The women Bonapartes: the mother and three sisters of Napoléon I . n Paris, it is essential that you should dineevery Sunday in the Empresss apartments, wherethe family dinner is held. My family is a politi-cal family. When I am absent, the Empress isalways the head of it; besides, it is an honour thatI am conferring upon the members of my does not prevent me, when I happen to bein Paris, and my occupations permit of it, from dininor with you. ^7 a- ^ ^ ^ ^ Your anectionate son, Napoleon^ This epistle must have occasioned Madame agood deal of mortification, but the departure ofJose
The women Bonapartes: the mother and three sisters of Napoléon I . n Paris, it is essential that you should dineevery Sunday in the Empresss apartments, wherethe family dinner is held. My family is a politi-cal family. When I am absent, the Empress isalways the head of it; besides, it is an honour thatI am conferring upon the members of my does not prevent me, when I happen to bein Paris, and my occupations permit of it, from dininor with you. ^7 a- ^ ^ ^ ^ Your anectionate son, Napoleon^ This epistle must have occasioned Madame agood deal of mortification, but the departure ofJosephine for Malmaison and Saint-Cloud, andafterwards for The Hague, in order to console herdaughter, who had just lost her eldest son. Na-poleon Charles, dispensed her from the obligationof choosing between submission to Napoleonscommands and retiring to Pont; and she passedthe summer in Paris. On the return of the Emperor to his capital,she assisted at the Te Deum at Notre Damein celebration of his victories and the Peace 1 Published by Baron Larrey, Madame Mcr^.. ^ Pi 5 :S o X ^ 3 ^S THE WOMEN BONAPARTES 77 of Tilsit (August 15), and the fetes which fol-lowed, on which occasion joy, pride, and a veryelegant toilette made her appear so youthful, thatstrangers could hardly be persuaded to believeshe was really the Emperors mother. A fewdays later, she was present at the marriage ofJerome—whose union with Elizabeth Pattersonhad been annulled in the previous October—andCatherine of Wiirtemberg. Towards this amiableand excellent princess Mada77ie Mere found her-self strongly drawn at their very first interview,and a warm friendship was soon established be-tween them, which endured without interruptionuntil Catherines death, in November 1835, onlya few weeks before her own. Although, as we have mentioned, but little ofher Imperial Highnesss income found its wayinto the coffers of benevolent institutions, shetook her title of Protectress of the Sisters ofCharity very seriously, a
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