In Hortense’s Memoirs, the very handsome Monsieur Decazes entered Hortense’s life crying about his recently deceased wife, wanting a job.
Next thing, the Murat household (as Hortense put it) were implying that Hortense and Monsieur Decazes were engaged in an affair.
Hortense writes:
“At last I became impatient with him [Decazes] for his evasions. On the other hand, how could I suspect the motives of Monsieur Decazes? I had only known him when bowed down with grief over the loss of his wife. Tears always make one think well of the person who sheds them. What reasons had I for believing that the sorrow of a stricken husband was a mask to conceal the vanity of a coxcomb?
“Being still young I had not lost faith in the existence of frankness and loyalty. A too justifiable distrust of human nature had not yet made me critical and suspicious of people's motives. Moreover, Monsieur Decazes as a member of my husband's household must have known the King's character and been aware of our domestic difficulties, nor could there be any doubt that, like all Frenchmen living in Holland, he realized it was I who was in the right.
“My misfortunes made everyone sympathize with me, and the public hesitated to condemn my behavior. In order to banish all doubts from my mind I thought it necessary to inform Monsieur Decazes of the remarks that were attributed to him. I expected that he would be deeply pained at such gossip.
“He defended himself more or less vigorously, but when he realized that people might believe he had enjoyed my favors for even a short time, a satisfied smile showed that his vanity was rather flattered, and betrayed the true character of a man whom I had considered honorable simply because he happened to be in distress.”
Hortense explains further in her memoirs how she feels that Decazes was part of the chief of police Fouché’s ongoing efforts to get rid of her mother Josephine. Making up a story that Hortense was fooling around was calculated to drive a wedge between Napoleon and Hortense (and her mother). Later in Hortense’s Memoirs, we see Tzar Alexander make every effort to try and charm Hortense away from her devotion to Napoleon.
Was Decazes playing a role beyond just being a jerky guy?
Later in the memoirs, after the abdication of Napoleon, we learn that somehow Decazes goes straight to the top and becomes the favorite of King Louis the 18th when the foreign powers install him on the French throne.
That happens.
Then we learn in a totally different memoir, that of the supremely upright and honest Lavalette, that Decazes was central in trying to get him, an innocent man, executed.
It’s fairly obvious that the members of Napoleon’s family were inundated with troublemakers.
Decazes went on to become the French Prime Minister and the French Ambassador to England. De Flahaut, who we have recently featured in this series also became Ambassador to England. Just a coincidence that seems worth noting.
The larger story is available here.
