18 OCTOBER 1957, Page 26

The Faithful Mistress

DURING the exceptionally cold February clays 1848 the floodtide of Revolution was' the ungainly figure of Louis-Philippe on to English shore and its ebb deposited, almost exchange as it were, Louis Napoleon upon French coast. For three years France was h by feuding factions until Louis Napoleon ever ally placed himself upon the throne as EmPe of the French. Behind the scenes all this ti there toiled the indomitable 'Miss Howard.'

I give the lady inverted commas because this was not her real name. She was a successful courtesan, with one illegitimate son, when She first met Prince Louis Napoleon at Lady Blessi ton's house in London. They fell instantly in love. Miss Howard was not received at any of the great houses, but Lady Blessington's establishment, Gore House, was different from the others. Her home housed her lover, the Comte d'OrsaY. aS well as her husband. Mme Maurois describes Lord Blessington as a 'pervert,' which might mean anything,(he was, in fact, a voyeur). Miss Howard threw her energy, charm old great wealth into the fray on her lover's behalf, and the coup d'etat of December, 1852, was suc' cessful partly thanks to her loan of five mill oil gold francs to Louis Napoleon. It is true that this was later repaid, but not her faithful love help. When Louis Napoleon ascended the throne, poor Miss Howard's days of influence were num" bered. It was obviously necessary for the Empe °r to marry and have an heir. But he allowed M iss Howard to purchase the magnificent property of Beauregard near Paris and would have created her Comtesse de Beauregard had not the ma branches of the real Beauregard family raj! ed their voices in protest. Letters patent were never signed. Nevertheless she used this title, with the Emperor's consent, and her son was created L'Y him Comte de Beychevet.

The Emperor, short, ungainly and devoid charm, sat uneasily upon his throne first. Lady Blessington, with whom he h had an affair in the very dismal past, turn up once at a Tuileries Ball. When the EmPei saw her he said, miladi, vous etes Pc longtemps a Paris?"Et.vous, sire?' she asked she curtsied deeply.

But Miss Howard remained faithful to her Er°- peror from the day she met him until he set ler

is aside. She married a Mr. Trelawny, but it

doubtful if the marriage was ever consummated.

si Certainly from the day she first met LOU

Napoleon she took no other lovers. She retired to her property at Beauregard, built walls around it and lived in complete retirement until she died before the collapse of the Second Empire. Mme Andre Maurois is to be congratulated °11 a painstaking and vividly interesting work. A word of praise too for Mr. Humphrey Hare more more than adequate translation. of hed the in the Drn fu- ror me

of at ad ed or or as

GERALD HAMILON