Talk about 'All In the Family'! They decapitate their hated Austrian queen and, just a few years later, welcome her niece as Empress of France (a step up from Queen it seems to me) after Napoleon divorced Josephine. Napoleon's love for his Austrian consort mirrored the love that grew between Louis and Antoinette. The French must have had their eyes closed when Napoleon rewarded his brothers and sisters with various 'royal' titles throughout Europe, a not-so-distant echo from Bourbon days gone by when titles of Duc and Comte were created. After the disasters that were the Bourbon restoration I should think that the French would remember the horror of the revolution and run screaming from anything that looked like a monarchy much less tolerate a 'foreigner' who crowned himself Emperor of the French.

I think I have my facts straight. Any comments?

I'm not sure Napoleon was really considered a foreigner since Corsica is French-owned. If I remember correctly, Napoleon spoke fluent French, but with an Italian accent.

When Napoleon was born, Corsica had been part of France for already a few years. Napoleon was educated then in military schools in France, and even though he didn't speak French fluently before his arrival, he certainly did not have any accent later on. He did not even speak Italian fluently, actually, he had to learn it in school but given that Corsican is an Italian dialect, he was obviously very good at it -still, it is not his native language.

As for Marie-Louise, she was quite unpopular precisely because she was related to Marie-Antoinette. What is more, I don't think people cared for seing Napoleon turning into a traditional kind of monarch, whereas he used to be a man of the Revolution.

It's funny because MA was accused of being to close to her Austrian family, but I do think that Marie-Louise was far closer to her orignis than MA, who really strove to fit into the French royal family. Anyway, I really dislike Marie-Louise : she's quite a feeble, insignificant type of person. Especially compared to MA.

The fact that Marie-Antoinette, always reproached for being a foreigner, was ultimately to be replaced by another Habsburg Archduchess, is one of the great ironies of history for me.

I've always thought so as well, Therese!
History can be really ironic sometimes!

Indeed, byt Marie Louise was, from the beginning of her marriage onwards, extreemely unpopular precisely for this reason.