Savary dit à Hortense que Napoléon exige qu'elle reste autour de Marie Louise.
…
This is part of a a series where we translate the memoirs of Hortense Bonaparte’s reader, Madame Cochelet. When we last left off, Napoleon had won a battle and Hortense went off to visit Marie Louise and a friend who had just lost a husband in battle.
Hortense writes:
The Empress invited her sister [Hortense] to attend the Te Deum which was sung in celebration of victory; but the Queen was too ill at the moment and could not go there. The Duke of Rovigo (Minister of Police) arrives immediately at Saint-Leu and tells the Queen that she was very wrong not to attend the Te Deum sung in honor of our victories, that the Empress is very isolated.
"You must know," said he, "that the Emperor, who esteems your Majesty so much, always wishes to know that she is near his wife."
My God, said the Queen, what resource can I be for the Empress? I always do more things than my strength allows. However, if you think that the Empress can enjoy spending a day with me, I will invite her, and I will try to make it pleasant.
In fact, the Queen had invited the Empress with that speech, the Empress arrived early on May 17th.
She was accompanied by the beautiful Duchess of Montebello (widow of Marshal Lannes), the charming Countess Edmond de Perigord, a chamberlain, a squire, pages and an escort.
After lunch, the Queen led her sister into the woods of Montmorency. The Empress loved to ride a horse! The Queen also went up there; we went to take a look at the Chateau de la Chasse.
We came back after changing. I got the Queen, in order to amuse the Empress, to bring the actors from the Variety Theater, to perform a show that she nor the Empress had never seen - because Napoleon would not have considered it good. Reassured in a way about military events, the Queen only had to take care of her health.
…
Ceci fait partie d'une série où nous traduisons les mémoires de la lectrice d'Hortense Bonaparte, Madame Cochelet.
La dernière fois que nous nous sommes arrêtés, Napoléon avait gagné une bataille et Hortense est allée rendre visite à Marie Louise et à une amie qui venait de perdre un mari au combat.
