In 2010 with my husband, Ed, and my Number One London blog partner Kristine Hughes (http://onelondonone.blogspot.com) and her daughter Brooke, I traveled to Belgium to experience the 195th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. 

At the left is the way the battle field looked from the Chateau Hougomont, The contemporary poles. white  tents, traffic, and the distant Lion Mound, erected in 1826 in honor of the Prince of Orange, weren't present in 1815. But the flat fields of rye and grass were there. What you cannot see is the mud, much as it was 200 years before. The threatening skies were about the same.

The re-enactors often rode through the fields rehearsing their roles. This year's 200th pagent will be larger and full of excitement, though I have to say that once it strted on the 18th,it was almost impossible to understand what was supposed to be happening. The cavalry rode and the soldiers marched back and forth, firing puffs of smoker here and there. Despite the splendid uniforms and elaborate replica weapons, the result will always be the same: victory for the Allied troops of the Duke of Wellington. Below, snaps from the British encampment.

When we engaged the Scots in conversation we discovered they were from Italy. And the lower far right shows one nod to modern conveniences.
Below, pictures from the French Encampment at Caillou, where Napoleon spent the night before the battle. Note the elaborate uniforms of the "generals."

Here are more miscellaneous photos: upper, l to r: memorial in wall of Chateau Hougomont; Targte for shooting practice in the French encampment; the Imperial Garde re-enactors; lower, l to r: obvious!, Waterloo, The Beer of Victory; The re-enactors are ready to perform.

The Waterloo Battlefield is actually a mile or two south of the village where Wellington had his headquarters.  There is a small museum there.  Since the three-day battles covered  large areas, monuments are far-flung to various regiments of all the participating armies. Chateau Hougoumont is undergoing considerable restoration and I recently heard one can stay in rooms there.  Spooky! 
        The entire site is only a dozen or so miles from Brussels where we visited a large Victorian monument to the British Dead in the Evere Cemetery, completed in 1890.

Who won? During the recent Cover Reveal party for our Waterloo Anthology,  I asked, "Among the people associated with Waterloo and the Regency, with whom would you most like to have tea and a chat?"

The winner by one vote was Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice,  barely edging out the Duke of Wellington. Next, again just one vote separated her from the duke, was Jane Austen. Other multiple votes were won by Lord Byron and Lady Jersey.   I think people were quite creative,  In addition to Hariette Wilson, votes were received for Prinny, Lady Caroline Lamb, Josephine, Napoleon, and Keats, among others.

The Waterloo Anthology Authors will be at it again on April 1 with our Release Party, so join us then for more merriment and mayhem.

Two voters were chosen at random as "winners" from all those who participated -- Danniell and Mary Anne. Their copies of one of my paperbacks are in the mail.

Below, Colin Firth as Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy; Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Jane Austen would have tied with the Duke if my vote counted.  Several persons chose Lord Byron,  And I was surprised several wanted to chat with Lady Jersey. From what I've read of her,  those persons would not have been able to get  word in, much less ask some questions; one of her  ironic nicknames was 'Silence".  Multiple votes were also cast for the notorious Lady Caroline Lamb, the even MORE notorious courtesan Harriette Wilson, and another poet, John Keats.

Which of the above individuals would be most offended at having received only ONE vote in our poll? Admiral Nelson? Josephine? Or Napoleon? I think all three would have been in a mighty snit at the slur.  As would the man at left below, George, Prince of Wales, the Prince Regent. But he would have blamed is wife -- and pointed out that she got no votes at all!  Also mentioned were Charlotte Lucas of Pride and Prejudice (Lucy Scott), the Scarlet Pimpernel (Anthony Andrews), and several Georgette Heyer heroines.

This question brought some fun answers!  I will think up another for our Launch Party on April 1.  Please join us on Facebook for the festivities.  If you haven't signed up yet go to the Facebook Beaux, Ballrooms, and Battles page, and click on events. 

We celebrated on March 18 to mark the Cover Reveal of our Waterloo Anthology, nine stories focused on the great battle and romance.

At the left is the inspiration for my ensemble, black in honor of the dead, velvet for the cool weather in March in Brussels, where we had our own virtual Duchess of Richmond's Ball as seen on Facebook.  

The painting by James Lonsdale, 1815, is a portrait of Lady Anne Hamilton, V&A.

You can review the proceedings on Facebook at .https://www.facebook.com/events/1378988715749564/

Here is the cover -- and no, that is not Tom Cruise, but an equally handsome young gent...whose expression I find apropos -- he is headed into battle and he is in love. His life will be on the line as well as the happiness of his beloved. Yet isn't there a spark of excite-ment there as he contemplates being in the midst of combat?

