In 1857, using money given to Eugnie as a wedding gift from the City of Paris, she established the Foundation Eugne Napolon, a boarding for impoverished French girls. Women in History, Copyright 2020-2022, All Right Reserved Thesocialtalks, Thesocialtalks.com is a Global Media House Initiative by, Everyone has heard of the Napoleons the former imperial and, dynasty, the most famous being Bonaparte, but very few know of the wife of Napoleon III (Bonapartes nephew), Spanish-born, and the First World War. Preview and subscribe here. The Empress bought the Farnborough Hill estate in 1880, following a decade of personal tragedy: the collapse of the Second Empire (1852-70), the death of Napoleon III, and the loss of her only child. Few could equal the delicacy of this fearsome old lady, who wrote often, always in French, inviting the empress to Windsor or Osborne, or to her Scottish castles. It seemed that her central source of torment was the welfare of the, In 1854, the Royal Hospital for the Blind was placed under her patronage. A favourite anecdote of the period was when Eugnie met two orphaned children, and she replied that she would adopt and provide for them. These two rooms (which are today the school library) were originally connected by an internal door, and, with two other small rooms, formed Eugnies inner sanctum. Eugnie evidently viewed the collections as a totality, and tried to preserve them in a trust. | It quickly became apparent that she was failing. Meeting a young scientist called Marconi, she lent him Thistle to try out his experiments between Nice and Corsica. In 1888 alone she was visited at Farnborough by King Oscar of Sweden, King Luis of Portugal, the Crown Prince of Italy and Empress Frederick of Germany, who still remembered with pleasure her visit as the young Princess Royal to Eugnie in Paris over forty years before. Grainger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo. Farnborough Hill, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 8AT. Destailleurs design, with its Gothic structure and Renaissance dome, was clearly informed by these debates. These collections had been brought to Farnborough from properties on the continent, including Arenenberg in Switzerland (the home of Louis-Napolons mother, Hortense), Malmaison (though not the Empire furniture) and Eugnies villa in Biarritz (the source of seven Gobelins tapestries inspired by Don Quixote from 175257). Also known Farnborough Abbey, St. Michael's Abbey is an absolute gem of great historic interest. Quite what the Spanish-born Empress made of this is difficult to determine. The death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, aged twenty-three, ended all hope of a Bonapartist restoration. Eventually they left, leaving the abbey in a state of squalor. She even went to the cinema. The most faithful visitor was undoubtedly Queen Victoria. In reviving these funereal traditions which had been largely destroyed, not without irony, by the Napoleonic wars Eugnie created one of the last functioning chantries in Catholic Europe. The kitchen wing was also extended, to provide accommodation for the staff, while there was an entire new annexe of three storeys. The architecture also aligns the Bona-parte family with the regal history of Europe. This second community took root and flourished. Inside the house, she created a museum-like display that recounted the history of the Bonaparte dynasty from the rise of Napoleon Bona-parte, her husbands uncle, up to the death of the Prince Imperial, her only son, in 1879. Therefore, he decided to make it the official color, Pantone No. She made no attempt to modernise Kendalls heavy Gothic detail, but furnished these spaces with unremarkable modern pieces and hung the walls with new paintings and informal family portraits. often visited Eugnie at Chislehurst and then when she moved to Farnborough (Hampshire). The Empress Eugnie of France died in July 1920 after spending 40 years in a house in Hampshire: Farnborough Hill, now owned by the Farnborough Hill Property Trust. There are two ideas running through the architecture of the upper church, one French, one Spanish. Among them were the Golden Rose, paintings by Winterhalter (including that of herself with her ladies), by Mme Vige-Lebrun (of Marie-Antoinette and of the dauphin) and by David. In 1881 the French authorities allowed her to travel through France so that she could attend the inauguration of a monument to Napoleon III in Milan. The Empress Eugnie of France died in July 1920 after spending 40 years in a house in Hampshire: Farnborough Hill, An exhibition looking at four of the giants of Victorian photography has at its centre a remarkable work by the, 'I wisely started with a map and made the story fit,' JRR Tolkien once wrote. It really is that good, A spectacular Georgian mansion for the 21st century comes to the market at 30 million. Designed by Gabriel Destailleur, this Victorian Gothic abbey built close to the Empresss residence takes after Hautecombe Abbey, the monastic establishment dedicated to Saint Michael not far from Lac du Bourget where the Princes of Savoy are buried. Learning in 1917 that the Allies considered Alsace-Lorraine to be part of Germany, she sent the French government a letter written to her by William I in 1871, in which he admitted that the provinces had been annexed purely for strategic reasons and not because their inhabitants were seen as Germans. In June 1920 the empress went to Spain by sea, sailing from Marseilles to Gibraltar. The Empress Eugnie in England Art, Architecture, Collecting Anthony Geraghty An exploration of the little-known assemblage of art and architecture that Empress Eugnie created in Farnborough in the 1880s. Toys arent just for children, at least if a 250-year-old musical elephant at the grandest house in Buckinghamshire is anything to go by, Over the centuries Notre-Dame de Paris has become much more than a place of worship it is a symbol of a nation, This episode explores an ancient funeral stele, Marie Antoinettes breast bowl, and how digital technologies are helping to preserve Egyptian heritage sites, Grainger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo, What the art world gets wrong about craft, Every generation rewrites the past in its own image, Crowd-pleasing art in 17th-century Amsterdam. The furniture combined historical pieces around the edges of the room with modern pieces in the centre, perpetuating the informal court etiquette of the Second Empire. Her liking is understandable he went out of his way to treat her as if she was still empress of the French. Like Ethel, Daudet is at pains to stress that she is neither frivolous nor a bigot. The complex vault that surmounts the apse begins with vertical wall mouldings, which, as they rise between the rose windows, detach themselves from the wall. 1837, for his brand, which remains today. ", 1427 E. 