From Island Paradise to Unhappy Arranged Marriage
Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie on the Caribbean island of Martinique in 1763, the future Empress Josephine enjoyed a privileged early life on her family‘s wealthy sugarcane plantation. Her carefree childhood spent exploring the tropical gardens would be cut short at age 16, when family financial troubles necessitated an arranged marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais, a high-ranking French military officer.
The 1779 marriage, which Josephine agreed to as a replacement for her recently deceased younger sister Catherine, was a deeply unhappy one. Despite producing two children, a son Eugène and a daughter Hortense, the couple separated after Alexandre‘s numerous infidelities. In a letter to her father, Josephine wrote of her marital misery: "I have married a man who loves only his own pleasure, and who is hardly ever with me. I lead the saddest and most boring life imaginable."
Surviving the Reign of Terror and Scandalous Affairs
Josephine‘s life took a terrifying turn during the bloody French Revolution. In 1794, at the height of the Reign of Terror, both Josephine and her estranged husband Alexandre were imprisoned as aristocrats in Paris‘s notorious Carmes Prison. Alexandre was executed by guillotine just days before the fall of Robespierre in July 1794. Josephine narrowly escaped the same grisly fate, reportedly saved by the intervention of her friend Thérésa Tallien.
Newly widowed and desperate to regain her confiscated property, Josephine embarked on a series of scandalous affairs with powerful men, including Paul Barras, the main executive leader of the French Directory. It was at one of Barras‘s salons in 1795 that the 32-year-old Josephine first met the man who would change her life forever: a 26-year-old Corsican military prodigy named Napoleon Bonaparte.
A Whirlwind Romance and Hasty Marriage
The attraction between Napoleon and Josephine was immediate and intense. In his memoirs, Napoleon wrote of their first encounter: "I was immediately struck by her beauty and the sweetness of her face. I felt a violent love take possession of my soul." Just six months after meeting, the besotted couple wed in a civil ceremony on March 9, 1796. The wedding almost didn‘t happen, as the officiator initially refused to perform the ceremony due to several glaring inaccuracies:
| Wedding Inaccuracy | Josephine | Napoleon |
|---|---|---|
| Stated Age | 29 | 28 |
| Actual Age | 32 | 26 |
| Place of Residence | Paris | False Address |
Two days after the hastily arranged wedding, Napoleon departed to lead the French army‘s Italian campaign, pouring out his passion for his new bride in a series of scorching love letters:
"I awake full of you. Your image and the memory of last night‘s intoxicating pleasures has left no rest to my senses…I shall rush away from you on the wings of imagination, and shall not be happy until I can once more hold you in my arms."
Josephine‘s responses to Napoleon‘s amorous epistles were aloof at best, as she was rumored to be conducting an affair with a handsome young Hussar lieutenant, Hippolyte Charles. News of his wife‘s infidelity reached Napoleon while on campaign in Egypt, sowing the first cracks in their passionate but troubled relationship.
The Glory of Empire and a Devastating Divorce
Napoleon‘s star continued to rise, and he crowned himself Emperor of France in a lavish ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral in 1804. Josephine, resplendent in a velvet and ermine coronation gown, was crowned Empress, reaching the height of her wealth, power and influence. However, cracks continued to form in the imperial marriage, exacerbated by Josephine‘s inability to produce the male heir Napoleon so desperately desired.
Matters reached a breaking point in 1809, when Napoleon informed a devastated Josephine that for the good of France, she must agree to a divorce. At a gut-wrenching public divorce ceremony, the Emperor gave a stirring speech praising his soon-to-be ex-wife:
"Far from ever finding cause for complaint, I can to the contrary only congratulate myself on the devotion and tenderness of my beloved wife. She has adorned thirteen years of my life; the memory will always remain engraved on my heart."
The divorce was especially heart-rending for Josephine, who had grown to deeply love her husband. She collapsed in a fit of hysterical tears, and had to be carried back to her apartments.
Life After Napoleon and a Mysterious Death
Napoleon soon remarried the Austrian archduchess Marie Louise, who bore him a son and heir in 1811. Josephine, meanwhile, retreated to her opulent estate of Malmaison, where she lived in regal splendor. She filled the mansion with antiquities and art, cultivated her legendary rose gardens, and expanded her exotic menagerie, which grew to include black swans, ostriches, emus, kangaroos, zebras, and antelopes.
It was at Malmaison, in May of 1814, that Josephine fell suddenly ill after contracting a severe case of pneumonia. Despite the best efforts of her physicians, the 50-year-old Empress died on May 29th, 1814, a mere month after Napoleon‘s forced abdication of the French throne. Eyewitness accounts of Josephine‘s last moments differ, with some claiming she cried out for Napoleon, while others state her final words were "island…paradise…family."
The exact cause of Josephine‘s death remains a subject of historical debate. While pneumonia is the official cause listed, some historians have speculated that she may have been poisoned by Russian agents, or succumbed to uterine cancer. Napoleon himself was suspicious, writing in his memoirs: "I have always had a vague belief that Josephine‘s death was not wholly natural."
When word of Josephine‘s passing reached Napoleon in exile on Elba, his aide reported that the fallen Emperor turned deathly pale, locked himself in his study, and refused to see anyone for two days. Napoleon‘s last words, uttered on his own deathbed in 1821, included a mention of his beloved first wife: "France…army…head of the army…Josephine."
A Complicated Legacy of Beauty, Power, and Controversy
Today, Empress Josephine remains a polarizing figure, admired and reviled in equal measure. As a fashion icon, she popularized the high-waisted Empire silhouette dress and helped spread the popularity of cashmere shawls and cameo jewelry. Her legendary rose gardens at Malmaison, where she cultivated over 250 varieties, gave rise to many modern hybrid roses, including the "Souvenir de la Malmaison" and "Empress Josephine" varieties.
However, Josephine‘s legacy is inextricably tied to the evils of slavery and colonialism. Her family‘s vast wealth derived largely from their ownership of African slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations. Josephine herself is alleged to have personally influenced Napoleon‘s decision to brutally reinstate slavery in the French colonies in 1802, after its abolition during the Revolution.
Despite failing to give Napoleon an heir, Josephine‘s bloodline sits on many of Europe‘s royal thrones to this day. Her grandson, Napoleon III, ruled as the last French monarch from 1852-1870. Other direct descendants include:
| Country | Monarch |
|---|---|
| Sweden | King Carl XVI Gustaf |
| Denmark | Queen Margrethe II |
| Norway | King Harald V |
| Belgium | King Philippe |
| Luxembourg | Grand Duke Henri |
Over two centuries after her death, Empress Josephine endures as one of history‘s most fascinating and enigmatic figures. The tragic tale of her meteoric rise from Martinique debutante to French Empress, her all-consuming love for Napoleon, and her heartbreaking fall from power, continues to captivate scholars and laypeople alike. In many ways, Josephine embodies both the splendor and the horror of her age, an unforgettable woman who helped shape the course of world events, for better and for worse.