Below is a detail from the famous panting of The Duchess of Richmond's Ball, held on June 15, 1815.  The artist is Robert Alexander Hillingford and you will learn more about him in a few days, right here.  You can visit this painting at Goodwood House, home of the Duke of Richmond in West Sussex, UK.

These two gallant fellows were my escorts at the soiree, and if they look suspiciously like Eddie Redmayne (L) and James Norton (R), I have nothing more to say except that we had a very good time indeed. Draw whatever conclusions you wish.

Now you are invited to join us for the launch party for our book. So please find our page on FB -- Beaux, Ballrooms, and Battles -- and click on events.  It's all there and lots more including the latest on upcoming activities in Belgium and the UK surrounding the Waterloo Anniversary.

       This party is definitely BYOB -- Bring Your Own Beau.  We'll be celebrating at this address on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1378988715749564/
We'll have guest authors, prize drawings, stories and pictures about the beaux and the battles, and of course, the ballroom regalia.
         My story is entitled Folie Bleue.  On the night of the 30th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, Aimée, Lady Prescott, reminisces about meeting her husband in Bruxelles on the eve of the fighting. She had avoided the dashing scarlet-clad British officers, but she could not resist the tempting smile and spellbinding charm of Captain Robert Prescott of the 16th Light Dragoons who— dangerously to Aimée— wore blue.

        All of the stories are sweet, traditional romances with no spicy content beyond kisses.  The nine authors have truly enjoyed imagining the turbulent emotions of the time. We hope our stories will deepen your appreciation of the significance of the conflict's resolution for the individuals whose lives and loves were at stake. 

I am new to this Facebook Party routine, but I am looking forward to giving it a try. Several of our Anthology authors have been working hard to provide stories and activities and guests -- so drop by and see what we've come up with, As I understand it, you can come an go anytime between noon and nine p.m. Eastern Daylight time. My special half-hour is 8-8:30 pm, and I'll be around other times as well.
    Here is the URL:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1378988715749564/
Schedule of Appearances on Facebook
11:45 Aileen Fish...
12 - Nicole Zoltack
12:30 - Christa Paige
1 - David W. Wilkin
1:30 -Elizabeth Johns
2 - Vanessa Kelly
2:30 - Mariana Gabrielle
3 - Heather King
3:30 -Samantha Grace
4 - Christi Caldwell
4:30 - Caroline Warfield
5 - Katherine Bone
5:30 - Jillian Chantal
6 - Téa Cooper
6:30 - Jude Knight
7 - Sophia Strathmore
7:30 - Eileen Richards
8 - Victoria Hinshaw
8:30 - Susana Ellis

TIME ZONE CONVERSION
New York Wednesday Noon - 9:00 PM
Honolulu 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
San Francisco 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Denver 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Chicago 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Rio de Janeiro 1:00 PM - 10:00 PM
London Wednesday 4:00 PM - Thursday 1:00 AM
Vienna Wednesday 5:00 PM - Thursday 2:00 AM
Singapore Wed/Thurs midnight - Thursday 9:00 AM
Tokyo 1:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Sydney 3:00 AM - 12:00 PM

I'm having my grooms get the horses ready to bring me to the party. I will chose an ensemble to wear today and have Simpson bring my jewels from the vault tomorrow. And of course, I will be escorted...perhaps by both of the gentlemen below. They are very sophisticated and have agreed not to quarrel over me but simply enjoy ourselves and all our guests.  When they are not escorting me, they are sometimes known as Eddie Redmayne (L) and James Norton (R). You may chose your own escort from  among the many who are eager to attend our soiree. I believe that Mr. Darcy and Mr. Tilney are both eager to be invited.   

We will follow up this party with our LAUNCH PARTY on April 1 -- and that's not an April Fool's Joke.  We'll have even more guest authors offering their books to commenters, and there is a special Grand Prize sent to the winner from Merrie Olde England. So mark you calendars for that party too.  See you soon!!

        Last time, I wrote about Jane Austen's life in war-time Britain,  her brothers' careers in the Navy and the militia, and some of the characters in her novels who have military connections. After Napoleon had been defeated and exiled in 1814, the Congress of Vienna assembled to re-draw the boundaries of nations and empires. After the ministers learn Napoleon had escaped and was marching to Paris with a newly-inspired army, the allies prepared for more war.
        The Duke of Wellington went to Brussels to head an Allied army of British soldiers, Hanoverian regiments and units from the new nation of the Netherlands, just created in Vienna, which united Holland and the area of Belgium, which had been under French and Austrian domination for many years. The Prussians assembled their army and started marching west. 
        In the great park in Brussels in the days before the great battle, the diarist Thomas Creevey met Wellington and asked how he thought the contest would go. Wellington gestured to a British soldier walking in the parc. “There,” he said, “It depends all upon that article whether we do the business or not.” This was the ragtag army that Wellington called “infamous.” ]
        Everyone expected that Napoleon would hurry into battle to recapture Brussels, a smashing propaganda victory as well as a military and strategic move – and before the Austrian and Russian armies had fully mobilized. Below, the tower of Bruxelles Hotel de Ville (Brussels City Hall), dating from 1455; R. Parc de Bruxelles,completed in the late 18th century, a gathering place for residents, visitors, and the military in central Brussels.

