THE SEDUCTION OF MARIE WALEWSKA BY NAPOLEON I and THE POLISH UNDERSTANDING OF MISTRESSES

Marie begged off going to Tallyrand's ball, which would be a second opportunity to meet the great military leader Napoleon I, who the Polish people believed would be the country's salvation.  He was her hero. But she was overwhelmed with shyness. Well, they went.

Excerpt page 65 -66:  It soon became clear that Napoleon was enchanted with Marie, her exquisite grace, wide blue eyes, blond curly hair and youthful fire; he found beguiling the mixture of innocence and melancholy she conveyed.  He stayed unusually late at the ball and it was noticed that he observed her from a distance.  To her dismay she became the center of attention, of much whispering behind the fans, the target of countless monocles and lorgnettes. jealous looks from the women and admiring glances from the men.  The valiant General Bertrad and handsome Louis de Perigord, scion of a great family, paid her particularly assiduous court - a mistake on their part which they duly repented. Years later Napoleon himself recounted the incident in his Memoirs dictated to Montholon on St. Helena.

Anastase, burning with self-importance, escorted Marie home. At noon the next day a carriage drew up in front of the Walewski's house in Bednarska Street.  Out came Marshal Duroc, Chief of the Imperial Household, carrying a gigantic bouquet of flowers and a heavy parchment letter with imperial green seals: he was there to deliver a message to Marie from his master.  The contents of the letter shook the young woman to the core: 'I saw no one but you, I admired only you: I want no one but you; I beg you to reply promptly to calm my ardor and my impatience.'

Marie sent word that there would be no reply. But Napoleon tried again.  This next letter was more romantic. He said, 'I beg you to give a little joy to my poor heart, so ready to adore you. Is it so difficult to send a reply?' (page 67)  But again she did not answer.

Excerpt page 67: Poor Marie.  For a woman of her sensitivity and pride, this abrupt transformation of her legendary hero into an ordinary mortal, inflamed with desire, ashamedly suggesting a lover's meeting, must have been a brutal shock.  How could the great Emperor have misunderstood so completely the noble feelings she held for him? He demanded sacrifices from her country.  Like most of her compatriots she prepared to give him anything - her possessions, money, jewels, even her life if need be - all expect this one thing he so obviously wanted from her.

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Marie had been married barely three years and was tempted to experience love but it's suggested it was her love for her country, Poland that gradually allowed her to accept that she should meet up with Napoleon.  Some individuals were also encouraging her to go to him, thinking it would do the cause good to have a Polish woman 'installed in the castle." 

Excerpt age 71:  It is hard to believe that distinguished 'high-ranking Poles; would have talked about an 'official favorite' at the castle.  The position of a favorite - a maitresse en titre - was never part of a Polish tradition.  There had never been an equivalent of a Pompadour, a du Barry, or, for that matter, a Potemkin at Warsaw Court.  The king's mistress, if there was one, was regarded as his own private affair with no right to political patronage; she would have lived quietly, pretending to be sharing a house with her husband, and she would have been received in society according to her husband's rank.  Adultery o the part of the woman (standards were different for me) had always been frowned upon.  The beautiful Madame Grabowska (ELizabeth Sobolewska's mother), a long time mistress and eventually the morganatic wife of the last king of Poland, whose children by the king were all brought u at the castle, was -- even after a passage of years --- still officially regarded as the wife of the good General Grabowski, and all the king's children by her bore the name of her husband.  It was the Polish way of doing things, and it is very unlikely that such as argument would ever have been used.  Nevertheless the pressure on Marie continued, and finally she agreed to go.

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Marie was escorted to the castle but was apparently frightened and crying. So it's said that she and Napoleon only talked that visit. But the next? Marie is said to have possibly been raped. Unwilling, is what she implied.  But then, why would she have stayed with him?

Excerpt page 75: The imperial romance was conducted against the background of a complex political situation.....

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