From Napoleon Magazine No. 109:
In 1810 and 1812, the Empress stayed twice in Switzerland. Separated from Napoleon, these trips allowed her to get away from Paris and visit friends.
Gérard Miège / historian
As soon as Napoleon remarried Marie-Louise in April 1810, Joséphine was invited to leave Paris and go to Évreux, in Normandy, where the Emperor had arranged for her to stay at the Château de Navarre. This order was accompanied by a letter in which he urged her to travel throughout his vast Empire as soon as the fine weather arrived.
The first stay place in 1810
In June 1810, accompanied by a few ladies of her entourage, as well as Théodore Turpin de Crissé and Frédéric de Pourtalès, Joséphine, traveling under the pseudonym of Countess d'Arberg, went to Aix-en-Savoie to take the waters. Arriving on June 24, she stayed at the Chevalley house on a hill overlooking Lake Bourget. However, this house soon proved too small, so a second one had to be rented to accommodate the gentlemen accompanying her ladies. Of course, as for all the Empress's travels - since, according to the Emperor's orders, she was allowed to retain this title - care was taken to transport furniture, clothing, tapestries, as well as glassware, porcelain, and jewelry from Paris, which were supposedly essential to her. Nevertheless, it can be said that her entourage was relatively modest, consisting of about a dozen servants and a beautiful carriage with the imperial arms for excursions.
Apart from the baths that occupied the morning, the afternoons were spent on walks in the region. There was a crowd to admire the Empress and the joyful group around her each time. However, this daily routine eventually wearied her. Fortunately, by mid-July, Joséphine received a visit from her daughter Hortense and her future lover Charles-Auguste de Flahaut, the natural son of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand.
During the summer of 1810, Joséphine made two excursions to Geneva and stayed at the famous Dejean Inn to break the monotony. Far from the splendors of the imperial palaces, she occupied a tiny room, without an anteroom, which Madame d'Audenarde, one of her ladies-in-waiting, described in her Memoirs: "The Empress had put on some weight, without her waist losing any of its extreme perfection; her complexion was less brown, and the charm of her gracious and noble manners made her the most charming woman."
From August 11 to 13, she was received by the authorities of the Léman department (2), who invited her to take her place on a boat decorated for her. In the evening, she attended a fireworks display in the harbor.
Durant le mois de septembre, Joséphine et sa suite se promènent dans la région : visite du château de Ferney (ancienne résidence de Voltaire), tour du lac et excursion jusqu’à Bex où elle visite les salines. Sur le chemin du retour, elle s’arrête à Lausanne et couche à l’Auberge du Lion d’Or. Enfin, revenue à Genève, elle rend visite à quelques notables locaux, entre-autres à Crans sur Céligny, au célèbre peintre De La Rive, auquel elle achète durant ses différents séjours plusieurs toiles.
Then, from September 17 to 21, 1810, she made an excursion to Mont Blanc accompanied by her equerry, Count Frédéric de Pourtalès from Neuchâtel, and her chamberlain, Lancelot Théodore Turpin de Crissé, a young painter to whom we owe a series of sepia drawings depicting the Empress's various journeys.
On September 22, she returned to Geneva. Apart from her lodging at the Dejean Inn, which she disliked due to its cramped quarters, she enjoyed life by Lake Geneva. Therefore, she inquired about any properties for sale during her daily walks in the Geneva countryside. She informed the Emperor: "If I find a site I like, I will rent or buy a small country estate, if possible, by the lake."
An important acquisition
Finally, luck smiled upon her one morning: she discovered the Château de Pregny-la-Tour. It was like love at first sight, and without further delay, through her business agent, she began acquiring it, of course with Napoleon's money! It was quite a beautiful property consisting of a large master building, three outbuildings, other small adjacent buildings, three courtyards, three terraced gardens, an orchard with a tree-lined avenue to the east, a small wood, a field of clover, a cherry orchard, a vineyard, a large meadow, and, by the lake, a small port surrounded by walls and a small building intended for fishing amusement.
Then, from September 25 to October 4, still tenacious, accompanied by her daughter Queen Hortense, by Misses Mackau and Avrillon, by her chamberlain Turpin de Crissé, and by twelve servants, she traveled to the Neuchâtel mountains, organized by Frédéric de Pourtalès. After a brief stop at the former Abbey of La Lance near Concise, she resumed the journey towards Neuchâtel, where orders had been given to ensure the cleanliness of the city streets. These orders indeed came from high up because, it must be remembered, since 1806 and the defeat at Jena of King Frederick William III of Prussia, the principality of Neuchâtel had been incorporated into the Napoleonic Empire and is, in the name of Prince Berthier, governed by François de Lespérut, a peculiar character who has little connection with the Emperor's ex-wife.
