The mistress of peace - Desiree Clary, The Queen of Sweden by the Austrian novelist Annemarie Selinko

It is a captivating novel on the memories of the daughter of a French merchant from Marseilles who became the queen of Sweden. Many points and situations in the novel raise crucial questions on history, loyalty and patriotism. Among the first points I admired was how the Swedish noblemen, parliament and people chose a French marshal to be their king just because of his being a successful military leader and governor, they preferred him over their mad king who tried to invade Russia. This reminds me of how our peoples cannot overcome such barriers and how the majority of us till now refused the idea of having a non Iraqi king in the past, while it was the norm in Europe. Here I understand how racism is another barrier in the face of nation’s renaissance, Sweden chose a great king to bring them prosper and economic development, a king who is not a member of their church, carried no Swedish name and moreover he could not speak Swedish. On the other hand, this crown prince proved to be loyal to Sweden and its interests in an attractive way showing his suffer to serve his new people and keep at the same time his love to his homeland. Besides that the story depicted very well how the concept of belonging to a certain country is hard if ever possible to get rid of and how sad Desiree felt when they were to their French nationalities. The story gave us amazing details on the lifestyle and how people were not that frequently bathing in cold countries due to the idea that water is a health risk, this came from medieval ages after Roman were the first to establish public baths in history. The story talks on the loss of Napoleon in Russia and his being derived out by the alliance of Russia, Austria and Sweden, how difficult it was for Jean´-or-Charles XIV to conquer his previous homeland. But he insisted that he wants to help France through defeating its Emperor so as to bring peace to Europe. I loved the idea of Desiree when she felt happy that her son Oscar was composing music and how such a king would for sure bring peace to his nation and that a composer would make no violence.

It is an interesting story of the first love of Napoleon and the lady who convinced Napoleon II to surrender and to whom he gave his sword after the battle of Waterloo. She saved Paris from the inevitable destruction in case Napoleon insisted to fight-;- hence the people of Paris called her as “The mistress of peace”. The novel discussed how royal families sometimes face desperate fate being forced to marry aristocratic persons whom they do not like in most cases, but Desiree, the daughter of an ordinary merchant did not let her son Oscar to do that, and thus Prince Sophia said with a sigh in their last meeting that she wished if she were born in an ordinary family as that of Desiree husband’s. She wondered how Desiree whose beauty is normal was the mistress of two great men: Napoleon and “John” Charles XIV. The novel shows how she was happy to wear the silk was to be given to Mary Antoinette by her father, and how she was always faithful to her father, husband and people, despite considering herself an ordinary person and not a real queen. She showed in her memories that she accepted to be the queen of Sweden when she was sure the people there wanted her and refused to be crowned as the queen of Norway as she was sure the Norwegian people did not want her to be its queen.

Among the best things mentioned in this novel is the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen by Marquis de Lafayette and how she might play a role in making her son Oscar embracing these principles. It is an interesting novel and a must read.

Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (8 November 1777 – 17 December 1860), was Queen of Sweden and Norway as the consort of King Charles XIV John, a former French General and founder of the House of Bernadotte, and one-time fiancée of Napoleon Bonaparte. She officially changed her name there to Desideria, a Latin name which she did not use herself.

Gilgamesh Nabeel

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