#duc d’Abrantès

[handfuloftime]

I am waiting to leave, Citizen Consul, until I receive a response to the letters that I had the honor to write you, unless the circumstances or the letters I receive from Paris let me judge that I can leave earlier. I beg you to remember that I am eight hundred leagues from you and, although I’ve been well-received here, I am never better than when I am near you. 

Letter from Duroc to Napoleon, 29 May 1801. Quoted in Jean de la Tour, Duroc: Duc de Frioul, Grand Maréchal du Palais impérial, 113. Emphasis in the original.

I have sought to conduct myself here, Citizen Consul, in a manner that would satisfy you. I am well-regarded and thought highly of everywhere because I belong to you particularly, but I will not be happy until I’m sure that I deserve your approval. I am waiting to set my departure until I know that you’ve received the letter that I had the honor to write you and that I sent with Captain Leclerc. I very much want to find myself near you as soon as possible.

Letter from Duroc to Napoleon, 7 July 1801. Quoted in de la Tour, 119. Emphasis in the original.

The First Consul appeared on January 4th, after his dinner, in our office, where I was working. “Where is Duroc?” “He’s gone out. I believe to the opera.” “Tell him, when he gets back, that I’ve promised him Hortense, he’ll marry her. But I want it to be in two days at the latest. I’ll give him five hundred thousand francs; I’ll name him commandant of the 8th military division. He’ll leave the day after his marriage for Toulon, with his wife, and we’ll live separately. I don’t want a son-in-law in my house. I want this over with; tell me, this evening, if that will suit him.” “I don’t believe it will.” “Fine, she’ll marry Louis.” “Does she want to?” “It will be necessary.” The First Consul put this proposal to me in a very brusque tone, which made me believe that there had been a lively household discussion, and that he had come to propose his ultimatum tired of conflict and wishing to hear no more of it. Duroc returned at ten thirty that night. I recounted the First Consul’s proposal word for word. “If that’s the way it is, my dear friend,” he said, “He can keep his daughter; I’ll go and see the --”; and with an indifference I found inexplicable, he took his hat and left.

Bourrienne, Mémoires de Bourrienne, 4:320-321.

“If the Emperor made me a Marshal of France, it would show that I have lost his favor. What would I do away from him? No doubt it’s a great honor, but my attachment to his person, how would it not be affected by that separation?”

Laure Junot, Mémoires de Madame la Duchesse d’Abrantès. Quoted in de la Tour, 179.

Here, have a selection of Duroc being clingy. 

#obligatory disclaimer that bourrienne and mme junot's memoirs are both very sketchy in terms of accuracy #and i've seen wildly different versions of how the drama over who hortense was going to marry happened #i think i've posted most of these before but here have them again #and an obligatory apology for my clumsy translations #duroc #napoleon