FAMOUS STORIES
The story of Napoleon and Josephine
The tumultuous love affair Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine shared will last forever as one of the world’s great stories. Finding France tells you why.
Josephine’s name was not actually ‘Josephine’. She was born Marie-Josephe-Rose Tascher, and referred to as Rose. When ‘Rose’ met (and quickly started) her passionate love affair with France’s most famous ruler, she was a widowed mother of two. The year was 1795.
Her first marriage had been an arranged marriage and was anything other than happy. It ended when the terror of the French Revolution swept through France and her husband, like so many nobles of the time, was sent to the guillotine. Josephine herself was also imprisoned and sentenced to death but fortunately for her, the day before she was to be executed, the tyrant Robespierre was overthrown and the Revolution was over.
Napoleon was immediately besotted by her and proposed to her in January 1796. They married only two short months later on 9 March and Napoleon changed her name from ‘Rose’ to what he considered a more beautiful and fitting name for his elegant bride: ‘Josephine’. As a wedding gift, Napoleon gave her a gold medallion inscribed with the words ‘To Destiny’.
Shortly after their wedding, Napoleon left Paris to command the French army near Italy. In fact his command of the French army regularly separated the pair and by the November following their marriage, Napoleon started to hear rumours about Josephine’s infidelity. Napoleon refused to believe these scandalous whispers and wrote her passionate letters declaring his love and desire for her:
21 November 1796 - I am going to bed with my heart full of your adorable image … I cannot wait to give proof of my ardent love … How happy I would be if I could assist you at your undressing, the little firm white breast, the adorable face, the hair tied up in a scarf à la Creole. You know that I will never forget the little visits, you know, the little black forest … I kiss it a thousand times and wait impatiently for the moment I will be in it. To live within Josephine is to live in the Elysian Fields. Kisses on your mouth, your eyes, your breast, everywhere, everywhere.
But Josephine was unfaithful to Napoleon and in March 1798, Napoleon learnt the truth. He confronted Josephine immediately and she vehemently denied the allegations, angrily daring him to divorce her if he thought she was capable of loving another.
Despite her bravado in the face of confrontation, it appears the event gave Josephine a fright. Perhaps she thought about how hard life would be if Napoleon were to divorce her. Whatever the reason, her behaviour from that point changed and she became more loving and kind towards Napoleon, started accompanying him on more of his campaigns, and we understand, never strayed again.
For Napoleon, however, the confrontation seemed to have had the opposite effect and while they stayed together, in retaliation to her infidelity, he took the first of a series of mistresses.
In February 1800, Napoleon became First Consul and the couple moved into the Tuileries Palace. In 1804, they were crowned Emperor and Empress and lived a seemingly tranquil life for almost two years. But tragedy was looming.
In 1806, Napoleon’s mistress of the time fell pregnant and consequently gave birth to a son. Until that point, Napoleon believed Josephine’s barrenness during their marriage was his fault and although he still loved her, he wanted an heir and so he started to consider divorcing her.
Napoleon wrote to his brother: Josephine is decidedly old and as she cannot now have any children she is very melancholy about it and tiresome. She fears divorce or even worse … Just imagine, the woman cries every time she has indigestion because she says she believes she has been poisoned by those who want me to marry someone else. It is detestable.
Josephine’s fate was set when her grandson, Napoleon, who had been declared Napoleon’s heir, died of croup. Over dinner one evening in November 1809, Napoleon told Josephine that in the interests of France he must find a wife who could produce an heir. It’s reported Napoleon’s secretary could hear Josephine’s screams from the next room.
The following day, the servants took Josephine’s belongings to the Château de Malmaison on the outskirts of Paris where she remained until her death. (This Château is now the Musée National du Château de Malmaison open to the public most days of the week.)
Their divorce itself was a formal yet unusual event where they each read a statement declaring their devotion to each other:
Napoleon said: 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.
Josephine replied: With the permission of my eminent and dear husband, I must declare that in having no hope of bearing children who would fulfil the needs of his policies and the interests of France, I am pleased to offer him the greatest proof of attachment and devotion ever offered on this earth.
Napoleon did re-marry and his wife, Marie-Louise (the great niece of Marie-Antoinette), produced his long-awaited heir. When the child was two years old, Napoleon arranged for Josephine to meet this child ‘who had cost her so many tears’.
In 1814, France was invaded and Napoleon was exiled to Elba. Josephine, still living alone in Malmaison, became sick with a cold which grew steadily worse and worse. She died 29 May 1814 in the arms of her son Eugene. Napoleon learned of her death while in exile and apparently locked himself in his room for two days, refusing to talk to or see anyone.
Throughout her entire life, Josephine’s favourite flower had been the violet and she always surrounded herself with the delicate little buds and wore their scent as her perfume. Two days after his return from exile, Napoleon visited the Château de Malmaison where he collected violets from Josephine’s garden. He wore these violets in a locket until his death as a reminder of their love.