A Princess in Hinckley.
Part 1 Her Arrival.
April 25th 1814. 212 years ago today.
Think of this as a scene from a Jane Austen drama. A smart carriage with a ‘B’ emblazoned on the door and with outriders accompanying it, trots through Hinckley Market Place and turns up Castle Street. Inside is a girl aged 15 and her mother, who looks worried as her daughter is ill. She wants her daughter to see the best Doctor in the country. And the best is in Hinckley, Dr Chessher.
The girl in the carriage is Princess Christine Egypte Bonaparte - yes Bonaparte - niece to the Emperor Napoleon. And the reason they have outriders is because they are prisoners of war.
Her father Lucian had fallen out with his brother Napoleon when he crowned himself Emperor and moved his family to Rome under the protection of the Pope. He then tried to escape to America with his family in August 1810. He had hired an American ship that could take 40 people, his family of eight children and all their staff. They were not long at sea before they were captured by the Royal Navy and taken first to Malta and then England in December.
Part 2 Her Stay.
So that is why the whole family were prisoners of war. They had spent nearly four years in prison and some prison it was! Thorngrove House near Worcester. A mansion with 50 apartments (not rooms - apartments!) and a 130 acre estate. During this time Christine had started to show symptoms of developing curvature of the spine. Hence the need to see Dr Chessher.
She spent 14 months in Hinckley, but I cannot find out where she stayed. All the family were Catholics so it is possible she stayed with the Priest. The White Fathers had founded a small chapel in Hinckley in 1767 and a small priory in1814.
Dr Chessher was also treating the future Prime Minister George Canning’s son and took him to Sapcote Spa for part of his treatment so she may well have gone there too.
Robert Chessher was the first British Orthopedist and invented the double-incline plane for treatment of lower body spinal problems. She had been using two of these at Thorngrove House before starting her full time treatment in Hinckley. The equipment used in those days was very basic and only made minor improvements as in later life she was still referred to as ‘hunchbacked’
Also in April 1814, Napoleon was defeated for the first time and the war with France was over.
Her family immediately returned to Rome, she was left alone (probably only with a maid) in Hinckley.
Part 3 Her Departure and Adult Life.
In 1815 Napoleon’s escape from exile and return to power caused a return to war with France. This was the 100 Days (Waterloo) campaign. This created quite a political problem as Chritine was still in Hinckley and would have been a prisoner of war again. Lucian must have had some influence still as an escort was arranged for her and she travelled to Dover. It had also been arranged for her to cross the Channel to Calais. And she did, on the day of the Battle of Waterloo. The ship was the Wensleydale, a troop ship capable of transporting over 1,000 men (it had recently carried the 95th Rifles - Sharpe’s Rifles - over the channel to join Wellington’s army. Yet she was the ONLY passenger and at a time when Wellington was desperately creating an army to stop Napoleon.
She then travelled across Europe to join her family in Rome, who were still living under the protection of the Pope.
In 1818 she married a Norwegian Count who she later left because it was believed he had died (he hadn’t). She remarried a wealthy Englishman, Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart, in 1824. She lived in London for many years but also left him eventually, returning to Italy where she died in 1847 aged 49. She had quite a life.
Sources.
Robert Chessher - R T Austin
A Brother in Exile - Emma Tyler
A Gilded Cage - B Rolf-Smith
The News From Waterloo - B Cathcart
Rifle Green at Waterloo - Caldwell and Cooper
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