Marie Louise, Part III

Marie Louise seemed attached to her husband and spoke well of him to her father… and he seemed very fond of her.  It’s rumoured that he still had occasional mistresses... but he was getting older and he had over extended his Empire.  His invasion of Russia was of course a great mistake, which resulted in military disaster.  In Spain, Wellington was gradually winning the war with Napoleon’s marshals.

Napoleon arranged for Josephine to “accidentally” meet his son when out with the child’s nurse, one day.  She was delighted to see the baby. 
But by then, the end of the Empire was getting closer.  Napoleon invaded Russia and was forced to retreat, losing a large part of his army.  In his weakened position, he was then attacked by Prussia, Russia and Great Britain and Austria joined in the war, against him.  Marie Louise was appointed Regent but it was a nominal position.  When the Allied army was on the verge of entering Paris, she wanted to stay there with her son but Napoleon wanted her to flee from his enemies. Napoleon abdicated in April, 1814, and Marie Louise was given several Italian Duchies, which were to be inherited by her son.

Initially she wanted to re-join her husband but was dissuaded by her Austrian advisers.  She returned to Vienna, divided between wishing to support her husband who was the father of her child, and doing what the Austrians wanted. Napoleon, exiled to Elba, hoped for a visit from her, but by the summer of 1814, she had fallen in love with Adam Von Neipperg, a middle aged married soldier.  It was hoped that he would distract Marie Louise from wanting to visit her husband.  She was soon involved in an affair with Neipperg and asked for an amicable separation from Napoleon.  In 1816, she went to Parma, to live in her Duchy there. Neipperg accompanied her, but she had to leave her son behind, and he was cut out from the succession to the Duchy.

Neipperg was the virtual ruler of Parma, as Marie Louise left public affairs to him.  She was sorry to leave her son but seems to have accepted it.  Soon she had children by Neipperg whose wife had died and was preoccupied with them. 
However she had to wait till Napoleon’s death in 1821 to be able to marry her lover, morganatically.

She had 3 children with him, a daughter who died young, and another daughter and son who survived her.  She was preoccupied with private life and left her husband to run the Duchy, under instructions from the Austrian chief minister. 

The King of Rome, now known by the German name of Franz and titled the Duke of Reichstatdt grew up at the Austrian court and grew alienated from his mother.  He felt that she had abandoned him and his father…and he spoke well of Josephine believing that she would have been a more loyal wife.

Marie Louise has been criticised by Bonapartists for her leaving Napoleon and letting her son by him grow up in Austria... and the way she rapidly fell in love with a married man and became his mistress.

However, she had not wished to marry Napoleon, and had tried to be loyal to him, up to a point... But while she had been fond of him, once he was banished from Europe, she regarded their relationship as at an end…It had been a political alliance... rather than any kind of love match.

In 1829 Neipperg died and she was devastated.  She was grieved at the death of her eldest son, who died young of TB.  In the early 1830s, another Austrian courtier was sent to Parma, Charles-René de Bombelles, and within 6 months, Louise married him morganatically.  He proved a loyal husband and remained close to her until her death in 1847, when she was taken ill and died of pleurisy.  She was later buried in Austria.  Her children married into the Austrian nobility….

Napoleon had been hurt by her indifference and even more so by the separation from his son and the fact that the boy was going to be brought up as an Austrian prince.  He did however speak kindly of his second wife and said that he had respected her much more than he did Josephine.  Josephine had been unfaithful and insanely extravagant and their marriage had had its storms in the earlier days… whereas Marie Louise had been a loyal wife while they were together and had always been careful with money. 

However Josephine had grown to genuinely love him, though at the beginning of her marriage, she had not cared deeply for him.  After his downfall, she had tried to use her position and her personal charm and magnetism to help him, as well as to help her son and daughter and their children.  She had remained loyal to Napoleon in spite of receiving the Russian Tsar… who had protected Hortense.

Marie Louise had grown fond of her husband and learned to get on with him, and had been grateful for his kindness.  However it had been a political marriage and she is probably not to be blamed for not wanting to remain married to him in any real sense, when he was no longer Emperor…but she does come across as a rather shallow woman, who was very much led by others.

Marie Louise Part II

Marie Louise was sent to France in 1810, soon after Napoleon’s divorce and was escorted on the long journey by Caroline Murat, her new sister in law to be.  The three Bonaparte sisters, Caroline, Pauline and Elisa, were not very happy with the idea of a new empress, though they had been delighted to get rid of Josephine.  Now their brother was bringing in a new wife, who was of the highest imperial blood, and none of them liked the idea of her taking precedence over them.

