Web references often quote her as saying (about Napoleon I) "If it weren't for him, I'd be selling oranges on the streets of Ajaccio." But Napoleon Bonaparte was her uncle so she was granted the title Princess. She married Prince Demidoff, unsuccessfully. She was prominent during the Second Empire, hosting a prominent salon during and after the fall of the Second Empire. While not as beautiful as Empress Eugénie, she did project an aura of glamour. She was a candidate for marriage to Napoleon III, but some of the images posted here reveal someone who would have had no patience for the Emperor's infidelities. She married the poet Claudius Marcel Popelin when Prince Demidoff died in 1870. She died in 1904. Her brief Wikipedia article is here.

1840 Portrait presumed to be the young Princess Mathilde by Eugene Louis Lami (Musée du Louvre - Paris, France)

1852 (or after) Portrait en pied de la princesse Mathilde en toilette de bal by ? (Ajaccio, musée de la maison Bonaparte) Photo - Gérard Blot

1856 Study of Princess Mathilde for "Bapteme du Prince imperial" by Thomas Couture (Chateau Compiegne, Compiegne)

1859 Princess Mathilde's salon, rue de Courcelles by Sebastien Charles Giraud (Chateau Compiegne, Compiegne)

1861 Mathilde by Edouard Louis Dubufe (Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon - Versailles, Île-de-France, France)

ca. 1864 Casual dress possibly owned by Princess Mathilde (Musée national du château de Compiègne - Compiègne, Picardie, France)