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637 USA. Then, once settled in England, she continued to donate to most of her former public charities with donations from her private purse, commenting that others should not have to suffer just because she had. The Empress bought the Farnborough Hill estate in 1880, following a decade of personal tragedy: the collapse of the Second Empire (1852-70), the death of Napoleon III, and the loss of her only child. Afterwards Queen Victoria congratulated her on her courage. Photographs by Will Pryce for the Country Life Picture Library. Farnborough Hill and the Empress Eugnie. Viewed in this context, the medievalism of Eugnies Farnborough is less surprising. Other sovereigns besides Queen Victoria treated her as an equal. Her judgement did not fail her Bigge ended as private secretary to King George V, who created him Lord Stamfordham. Photographs by Will Pryce for the Country Life Picture Library. Viollet-le-Duc illustrated this in his celebrated Dictionnaire raisonn de larchitecture franaise, which had been published in instalments during the Second Empire. In 1910 she revisited Compigne, discreetly joining a guided tour. The choice of architectural style, however, was unusual for its date, at least for a house of this size. He brought Jean Cocteau to see her. Farnborough Abbey, dedicated to Saint Michael, was the project of his widow, Eugnie, who after the fall of the Empire spent her remaining 50 years living outside France, preserving the memory of her husband and only son, the Prince Imperial, who was killed fighting in the British army during the Zulu wars in 1879. Located in an estate of its own, it is separated from the grounds of the house by a railway line, but it was always meant to be seen across the parkland of Farnborough Hill and the view is essentially unchanged. She also owned one of the first motorcars in Farnborough Village. Their sale by her descendants in 1927 would have been shattering for her, although it was a boon for French museums, who would over time repatriate these masterpieces for Compigne, Versailles and Fontainebleau. Can anything transcend the dignity of that long, iron silence? asked Ethel. The final choice was opposed in many quarters. The south facade of Farnborough Hill, with Eugnies private garden in the foreground, photographed by Firmin Rainbeaux in 1886. Within a decade, Empress Eugnie had lost her Empire, her home, her husband, and her only son, Prince Imperial Louis-Napolon. The letter convinced the Allies that Alsace-Lorraine must be returned to France. When his system of wireless communication was established in Canada, she was the first person after Edward VII to whom he transmitted a message. In 1903, the house was raised to the status of an abbey and the monks extended the modest brick house provided by the Empress with large additions to the north and south, both faced in stone and inspired by Solesmes. The empress Eugnie - the Spanish-born last empress-consort of France, wife of Napoleon III, mother of the prince imperial - lived for the last 40 years of her life in Farnborough, between. Her architect was Hippolyte Destailleur (182293), best-known in this country as the architect of Waddesdon Manor. The crowd at Louis-Napolons funeral was estimated to have been around 100,000. Clearly she had told him a good deal about herself, for example how in South Africa a smell of verbena led her to the place where her son had died it had been his favourite scent. From the start she hoped fervently for the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine, and Ethel Smyth recalled what a comfort she was at dark moments, so sane and unshakeable was her faith in ultimate victory. In 1880, he was invited to revise his designs for a mausoleum at Chislehurst. Eugnie sent the entire contents of the villa to Farnborough, where they furnished the house from top to bottom. The death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, aged 23, ended all hope of a Bonapartist restoration. They brought with them a tradition of superb Gregorian chant and liturgy that made services in the church worthy of an imperial foundation. "Anthony Geraghty thoroughly chronicles Eugnies efforts to memorialize the legacy of her family and the Second Empire in, "This is a sad story told with exceptional scholarship, wit and humanity; the book itself is a ravishingly beautiful object. She also took in Prince Victor Napoleon and his wife and children when they had to flee from Belgium. Dennis Severs House is art installation, theatre set and 18th century throwback, Country Life's Top 100 architects, builders, designers and gardeners, A Hampshire farm with immaculate farmhouse and a huge entertaining barn, just a few miles down the road from Country Life, The Jaguar I-Pace: If I had a spare 65,000, Id buy one tomorrow. Will Pryce for the Country Life Picture Library. Yet I could see at once that even now this pitiful frame was ruled by a vigorous, tenacious, proud spirit. Still defending the Second Empire, she asked him, Dont you agree that the World War completely justifies my view that [Imperial] France remained capable of putting up a fight after Sedan? She said she was looking forward to revisiting Spain the next spring. In 1873 Napoleon III, nephew of the more celebrated emperor, died in disgrace at Camden Place, now the home of Chislehurst Golf Club, having endured German captivity and the disastrous defeat of his armies in the Franco-Prussian war. Empress Eugnie, Saint Cloud and Farnborough Hill, Farnborough, Hampshire, commissioned from the artist (until d. 1920; her . The Empress bought the Farnborough Hill estate in 1880, following a decade of personal tragedy: the collapse of the Second Empire (1852-70), the death of Napoleon III, and the loss of her only child. 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