On May 4, 1897, a devastating fire destroyed the Bazar de la Charité, a charity sale in which the Duchess of Alençon participated.
In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of History", Jean des Cars tells you about the tragic end of Sophie-Charlotte, wife of the Duke of Alençon and mythical figure of the "Orléans".
It is a catastrophe which marked the history of Paris. A series broadcast in 2019 also returned to this devastating blaze. In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars recounts the terrible death of the Duchess of Alençon in the fire in the Bazar de la Charité.
After their successful union led by Sophie-Charlotte's mother and Ferdinand's aunt, Clémentine Saxe-Cobourg (engagement in eight days and marriage three months later!), The newlyweds began their new life by moving to Bushy House. .
It is a large and beautiful house surrounded by a magnificent park.
But the master of the place is not Ferdinand, it is his father, the Duke of Nemours.
The latter, however, is full of goodwill and very tastefully decorated the apartment for the couple.
Sophie-Charlotte is grateful to him.
There are two more people in the house, Ferdinand's two sisters, Marguerite, 22, charming, with whom the bride gets along very well, and the youngest, Blanche, 11, with whom it is. .. more difficult !
It must be said that she has difficulty walking, which makes her unkind.
The three other brothers of the Duke of Nemours, Joinville, Aumale and Montpensier are also exiled in England.
They meet often, the Orléans are very "family".
They are often invited by Queen Victoria to Windsor.
Each week, Ferdinand and Sophie-Charlotte therefore go to London to go shopping, go to the theater or to the opera.
They spend the night in the London residence of the Duke of Aumale, the richest of the four brothers because he inherited the immense fortune of the Condés.
The rest of the time is spent in the countryside.
Sophie-Charlotte loves nature, it suits her.
But above all, she is in love with her husband.
She quickly became pregnant and gave birth on July 9, 1869 to a little Louise, a delicate tribute to her mother Ludovica.
But his health proved to be fragile.
She is recovering poorly from her diapers and coughs a lot.
Doctors advise the sun.
The couple and the little girl will therefore leave in December 1869 first for Munich, to see the family and the court doctor who also prescribes sun and heat.
The trio therefore continue their journey to Italy, with a stopover in Rome, at the Palazzo Farnese.
They live with Sophie-Charlotte's sister, the Queen of Naples, who has also just given birth to a daughter, but this time to her husband, with whom she has reconciled in the meantime!
She also found her sister Mathilde, Countess Trani there.
Happiness for the three women.
The Alençon couple and their granddaughter then went to Sicily where their uncle Aumale made his residence in Palermo, the Orléans Palace, a magnificent house in the heart of a 40 hectare park available to them.
They spent four months there, very beneficial for Sophie-Charlotte.
In May 1870, they went to Bavaria where the whole family met near Possenhofen, in Feldafing, with Sissi, Mathilde and Marie.
It should be remembered that these permanent migrations are very common in royal or princely families.
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But from July, for Ferdinand, it is more complicated because it is the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 ... The Duke of Alençon is ill at ease.
He cannot stay in a country, Bavaria, an ally of Prussia and which will fight against France.
Sissi understands this very well and invites them to go to Vienna with her.
François-Joseph warmly welcomes them and they will spend the summer in Schönbrunn.
They spend the following winter in Meran, Upper Austria.
Ferdinand is then recalled by his father to England.
He therefore leaves Sophie-Charlotte and their daughter alone in Meran, with their suite, for several months.
He could not fight in the French armies due to the law of exile which, among other things, forbids princes to fight for their country.
When he joined his wife in the spring of 1871, he found her tense, depressed, she could not bear his loneliness.
This is when he realizes his fragility.
Any annoyance affects him physically.
But they love each other and Sophie-Charlotte is very quickly pregnant again.
She refuses to return to England.
No doubt she cannot stand the authority of her stepfather.
The couple will therefore settle again in Schönbrunn.
It was there that they learned, on June 17, 1871, the abrogation of the law of exile affecting the Orleans.
The descendants of Louis-Philippe can return to France.
Ferdinand immediately left for England to organize the return of his father and his uncles to their homeland.
It is Sissi, once again, who with kindness and generosity takes care of her pregnant sister and her little niece.
She and François-Joseph welcome them all summer at the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl.
In September, Ferdinand returned to settle his wife and daughter in Méran, but he had to leave them quickly because he was finally reinstated in the French army, with the rank of captain in a regiment based in Vincennes.
Sophie-Charlotte is happy that her husband's life is making sense again.
But they are going to be separated again.
She therefore gave birth alone in Méran, on January 18, 1872, to a boy named Emmanuel.
He is titled Duke of Vendôme.