In his little pamphlet dedicated to Empress Joséphine in Switzerland, Samuel Robert reports an anecdote about this governor, Lespérut, who, informed of the imminent arrival of the Empress, reluctantly went to Auvernier to welcome her. But while waiting for her passage, the governor and his entourage settled on the terrace of the Château de Cormondrèche, where a meal was served to them. In the heat of conversation and perhaps due to overindulgence in the good local wine, the meal became more important than the passage of the sovereign, and the guests forgot the reasons for their presence in Cormondrèche. It was only towards the end of the afternoon that they learned with astonishment that Joséphine had passed them by more than an hour ago, so Governor Lespérut could not welcome her to Neuchâtel, nor could he give her the tour he had planned for that very evening.
Visits to Neuchâtel
In these circumstances, the Empress arrived in Neuchâtel on September 27. She was received in the beautiful home of Louis de Pourtalès, the brother of Frédéric. Everything here had been carefully prepared. Lodged on the second floor, her apartment overlooked a lovely garden with a lake view. Even the salon had been redecorated with a beautiful dark red paper embellished with gold Empire motifs, which had been hastily brought from Paris. In the evening, as she entered this salon, some musicians from the city offered her a serenade, which she listened to with delight. Then, approaching the window, she admired the panorama before her eyes. At the sight of the Alpine chain stretching beyond the lake, she couldn't help but say to Louis de Pourtalès: "You inhabit a wonderful country."
The following day, September 28, accompanied by the De Pourtalès brothers, Governor Lespérut, Messrs. François de Sandoz, and de Montmollin, Joséphine and her entourage went on an excursion to Vue-des-Alpes, Le Locle, Les Brenets, and Saut du Doubs. It is worth noting that in La Chaux-de-Fonds, to avoid displeasing Napoleon, who was informed of her every move and was quite meticulous about anything that might recall the old monarchy, she refused to have lunch at the Auberge de La Fleur de Lys, and everyone had to make do with a quick snack at the Auberge de la Balance.
This trip to Neuchâtel and the Neuchâtel mountains could not end without a pilgrimage to the Île Saint-Pierre, a mythical place where Jean-Jacques Rousseau spent a few months in 1765. Informed of the Empress's wish, the Bernese authorities entrusted Mr. de Steiger, the region's prefect, with the task of welcoming her. On September 30, early in the morning from Neuchâtel, Joséphine, her entourage, and Mr. de Pourtalès boarded a pretty boat at Cerlier, a small port on the southern shore of Lake Biel. As they approached the island, the ship, too heavily laden, ran aground on a sandbank, and the rowers had to carry these ladies and gentlemen onto a lighter boat. Finally, after this little incident, they were received by the Bernese authorities and the municipal band. More than a thousand curious onlookers had gathered to see the illustrious visitor.
Hardly disembarked, Mr. de Steiger invited the Empress for a short walk that led her to the top of the island, where the view was breathtaking. Then, she went to the inn, where a meal of local produce was served. After these festivities, she visited the room that had been Jean-Jacques Rousseau's; then, she was invited to climb back up the hill where a lovely pavilion stood to watch a dance demonstration. It was time for this joyful company to leave these enchanting places around 4 o'clock, exhilarated by the fresh air and perhaps the local wine produced on the island. They boarded for Cerlier and arrived in Neuchâtel late in the evening.
Joséphine stayed in Neuchâtel for a few more days, visiting an Indian fabric factory and receiving local dignitaries. Unfortunately, while many were invited to greet her, few responded. It seems that the people of Neuchâtel showed little enthusiasm for her. In a letter she later wrote to her son Eugène, she implied: "I saw few people there. Other times, those who seemed very attached to me did not give me any signs of remembrance. But I forgive them wholeheartedly."
On October 5, she travels to Bern, where she plans to spend the winter. There, she stays at the Hôtel du Faucon (Gasthof zum Falken), an ancient inn dating back to the 15th century near the Market Square. On the 7th, she is received by the Bernese authorities at the famous Enge restaurant, which offers a magnificent view of the city from its terrace. About twenty people attended this meal, which delighted her. The celebration is splendid, and the banquet delicious: consommés, hors d'oeuvres, hare pâté, blue trout, young turkeys, tarragon chicken, ham, salad, creams, compotes, and pastries, all accompanied by four bottles of Malaga wine, six bottles of Bordeaux, and a delightful little wine from Neuchâtel. Joséphine admires the costumes of Bernese peasant women and is delighted by a wrestling demonstration; she enjoys watching a herd of cows with their armadillo and is charmed by an Alpine horn concert. However, when the authorities receive the bill, which amounts to over 1,500 francs of that time, they grimace and take several months to settle it.
Delighted, Joséphine spends a few more days in Bern. Then, inspired by Rousseau's readings and Salomon Gessner's Idylls, she wishes to go on an excursion in the Oberland. To this end, she buys a bench cart that allows her to travel to Thun, Interlaken, and the Jungfrau, which her dear Turpin de Crissé sketches.
