Princess
Marie Bonaparte (2 July 1882 – 21 September 1962) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
author and
psychoanalystPsychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it also can be applied to societies.
...
, closely linked with
Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
. Her wealth contributed to the popularity of psychoanalysis, and enabled Freud's escape from
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
.
Marie Bonaparte was a great-grandniece of Emperor
Napoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
. She was a daughter of Prince
Roland BonaparteRoland Bonaparte, 6th Prince of Canino and Musignano was a French prince and president of the Société de Géographie from 1910 till his death.-Biography:...
(19 May 1858–14 April 1924) and Marie-Félix Blanc (1859–1882). Her paternal grandfather was
Pierre Napoleon BonapartePierre-Napoléon Bonaparte was born in Rome, Italy, the son of Lucien Bonaparte and his second wife Alexandrine de Bleschamp....
, son of
Lucien BonaparteLucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....
, who was one of Napoleon's rebellious and disinherited younger brothers. For this reason, despite her title Marie was not a member of the
dynasticA dynasty is a succession of people belonging to the same family, who, through various means and forms maintain power, influence or authority over the course of generations. Most commonly the term is used specifically in reference to royal houses and imperial dynasties — their authority manifests...
branch of the Bonapartes who claimed the
French imperial throneBonapartism is often defined as a political expression in the vocabulary of Marxism and Leninism, deriving from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire...
from exile. However, her maternal grandfather was François Blanc, the principal real-estate developer of
Monte CarloMonte Carlo is one of Monaco's administrative areas, sometimes erroneously believed to be a town or the country's capital, just as Monaco-Ville...
. It was from this side of her family that Marie inherited her great fortune.
Early life
She was born at
Saint-CloudSaint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.6 kilometres from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of...
, a town in
Hauts-de-SeineHauts-de-Seine is a département in France. It is part of the region of Île-de-France region, and covers the near western suburbs of Paris...
,
Île-de-FranceÎle-de-France is one of the twenty-six administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area. Its name literally means "Island of France", maybe from ancient Frankish Liddle Franke, "little France"....
. Her mother died of an
embolismIn medicine, an embolism occurs when an object migrates from one part of the body and causes a blockage of a blood vessel in another part of the body. The term was coined in 1848 by Rudolph Carl Virchow...
induced when giving birth to Marie.
On 21 November 1907 in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, she married Prince George of Greece, the second son of King
George I of the HellenesGeorge I, King of the Hellenes was King of Greece from 1863 to 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was only 17 years old when he was elected King by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the former King Otto...
, in a civil ceremony, with a subsequent religious ceremony on 12 December 1907, at
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. She was thereafter officially also known as
Princess Marie of Greece and Denmark. They had two children,
PeterPrince Peter of Greece and Denmark was the eldest child and only son of Prince George of Greece and Denmark, the second child of King George I of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova of Russia, and Princess Marie Bonaparte, daughter of Prince Roland Bonaparte, and great-grand-niece of...
(1908-1980) and
EugéniePrincess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark was the youngest child and only daughter of Prince George of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Marie Bonaparte, daughter of Prince Roland Bonaparte. Her father was the second son of George I of Greece and Olga, Queen of Greece.She married Prince Dominic...
(1910-1988).
Sexual research
Troubled by her difficulty in achieving sexual fulfillment, Marie engaged in research. In 1924 she published her results under the pseudonym
A. E. Narjani and presented her theory of "frigidity" in the medical journal "Bruxelles-Médical". Having measured the distance between the
clitorisThe clitoris is a sexual organ that is present only in female mammals. In humans, the visible button-like portion is located near the anterior junction of the labia minora, above the opening of the urethra and vagina. Unlike the penis, which is homologous to the clitoris, the clitoris does not...
and the
vaginaThe vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
in 243 women, she concluded after analysing their sexual history that the distance between these two organs was critical for the ability to reach
orgasmAn orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
("volupté"); she identified women with a short distance (the "paraclitoridiennes") who reached orgasm easily during intercourse, and women with a distance of more than two and a half centimeters (the "téleclitoridiennes") who had difficulties while the "mesoclitoriennes" were in between. Marie considered herself a "téleclitorienne" and approached Josef Halban to surgically move her clitoris closer to the vagina. She underwent and published the procedure as the Halban-Narjani operation. When it proved unsuccessful in facilitating the sought-after outcome for Marie, the physician repeated the operation.
She modeled for a famous student of
Auguste RodinAuguste Rodin[p] was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, the great 20th century Romanian modernist sculptor
Constantin BrâncuşiConstantin Brâncuşi was an internationally renowned Romanian sculptor whose works, which blend simplicity and sophistication, led the way for numerous modernist sculptors.-Early years:...
. His sculpture of her, "Princess X,"
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51035.html created a scandal in 1919 when he represented her or caricatured her as a large gleaming bronze
phallusPhallus can refer to a penis, or to an object shaped like a penis. The word comes from Late Latin "phallus", from Ancient Greek "φαλλός" phallos, penis.-In art:...
. This phallus symbolizes the model's obsession with the penis and her lifelong quest to achieve vaginal orgasm.
Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
, the father of psychoanalysis, condemned orgasm by clitoral stimulation and praised vaginal orgasm with a penis as the superior and only legitimate type. His condemnation echoed the social mores of his era which condemned masturbation as both morally harmful and as a cause of mental disorders. Her search for the elusive vaginal orgasm led her to have two unsuccessful surgeries and numerous affairs throughout her life with wealthy and famous men. (Modern sexual research has since overturned much Freudian theory on this point and holds that clitoral stimulation is neither physically nor ethically inferior to vaginal stimulation. For example,
Masters and JohnsonThe Masters and Johnson research team, composed of William Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions from 1957 until the 1990s....
and other researchers report that most women biologically and emotionally require significant foreplay, often including clitoral stimulation, to achieve climax).
Freud
In 1925 Marie consulted Freud for treatment of what she described as her frigidity, which was later explained as a failure to have
orgasmAn orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
s during
missionary positionThe missionary position is a man on top sex position in which the woman lies on her back and the partners face each other. Variations of the position allow different degrees of vaginal tightness, clitoral stimulation, depth of penetration, participation on the part of the woman, and likelihood and...
intercourse. It was to Marie Bonaparte that
Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
remarked, "The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?’". She later paid Freud's
ransomRansom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In early Germanic law a similar concept was called Weregild....
to Nazi Germany, and preserved Freud's letters to
Wilhelm FliessWilhelm Fliess was a German otolaryngologist who practised in Berlin. On Josef Breuer's suggestion, Fliess attended several conferences of Sigmund Freud in 1887 in Vienna, and the two soon formed a strong friendship...
despite Freud's wish that they be destroyed.
Jacques Lacan, in his seminar 1960-61, "L'Angoisse", gave a particular lesson later named in Seuil' s Edition by Jacques-Alain Miller "Woman, more true and more real", in which he points women as being "deuterophallic". He explains that by this he means the very simple fact that, if women are interested in phallic signifiers, paraphernalia or whatever, it is only as a means to reach men's desire, and in the strict function as this desire touches them.
Despite what she described as
sexual dysfunctionSexual dysfunction or sexual malfunction refers to a difficulty experienced by an individual or a couple during any stage of a normal sexual activity, including desire, arousal or orgasm.-Categories:...
, she conducted affairs with Freud's disciple
Rudolph Loewenstein----Rudolph Maurice Loewenstein was a Polish-French-American psychoanalyst.-Biography:...
, and
Aristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served several terms as Prime Minister of France and won the Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
, a
French prime ministerThe Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the functional head of the government and Council of Ministers of France. The head of state in France is the President of the French Republic...
.
Later life
On 2 June 1953, Marie and her husband represented their nephew, King
Paul of GreecePaul, King of the Hellenes was King of Greece from 1947 to 1964.Paul was born in Athens, the third son of Constantine I, King of the Hellenes and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia...
, at the
coronationA coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a monarch or their consort with regal power, specifically involving the placement of a crown upon his or her head, and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of
Elizabeth II of the United KingdomElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
in London. Bored with the
pageantry, Marie offered
psychoanalysisPsychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it also can be applied to societies.
...
to the gentleman seated next to her, who was the future French president
François MitterrandFrançois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand served as the President of France from 1981 to 1995, elected as representative of the Socialist Party . First elected during the May 1981 presidential election, he became the first socialist President of the Fifth Republic and the first left-wing head of...
. Mitterrand obliged Marie, and the couple barely witnessed the pomp and ceremony, finding their own activity far more interesting.
She practiced as a psychoanalyst until her death in 1962, providing substantial services to the development and promotion of psychoanalysis. She translated Freud's work into French and founded the French Institute of Psychoanalysis (
Société Psychoanalytique de Paris SPP) in 1926. In addition to her own work and preservation of Freud's legacy, she also offered financial support for
Geza RoheimGéza Roheim was a Hungarian psychoanalyst and anthropologist. Having trained as a Freudian analyst, he left Europe and his practice to do anthropological field work in Australia. He later settled in the United States...
's
anthropologicalAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
explorations. A scholar on
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the...
, she wrote a biography and an interpretation of his work.
She died of
leukemiaLeukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood cells, usually white blood cells . Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in
Saint-TropezSaint-Tropez is a commune of the Var département in southern France , located on the French Riviera...
, was cremated in Marseilles, and her ashes were interred in Prince George's tomb at
TatoïTatoi, located 15 km north of Athens, was the summer palace and estate of the former Greek Royal Family, and the site of George II of the Hellenes's birth...
, near
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
.
2004 film
The story of her relationship with Sigmund Freud, including assisting his family's escape into exile, was made into a movie, released in 2004.
Princesse Marie was directed by
Benoît JacquotBenoît Jacquot is a French film director who has had a varied career in European cinema.Born in Paris, he began his career as assistant director of Margurite Duras films included "Nathalie Granger", "India Song" and also actor in the 1973 short film La Sœur du cadre.Then turned to writing and...
and starred
Catherine DeneuveCatherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of beautiful ice maidens for various directors, including Luis Buñuel and Roman Polanski. Deneuve won two César Awards for her performances in Le Dernier Métro and Indochine . She has also received BAFTA and Academy...
as Princess Marie Bonaparte, and
Heinz BennentHeinz Bennent is a German actor.His career began after the end of World War II in Göttingen. He starred in the movie version of The Tin Drum.He moved to Switzerland in the 1970s, where he still lives today....
as Freud.
Titles and styles
- 2 July 1882 – 21 November 1907: Princess Marie Bonaparte
- 21 November 1907 – 21 September 1962: Her Royal Highness Princess George of Greece and Denmark
Works
- Topsy - 1940 - a love story about her dog.
- The Life and Works of E. A. Poe - 1949
- Five Copy Books - 1952
- Feminine Sexuality - 1953
External links