Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Desmond Seward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2004

Eugenie de Montijo was Empress of the French, sharing the Second Empire with her husband Napoleon III. She impressed the Prussian Chancellor Bismarck so much that he called her The only man in Paris.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Desmond eward was born in Paris and educated at Cambridge University. He is the author of 22 books, including biographies of Henry IV of France, Eleanor of Acquitaine, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon's Family and Metternich.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The History Press; illustrated edition edition (April 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750929790
• ISBN-13: 978-0750929790
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,710,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poor Misunderstood, Forgotten Empress Eugenie, June 10, 2006

By 

Rebecca Huston "telynor" (On the Banks of the Hudson) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire (Paperback)

I've always been interested in the lives of royal women, especially when I discover that they were more than just royal spouses or fashion plates. While such women as Elizabeth I of England, Mary of Scotland, and Catherine the Great of Russia have gotten plenty written about them, all too often, women with lesser notoriety tend to be forgotten or passed over by historians.

One such woman was Eugenie, the Empress of Napoleon III of France. Author Desmond Seward, a long-time biographer of royalty, takes what at first appears to be a woman of little notice and turns her into someone to be reckoned with. At first I was rather skeptical, remembering that most of what I had read of Eugenie was that she was Spanish, a fashion setter who was known to have never worn the same evening gown twice and who was a patron of Worth, and that most of history regarded her as a conniving, bad woman who frittered life away. To say that I was in for a surprise was an understatement.

Born Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augusta de Montijo , Eugenie grew up in an Europe that was going through revolutionary changes. Her father had fought with Napoleon's armies, and Eugenie soon developed a fascination with all things having to do with the Bonapartes . Clever, beautiful, and with the ability of being able to say the right thing in the right situation, Eugenie should have been wed quickly, but even after a tour of Europe with her wealthy mother didn't manage a good catch, and at twenty-three she was facing the prospect of spinsterhood. But it seems that Eugenie already had someone in mind -- the nephew of the formidable Napoleon, who had just managed to create himself Emperor of the French, by a coup-de-stat.

Napoleon III, as he was known, was also charming, but also short, rather ugly, and inscrutable. An able politician, that side of his personality has been mostly overlooked for historians, focusing instead on his insatiable need for women, and his lack of military leadership. He was also an innate showman, knowing how to catch people's imagination, and able to push through schemes and ideas that most would never take seriously.

Together, Napoleon and Eugenie formed a partnership that managed to survive for more than seventeen years, recreating Paris from an aging medieval slum to the magnificent City of Lights that we know today. Eugenie gave European fashion a chic flair with her patronage of the coutiere Worth, the artist Winterhalter, and her own innate sense of design.

But there were also serious flaws to the couple as well -- Eugenie had a vicious temper, and one that got worse as it got older; Napoleon's infidelities drove her to jealous rages, especially after the difficult birth of her only child. For his own part, Napoleon backed the feeble attempt to turn Mexico into a monarchy, found himself embroiled in a war with Prussia and dwindled into history as a laughing stock. As for Eugenie, besides losing her throne, she would face a long, lonely exile from Paris that stretched to nearly fifty years, and was emotionally devastated by the loss of her only child at a young age.

It's an intriguing look at a woman who was both villified and worshipped during her lifetime and afterwards, much as Marie Antoinette had been in an earlier generation. Indeed, Eugenie was fascinated by her predecessor, and would avidly collect any sort of memorabilia and objects that were associated with that unfortunate queen. In fact, Eugenie's life would eeriely echo that of Marie Antoinette in many ways, and she always lived in fear of the Parisian mob seeking to overthrow her.

Despite the book being a bit light in treatment -- gossip is constantly recounted, and Seward often repeats himself -- this was an engaging, enlightening read. I had known very little about the Second Empire, and discovered that most of my preconceptions of this period were wrong. Seward draws on the memoirs, newspaper accounts and Eugenie's own letters and recollections for his source material. At just under three hundred pages, it's a quick read, and a good start to exploring this period of French history. A selection of engravings and photographs are included in a black-and-white insert, and there are copious notes and bibliography.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing look, July 25, 2005

By 

John H. Flannigan (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire (Hardcover)

Desmond Stewart's biography does an excellent job of rehabilitating Eugenie's reputation. In earlier accounts, she has been portrayed as a vicious airhead, a bigoted zealot, or a clueless encumbrance on the Second Empire. Stewart's elegantly written, well-organized book shows Eugenie's strengths--her intuitive grasp of French politics, her social liberalism, and her dignified life in exile after the deaths of her husband and her only child. Stewart's research is impressive, and he provides a helpful Bonaparte genealogy as an appendix. I came away from this book with heightened respect for Eugenie and a much clearer sense of the historical importance of France's Second Empire and its legacies: the Suez Canal, the music of Waldteufel and Offenbach, the literary splendor of Flaubert and the Goncourts, as well as France's disastrous defeat by Prussia in 1870 and Eugenie and Napoleon III's ill-fated Mexican adventure. This book is an excellent introduction to Eugenie the woman and to the world of international diplomacy in the Victorian era.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very sympathetic account..., July 30, 2004

By 

V. Reckermann (London, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire (Hardcover)

...of a remarkble woman. Desmond Seward definitely succeeds in recounting the life of the spanish born empress and wife to Napoleon III. It was the first biography I read about her and it initiated my passion for french history. Seward balances delicately between her as a private person leading the french court & the political background of 19th century Europe with one of it's climax - the franco-prussian war, which lead to the revolution and Napoeon's abdication.

The only thing I missed slightly was a deeper rendering of her political abilities. She had the reputation of a briliiant politician, being "the only man in Paris". The few times where she was regent, in the absence of her husband, Seward doesn't really delve into her active political doings apart from reflecting her opinion which, by no doubt, had large political impact. On the other hand he implies very successful how difficult it was for a woman and wife of the poilitcal leader in 19th century France to have a politcal role after all. Eugenie was brilliant in pursuing her personal and political goals within her boundaries set by society and court.

Altogether a great book and I recommend it with full belief.