and literally subjugates the Emperor of the French. At first reluctant, she will quickly become his mistress, with the agreement of her husband in his seventies. She wants to convince him to restore independence to all of former Poland. A hope that will be disappointed since only the Duchy of Warsaw was created in the summer of 1807, and placed under the crown of the King of Saxony. But their love story continues and is blessed with the birth of a son, Alexander. A child who totally changes the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Not because he is going to live with him and Marie, but because it allows him to discover that he can be a father, whereas he believed himself sterile. Enough to encourage him to divorce the Empress Joséphine who was therefore unable to give him descendants and to marry the Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria as a second marriage in order to have a legitimate heir.
To reread: Royalty, did you know? : What happened to the King of Rome, the son of Napoleon I?
Almost 50 years later, on January 9, 1856 in Paris. The nephew of Napoleon I is on the throne of France and goes to his cousin, Princess Mathilde, who gives a ball. Napoleon III met there the sublime Countess Virginia de Castiglione, 19, and could not resist so much beauty and charm. Like Marie the Polonaise half a century ago, the beautiful Piedmontese, nicknamed “La Perla d’Italia”, has an idea behind her mind. Besides, if she came to the capital, it is precisely to become the emperor’s mistress. She is on a mission commanded by her cousin Camillo Cavour. This is the minister of the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia Victor Emmanuel II, of which she is also the mistress. Objective: to convince Napoleon III to support them in their project for the reunification of Italy.
Ten stories of love and power and a Mitterrandian epilogue
What incredible fates are those of Marie Walewska and Virginia de Castiglione. Two destinies recounted by the former journalist Robert Schneider in his book “Maitresses et femmes d’influence. The heart of power since 1789 ”. Published by Perrin editions in May 2021, this 320-page book (on sale at a price of 21 euros) recounts ten stories of love and power, from the Napoleonic epic to World War II, to which is added, in epilogue , that of François Mitterrand and Anne Pingeot.
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