As they neared Paris, Napoleon rode out to meet his bride, and intercepted the carriage.  Marie Louise was startled at his sudden appearance. 

 When they broke their journey to rest for the night, Napoleon asked his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, if he and Louise were legally married.  He then proceeded to spend the night with her.   Marie Louise was completely naïve and inexperienced, but she seems to have been willing to accept her husband’s advances.  Although she had not been happy at the idea of marrying the “monster” Napoleon, she found him much more agreeable in person, than she had expected.  He claimed that after their first lovemaking, she asked him to “do it again”….He was very pleased with her, and she seems to have been quite happy with the marriage and the sexual side of it. 

 Soon she became pregnant and Napoleon was delighted.  He had remained in touch with Josephine because he still cared for her.... but he had insisted that she should leave Paris at the time of the wedding.  
He found that his new wife was rather jealous of hearing anything about his first wife... Josephine, although much older and never a beauty, had always been charming, elegant and attractive.

Marie Louise was considered rather heavy and dull, and overly stiff and formal, in her court manners.  She lacked Josephine’s easy charming way with people.

Many of the old soldiers too regarded Josephine as a good luck charm and believed that Napoleon would lose his military luck, if he got rid of his wife. Marie Louise was not that popular with the troops or the public, because of her Austrian birth and her being the great niece of Marie Antoinette. 

In 1811, she gave birth to her son by Napoleon, who was given the title King of Rome.  He was delighted that he finally had a legitimate son.  He had been distressed by Louise’s pains at the birth and when there were some difficulties, he said that he wanted to save the mother, rather than the child

Empress Marie Louise (Part I)

Marie Louise of Austria was the second wife of Napoleon I.  She was never as popular or as well-known as his first wife Josephine.  It is hard to get a clear idea of her character…

Josephine was well known for being extremely extravagant... we’d now call her a shopaholic. She was terrible with money and always in debt.  Marie Louise was much more sensible, in many ways, but never loved  by the French public, as Josephine was.

She was born Maria Ludovica and was the daughter of Francis II, the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  Born in 1791, Marie Ludovica came from a very fertile family.   Her father married 3 times and had several children.  Her mother had borne 12.

Francis II was considered a reactionary, and his wars with the French ended in defeat.   

By 1809, Napoleon was considering divorcing Josephine, since he had had proof that he was capable of fathering a son.  He made peace with Francis II.  However the price of peace was the Austrians having to cede territory to the French empire and providing a bride for Napoleon.

He had been trying to find a new wife, and he was eager now to ally himself with one of the great dynasties of Europe, who would have to recognise him as a man who had made himself royal, by his military and other achievements.  He was also keen to find a wife from a prolific family, as his main reason for marrying was to have a male heir...  He tried to marry one of the Czar's sisters but was not successful.  
However,  Francis agreed to give his daughter to the man who had defeated him, even though she had been brought up to regard Napoleon as a monster.

She was reared to be obedient, though and accepted the marriage.  She had been brought up in a very narrow world; her reading was censored, her education limited.  She had never even been permitted to possess a male animal.

She was to be renamed Marie Louise, in the French fashion….

Winifred Gerin and John Locke

Winifred and John Locke settled in Haworth, in a house they called Gimmerton....and they both worked very hard, though they enjoyed the natural beauty of Haworth and took long walks around the countryside.  They also joined the Bronte Society which was based there,  and got involved in various controversies about how the Parsonage Museum was being run.  Winifred was a kindly and generous woman but she had a sharp tongue and was opinionated! 

She worked on her biographies and branched out later into other biographies of women writers or literary figures.  She got some criticism from more rigorous historians, that she was inclined to favour her own ideas and to allow her emotions to govern what she said in her writings. She also used literary evidence from the Bronte novels to colour the information in her biographies.   This was why she had not liked studying history at University, as a girl... because she tended to prefer the romantic stories and legends, rather than get involved in the heavier more rigorous research that was necessary to study history.

However, her books did spark off more critical and popular interest in the Brontes and while they are somewhat romanticised, they are not lightweight.   

She popularised the story that Branwell Bronte had been to London to apply for a place at Art School, but had not made the application.. that he had instead spent his time and money drinking, because he lost his nerve.  But this is taken from a story he wrote, rather than form any hard evidence.  It is now believed by most Bronte experts that he never did make the trip to London but had just written to the Art school to make enquiries.

