Fraser Fumbles?

[stoutfellow]

I just finished reading George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman's Lady. Like the other Flashman novels I've read, it was thoroughly entertaining, but something caught my attention near the end. Fraser is usually meticulously careful about historical details, but....

Near the end of the story, a joint British-French force attacks a fortress on Madagascar. They are repulsed, but manage to capture the fortress's Malagasy flag. There is a comic tussle between the French and British commanders over the flag, and at one point the French commander refers to it as "the rightful property of Madame la République". Problem: this is taking place in 1845. France was still a monarchy; Louis-Phillipe was not overthrown until 1848.

This is so unlike Fraser's usual care that I have to think there must be an explanation. Any suggestions?

Comments

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

He's been out there and out of touch since before Napoleon? ;)

[oilhistorian.livejournal.com]

Unlike his immediate predecessor Charles X, Louis-Philippe was a constitutional monarch with powers even more circumscribed than those of the British monarch today. The July Revolution made France a republic in all but name -- and when Louis-Philippe tried to push the envelope towards more monarchical uthority in '48, he found out just how circumscribed his power was when he was forced to abdicate.

Politically speaking, the July Revolution dispensed with the notion of hereditary right for the selection of the monarch, leaving the choice of monarch to the assembly, not birth. While not a republic per se, the Revolution of 1830 certainly was born of republicanism. One can assume that the French commander was simply a leftist Republican.

Or Fraser screwed up .....

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Historical fiction has the occasional mistake. Harry Turtledove, who also does meticulous research, made a similar error in his Great War trilogy. Josephus Daniels, a North Carolinian, is depicted as being the US Secretary of the Navy in an alternate history based on the Civil War being won by the south.