Today's bon bon: Napoleon escaped Elba and the French did not know how to cope! His route was fast!

Napoleon escaped Elba and the French did not know how to cope! His route was fast!

He landed from Elba in Cannes and marched a bit each day north. His objective was Paris to take over the government again. This was not easy. The results, not a foregone conclusion either.

Many assumed the French army would stop him. They didn't. But turned to his cause.

Many thought peasants would rise against him. They didn't. They opened their arms to him.

Many thought his former generals, most of whom were now employed by the new king and the royalists, would stop him. They did not.

Here is his route. I hope you can see it. Do enlarge. It is the first one published of his return.

A royal wedding the world applauded...and then mourned!

Princess Charlotte, Princess of Wales and heir to throne of United Kingdom, married a war hero Prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg May 2 1816! 

She is a fixture in my story, Book 2 in this series, in A MAY DAY TO REMEMBER, because one of the characters in my story is to marry on that day too! 

This is the engagement portrait of the Princess and Leopold done in February 1816. When she met him much after the Battle of Waterloo (in which he fought and was a Russian officer), she was enchanted by him. He was quite dashing and so much more handsome than the Prince of Orange, to whom she was engaged, that she cancelled that arrangement and demanded to marry "her darling Leo."

Her wedding gown

She was a darling of the people and they rejoiced that her marriage was a love match. The couple married May 2, 1816 and retired to the country to become better acquainted. A few months later, she was pregnant...but like many first pregnancies, she miscarried.

In a few more months, she was once more enciente. In the later months of her pregnancy, her acchoucher (a much acclaimed male midwife) advised her to cut her consumption of food, walk more often and slim down. She was gaining too much weight and her limbs were swollen. He feared she would develop toxemia, an often fatal condition for a pregnant woman that increased blood pressure. He also feared the baby would be too large to deliver safely.

She went into labor and had a very difficult delivery. The baby, a boy, was born at 8 pounds. Soon after however, he died. While Charlotte initially seemed to recover, she soon developed symptoms of toxemia. She died a day later and the nation greatly mourned her tragic loss.

Her accoucher was so distraught that he committed suicide weeks later.

Her husband retired to the countryside to grieve. However soon he returned home to the Continent where the Allies soon awarded him for his service during the Napoleonic wars. They named him King of the Belgians. His descendants have ruled that country since then. All of them are offspring from his second wife, a daughter of the French King, Louis Phillippe.

Leopold has other claims to fame. He is one and the same man whom you have seen steer his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Cobourg, to marry Queen Victoria.

Amazon Buy Link!

Cerise went to #Paris to see where #Napoleon lived, abdicated #Regency #boxset #99cents @TheIncomparables

Old print of 'Abdication of Napoleon, His Departure from Fontainebleau for the Island of Elba'.

A representation of Napoleon signing his abdication.

Two hundred and one years ago, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated his imperial throne, after leading France politically and militarily for nearly two decades.

When I visited France recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit many of the places where Napoleon lived. Among them was the gorgeous hunting lodge and chateau of French kings, then turned palace, Fontainebleau.

In the suburbs of Paris and accessed easily by train, Fontainebleau offers a dramatic experience in French history. A marvelous example of French Rococco, the hunting lodge became a grander palace under the direction of Francis I. So the mixture of ancien regime decor and architecture is a true delight.

Abdication Room as it is today.

Among the rooms is the one in which Napoleon signed his abdication April 13, 1814. Adjacent is his bedroom where the night before, he drank poison. Ill and then purged by an elixir brought by his servants, Napoleon recovered to sign the document. He grumbled that "even poison failed him."

This abdication agreement was between Napoleon and the representatives of Austria, Russia and Prussia and by this treaty, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. After signing in this room, he went to the steps facing the main entrance to the palace and addressed his officers assembled in the courtyard.  These are my pictures of the steps where he stood and the view he would have had of the courtyard and his imperial gates, which still have the two eagles atop.
   And do look for a new box set 99 cent deal June 18, 2015 when I  join 5 other marvelous Regency authors for a release to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo!  What is the title of this not-to-be-missed collection?  THE INCOMPARABLES: 6 HEROES OF WATERLOO and THE 6 LADIES THEY ADORE!

Front steps of Fontainebleau where Napoleon stood
to bid farewell to his troops.

Fontainebleau's full front facade where Napoleon addressed his troops.

This is same view Napoleon would have had of courtyard. Do note his Imperial Eagles on gate posts.