A New Revival of the ‘Auld Alliance’ in Post-Revolutionary France

Abstract

C harles de Flahaut, Talleyrand’s illegitimate son and Napoleon’s ADC at Waterloo, was a popular society figure in both Britain and France. Indeed, he was to feature heavily in memoirs and studies on nineteenth-century politics. His Scottish spouse Margaret née Mercer Elphinstone, the daughter of Admiral George Elphinstone, Viscount Keith, is a less familiar character. It is to the credit of Diana Scarisbrick to have rescued this remarkable lady from oblivion. She had an extraordinary life, one which straddled European and British politics in almost equal measure. Indeed, the social circle of this couple was vast and they were habitués of innumerable European courts and salons. This biography is structured in chronological terms, starting with Margaret’s intense adolescent friendship with the Prince Regent’s only daughter, Princess Charlotte, who died prematurely in . From very early on, Margaret was prone to accusations of malicious intrigue and scheming, refusing for example to return  letters sent to her by the Princess relating to her failed match with the Prince of Orange. This stubbornness led to scandal and resentment against Margaret, who gained a reputation for being difficult. Deeply interested in politics, intelligent and an admirer of Napoleon, she was to have a tempestuous relationship with the great figures of the age. Throughout her long life, Margaret was unable to empathise with her acquaintances and friends. She came first. It was within the great Whig political circle at Holland House that Margaret first met the dashing General Charles de Flahaut. She quickly became enthralled by a man who was her polar opposite in so many ways. The liberal Charles was elegant, sophisticated, charming and diplomatic. He was loved and admired by nearly all who met him. Having said this, in the eyes of his prospective father-in-law, he did have two insurmountable defects: he was French and, worst, loyal to the exiled French Emperor. Admiral Keith, unhappy with the match, threatened his daughter with disinheritance (a threat he made good in the end). Margaret, a rich heiress in her own right through her deceased mother, ignored her father’s menaces and resolved to marry her suitor regardless. Although they were reconciled a couple of years later, the Admiral left the bulk of his large fortune to his second wife. Charles had been a notorious womaniser in his early life. He had a torrid affair with Hortense de Beauharnais, sometime Queen of Holland and mother to the future Napoleon III, and this liaison had produced a son, Alphonse de Morny (later a minister during the