Joséphine De Beauharnais - Napoléon's GREAT Love

The beautiful Joséphine de Beauharnais, a Parisian socialite, is best known for being the greatest love of Napoléon Bonaparte. But who was she really? Let's find out. Marie-Josèphe Rose de Taché-de-la-Pagerie was born on June 23, 1763, on her parents' sugar plantation in Martinique. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Gaspard de Taché-de-la-Pagerie The vast estate on which Joséphine was born, although not one of the largest in Martinique, covered nearly 1,200 acres and employed more than 200 able-bodied slaves. It was there that Joséphine grew up. Her mother was mainly responsible for the management of the estate, while her father mostly led a life of pleasure. During her childhood, Joséphine developed a character and habits that corresponded to the image that the French had of the Creoles, sensual and capricious. Her habit of eating sugarcane syrup caused her teeth to deteriorate at an early age, which led her to adopt a closed half-smile that gave her an enigmatic air. At the end of 1777, a marriage arrangement was made for Joséphine to marry Alexandre de Beauharnais, who was the son of the Marquis François de Beauharnais. Alexandre was initially supposed to marry Joséphine's sister, Catherine Désirée, but Catherine had died of tuberculosis before the wedding could take place. Joséphine was taken to France by her father and the marriage was celebrated on December 13, 1779 in Noisy-le-Grand, the newlyweds settled in Paris. Very quickly, it became clear that the couple did not get along. Alexandre was regularly absent and although Joséphine complained about the scarcity of her husband's correspondence, he reproached her for a certain lack of education. The birth of their first child, named Eugène, seemed to bring the couple closer together, but after a few weeks, Alexandre drifted away again. Joséphine gradually became part of the Parisian aristocratic society and frequented the salons. In 1782, Alexandre travelled to Martinique. Joséphine, who remained in France, found herself pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter, Hortense, on April 10, 1783. When Alexandre learned about the birth of the girl, he doubted his paternity and accused Joséphine of adultery. Upon his return to France the following autumn, he forced Joséphine to leave the marital home and enter a convent at Pentemont Abbey, while their children were entrusted to a wet nurse. Refusing to accept his situation, Joséphine filed a case against him and won. Alexandre was condemned to pay a pension to his wife for the education of his children. However, Alexandre had Eugène removed from his mother, which led to a new case filed by Joséphine. Eventually, a compromise was signed. Alexandre acknowledged his wrongdoing and granted his wife an annual pension of 6,000 livres, while leaving her permanent custody of Hortense and custody of Eugène until the boy was 5 years old. Alexandre didn't pay her pension regularly, though, and Joséphine experienced financial difficulties. Thankfully, her parents sent financial aid from Martinique. With no money and no established social position, Joséphine chose to return to her native land. She embarked with her daughter for the French West Indies in June 1788. While the French Revolution broke out in 1789, rioting started in Martinique the following year. Joséphine and her daughter managed to flee and join their aunt in Fontainebleau in France. Upon her return, Joséphine learned her husband had acquired an influential position in French political life and Joséphine used her position as his wife to widen her circle of relations. In 1793, the situation evolved in an unfavourable direction for the Boharnais couple. Alexandre was accused of being a counter-revolutionary, an offence punishable by death. Joséphine now took refuge in Croissy, from where she tried to use her connections to secure the release of her husband. On April 19, Joséphine herself was arrested and locked up in the Carnets prison. There she rejoined her husband, whom she was allowed to see for a few hours each day. Alexandre was guillotined on July 23. The fall of Robespierre shortly afterwards put an end to the terror and Joséphine was released on August 6, 1794. The first meeting between Joséphine and Napoléon Bonaparte, a military officer on leave at the time, took place in August 1795, without either of them paying any particular attention to the other among the various guests. According to various sources, they were finally introduced on October 15. On the evening of March 9, 1796, Joséphine and Napoléon were married in a civil ceremony at the Hotel de Mont-Dragon, the headquarters of the 2nd Municipality of Paris. The hurried marriage was surprising, but some historians mention a possible pregnancy of Joséphine, which could have prompted the two lovers to regularize their situation. From the very beginning of their relationship, Napoléon was particularly passionate about Joséphine. He was very jealous and possessive. After his departure for Italy, he sent his wife passionate letters to express his love for her, but Joséphine, in return, was more reserved in her correspondence. This strongly irritated Napoléon, who reproached her for this, as well as for the frequency of her letters, which he considered