Editing Eugénie de Montijo (section)

===Public life===
[[File:Eugénie_de_Montijo,_Empress_consort_of_the_French.jpg|left|thumb|Eugénie de Montijo – the last empress of the French – in a photograph by [[Gustave Le Gray]], {{Circa|1856}}|317x317px]]
Eugénie faithfully performed the duties of an empress, entertaining guests and accompanying the emperor to balls, opera, and theater. After her marriage, her ladies-in-waiting consisted of six (later twelve) ''[[dame du palais|dames du palais]]'', most of whom were chosen from among the acquaintances to the empress before her marriage, headed by the ''Grand-Maitresse'' [[Anne d'Essling|Anne Debelle, Princesse d'Essling]], and the ''dame d'honneur'', [[Pauline de Bassano]].<ref>Seward, Desmond: ''Eugénie. An empress and her empire''. {{ISBN|0-7509-2979-0}} (2004)</ref> In 1855 [[Franz Xaver Winterhalter]] painted ''[[Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting|The Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting]]'', where it depicted Eugénie, sitting beside the ''Grand-Maitresse'' in a countryside setting, with eight of her ladies-in-waiting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fashion and Politics in Franz Xaver Winterhalter's Portrait of The Empress Eugénie surrounded by her Ladies-in-Waiting – Smarthistory |url=https://smarthistory.org/fashion-politics-franz-xaver-winterhalters-empress-eugenie/ |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=smarthistory.org}}</ref>

She traveled to Egypt to open the [[Suez Canal]] and officially represented her husband whenever he traveled outside France. In 1860, she visited Algiers with Napoleon.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8768/ |title = Interior of Governors Palace, Algiers, Algeria |website = [[World Digital Library]] |year = 1899 |access-date = 25 September 2013 }}</ref> She strongly advocated equality for women; she pressured the [[Ministry of National Education (France)|Ministry of National Education]] to give the first baccalaureate diploma to a woman and tried unsuccessfully to induce the [[Académie française|Académie Française]] to elect the writer [[George Sand]] as its first female member.<ref>{{cite book |last=Séguin |first=Philippe |title=Louis Napoléon Le Grand |publisher=Bernard Grasset |year=1990 |isbn=978-2253061519 |pages=204–210 |language=fr |oclc=1036680743 |ol=1599191M }}</ref>

Her husband often consulted her on important questions.{{CN|date=May 2024}} She acted as regent during his absences in 1859, 1865 and 1870, as he often accompanied his soldiers on the battlefield to motivate them during the wars. In the 1860s, she often attended meetings of the Council of Ministers, even leading the meetings for a brief space of time in 1866 when her husband was away from Paris.<ref name="McQueen, 2011; p. 3"/> A Catholic and a conservative, her influence countered any liberal tendencies in the emperor's policies.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} Her strong preference was for [[hereditary monarchy]] and she made repeated displays of support for members of European royalty who were in crisis, like supporting a restoration of the Bourbons in Spain or trying to help the deposed monarchs of [[Duchy of Parma|Parma]] and the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]]. According to [[Nancy Nichols Barker]], "her ideas on the principles of government were ill formed and included a jumble of [[Bonapartism]] and [[Legitimism]], whose incompatibility she seemed not to even recognize."<ref>{{cite book |last=Barker |first=Nancy Nichols |author-link=Nancy Nichols Barker |title=Distaff Diplomacy: The Empress Eugenie and the Foreign Policy of the Second Empire |year=2011 |pages=9–10 |publisher=University of Texas}}</ref>

She was a staunch defender of papal temporal powers in Italy and of [[ultramontanism]]. Because of this she ardently tried to dissuade her husband from recognizing the new [[Kingdom of Italy]], which was formed after [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinia]]'s 1861 annexation of the Bourbon-ruled Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and all of the pope's territory outside Rome. She also supported keeping a French garrison in Rome to protect the papacy's continued hold on the city. Her opposition to Italian unification earned her the enmity of [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy]], who stated that "the emperor is weakening visibly and the empress is our enemy and works with the priests. If I had her in my hands I would teach her well what women are good for and with what she should meddle."<ref>Dolan 1994, p. 24.</ref> She also clashed with the French foreign minister [[Édouard Thouvenel]] over the question of the French garrison in Rome. Much to Eugénie's chagrin, Thouvenel negotiated an agreement to wind down the French military presence in exchange for a guarantee of papal sovereignty from the new Italian kingdom. The [[Jean Gilbert Victor Fialin, duc de Persigny|Duke of Persigny]] blamed her influence when Thouvenel was dismissed by the emperor, declaring to Louis-Napoléon that, "You allow yourself to be ruled by your wife just as I do. But I only compromise my future...whereas you sacrifice your own interests and those of your son and the country at large."<ref>Dolan 1994, pp. 24-25.</ref>

She was blamed for the fiasco of the [[Second French intervention in Mexico|French intervention in Mexico]] and the eventual death of Emperor [[Maximilian I of Mexico]].<ref name="Maximilian_and_Carlota">''Maximilian and Carlota'' by Gene Smith, {{ISBN|0-245-52418-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-245-52418-9}}</ref> However, the assertion of her clericalism and influence on the side of conservatism is often countered by other authors.{{sfn|Kurtz|1964|p=}}{{page needed|date=November 2024}}{{sfn|Filon|1920|p=}}{{page needed|date=November 2024}}

In 1868, Empress Eugénie visited the [[Dolmabahçe Palace]] in [[Istanbul|Constantinople]], the home to [[Pertevniyal Sultan]], mother of [[Abdulaziz]], 32nd sultan of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Pertevniyal became outraged by the forwardness of Eugénie taking the arm of one of her sons while he gave a tour of the palace garden, and she slapped the empress on the stomach as a reminder that they were not in France.{{sfn|Duff|1978|page=191}} According to another account, Pertevniyal perceived the presence of a foreign woman within her quarters of the [[seraglio]] as an insult. She reportedly slapped Eugénie across the face, almost resulting in an international incident.<ref>[http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/womeninpower/Womeninpower1840.htm "Women in Power" 1840–1870, entry: "1861–76 Pertevniyal Valide Sultan of The Ottoman Empire"]</ref>