Napoleon Bonaparte’s marriage to his first wife, Joséphine, ultimately ended in divorce because she couldn’t give him an heir. A lot happened during their relationship before they got to that point.
The French military leader and emperor coined the name Joséphine for her. Her real name was actually Marie-Josèphe-Rose Tascher de La Pagerie.
She grew up on a plantation in Martinique, a French Caribbean colony. Her family married her off to a French noble named Alexandre de Beauharnais when she was a teenager. He had multiple affairs, leading the court to order their separation.
Alexandre was the President of the National Constituent Assembly, but his title could not protect him. In 1794, he was imprisoned and guillotined during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Joséphine had also been captured, but she managed to avoid the guillotine due to the fall of Robespierre.
At the age of 32, Joséphine was released from the Carmes Prison. She had two children, no money and no husband. She had to take out loans to get herself an apartment.
From there, she proceeded to immerse herself in French society. After having affairs with many senior political figures, she snagged Paul Barras, the mentor to Napoleon.
By 1795, he had grown tired of her and introduced her to Napoleon, who was a young soldier at the time. Four to five years later, Napoleon overthrew the nation’s leaders and crowned himself emperor.
At first, Joséphine didn’t really want to marry Napoleon, but he won her and her children over with gifts and a playful personality. In March 1796, they got married.
Two days later, he left to lead a French army into Italy. While he was gone, he wrote her countless love letters. She didn’t write as many as he did, and the ones she did write were not satisfactory to him.
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She had started an affair with Hippolyte Charles, a lieutenant and assistant to a general. Joséphine joined Napoleon in Italy in June, but she also brought along her lover. In November 1796, Napoleon visited her apartment in Milan and started to suspect something was up.
He found out about the affair in March 1798 and became furious. Joséphine was able to patch things up with him and continued on with the affair.
Later that year, in July, Napoleon heard about it while he was in Egypt and immediately sought a divorce. He took up a mistress himself, the wife of one of his army officers.
In October 1799, he returned to France after conquering Egypt. A month later, Joséphine promised to end her affair and persuaded him to call off the divorce. However, their relationship was never the same. Napoleon constantly brought his mistresses around.
Napoleon and Joséphine were crowned Emperor and Empress of the French in 1804. Shortly before the coronation, Joséphine found her husband in her lady-in-waiting’s bedroom.
They started arguing, and Napoleon threatened to divorce her again. This time was because Joséphine had not produced an heir. In 1806, Joséphine was 43 years old.
Napoleon’s nephew and declared heir died in 1807 at the age of four. On December 15, 1809, Napoleon and Joséphine had their divorce ceremony, but they still read statements about their love for each other.
On March 11, 1810, Napoleon married Marie-Louise of Austria. About a year later, she gave birth to Napoleon II. Joséphine and her ex-husband remained good friends.
In May 1814, he heard the news that she had died of pneumonia during his first exile in Elba.
Afterward, he shut himself away for two days. When he died in his last exile in St. Helena, his last words were “France, the army, head of the army, Joséphine.”
Even though they went through many ups and downs, it seemed that Napoleon and Joséphine loved each other through it all.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
