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Auction: 13050 - Postal History and Historical documents
Lot: 2094

Historical Documents
Empress Eugénie
1873 (4 June) A.L.S. to the Maharajah of Bhopal on blue mourning paper with Camden Place, Chislehurst letterhead, written in French it is signed "Eugénie". The letter thanks the Maharajah for his letter of condolence on the death of the Emperor. With a translation into English by a political agent and two letters from the Maharajah bearing his seal in black. Bound. Usual folding creases, some damp damage on the unwritten side of the letter. Photo

Eugénie (1826-1920). Empress of France; influential wife of Napoleon III and flamboyant fashion leader. She went to Paris when Louis-Napoléon became president of the Second Republic in December 1848. They were married in January 1853 after he had become the emperor Napoleon III.

Camden Place was a two-storey red-bricked house with its imposing clock above the entrance and large wings with open balustrade parapets comprised of over twenty rooms, a private chapel, and two kitchens and located in its own grounds, Camden Park, west of the small common. Beyond lay Camden Wood, a wild area equal in size to the private grounds. In1870, that, at the commencement of the Franco Prussian War, The Empress Eugénie and her young son, the Prince Imperial, fled from Paris and sought refuge in Chislehurst, renting Camden Place from Nathaniel Strode for £300 per year. It was here that Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte came after his release in 1871. Hardly the idyllic English cottage Louis had been anticipating, however, since the Imperial family’s entourage consisted of 39 permanent residents, it would hardly have been adequate. Louis’s bedroom was a small chamber on the top floor at the back, tucked away in the corner next to one of the semicircular projecting wings.

The Emperor and Empress soon established a varied social life at Camden Place entertaining much royalty and nobility. Louis, Prince Imperial, their only child also resided at Chislehurst, although in 1872 he was stationed at the Royal Woolwich Military Academy as an officer cadet. On January 9th 1873, Louis Napoleon, who had been ill for some time, died. After a lavish and spectacular funeral, the procession stretching from Camden Place across the common to St Nicholas Church, he was buried at St Mary’s Church.

In 1888 the Empress decided on a larger memorial to her husband and son than could be provided in Chislehurst, and so their remains were taken to St Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire, where they remain to this day. The Empress died in 1921.

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Estimate
£250 to £300