Back in Paris on 1 June, Napoleon decided to pay a visit to Josephine at
Malmaison (13 June), where she had recently returned after a month's
discreet exile at the chateau in Navarre while the marriage with Marie
Louise took place. Relations between Napoleon and his ex-wife remained
cordial and they even continued to correspond, though Marie-Louise
would become angry at any mention of Josephine or the Emperor's
solicitude for her. 'How can he want to see that old lady? And a woman of
low birth!' was one of her outbursts. At Malmaison Josephine devoted
herself to her menagerie, especially the famed bird collection which
contained swans and ostriches. She continued to run up enormous debts
which Napoleon guiltily condoned, contrasting them with the austerity
and financial prudence of Marie-Louise.
1810 was also the year Napoleon last clapped eyes on Bernadotte, who
had still not been court-martialled or disgraced, despite the spectacular
incompetence at Auerstadt and Wagram. After the fiasco at Walcheren
Bernadotte, having learned nothing and forgotten nothing, continued to
intrigue and was a frequent visitor at the salon of known enemies of the
Emperor, such as Madame Recamier. But above all he was a man who
proved the truth of the Napoleonic tag 'is he lucky?'
In 1810 there was a constitutional crisis in Sweden when Charles XIII
died. The Swedes were adamant that they would not accept the return of
his nephew Gustav IV, whom they had deposed two years earlier, nor
would they accept his son. Arguing that, in a world where Napoleon was
dominant, it made sense to have a Frenchman as their king, they
approached Eugene de Beauharnais. He, however, was an ardent Catholic
and refused the concomitant demand that he convert to Lutheranism.
They then approached Bernadotte who, gleaming with ambition, came
to see Napoleon on 25 June fo r his reaction. So far from acceding, the
Emperor should have remembered all the Gascon's past treacheries and
sent him packing. Yet he lamely gave his consent and even, absurdly,
gave him several million francs as a leaving present, so that he could
appear in Sweden in suitable splendour. The upshot was that he had a
powerful enemy as King of Sweden, commanding considerable military
forces. Whatever possessed Napoleon to act with such consummate
stupidity? The usual explanation is that, as always with Bernadotte,
Napoleon's tender feelings for Desiree got the better of him. If this is true
- and it appears to be - the judgement on Napoleon as misogynist should
be tempered by a realization of the sentimental side of his attitude to
women. Naturally, though, we should not forget that there were deep
psychological drives behind his peculiar, complaisant attitude to both
Josephine and Desiree.