Above, L, The Gordon Highlanders;  R, The King's German Legion
       After peace had been declared in 1814, many British families moved to Brussels, as well as elsewhere on the continent. Some did this to save money, others to widen their horizons, previously limited by the French domination of the continent. Among the noble families were the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, with their children.  Once Napoleon was known to be assembling an army, Brussels was full of fearful gossip and rumors spread quickly.
       The Duke of Wellington was eager to prevent large-scale civilian panic and flight from Brussels. He wanted the roads kept clear so that the army could move rapidly. So he went to parties and concerts in Brussels, claiming to one and all that nothing was happening --yet. He assured the Duchess of Richmond that her ball on Thursday, the 15th of June, could go forward as planned. This was the event heralded in literature and legend when Wellington was brought news at the ball that Napoleon’s troops had crossed out of France and were moving toward Brussels.
       Wellington immediately mobilised his forces and sent all the officers – many straight from the ballroom – to march their troops south.  Here was  the great romantic scene of men kissing their wives and lovers goodbye…off to the battle, many never to return.  Some of the allied army units in forward positions were already encountering the French scouts and skirmishers.  
         Below, L, The Duchess of Richmond's Ball, June 15, 1815; R, Summoned to Waterloo (from the Ball); both paintings by Robert Alexander Hillingford, in the 1870's

Above L: Capture of the Eagle, 1898, by William Holmes Sullivan (1870-1908); R, The Battle of Waterloo, by Jan Willem Pieneman (1779-1853), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
       There are many accounts of the battle details, the see-sawing nature of the fighting, the waves of troops, the cavalry charges, the cannons firing over and over again, with speculation about all the “what-ifs” you can imagine. By late afternoon, the ground was littered with dead men and horses, ruins of farmhouses and chateaus, broken wagons and guns, all covered with mud and under a canopy of smoke and noises no one would ever wish to hear again.
         In early evening, the French Imperial Guard, the most feared troops in Europe, made a last charge at the center of the British lines – Napoleon having disregarded the advice of some generals who had fought the Duke before – "Up Guards and ready', was the shout from the Duke. Suddenly the approaching French were facing a wall of British soldiers firing into their faces. Ultimately, the Guard either turned and ran or in some cases kept going to certain death. The long day was almost over.
     Below, Wellington by George Dawe; The Battle of Waterloo by William Sadler

Above, L, Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford (1828-1904); Napoleon leaves his carriage to flee, Evening at Waterloo, 1879,by Ernest Crofts 1847-1911), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
       Meanwhile, the Prussians had been arriving from the east and retaking hamlets the French had overrun earlier. Before long, the entire French Army had begun to flee south. Napoleon himself had to abandon his carriage and escaped on horseback.  Just a few more days, and the war was over. The Allies entered Paris again; Napoleon surrendered, this time to be sent to the remote South Atlantic Island of St Helena where he died in 1821.
        Sadly, we have no report from Jane Austen of the victorious tidings reaching her.  It was June 21, 1815, before Wellington’s despatches reached London.  The City went wild with celebration, as did most of the country towns and villages.  But where Jane Austen was and what she was doing at the time remains a mystery to us.
        We do know that a few months later, in November 1815, she was in London working on her manuscript.  She was invited to the Prince Regent’s elaborate residence Carlton House to meet with his librarian James Stanier Clarke, who requested that she dedicate her next novel to the Prince. Which she did in a rather ironical way.
        When Emma was printed in March of 1816, Jane wrote this dedication to the Prince: TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS  THE PRINCE REGENT, THIS WORK IS, BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,  BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S DUTIFUL AND OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.
       Whether Miss Austen had no occasion to write down her thoughts about the end of the war to any of her correspondents, or whether she was too involved in her writing and editing activities we do not know. Perhaps her views were among those destroyed or never preserved.   One concern she might have had was the fact that her brothers in the Royal Navy might soon have to return to England and live on half-pay when the navy underwent some reduction in force.
        We can only speculate about how pleased Jane and her family would be at the victory over Napoleon. Or how horrified they were at the great lose of life.  It all has to live in our imaginations.
   Below, L, James Stanier Clarke (1766-1834), Librarian to the Prince Regent, who met with Jane Austen at Carlton House; an unidentified sketch in Clarke's Friendship Book, dated 1815, and suspected to be his watercolour of his visitor, Miss Jane Austen.

