Exile
Gallieni exiled Ranavalona from Madagascar on February 27, 1897, and officially abolished the monarchy the next day. French officials ordered the queen to leave her palace at 1:30 in the morning. She was carried from Antananarivo by palanquin as the city slept, accompanied by 700–800 escorts and porters. Throughout the days spent traveling to the eastern port of Toamasina where she would board a ship to Réunion, Ranavalona reportedly drank heavily, swigging rum directly from the bottle in an uncustomarily coarse fashion. At Toamasina on March 6, Ranavalona was notified that her sister Rasendranoro and aunt Ramasindrazana would be arriving shortly, as would the queen's fourteen-year-old niece, Razafinandriamanitra, who was nine months pregnant with the illegitimate child of a French soldier.
Read more about this topic: Ranavalona III
Famous quotes containing the word exile:
“the bird in the poplar tree
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