e among these names of foreign princes.
It was that of Prince Murat, who in the month of March was made
Grand-duke of Berg and Cleves. After Prince Louis of Bavaria, arrived
the hereditary prince of Baden, who came to Paris to marry a niece of
the Empress.
At the beginning this union was not happy. The Princess Stephanie (de
Beauharnais) was a very pretty woman, graceful and witty; and the Emperor
had wished to make a great lady of her, and had married her without
consulting her wishes. Prince Charles-Louis-Frederic was then twenty
years of age, and though exceedingly good, brave, and generous, and
possessing many admirable traits, was heavy and phlegmatic, ever
maintaining an icy gravity, and entirely destitute of the qualities which
would attract a young princess accustomed to the brilliant elegance of
the imperial court.
The marriage took place in April, to the great satisfaction of the
prince, who that day appeared to do violence to his usual gravity, and
even allowed a smile to approach his lips. The day passed off very well;
but, when the time came for retiring, the princess refused to let him
share her room, and for eight days was inexorable.
He was told that the princess did not like the arrangement of his hair,
and that nothing inspired her with more aversion than a queue; upon which
the good prince hastened to have his hair cut close, but when she saw him
thus shorn, she laughed immoderately, and exclaimed that he was more ugly
a la Titus than he was before. It was impossible that the intelligence
and the kind heart of the princess could fail to appreciate the good and
solid qualities of her husband; she learned to love him as tenderly as
she was loved, and I am assured that the august couple lived on excellent
terms.
Three months after this marriage, the prince left his wife to follow the
Emperor, first on the campaign in Prussia, and afterwards in Poland. The
death of his grandfather, which happened some time after the Austrian
campaign of 1809, put him in possession of the grand duchy, whereupon he
resigned the command of his troops to his uncle the Count of Hochberg,
and returned to his government, never more to leave it.
I saw him again with the princess at Erfurt, where they told me he had
become jealous of the Emperor Alexander, who paid assiduous court to his
wife; at which the prince took alarm and abruptly left Erfurt, carrying
with him the princess, of whom it must in justice be said that
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