.. in Europe. The children of these were key influences in the 20-21st centuries: Stillborn daughter Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, later Wilhelm IV, married Princess Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (no children) Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig, later Wilhelm I, married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimer-Eisenach Princess Friederike Luise Charlotte (known as Charlotte) Wilhelmine …
Fashion History Blog
Eugenie and Charles-Louis were married in a political liason…
… Charles (Napoleon III) was NOT the emperor when he married, because the defeat of Napoleon I dissolved the empire. Napoleon III was the President of the 2nd French Republic at the time of his marriage. Eugenie and Napoleon III were married in 1853, and they really didn’t like each …
Napoleon III with Eugenie ruled as Emperor from 1852-1870…
… as France was again an Empire. During this time Napoleon built an estate for Eugenie, who was very unhappy in marriage and wanting to contribute to the arts and sciences. Her “Barritz” drew the most fashionable society to France once again. (Photo: Chateau de Pierrefronds.. residence and center for …
Eugenie would become the First Lady of France through the 1850’s…
… and her influence in fashion and the arts went well into the 1880’s. Married to Napoleon III, Eugenie was first an Empress, then the wife of a President as his role changed with the political landscape of France. There were a few Borbons of the ancient French bloodline who …
Eugenie’s marriage proposal lives as one of the worlds’ greatest quotes…
Spanish born, Eugenie was educated in Paris, & was from the beginning a part of the fashionable aristocratic society. She met Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon I brother) at a party, where he tired to seduce her by asking “What is the way to your heart?”, to which she responded, “through the …
The marriage of Charles and Eugenie was not happy though…
Charles had many extra marital affairs, so Eugenie buried herself in her work, playing the role of Empress well, becoming an extreme influence on French arts and fashion, & therefore world fashion. (The most famous portrait: of Eugenie in 1855 shows a young in a Charles Worth designer gown with …
Eugenie Montijo of Spain, was educated in Paris…
… and got into a lot of trouble. History alleges that because of a young man who spurned her for another, she tried to commit suicide. She was thrown out of school for various behaviors. Eugenie was always very fashionable, and had money to buy the finest. (Portrait: Eugenie in …
Enter key fashion & historical figure, Eugenie of Spain…
… who married Napoleon III (Charles Louis), the nephew and heir to the French throne – or the French Republic depending on the political situation through their married lives. (Portrait: a young Eugenie in the early 1840’s. Note the wide Bertha collar and fitting waist typical of the early Victorian …
Charles Bonaparte was Napoleon III…
… although he was only Napoleon’s nephew, he became heir to the throne because Napoleon II, Napoleon’s only legal son born within wedlock to his second wife, Marie Louise, had died as a young man. (Portrait: His Prince Imperial Napoleon III as a young man)
Back to our Royal story…Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais had 1 child…
… a son, whom they named Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. Charles was the nephew and heir to Napoleon Bonaparte; next in line to become Emperor of France. (Portrait: Hortense with her son, Charles a.k.a. Napoleon III)