Thirty-three years after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire, his nephew (known as Napoleon III) became the first president of France before becoming emperor himself. Although he was a capable ruler and reformer, Napoleon III’s failed military campaigns, especially France’s loss to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, led to his defeat, capture, and the fall of the Second French Empire and permanent eclipse of Germany in military power.

Many historians have blamed Napoleon III’s wife for his failings. Eugénie de Montijo was a Spanish noblewoman who became the last French empress. She was a cultural tastemaker and activist for feminist equality, but many blame her blunders when she held power as regent for France’s worst failures and reckless rush into a ruinous war with Germany. But the story of her life has rarely been told in full. It was a career filled with glamour, achievement, and tragedy, as well as contributions that transformed the nation she ruled unlike any other royal noblewoman in Europe.

She spearheaded movements in health and education to help transform France into a modern country. She pushed Parisian architecture toward steel and glass construction of buildings as well as for inclusion of green spaces throughout the city, many of which exist today. Most of all, she crafted much of the idea of what it means to be French in the modern era.

Today’s guests are Petie Kladstrup and Evelyne Resnick, authors of “The Last Empress of France: The Rebellious Life of Eugénie de Montijo.”

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