Jane Austen herself compared her work to a miniature portrait on a tiny bit of ivory – and that two or three families in a country village are just the thing to work on. Nevertheless, readers will find many references to the army and the navy throughout her novels and in her letters. Think about Colonel Brandon in Sense &Sensibility, the militia stationed in Meryton and later in Brighton in Pride &Prejudice, Fanny Price’s brother William becoming a midshipman in the Royal Navy in Mansfield Park, and Captain Wentworth’s fortune earned by capturing enemy ships in Persuasion.
     Below, L, Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon; M, Adrian Lukas as Mr. Wickham; Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth, all films are the 1995 versions.

Above, L, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, commander of the Allied Armies; R, Field Marshal Gerhard von Blucher, commander of the Prussian Army. At the time of the Battle of Waterloo, Jane Austen was almost 40 years old. By June of 1815, she had published – anonymously – three novels: Sense and Sensibility in 1811, Pride and Prejudice in 1813, and Mansfield Park in 1814.  Emma was in the hands of a publisher and she was probably working on The Elliotts, a Novel which eventually was published after her death as Persuasion.

Since the summer of 1809, Jane Austen, her sister Cassandra, their mother, and Martha Lloyd were living in Chawton, at the cottage provided for them by Edward Austen, later known as Edward Austen-Knight, the brother who was taken into the Knight family as the heir of his father’s wealthy relatives. Jane Austen had just over two years to live.

Waterloo is in the present day nation of Belgium, north of France. Paris to Brussels is a distance of 160 miles. From the French border to Brussels is a bit over forty miles. Below L, Napoleon and the Imperial Guard; R, below, Scotland Forever, Charge of the Highlanders, by Lady Butler.

British dominance of the seas was insured by victory in the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, 1805. Just weeks previously, Napoleon had marched his troops away from the English Channel, giving up the attempted invasion in favor of years of land battles against the European powers. Under the leadership of Admiral Horatio Nelson, off the Cape of Trafalgar near Cadiz, Spain, the British Fleet, destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets. Sadly, Nelson (1758-1805) died in the battle, forever remembered as a great hero. Below, L, Admiral Horatio Nelson; R,The Battle of Trafalgar by 
William Clarkson Stanfield.

Above L, Death of Nelson, by Benjamin West, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Trafalgar Square, London, with Nelson's Column at right.

Napoleon marched his troops away from Boulonge on the Channel coast and defeated the combined Austrian and Russian armies at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805. He continued his conquests on the continent, eventually dominating almost the entire area of Western Europe and a large slice of eastern. Most of the British efforts in the coalitions opposing the French Empire were through diplomacy and large amounts of cash to support their Austrian, Prussian and Russian armies.
         Then, in 1808, Britain sent troops to defend Portugal from takeover by Napoleonic Spain, conquered but not subdued by the French.  The Peninsular War lasted until the first defeat and exile of Napoleon to Elba in 1814.  The British allied with the Portuguese army and the troops of the anti-French Spanish fought their way into southern France about the same time that Napoleon was defeated by the Sixth Coalition [after losing the Battle of Leipzig, October 16-19, 1813.] 
      The British army was led in the Peninsula by Arthur Wellesley, who was honored for his victories with increasingly important titles, is best known as the first Duke of Wellington. After the Allies entered Paris on March 31, 1814, the Duke was British Ambassador and head of the army of occupation.
  Below, L, Napoleon at his bivouac before the Battle of Austerlitz, December 1, 1805, by  Loouis-Francois, Baron Lejeune,1808; R, Duke of Wellington at Vittoria, Spain, 21 June, 1813; by Thomas Jones Barker.

    Above, L, Adieu to the Old Guard: Napoleon leaves Fontainebleau for exile on Elba; by Antoine Alphonse Montfort; R, Return of Napoleon to France, March 1815, by Karl Stenben.
        Napoleon was sent into exile on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea, just 12 miles off Italy.  Many of the most experienced British troops were shipped off to North America to fight in the war with the United States. In London, the Allies celebrated their victory with elaborate feasts, fireworks and concerts in June 1814. In August, British troops burned the White House and the Capitol in the half-built town of Washington City.
        [The War of 1812 was settled by the Treaty of Ghent (Dec. 14, 1814) when the Battle of New Orleans took place. American troops led by Andrew Jackson triumphed over the British, led by General Ned Pakenham, who died in the fight. He was the brother of Kitty, Duchess of Wellington. The date was January 8, 1815.]
         In September 1814, the Congress of Vienna assembled to sort out the mess Napoleon had made of European borders.  In March of 1815 came the news that Napoleon had returned to France and was marching on Pairs with many eager recruits and much of his old army.  The Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw, and nations again prepared for war.

Jane Austen and the Battle of Waterloo Part Two, next week.