Empress Eugenie Thesis

Shelby Granada
12/22/15
Empress Eugenie
Eugenie Conntesse de Teba was born on May 5th 1826 in a small village in Spain called Granada. Eugenie was the daughter of a Spanish noble, who fought on the French side in Napoleons Peninsular war in Spain. Eugenie married Emperor Napoleon the III in January of 1853 and become the last Empress of the French. Empress Eugenie was a gorgeous woman who was number one in French society in 1870.
In 1854 the Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie bought several acres of dunes in Biarritz. Napolean chose this location near Spain so that his wife would not get homesick, they gave the engineer Dagueret the task of establishing a summer home surrounded by gardens, woods meadows, a pond and a building for them to enjoy. The house, known today as Hotel du Paiais, was called Villa Eugenie. Their presence at the home attracted other European royalty like the British monarchs, Queen Victoria and the Spanish king of Alfonzo XIII. It also made Biarritz become very well known.
On March 16th, 1856 Eugenie gave birth to a son, Napoleon-Eugene-Louis Bonaparte, the imperial heir. Eugenie was so concerned about her family that she started taking an active role in political affairs and became much more than just a figurehead for her husband. She served as a regent,

acting as a ruler of the kingdom in the absence of her husband in 1859, 1865 and 1870. She was a devoted Roman Catholic and supported ultramontane causes and opposed her husband’s Italian policies. Her oppositions resulted in a loss of temporal power for the Pope. She was instrumental in the decision to create a French-sponsored kingdom of Mexico which claimed a broad foreign policy to free trade which would financially help her husband’s empire.
Eugenie fully performed her duties as an empress, entertaining guests and accompanying the Emperor to balls, operas, and theater. She was a strong advocate for women’s equality because she supported it and participated in it. She also presumed the ministry of national education to give the first baccalaureate diploma to a woman and tried unsuccessfully to induce the Academies Françoise to erect the writer George Sand as its first female member.
Due to her origins, Eugenie supported French opposition to a Prussian candidate for the vacant Spanish throne, in the controversy that started the Franco-German war of 1870. Her husband declared war as he was advised that his army could defeat Prussia and that a victory would restore his popularity in France. Eugenie remained in Paris while Napoleon travelled to join the troops at the German front. Eugenie took it to herself to start and name a new government. After the defeat at the Battle of Sedan she joined her family in exile in England. After the death of her husband she continued playing a dominant role of the grande dame in exile.
The empress has also been commemorated in space. The asteroid 45 Eugenia was named after her. Then a moon was named after her son, the Prince Imperial. Eugenie also had an extensive and unique collection of jewelry which is mostly owned by the Brazilian socialite Aime de Heeren. De Heeren collected jewelry and was fond of the Empress as both were considered to be the “Queens of Biarritz”. Both of the ladies would spend summers on the Cote Basque. Impressed by the elegance, style, and design of the jewelry of the neo classical era, in 1858 she had a boutique in the royal palace under the name of “Royale collections”. She was also honored by John Gould who gave the White-headed fruit dove the scientific name of “Ptilinopus Eugeniae”
When her husband and son died the empresses health started to deteriorate. Her physician recommended that she visit Bournemouth, which was a health resort. The empress died in July 1920, at 94, during the visit of her relative the Duke of Alba. She left all of her most valuable prized possessions to her son’s heir, Prince Victor Bonaparte.
The Eugenie hat was named after the empress. This hat was a style of women’s Chapeau worn dramatically tilted and drooped over one eye. This hat had become “hysterically popular” by film star Greta Garbo. Her actual apparel was better represented by the late nineteenth- century fashion of a women’s bell sleeved coat and a single button enclosure at the neck. She was later portrayed in the 1939 film “Juarez”, where she was described as ruthless monarch who helped her husband scheme to control Mexico.

Empress Eugenie was mostly known for her fashion statements and her lead in society.

The empress was a leader of the world of dress. She swept away many people on with her fashion statements. In Paris every lady would walk and hold her head like the empress. Everything about Eugenie was imitated; her tint in her hair, her glance of her eyes and even the motion of her figure. In 1857 she became to have a liking to artificial flowers and everyone in Paris followed along. People even copied the empress’s hair; her corkscrew curls. The most popular of all was Eugenie’s crinolines which lasted a decade. Empress Eugenie spent 60,034,000 total francs on all of her clothing for balls in

Paris.

In society today Eugenie still influences us. Eugenie also gave a start to a luggage-maker named Monsieur Louis Vuitton. In 1854, when Vuitton first made himself as a trunk maker in Paris, he made not only the Empress's luggage, but he helped fill it too, "packing the most beautiful clothes in an exquisite way.” She's currently know in Tokyo as one of its most 'Timeless Muses'. As you can see she still plays a big part in our society as she did when she first became empress.