Royalty at war
March 9th, 2008
Clive James, in a piece sympathetic to Prince Harry’s desire to serve on the front line, relates the story of a thoroughly incompetent royal soldier:
Let’s roll the tape back to the year 1879, and examine the case of Napoleon III’s son Eugene Louis Jean Joseph Napoleon the Prince Royal, he who might well have become Napoleon IV. For purposes of brevity, we’ll call him Eugene.
After his father died in exile, Eugene was keen to establish himself the natural heir to his grandfather’s military genius, thus to prove that he was fit to ascend the throne of France, a seat which still looked available. [...]
[In the wake of the massacre at Isandlwana the British army badly needed a morale-boosting victory.]
Keen to provide it was none other than Eugene, at the head of a troop of soldiers which he led 22 miles into Zulu country with the intention, apparently, of confusing the foe by having a picnic.
Carefully choosing a position where his men could be approached under cover from all sides, Eugene ordered that the horses be unsaddled so that they could rest. He had an experienced British officer with him but the experienced British officer was a victim of social deference, and didn’t like to contradict royalty.
The Zulus had no such inhibitions. Cutting to the chase, we can say that Eugene might have died a more impressive death if he had not last been seen alive riding under his horse, where his hastily buckled saddle had slipped.
His body was recovered with 18 assegai wounds in it. The court of enquiry, which managed to blame everyone except him, never did establish whether 18 Zulus had stabbed him once, or one Zulu had stabbed him 18 times.
