We’ve been reading the memoirs of the finicky and high strung Hortense de Beauharnais Bonaparte.
Hortense rips into her stepfather Napoleon for his innumerable faults. But her brother Eugene? Hortense cannot find a harsh word for her brother.
During the French Revolution, Hortense and Eugene were severely traumatized by the execution of their father, Alexandre de Beauharnais. When the creepy officials said they were going to take the sword of their father away, Eugene went to an important general named Bonaparte to plead to keep it.
Napoleon said he was so impressed with this youth that he wanted to meet the mother who inspired her boy to possess such a depth of sentiment.