Sophie-Charlotte settles in Paris
In the spring of 1872, the Duchess of Alençon joined her husband in Paris with her two children.
They move to 45 avenue de Marigny.
As soon as she moved in, Sophie-Charlotte, who had many points in common with her sister Sissi, no longer supported the interference of her father-in-law, the Duke of Nemours, in her existence.
She refuses that he gets involved in her daily life, wants to be free to move around and does not tolerate being accompanied by a maid of honor every time she goes out.
The conflict subsides when she gets to choose her chaperone: Melle de Saint-Aubin, chosen by her stepfather, is replaced by the Baroness de Fernbach who had been her maid of honor before her marriage.
For Sophie-Charlotte, the times are very difficult.
Her two pregnancies have exhausted her.
The constant changes of residence and her conflict with her stepfather completely destabilized her.
She takes refuge in religion.
She tries to find a balance between her moral tortures, faith, family and the worldly life she has to lead.
For her husband, it is not easier.
Republican Jules Ferry brutally decides to exclude the Duke of Aumale, the Duke of Chartres and the Duke of Alençon, the three princes of Orleans engaged under the flags, from the army.
Ferdinand is again deprived of activities.
Thereupon, two family tragedies overwhelm them.
On June 8, 1886, Count Trani, husband of his sister Mathilde, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
No sooner was he buried when we learned of the mysterious death of King Louis II of Bavaria in Lake Starnberg on June 13, 1886. On June 22, a new exile law was passed.
It only concerns the heads of the Orléans and Bonaparte Houses, but out of solidarity, all the Orléans decided to return to England.
The wanderings of the Duchess of Alençon
The Duchess of Alençon travels to Bavaria to attend the funeral of her ephemeral and strange fiancé, King Ludwig II.
On June 29, she fell ill.
It is a strong scarlet fever.
Her husband, returned from England, moved with his children to Possenhofen, with Ludovica.
Sophie-Charlotte is confined there.
The illness is long.
A cure is recommended.
While the Duke accompanies his son to England where he will be a boarder, Sophie and her daughter stay in Tegernsee then in Munich.
The family is cut in two.
Theoretically, they should meet in Nice in March 1887. But all of a sudden, the Duchess stops writing.
Doctor Glaser, a Munich gynecologist, warns her husband that she suffers from acute female disorders and must stay in bed.
She will not be able to come to the Côte d'Azur.
But the real reason is much simpler: Sophie-Charlotte is having an affair with her doctor!
The secret is well kept, but not for part of the family.
In, the learner, Sissi writes a terrible vengeful poem: "To your good husband, You have renounced fidelity, You pierced his heart; Yes, you have seriously sinned"
The Duke of Alençon comes to pick up his wife (and their daughter) in Munich when she was going to flee to Switzerland with her lover, Doctor Glaser.
Oddly enough, we are not talking about adultery.
The Duchess is ill, her behavior is strange and she needs to be treated.
It is therefore entrusted to a famous alienist who has a clinic on the heights of Graz, in the south of Austria.
We don't talk about it, but this practitioner is used to "treating adulterous women" ...
The internment of the Duchess of Alençon is causing a stir.
For the Morning Post newspaper, Sophie Charlotte was seriously upset by the death of Louis II and her mental state has become so alarming that she must be subjected to appropriate treatment.
Phew!
No scandal, just a little "mental disturbance" ... Regarding the care provided, no one knows anything.
We only know that she is interned in a specialized luxury clinic.
She stayed there until the beginning of winter 1887.
For Ferdinand, his world is falling apart.
His wife becomes his permanent concern.
He watches her every mood move.
Her excitement when the mail arrives ... He tries to reassure her but at the same time, he watches her.
His violent passion for his doctor, himself married and father of a family, can be reborn at any moment.
Ferdinand also has to take care of the children.
their 16-year-old son Emmanuel did not witness anything.
He moved from an English college to an Austrian pension.
On the other hand, Louise who was with her mother in Munich, witnessed the passion of Sophie-Charlotte.
She was traumatized by his violence.
Like Sissi, she will write a terrible poem.
Her father moved her to France, to the Institution of the Sacred Heart and her aunt Marie, the Queen of Naples now in Paris, took care of her.
The Alençon couple moved to Vienna.
The Emperor and Empress have a benevolent eye on them.
They invite them on Christmas Eve to the Hofburg with their son Rodolphe and his wife Stéphanie.
This is the last time they will see the Archduke heir of Austria-Hungary.
A month later, he mysteriously died in Mayerling.
Another shock for the family, and for the fragile Sophie-Charlotte ...
The life of the Duke and Duchess of Alençon follows its course.
In 1891, their daughter Louise married Alphonse de Bavière.
Another marriage between cousins!