However, her information was based on what was known or believed at the time…

Her husband was absorbed in his work on the biography of Patrick Bronte.  He had not had much experience of writing, so it was hard work for him.. but he and Winifred were both passionate about their subject.  They loved Yorkshire and enjoyed living there.

however, about 10 years after their marriage, John confessed to Winifred that he had fallen in love with another woman, and she and he quietly separated.   There was a large age difference between them and Winifred had been John’s first love.. but it faded.

There was no serious estrangement, and Winifred did not publicise the separation.  She told friends that he was remaining in Yorkshire to work and she moved back to London to live with her sister Nell, who had been a close friend in her youth.

Winifred Gerin, working life

Winifred and Eugene were unhappy with being trapped in France, but they finally managed to get away and go back to England, where they were eager to do their bit for the War.  Eugene was cut off from his family in Belgium.  He and Winifred went to work for one of the secret service departments; he was working preparing supportive pro Allied propaganda to broadcast to Belgium, using his local knowledge and linguistic skills.   Winifred got a job as an assistant to one of the other staff, and both were very dedicated to their war work.

But in the later stages of the War, Eugene, who had been working very hard, died suddenly, he was quite a young man.

Winifred was devastated.  He had been the great love and passion of her life.   However, she was a strong woman and did her best to find something to replace her dedication to Eugene.  She found it in her work.  She had been writing before and during her marriage, but had not found her medium as yet.  When the war was over, she visited Belgium and kept in touch with Eugene’s family, especially her godson… but she became absorbed in writing plays.

She wrote a play based on the life of Jane Austen, and also one (called Juniper Hall) on Fanny Burney.  She may have felt some identification with Fanny, she was a writer, and had married a foreigner.  Fanny Burney had married a French refugee, General D’Arblay.. and had spent many years as a widow.  Winifred has some of the plays produced, though there was criticism that they were a bit too wordy…

In the post War years, she was occupied with her work, but in the early 50s, she took a holiday with her sister, in Yorkshire.  She had always loved the Brontes and felt that one needed to see Haworth, to understand them.. the moors and the natural beauty and isolation in which they lived.  During the trip, she met John Locke, a young man with literary ambitions who was about 20 years her junior.  She was in her early 50s and he was in his thirties.  John was a shy man who wanted to write, but had been occupied with the War and with a routine job.  Meeting Winifred, he fell in love and they decided that their mutual passion for the Brontes and Yorkshire would be the basis for their marriage.

 They bought a house in Haworth and both decided to settle into a writing project.  John collaborated with the local clergyman on a biography of Patrick Bronte.. who had been the curate at Haworth.. Winifred started to write a biography of Anne Bronte.  She also wrote an in depth biography of Charlotte, and a play about Charlotte’s love for her “master”, the Belgian teacher, M Heger.

Mickey Gilley, cousin to Jerry Lee

Mickey Gilley is a country singer, and the cousin of both Jerry Lee Lewis and the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.  Born in Mississippi in 1936, Mickey, like his cousins loved music.  Jerry Lee used to sneak into black clubs, as a kid, to hear what was then called “race music” i.e. African American styles of music like R&B.  He played piano, with a wild style, and great technical ability.  Mickey also learned to play piano from his cousin.  When Jerry Lee began to have massive success, Mickey started his country music career in the later 50s.    He was a very talented pianist, though not  as good as Jerry Lee….

 He had some hits and opened a club in Pasadena Texas, where country music was played and there was a mechanical bull to give his customers something of the rodeo experience.  He was doing well and over the 70s, he like other country artists began to sing crossover and pop country songs.  One of his best known hits was “The Girls all get prettier at Closing Time”, a song he performs in Dukes of Hazzard…other hits included a cover of the Song “Stand by Me” and “A room full of Roses.”

 In 1980, his club was featured in the Travolta film Urban Cowboy, where John Travolta played a young working class man who works in an oil refinery by day and dreams of going back home to the land.

The film brought a lot of publicity to his club, and Mickey’s singing career continued successfully in the 1980s.  However in the later 80s, his stream of hits dried up, and he had some financial problems.   His club in Pasadena had to close, but he later opened a theater in Branson Missouri.   In 2009, he suffered an accident in moving furniture which left him paralysed for a time, but with determination and physical therapy, he recovered, though he wasn’t able to play piano…

He is still working, and has been married twice, having 4 children.