to be much too infrequent. He also accused her of continuing to live a mundane life, while he moped about in his headquarters. As soon as the Armistice of Cherasco was signed, which followed the defeat of the troops of the King of Sardinia, Napoleon begged Joséphine to join him, but his request initially went unanswered, which caused him great dismay. Preferring to remain in Paris, Joséphine put forward a pregnancy as the reason for refusing the trip. Finally, Joséphine agreed to join her husband and set off for Italy. When Joséphine reached Milan, the extremely busy Napoléon had little time to spend with his wife. With each new departure of Napoléon, the spouses accused each other of adultery in sometimes inflammatory letters. Violent arguments erupted between the couple. However, Joséphine's role took on a new, representative dimension during her stay in Italy. She reassured frightened soldiers and won their approval. Despite his representative role, Joséphine was bored to death in Italy. After the signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio, which put an end to the Italian campaign, Napoléon and Joséphine were able to return to France. Back in France, the Bonaparte couple enjoyed great popularity and the prestige of Napoléon's military victories reflected equally on Joséphine. But the Italian campaign changed their relationship as a couple. The strong and independent Joséphine was now forced to take a backseat to her husband, leading to an affair with Hippolyte Charles. In May 1798, Joséphine followed Napoléon to Toulon, where he embarked on the Egyptian campaign. On June 20th, she became injured when a balcony on which she was sitting with their friends collapsed under the weight of its occupants. She did not return to Paris until September 15 and had to give up the idea of joining Napoléon in Egypt. It was in Egypt that Napoléon learned of Joséphine's adultery. The furious Napoléon first considered divorce, but then found consolation in the arms of a mistress, Pauline Fourier. The love affair between Joséphine and Hippolyte Charles came to an end at the beginning of 1799. Upon his return from Egypt, Bonaparte was determined to get a divorce, but he finally abandoned the idea due to his attachment to Hortense and Eugène. As soon as Napoléon returned, the house in the Rue de la Victoire became the center of the meetings that prepared for Napoléon's Coupe d'Etat. Joséphine found herself at the heart of the preparations. Although her role remained small, Joséphine accompanied Bonaparte on each of his outings and activated her various networks to obtain information for her husband. After the appointment of Napoléon as First Consul of France in December 1799, the Bonaparte couple took up residence in the Tuileries Palace. Very busy with his work, Napoléon was hardly ever present at his wife's side. He went to great lengths to keep Joséphine out of all political matters, although she was informed of them through her networks. Napoléon nevertheless intended to use Joséphine in his power strategy and to strengthen his hold on society. She gradually took on the appearance of a queen, setting the tone for Parisian fashion. On May 18, 1804, Napoléon was proclaimed Hereditary Emperor of the French. To secure his legitimacy, Napoléon decided to have himself crowned on December 2, 1804. Despite the protests of his family, who had no love for Joséphine, he chose to crown Joséphine at the same ceremony in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. She thus became the first French sovereign to receive this honor since Marie de' Medici in 1610. Joséphine's coronation reinforced the prestige and ceremonial that surrounded her office, but she was kept away from all affairs of state. The absence of the birth of an heir became a matter of state as Napoléon strengthened his power. When a son was born from Napoléon's extramarital affair with Eleonore de La Plagne, Joséphine's position became even more precarious. Now convinced of his ability to be a father, Napoléon wanted an heir of his own blood. A divorce on state grounds seemed inevitable. The divorce was signed on December 15, 1809, after which Napoléon went on to marry Marie Louise of Austria. Joséphine retired to the Château de Navarre and the Château de Malmaison, where she kept spending extreme amount of money on shoes, dresses and jewelry. She continued to benefit from Napoléon's good fortune, but in spite of this, she almost went bankrupt five or six times, after which Napoléon each time cleared her accounts. After an afternoon stroll with Tsar Alexandre I in May 1814, Joséphine developed a pneumonia. Joséphine de Beauharnais died in the afternoon of May 19, 1814 in the Château de Malmaison. Her funeral, which took place on June 2 with the greatest bump in circumstance, was held in the modest and small village of Rueil. It was not until September 28, 1825, that her ashes were transferred to the tomb commissioned by her two children Eugène and Hortense, who spent more than 10 years clearing up obstacles with the authorities to have this mausoleum erected. Upon learning of her death, Napoléon refused to speak to anyone for two days. The ex-emperor's final words on his deathbed at Saint Helena were France, the army, the head of the army, Joséphine. Thank you for watching.