And Sophie-Charlotte has a renewed passion for Doctor Glaser!
The Duke makes contact with the doctor and his wife's lover: the latter agrees not to see his illustrious patient again!
For his wife, Ferdinand shows exemplary love and patience.
The couple moved back to Paris, avenue de Friedland.
In 1896, their son Emmanuel married Princess Henriette of Belgium.
The Alençons seem to have regained their balance.
The fire of the Bazar de la Charité
In April 1897, Sissi came to Paris and visited Sophie-Charlotte.
She wants to apologize for not being able to attend her son's wedding two months earlier.
We know how much the Empress of Austria took care of her sister whenever she needed it.
But we also know how hard she was on her during her affair with Doctor Glaser.
A little medium, did Elizabeth want to be at peace with her younger sister before the inevitable?
For her part, did the Duchess of Alençon have any presentiments?
She has just drawn up her will, specifying that she wishes to be buried in her habit as a nun of the Third Order of Penance.
She also specifies that if her husband died before her, one had to conform to his will: "I want to be placed right next to my husband, the guardian angel of my life".
In all the disorders of her existence, Sophie-Charlotte has always been able to count on Ferdinand.
He was always there and never blamed her for anything.
The Duchess of Alençon is ready for the last act of her life.
Each year, she runs a counter at the Bazar de la Charité, for the benefit of the work of the Dominicans.
The biggest charitable sale of the year is a real institution.
That year, the organizer, Baron de Mackau, saw bigger than usual.
From rue de La Boétie, he was transferred to 15-17 rue Jean Goujon, on a huge piece of land donated by Mr. Heine.
A picturesque setting admired at the recent exhibition on the theater at the Palais de l'Industrie has been transported there.
It is an old street in old Paris, 80 meters long and 10 wide. It includes reproductions of houses and 22 shops with signs.
All made of cardboard paste and painted canvas.
The Duchess of Alençon is there from day one, Monday May 3.
She sold a lot.
The next day, she goes there again in the afternoon.
Very elegant in her black dress and her little hat trimmed with heron feathers.
She is still in mourning for her stepfather, the Duke of Nemours, who died a year earlier.
Its counter, at number 45, is near the entrance doors, very well placed.
Many visitors rush to buy items.
The Duc d'Alençon arrived a little later.
He goes from counter to counter and buys his wife a small jug of milk.
The big attraction this year is the cinematograph, in an improvised room, behind the set.
Suddenly, around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a tongue of fire rises above the decor and the cinematograph.
Nobody understands what is going on.
We found out later: due to the success of the screenings, we did not take the time to allow the device to cool down sufficiently between two sessions.
The film ignited on contact with the too hot lamp.
The flames quickly reach the decor, which is itself very flammable.
The Duke of Alençon, who was inside, will give a terrifying account of the disaster.
It is then in the center of the street, between the entrance and the buffet.
He rushes to his wife's counter to help her.
He doesn't have time to turn around when a human torrent pushes him aside: everyone rushes towards the doors.
People are blocked because they do not open from the inside.
It is estimated that there are 600 people inside the Bazaar.
The duke is then convinced that his wife, whose counter is very close to the door, has managed to get out.
He notices a few people going in the opposite direction towards a small open door on the adjoining vacant lot.
He will be one of the last to exit through this exit before everything blazes inside.
Witnesses, who were with the Duchess of Alençon when the fire broke out, will say that she was very calm.
She knew it was all over.
She had resigned herself.
She said, "Get out, Ladies, I'll get out last."
She would thus have saved young girls.
Ferdinand, who believed his wife to be out of danger, begins to doubt and does not even notice that he is burned to the head.
The period following the fire is unbearable.
The emergency services must first take care of the survivors who are alive, burned or injured and then remove, one by one, the charred bodies or what remains of them.
These are transported to the Palais de l'Industrie.
Now it's time to identify the dead and find the remains of the Duchess.
It is Sophie-Charlotte's dentist who will recognize her jaw, in the midst of a hundred victims.
On May 5, Sophie-Charlotte's body was transported to a vault in Saint-Philippe du Roule, her parish.
His funeral took place on the 14th, the time for the Duke of Alençon to recover from his injuries.
A crowd throngs into the church.
All the Orléans are there, a few crowned heads, ambassadors, a traumatized All-Paris.
This horrible ending will elevate the Duchess to the rank of myth.
Did she consider, at the last moment, that this death by fire corresponded to her deep desire for redemption, a way of surpassing herself by expiating her faults, as her biographer Dominique Paoli wrote?
No one will ever know ... The Duchess of Alençon now rests in Dreux, in the necropolis of Orléans.
Her husband did not join her until 1910, thirteen years later.