Ernest Tubbs 1914-84 and Lucky Tubbs

Ernest Tubbs was born in Texas in 1914. Hs father was the manager of a cotton farm and the family moved around.  His parents divorced when he was about 12.  He stayed with his very religious Mother who loved music.  He worked on farms.   As a teenager he was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers and began to sing.   In the late 1930s, he took several jobs, such as driving trucks, to support himself while trying to get a start in the singing business.  A tonsillectomy in 1939 affected his singing style – he lost the ability to yodel - so he turned to song writing. 

His voice was twangy and often flat, and sounded “western” –the sound of a cowboy out on the trail…

However he had excellent musicians in his band, the Texas Troubadours and he joked about his singing style.  In the 1940s he returned to singing and then had a hit with the song “Walking the Floor over you”…  He had his own radio show and sang at the Opry… and had a very loyal following.

He also had the Ernest Tubbs record shop, on the Broadway in Nashville which is still there…

He married twice and had children and one of his sons, Justin became a successful song writer as well. 
Ernest’s great nephew, Lucky Tubbs is a successful country singer and has worked with Hank Williams III... he has a good voice, also.  He has a  rather  ‘twangy” western sounding voice and he has performed some of his great uncle’s hits.

In later years, Ernest’s hits dried up but he continued to perform at the Opry.   He worked hard and continued to tour, but his health was giving problems. He had developed emphysema in the 1960s and by the 70’s he had to carry oxygen around with him.  Like Jimmy Rodgers, he had to rest between shows…

He died in 1984 and is buried in Nashville….

Rough Music a Novella

A “band” story set in the US, in the late 1970s.   This isn’t a romantic love story and does not have a happy ending. It’s more of a work story, about music and the life of an up and coming band.  I’ve based it on what I’ve read about country singers in the days when touring was a constant part of their lives.  It was hard work and took its toll on the marriages of many singers.   But I love the music of the 1960s and 70’s.  I love country pop, people like Glen Campbell... and I also love the Williamses… especially Hank Junior.  I enjoy Lynrd Skynrd.  So my story is all about that sort of life… 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Music-Nadine-Sutton-ebook/dp/B01AEQS0G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452977780&sr=8-1&keywords=nadine+sutton

Somerville and Ross Part i

Edith Somerville was an Anglo Irish writer, who wrote several novels and stories, in collaboration with her cousin and good friend, Violet Martin…

Even after Violet’s death, Edith continued to write using her partner’s name because she believed that her cousin was still influencing her writing. She believed in spiritualism and tried to contact her by séances.

 They wrote as “Somerville and Ross”. 
Edith was born in 1858, in Corfu, where her father, a member of the Anglo Irish gentry was stationed on military service...
They moved back to Cork, in Ireland, and settled there, in one of the “big Houses.”  She was highly intelligent and her family allowed her to have a good education and to go abroad to study art.

She loved the country and riding and outdoor life. While by today’s standards she was “snobbish”, she did love the Irish people and felt that she understood them… She had a warm relationship with her work people and the tenants... She was very interested in the way that the Irish spoke English - and the amusing expressions and ability to talk well that most Irish people possessed.

 She met Violet Martin, whom she had not known before, in 1886... and they became close friends.   Violet was more conservative than her cousin, and was a strong Unionist, whereas Edith was increasingly sympathetic to the Irish Nationalist cause.  Both women however were suffragists and believed that women should have the vote and that they were capable of leading independent lives.  Both were keen horsewomen and loved hunting. In later life Edith managed the family property as well as writing and being involved in women’s politics.

Violet’s family came from Galway, from a landed estate, but they lost it due to various financial problems.  The Great Famine bankrupted many landlords and the Martins were caring landlords and tried to help their tenants, so they eventually found that their financial  problems had resulted in the loss of the estate.  They moved to Dublin. Living in genteel poverty in Dublin gave her a certain knowledge and breadth of experience which helped her with her writing. 
Francie, one of the leading characters in their best novel, the Real Charlotte, comes from an impoverished but Protestant background... who lived in genteel poverty in Dublin and nearby Bray…Violet was probably the better writer of the two, and she could not have created Francie, and given a picture of  middle class not so well off Protestants, without her having lived in Dublin.

End of Part I

Beds and Blue Jeans Story on Amazon

Beds and Blue Jeans –is a fun story.. a realistic romance about a contemporary couple in America, a young man and woman who find they have to get to know each other, after they have got together and produced a baby.     Sam and Pattie come to learn that love is about learning to compromise, working out the best way to do things and growing to love each other.

http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton