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