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MARIE LOUISE, EMPRESS OF FRANCE (1791-1847)
Autograph letter signed ('Marie Louise') to Monsieur Foresti, Sala, 25 October 1833, 3 pages, 8vo.
An appeal for Foresti's help in taking care her son, Guillaume [de Neipperg] while he is pursuing his military studies in Vienna. 'De me séparer de lui est certes un des plus douloureux sacrifices que j'ai fait dans ma vie ... dans mon chagrin, j'ai jetté les yeux sur vous ... et une voix intérieure me dit que mon espoir ne sera pas decu'. Foresti had been tutor to the King of Rome (Marie Louise's son by Napoleon) who died in 1832. Guillaume, born shortly after Napoleon's death in 1821, was her son by the Count of Neipperg who had been appointed by Francis I to escort her to Aix-les-Bains after the abdication and rapidly became her lover. A daughter, Albertine, was also born, and the existence of these two children at Parma was surrounded in secrecy. Neipperg himself died in 1828, and without his able administration the Duchy fell increasingly into disarray. Although the young Count of Montevuovo was, as the letter suggests, a delicate child, he survived to enjoy a distinguished military career as an outstanding cavalry general and colonel of the Viennese Dragoons.
Autograph letter signed ('Marie Louise') to Monsieur Foresti, Sala, 25 October 1833, 3 pages, 8vo.
An appeal for Foresti's help in taking care her son, Guillaume [de Neipperg] while he is pursuing his military studies in Vienna. 'De me séparer de lui est certes un des plus douloureux sacrifices que j'ai fait dans ma vie ... dans mon chagrin, j'ai jetté les yeux sur vous ... et une voix intérieure me dit que mon espoir ne sera pas decu'. Foresti had been tutor to the King of Rome (Marie Louise's son by Napoleon) who died in 1832. Guillaume, born shortly after Napoleon's death in 1821, was her son by the Count of Neipperg who had been appointed by Francis I to escort her to Aix-les-Bains after the abdication and rapidly became her lover. A daughter, Albertine, was also born, and the existence of these two children at Parma was surrounded in secrecy. Neipperg himself died in 1828, and without his able administration the Duchy fell increasingly into disarray. Although the young Count of Montevuovo was, as the letter suggests, a delicate child, he survived to enjoy a distinguished military career as an outstanding cavalry general and colonel of the Viennese Dragoons.
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