I was surprised to learn he was so into his stepchildren and that there were widely circulated rumors that Napoleon was having an affair with his stepdaughter.
I really wanted to know the story behind this story.
This led to a year at the Sorbonne in Paris and we produced a play about this relationship.
Since the subject of Napoleon is so vast, I limited myself to “at home” Napoleon.
When the Napoleon Memoir Series started up, I had no idea what we’d find. I knew Hortense’s Memoirs very well and Marchand’s memoirs formed the source of another play we produced.
But, the others memoirs have been a revelation.
The first four memoirs: Caulaincourt, Marchand, Hortense and Lavalette were all very congruent with each other concerning their respect for the Beauharnais family.
Now Méneval is a total spitfire but he is staunchly on the Bonaparte side of the Beauharnais vs. Bonaparte Cold War that was playing out around Napoleon.
The Beauharnais were a very courageous noble French family who Napoleon seemed to favor greatly at the expense of his own blood.
This, of course, antagonized his hot blooded Corsican family.
This story is really heating up.
The memoirs and an overview are here.
