Napoléon a-t-il été détruit par une fille qui prétendait être tout ce qu'il voulait qu'elle soit?
On May 5, 1821, Napoleon died. Marie-Louise is informed of her husband's death by reading the Gazzetta del Piemonte on July 19, while she is at Villa Sala with Neipperg and her children. She confides in her friend, Victoire, to whom she writes: "I am now in great uncertainty, the Gazzetta del Piemonte announced in such a certain way the death of the Emperor Napoleon, that it is almost impossible to doubt it, I admit that I was very touched by it, because, even if I never had very strong feelings of any kind whatsoever for him, I cannot forget that he is the father of my son and that far from mistreating me as the world thinks, he always showed me complete respect, the only thing that one could wish for in a political marriage. I am, therefore, very troubled by it, and although we should be happy that he ended his unhappy existence in such a Christian way, I wished him many years of happiness and life, provided that he would be far from me. In the uncertainty of what the truth is, I settled in Sala, not wanting to go to the theater, until we knew about the death for certain.”
Marie Louise’s children fathered by Count Neipperg.
