NAPOLEON'S LOVE STORY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 110, 19 November 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

NAPOLEON'S LOVE STORY.

THE GREAT EMPEROR AND DESIREE.

Napoleon, greatest of modern con» querore, made himself an Emperor, and made his brothers and two of his matshak Kngs. When his Empire fell, these subordinate Sovereigns were shaken from their thrones —oil except one. The tnrone of Sweden, and that alone, is still occupied by the dynasty founded in Napoleon's day and by his aid. Strangely enough—romantically, if you will —this is the royal line whose first King, Charles John, was Napoleon's marshal, Bernadotte; and whose first Queen, Desiree, was Napoleon's earliest sweetheart. She was, indeed, his betrothed, from whom he sought and obtained his release only when ho had fallen under the spell of the faseinat.ng widow, Josephine de Beauhar. Ms, with whose sophisticated charms young Desiree Clary, not yet fifteen, could not compete. A recent Drench writer, Jean Martelot, in a little study of Queen Desiree, bus related the story of her three notable suitors and her marriage. Her father and brother were prosperous 6ilk merchants of Marseilles. There were lour daughters —two married ; two, both very pretty, unmarried and at home. Little Desiree, accompanying a sister-in-law —whoso husband, in tiie confusion of those troublous times, had been arrested' —to the office of the representative, M. Albitte, to ask ms intercession, was by accident left forgot ten in an anteroom, where sho fell asleep. After she was Queen she told hor chamberlain the story. Wakened by the sudden closing ot a door, she found herself alone n ttift dusk, and a strange man looking at her in surprise. Much frightened, bbt' explained her situation, and her an xiety about her brother, whom sh* thought in imodiato danger of the guillotine. He reassured her, and offered to escort her to her home. They became good friends on the way, and sho invited him to call, that her mother might thank him for his kindness, addthat she should like to be able to tell her friends the name of tho gentloman who had protected her. " Very well; you may tell them that my name is Joseph Bonaparte," ea:d he. That is the way the Clarya and the Bonapartes became acquainted. Joseph called and soon became an intimate friend of the family; at the end of a few weeks he had proposed to Desireo that he should marry her as soou as die was sixteen, and she had consented. Soon be brought his brother Napoleon to call, and Tie, too, became a frequent visitor. "Hls arrival," Queen Desiree related, "made a change in our plans for the future. We bad not known him long when he sa?d to us, 'ln all wellmanaged households either the husband or the wifo must bo the one to yield. You, Joseph, havo no decision of character, ana neither has Desiree, while Julie and I know very well what we want- You will do much better, then, to marry Julie. As for Desiree, she shall bo my wife.' And that was tho wav I came to be betrothed to Napolen. Joseph did marry Julio Clary; but after Napoleon's defection, Desiree, from among her many suitors, chose, not unwisely, the rising young soldier Bernadotte. "I wish Desiree happiness if sho marres Bernadotte," wrote Napoleon from Egypt. "Sh<x deserves it." She was playing nn overture from tho opora when the news camo that she was Queen. "I never touched my harpsichord afterward," sho confessed, "for T thought that a Queen should not play badly." She lived to a good old age, and Haw the third generation of Bernadottea upon the throne of Sweden.