Eleonore von Metternich did not sign up for any of this. According to Laure, Eleonore had made her a silent offer of help. (I say 'according to Laure' because Eleonore doesn't mention it, and there are definitely some parts of her memoirs where Laure is lying by omission or commission. I've seen people suggest this makes them bad memoirs, but I don't really agree: surely every author of memoirs lies to one degree or another. The question is what you can glean from them despite that, and I would say that even lies or misunderstandings are valuable.)
For additional awfulness a) Napoleon had at one point courted her widowed mother b) according to a biography informed by her grandson, until Junot proposed, Laure thought he was also courting her mother. (I saw someone say "her mother couldn't complain about Junot, her proposed husband for Laure was older" but I think that you actually can, just not on grounds of age.)
Really, I want a really good biography of her, but apparently the only biography in English does a lot of 'Laure felt' which isn't based on evidence.
Extract from volume three of her memoirs, regarding her box at the theatre: "I had the opportunity of being generous seven or eight times a day. I gave, in the belief that so doing I should secure, if not real friends, at least a sort of amicable relation with my numerous acquaintances which might survive the obligation."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2024-10-17 04:53 pm (UTC)For additional awfulness a) Napoleon had at one point courted her widowed mother b) according to a biography informed by her grandson, until Junot proposed, Laure thought he was also courting her mother. (I saw someone say "her mother couldn't complain about Junot, her proposed husband for Laure was older" but I think that you actually can, just not on grounds of age.)
Really, I want a really good biography of her, but apparently the only biography in English does a lot of 'Laure felt' which isn't based on evidence.
Extract from volume three of her memoirs, regarding her box at the theatre: "I had the opportunity of being generous seven or eight times a day. I gave, in the belief that so doing I should secure, if not real friends, at least a sort of amicable relation with my numerous acquaintances which might survive the obligation."