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….