Posted on 12/08/2007 7:37:08 PM PST by blam
French seeking emperor's corpse
Last Updated: 1:23am GMT 09/12/2007
He was the last emperor and the first president of France but for 120 years the Emperor Napoleon III's remains have lain in England.
Exiled: Napoleon III of France and the Empress Eugénie
Now the French want them back. Tomorrow Christian Estrosi, the secretary of state for overseas territories, will arrive in Britain to request the return of the remains of the exiled emperor and his wife, Empress Eugénie, which lie in a crypt in St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire.
Mr Estrosi said: "This trip will be for me an occasion to send a clear message to the British - to thank them for all they did for the imperial couple in exile but also to remind them that we have some rights over them."
But Father Cuthbert, the Benedictine monk who heads the abbey, is unlikely to agree to Mr Estrosi's request to return the remains of Napoleon III, who sought refuge in England with his family and a few faithful followers after his defeat in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870.
The monk said he hoped the minister was coming to ask forgiveness for having left the monastery so long without news or support.
The Empress Eugénie founded the abbey about 1888.
His was an odd role in French history -- a footnote to his story that had intriguing implications was the death of his son in South Africa while observing with the British the Zulu war.
Why now?
Sounds like an opportunity for an historic “oops”.
Has anyone thought of asking the Emperor what he wants to have done with his bones?
French seance in order here. Mind the ectoplasm.
Napolean III wasn’t much of an Emperor, so I’m not sure why they want his corpse.
Napoleon II died in Austria--I think it was during the German occupation of France that his body was moved to Paris.
The last Bourbon king of France, Charles X, is buried in Slovenia. I guess they aren't too concerned with getting him back.
Mua' Deeb!
Considering how well he did against the Prussians, I’m surprised they want him back.
I don't know. It can not be that big to the French anymore. Maybe some typical national BS.
We Germans had also a strange party with a corpse some years ago. I am talking about the Prussian Friedrich II of Prussia, whose coffin was taken to the Swabian castle of Hohenzollern in the last days of WWII. His last wish was to be buried quietly together with his dogs at midnight without any audience in the garden of his château Sanssouci in Potsdam. Since he was one of the most important leaders in the Prussian history his wish of privacy was never respected. It seems that a royal corpse still has its political importance.
Our former chancellor Helmut Kohl took the coffin from Hohenzollern on a gun carriage to bury it with a big millitary tattoo and lots of Dschingderassabumm in Sanssouci. The "Frankfurter Allgemeine", the most important newspaper in Germany called it "Umtopfung" (repot in reference to changing pots of flowers) back then.
BTW - I also had my relationship to this corpse and coffin. When I was a kid (already 17 years old) we made a funny vampire film in the castle of Hohenzollern during a school project. Since the Hohenzollern was nearby and we all knew the staff in the castle we were allowed to use it for the film. As you might imagine it was a quite funny time. Nice girls and lots of party. Anyway once we were alone with the coffin of Frederic and his Father in the chapel of the castle we could not resist to lift the coffin on one side. I still can remember the rumbling noise the skull made when it was rolling to the other side of the coffin. Poor Frederic!
Today I would not do such disrespectful BS anymore of course but back then it was ... ...a age-related necessity.
You see - never leave teenagers alone. Either they start to kiss, to drink or to roll skulls. ;)
Castle Hohenzollern. The coffin on the right side was the one of Friedrich II (the great) the one on the left from his father Friedrich Wilhelm I.
I would have thought that the coffin would have been more firmly secured. In the US, Lincoln’s son had to hide his father’s coffin for several years as, believe it or not, there were those who wanted to “kidnap” it. And they were not teenagers. We think our time has more nuts than times previous. I am not so sure.
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