The True Story Behind Napoleon And Josephine Bonaparte’s Bizarre And Dramatic Marriage
“Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, not only tells the story of the infamous French emperor, but also of his dysfunctional relationship with his first wife, Josephine.
Royal love stories are a Hollywood staple. Romantic stories like Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna have enchanted viewers for decades, but not all love stories are created equally. Some royal love stories, like Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, are famous for being dysfunctional, but no royal couple is as chaotic as Napoleon Bonaparte and his first wife, Josephine.
In the recent Napoleon biopic, viewers get to watch Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix) and Josephine’s (Vanessa Kirby) story in all its chaotic glory. Most of us know the story of Napoleon, but the movie shows Josephine as more than his wife.
This is the true story of Josephine Bonaparte.
Josephine's Early Life and Relationship with Napoleon
Marie-Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie was born on June 23, 1763, in Martinique, a Caribbean island in the French West Indies. She lived a humble yet comfortable life as the daughter of an impoverished aristocrat and sugar plantation owner. After a hurricane destroyed her family home and left them in financial strife, 15-year-old Josephine was betrothed to a young nobleman and officer, Alexandre de Beauharnais. The two married in 1779, saving her family from financial ruin and allowing the new couple to start a life together in Paris.
The marriage wasn’t a love match (as most aristocratic marriages in the 18th century were for economic, political, or social reasons), but produced two children, Eugene (born in 1781) and Hortense (born in 1783). The couple lived separate lives, but Josephine couldn’t escape her husband’s involvement in the French Revolution. Alexandre was not only a member of the Jacobin party but also the President of the National Constituent Assembly. He and Josephine were arrested for treason during the Reign of Terror, and Alexandre was executed via the guillotine on July 23, 1794. Josephine was meant to share the same fate, but was freed due to the execution of Jacobin leader Maximillian Robespierre.
Now a widowed mother of two, Josephine had numerous affairs with men in Parisian high society to maintain her social status and provide for her children. One of these men was politician Paul Barras, who introduced Josephine to a soldier six years her junior, named Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1795.
After their first meeting, Napoleon and Josephine each had different reactions. For Napoleon, it was love at first sight. He was enchanted by Josephine’s beauty and elegance, but Josephine was indifferent. She later became attracted to the safety of his money, as Peter McPhee, historian and author of Liberty or Death: The French Revolution, says, “One of the great attractions for Joséphine is that Napoleon is obviously a brilliant army officer on the rise. For her, it’s the attraction of power and success.”
Despite neither of their families approving of the match, Napoleon and Josephine got married in a civil ceremony in March 1796, only a few months after they first met.
A Tumultuous Marriage
Two days after their wedding, Napoleon went away to lead the French Army to Italy in a military campaign, but wrote Josephine plenty of love letters. In one of the most famous, he wrote, “Every moment separates me further from you, my beloved, and every moment I have less energy to exist so far from you. You are the constant object of my thoughts.”
Despite receiving many love letters, Josephine rarely replied to Napoleon’s declarations of love. Shortly after he left for Italy, she took in a 23-year-old lover. Napoleon discovered the affair in November 1796, and expressed his frustration in a letter to Josephine. He wrote, “I don’t love you anymore; on the contrary, I detest you. You are a vile, mean, beastly slut. You don’t write to me at all; you don’t love your husband.”
While the letter was full of hatred toward Josephine and her infidelity, he ended it by showing his love and devotion to her: “Soon, I hope, I will be holding you in my arms; then I will cover you with a million hot kisses, burning like the equator.”
Josephine’s affairs (yes, she had multiple) caused plenty of fights in their marriage. Napoleon even went as far as to consider divorce, but he decided the best way to get back at Josephine was to take in lovers of his own, which he started doing publicly after he conquered Egypt in 1799. Their relationship was a rollercoaster of passion, infidelity, and hatred, followed by reconciliation. It wasn’t a fairy tale romance, but the ups and downs of their marriage make their story perfect for the big (or small) screen.
After conquering much of Europe, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France and Josephine Empress of France in December 1804. He crowned Josephine himself, and the lavish coronation was famously depicted in the 1807 painting, “The Coronation of Napoleon,” by Jacques-Louis David.
As Empress of France, Josephine was a renowned socialite. While she threw lavish parties and liked to spend money on the finer things, she spent the majority of her time at the Chateau de Malmaison outside Paris. She took a keen interest in gardening and botany, and her chateau became famous for its lavish rose gardens and exotic plants.
Divorce, Life after Napoleon, and Death
Despite infidelity by both parties, Josephine’s marriage to Napoleon ended in 1810 due to her inability to conceive his child; she was deemed infertile (possibly due to contracting an STI from a lover) after Napoleon had a child with one of his mistresses.
In true Napoleon and Josephine fashion, the 13-year-long marriage ended in an equally chaotic and lavish “imperial divorce” ceremony. In the throne room of the Tuileries Palace in Paris and attended by courtiers, Josephine wore a white gown as Napoleon declared, “I would like her … never to doubt my feelings for her; she will always be my best and my dearest friend.”
Josephine responded, “I must declare that no longer holding out any hope for a child that could satisfy both his political needs and the good of France, I give to him the greatest proof of attachment and devotion that has ever been given on this earth.” Overcome with emotion, Josephine was unable to finish her speech before the divorce was publicly granted.
After the divorce, Napoleon married Marie Louise of Austria, who was the mother of his son and heir, Napoleon II. Josephine never married again, dying of pneumonia a few years after the divorce in 1814. She was 50 years old.
Despite their divorce, Napoleon still loved Josephine when she died, and had the displeasure of learning of her passing via a newspaper. He died in exile in 1821, where his alleged last words were, “France, the Army, the head of the Army, and Josephine.”
Closing Thoughts
Napoleon Bonaparte is remembered in history as a madman and a conqueror, making many of his tender love letters to his first wife, Josephine, a contrast from the man history remembers. The love letters paint a passionate but tumultuous relationship; the truth behind this love story is that their romance was far from healthy. It might not be a Disney-style love story, but the chaotic nature of their relationship makes it perfect for Hollywood.
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