|
|
|
|
|
Mathilde BonaparteMathilde Bonaparte, (May 27, 1820 January 2, 1904), was a daughter of Napoleon's brother Jerome Bonaparte and his second wife Catharina of Wrttemberg. Born in Trieste, Italy, Mathilde was raised in Florence and Rome. She married the Russian Prince, Anatole Demidoff di San Donato on November 1, 1840 in Florence and hence became Princess Mathilde. They had no children. Prince Demidoff physically and mentally abused her, even insulting her and hitting her in public. The abuse became so intolerable that in 1847 Tsar Nicholas I ordered him out of the family home and mandated that the Prince pay her a considerable living allowance. Princess Mathilde moved to a mansion in Paris, France where she was a prominent member of the new aristocracy during and after the Second French Empire as a hostess to men of arts and letters. Referring to her uncle Napoleon I, she once told Marcel Proust that: "If it weren't for him, I'd be selling oranges in the streets of Ajaccio." Throughout her time in France, she maintained ties with the Imperial court in St. Petersburg however, following the death of Prince Demidoff in 1870, she married the artist and poet, Claudius Marcel Popelin (1825-1892). She died in Paris in 1904 at the age of 75. Bonaparte, Mathilde Bonaparte, Mathilde
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|