Ranavalona III - Death

Death

Ranavalona died without ever having returned to Madagascar, after two formal requests in 1910 and 1912 were refused on the pretext of insufficient funds in the colonial coffers. The exiled queen died suddenly at her villa in Algeria on May 23, 1917, the victim of a severe embolism. Ranavalona was buried at the Saint-Eugene cemetery in Algiers at 10:00 a.m. on May 25. Her funeral was attended by dozens of personal friends, admirers, Red Cross colleagues, members of her church congregation and prominent figures of the political and cultural elite of Algiers. By nine in the morning, a long line of cars had already formed at the entrance to the memorial site.

This effusive display of respect and remembrance on the part of Ranavalona's friends was not mirrored by subsequent actions of the French colonial administration in Madagascar. In June 1925, eight years after the queen's death, the Governor-General of Algeria informed the Governor-General of Madagascar by letter that payments for the maintenance of Ranavalona's tomb were in default. He urged the colonial government in Madagascar to provide funds for the upkeep of the dilapidated tomb, emphasizing that such neglect was unworthy of the queen's memory and the government of France alike. The request was twice refused and the tomb was never refurbished. In November 1938, Ranavalona's remains were exhumed and re-interred in the tomb of Queen Rasoherina at the Rova of Antananarivo in Madagascar. A fire on the night of 6 November 1995 severely damaged the royal tombs and destroyed most of the other buildings at the site. The lamba-wrapped remains of Ranavalona III were the only ones that could be saved from the flames. These have since been re-interred in the royal tombs at Ambohimanga.

Following Ranavalona's death, her aunt Ramasindrazana left Algeria and moved to Alpes-Maritimes where she lived out the few remaining years of her life. The heir-apparent, Marie-Louise, had left Ranavalona's villa several years earlier to study at a French high school and would go on to marry a French agricultural engineer named Andre Bosshard on June 24, 1921. Although she continued to receive a small pension from the French government throughout her lifetime, Marie-Louise chose to pursue a career as a nurse and was awarded the Legion of Honor for her medical services during World War II. After Bosshard and the childless Marie-Louise divorced, the young woman reportedly made the most of her new-found freedom as a flamboyant and vivacious social butterfly. Marie-Louise died in Bazoches-sur-le-Betz on January 18, 1948, without leaving any descendants, and was buried in Montreuil, France.