Soundtrack:
Jean Paul Égide Martini - De Profundis Clamavi, D Min [1]
May 1814
*courtyard of Les Tuileries* *we see "Monseigneur François" craning his neck up as watches the bronze horses of Saint Mark being removed from the top of the Arc du Triomphe de Caroussel [2] with his governess, Louise Charlotte de Montesquiou [3]
Monseigneur François [aka the King of Rome]: why are they doing that, Maman Quiou?
Maman Quiou: your grandfather has given the orders that the horses must be removed. To protect them.
François: protect them from what?
Quiou: the weather, Monseigneur. Copies will be made and put up.
*Salon Rose [4] of the Tuileries* *Louis XVIII is seated, talking to Madame Royal*
Footman: the most high and most powerful prince, His Royal Highness, Monsieur, Comte d'Artois. *few moments later* the most high and most powerful prince, his Serene Highness, Monseigneur le Duc d'Angoulême
Louis XVIII: *gives discreet eyeroll*
Artois: *bows and kisses his brother's hand* your Majesty. *kisses Madame Royal's hand* my most beloved daughter.
Louis XVIII: I trust there is a reason for your...rudeness, brother? *motions for them to close the doors*
Artois: I wish to know how long your Majesty wishes to continue this...farce.
Louis XVIII: what farce?
Artois: *gives him a look as though to say "you know what I'm talking about"*
Louis XVIII: you'll be relieved to hear that when we retire to Fontainebleau for the summer, the boy will
not be accompanying us.
Angoulême: your Majesty wishes for him to remain in Paris, then?
Louis XVIII: he'll be sent to Rambouillet. To his mother.
Madame Royal: *vaguely disapproving* a mother whose misplacing of him led to this unfortunate scenario in the first place.
Louis XVIII: that may be, my dear. But she
remains his mother.
Angoulême: then your Majesty intends to allow her to remain in France?
Louis XVIII: no. She will return to Vienna. She has already refused both mine and her father's suggestion that we seek an annulment of her marriage to Monsieur Bonaparte in order that she can remarry to your brother-
Madame Royal, Angoulême and Artois: *all look horrified at the idea*
Louis XVIII: *indifferently* it was the emperor who raised the idea. I could not refuse without risking insulting him. But it is decided that the boy will be sent to Rambouillet, and from there, he and his mother will journey to Parma [5].
Artois: *clearly irritable* your Majesty is a fool.
Louis XVIII: I have told you before, brother, I have no interest in the fortunes of our cousins in Spain- for they certainly had none in ours [6]
Artois: that is not what I speak of, your Majesty. You are willing to allow the boy to leave France?
Louis XVIII: you would have me keep him here?
Madame Royal, Angoulême and Artois:
yes!
Louis XVIII: *to Madame Royal* so I should make him as your late brother? A flag for all who oppose me to wave around?
Madame Royal: *looks horrified - but not surprised - at the mention [7] of the verboten topic*
Louis XVIII: where would you suggest I keep him, brother? Vincennes? Perhaps I should allow Madame de Beauharnais [8] to take charge of his upbringing. Allow the Creole whore [9] to rear the child at Malmaison?
Angoulême: it would be safer than handing him to the Austrians, your Majesty.
Louis XVIII: to do that, I would be handing him to her protectress, the tsar. The emperor of Austria is at least...
not siding with either the Orléans or Bernadotte.
Artois: that is hardly a reason to entrust him with a knife to put at our throats the minute we do something he doesn't like.
Louis XVIII: *exasperatedly* so what would you have me do with him then, brother? Perhaps- as the comte de La Bretèche suggests [10]- to have the boy disappeared like Richard the Third did to his nephews?
Artois: keep him close. Raise him here.
Louis XVIII: next you'll suggest that I give him to your pets, the Orléans, to raise
Madame Royal: *sensing the argument brewing*
we'll raise him.
Louis XVIII, Artois: *both look at her in surprise*
Madame Royal: *half-sadly* perhaps this is why God decided that Louis and I cannot have children of our own...because He wishes for us to take in this child.
Louis XVIII: you are not serious, Madame, the-
Angoulême: it is time for us to do what your Majesty has always preached: unite- and forget [11]
*fade to black*
[1] out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. / Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications / if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
[2] while commonly said that the horses were placed upon the more famous Arc du Triomphe de l'Etoile, that arch had to be completed by wood (much like the Elephant de la Bastille) for Napoléon's wedding to Marie Louise, and was only finished in 1836. The truth is that they were placed on the arch in the Louvre's Caroussel
[3] given that Charles X's minister, the duc de Dodeauville, is her brother-in-law and Vendée general, the duc d'Aumont is her cousin, she has the connections to "protect" her staying in place
[4] the Salon Rose- next door to what would later became the Audience Room of the Empress under Eugènie- was originally modelled along the lines of Antoinette's Salle Méridienne at Versailles. So I could definitely see Madame Royal feeling "comfortable" there.
[5] it had already been agreed in April 1814 that Marie Louise would become duchess of Parma
[6] this is OTL
[7] let's face it, she's known Louis XVIII isn't the "nicest" person since her marriage. He wrung every ounce of pity he could out of forcing her to write her memoirs of the time in the Temple
[8] Josephine died (suddenly) at the end of May 1814
[9] one of the terms used for her by the Restauration court
[10]
the so-called "Jacobin Blanc"
[11] this was Louis XVIII's motto OTL