The return journey
However, despite all the sympathy shown to her, the Empress is bored, missing Paris. She has written several times to the Emperor to return there, but all have gone unanswered. Finally, thanks to her daughter Hortense, she receives a letter from Napoleon on October 13 authorizing her to spend the winter either in Milan with her son Eugène or at the Château de Navarre. Since the Emperor's orders are not to be questioned and unable to return to Paris and, more specifically, to Malmaison, Joséphine decides on the Château de Navarre in Normandy.
On October 18, to respond to an invitation from Baroness de Besenval, she detours through Solothurn, where she hosts a grand dinner for the city authorities at the Auberge de la Couronne. The next day, the 19th, she resumes her journey towards Lausanne and stops at the Auberge du Lion d'Or, where she is surprised to meet the Tsar's sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Constantia. The next day, despite her insistence, she refuses to meet Madame de Staël, who is then in exile on the Emperor's orders. It must be said that Joséphine has her reasons. Didn't Madame de Staël once say to Bonaparte, "Joséphine is a fool who is not worthy of being your wife. Only I would suit you"? Furthermore, by receiving her, Joséphine is convinced that "Madame de Staël would not fail to report our conversation, and God knows how much she would make me say things I have never thought of."
On October 21, she returns to Geneva after a stop at Vufflens Castle (in the canton of Vaud), at Colonel de Senarclens's. She stays there for about ten days. Finally, at the beginning of November, she leaves Pregny and, disobeying Napoleon's orders to proceed directly to the Château de Navarre in Évreux, she stops for a few days at Malmaison where, as André Castelot writes, "all those who want to oppose the regime flock. It's a kind of fashion, not to say opposition to the Tuileries. People go to see the 'former' for some reason or another if they are not comfortable with the 'new' [Marie-Louise]. They pretend to pity the repudiated one, to enter her house with the demeanor one adopts when entering a sacristy to bow before a grieving family!" And Joséphine tells Bourrienne, Napoleon's former secretary, "I have endured all my misfortune! Do you understand how hurtful it is for me? It would be better to be exiled a thousand leagues from here!" Joséphine is not mistaken in saying this, as around mid-November, urged by Cambacérès, she must comply with the Emperor's orders, and it is under pouring rain that she takes the road to Évreux where she spends the entire winter of 1810-1811.
Second stay in Geneva
During the autumn of 1812, Joséphine returns to Geneva. For a month, she receives all the high society of the region at her castle in Pregny-la-Tour and receives numerous invitations. During one of her visits to Chouilly at Mr. de Châteauvieux's, she meets Charles de Constant-Rebecque, the cousin of Benjamin Constant. Inexhaustible narrator, Constant-Rebecque gives us his impressions of the Empress: "Despite her fine attire, her affability, and her good humor, she will be more prominent in history for having been the wife of a great man than for what she is herself." He adds: "She seems very pleased with Geneva and her castle of Pregny. Everyone is rushing there. I intend to be presented there."
A few days later, Constant-Rebecque continues in a letter to his sister Rosalie: "I have been to her house three times and was very well received. One goes to her in the morning and in the evening. There is no constraint or stiffness in these gatherings. The women's attire is as elegant as the men's, and everyone seeks to please and be in good form. In short, it is high society." Around mid-October, he picks up the pen again and writes: "I returned to Pregny this morning. The apartments were filled with flowers, and the young women and girls of the house were charming; the Empress was as amiable as ever. She leaves tomorrow (for Paris), and although she has made herself liked, one is generally glad about it because the way of life here since she has been here does not suit our habits." Constant-Rebecque speaks as an expert because, to be received by the Empress, these ladies and gentlemen need to engage in costly expenses on clothes and hairstyles, all of which are contrary to the very austere customs of the old Calvinist city.
Finally, on October 20, Joséphine leaves her dear Pregny and, despite her wish, cannot return. Indeed, towards the end of December 1812, she learns from the Moniteur about the tragedy of the Russian retreat. Nothing can prevent the slow agony of the Napoleonic Empire, which collapsed on April 6, 1814, following the Emperor's abdication.
Curiously, this disaster does not end Joséphine's renown. Soon, in her salon, all of Napoleon's conquerors parade, following the example of Tsar Alexander, who visits her several times. Unfortunately, these receptions and concerns about her future and children exhaust her so much that she catches a cold after a carriage ride one evening. Initially diagnosed by her doctors as a simple cold, the illness quickly worsens, and a few days later, on May 29, 1814, Joséphine succumbs to acute pulmonary illness.
Initially buried in the cemetery of Rueil, the Empress Joséphine's coffin was only placed in the church of Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul in 1825. Sculpted by Pierre Cartellier, her white marble tomb depicts her kneeling, undoubtedly praying for herself, for the Emperor, and her children.
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