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Emperor of the French 1810-1814, King of Italy 1805-1814, Protector of Confederation of the Rhine 1806-1813, First Consul of the Republic 1799
Son of: Carlo Maria di Buonaparte & Maria Letizia Ramolino.
Husband of:
A steady stream of beautiful young women
Maid of Honour to Empress Josephine
A steady stream of beautiful young women
"Though Napoleon guarded and worshiped his wife, he demanded that a steady stream of beautiful young women be available in the chamber next to his. He refused to allow his wife or her spies inside. Constant would answer the door, saying firmly, 'I have orders to let no one in, not even Her Majesty the Empress.' Actresses, courtiers, ladies-in-waiting, dancers and ladies of fashion: Few refused Napoleon's call, even though his lovemaking was brusque and he lost interest almost as soon as he had conquered a woman. The women were instructed not to wear perfume and often had to wait for him having already undressed, so that matters could be speedily conducted. They hoped for jewels, influence, and money; they were curious about the great man himself; and of course they wished to prove themselves more beautiful then Josephine." (Ambition and Desire: Napoleon's Josephine: n.p.)
Napoleon I's lovers were:
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| Adele Duchatel |
1) Adele Duchatel (1782-1860)
Lover in 1803-1806.Maid of Honour to Empress Josephine
Wife of: Charles-Jacques-Nicolas Duchatel
A golden-haired blonde court beauty.
"When Napoleon and Josephine returned to Paris, he took up with Adele Duchatel, a golden-haired court beauty in possession of a complaisant older husband. Josephine was in paroxysms of misery at the affair. One fay at Saint-Cloud, she saw Adele secretly leave the room and convinced herself that her rival was on her way to Napoleon. Madame de Remusat tried to dissuade her, but Josephine was determined to find out what was happening. She hurtled up the stairs to Napoleon's chamber, listened at the door, and heard the voices of Adele and her husband. She knocked and begged to e allowed in, then burst through the door, ran to the bed, and began upbraiding her husband. Adele started crying and Napoleon was inflamed with fury; as Josephine recounted to Madame de Remusat, 'Bonaparte threw into so violent a passion that I hardly had time to fly before him and escape his rage. I am still trembling at the thought of it.' Adele fled and Josephine dashed away to her rooms, but he followed, screaming and shouting so loudly that the whole palace could hear. He threw every insult at her and smashed her furniture. Shrieking that she was now beyond redemption and that he'd had enough, he ordered her to leave the palace immediately. He roared that he was tired of her spying and that it was time to think of his legacy, 'which demanded that he should take a wife capable of having children.'" (Ambition and Desire: Napoleon's Josephine)". . . The Murats, insanely jealous of the continuing favour he showed Josephine, devoted themselves to finding women who might displace her in the Emperor's affections. For a time Adele Duchatel seemed to answer to their prayers. Madame Duchatel was a twenty-year-old beauty, separated or divorced -- it is not clear which -- from the middle-aged Director-General of Records. Napoleon took the bait and Murat provided cover by pretending to be madly in love with Adele. A game of cat and mouse developed between Emperor and Empress. Josephine found out about the affair from her spies. . . and tried to maintain surveillance on her husband in the palace, but he outfoxed her by creeping along to his mistress's room in his bare feet." (Napoleon: 300)
An alarming affair, to Empress Josephine.
"The affair which Josephine took most seriously was with Marie Antoinette Duchatel. There were tears and recriminations, and Hortense and Eugene joined her in pleading with Napoleon to break it off. Marie Antoinette had been a lady-in-waiting to Josephine, another blonde -- and with blue eyes said to be almost as beautiful as Josephine's own. In the end France's ruler consulted his wife on how most easily to terminate his relations with the girl." (Napoleon's Elites: 64)
"On another occasion, however, Josephine's compulsion to discover Bonaparte with another woman led to a crippling contretemps. The court was at St-Cloud, where a staircase led to Bonaparte's private apartments to a hidden upstairs room that he used for erotic rendezvous. One night Josephine became suspicious when she saw Adele Duchatel, a tempting twenty-year-old brought to court by the Murats, slip away from the group gathered in the salon. Certain that Adele was on her way to join Bonaparte, Josephine left her guests, beside herself with jealous passion, and made her way to the private apartment at the top of the stairs. The door was closed, but she could hear, through the keyhole, the sound of Bonaparte's voice and Adele's. She knocked loudly." (Josephine: A life of the Empress: 226)
Adele's persona or character.
". . . Despite being attractive and intelligent and able to play to perfection the part of the coquette, Duchatel was at heart a cold and haughty woman, who gradually revealed the frightening scale of her ambition. . . Duchatel herself always remained loyal to Napoleon, even if fair-weather friends deserted him. Napoleon, characteristically, repaid her loyalty with slights and insults, cut her in public and refused to speak to her again; in short he behaved like the classical cad." (Napoleon: 301)
Natural offspring:
Lady in waiting to the Empress Josephine.
" . . . Napoleon in turn became enamored with Julie's sister, the 14 year-old Desiree, equally beautiful and also fiery, whom he actively courted (and soon seduced) when not figuring out where such and such a division should be deployed in the forthcoming campaign, or where a new battery should be erected on the French coast. . . ." (The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte: 96)
" . . . But there is no doubt that he seriously contemplated marrying Desiree Clary, the younger sister of Joseph's wife. Madame Joseph and her husband both ardently desired the union, and it is more than likely that Desiree would have consented but for her father's interposition. He saw no reason to be satisfied with Joseph, and he had had enough of the Bonapartes, whose reputation was not a desirable one. Desiree, afterward married Bernadotte, and became Queen of Sweden. But she always regretted the still more brilliant future of which she had been robbed. Mme. Ducrest tells how, at a ball in the Tuilleries, Mme. Bernadotte appeared in a detestable humor---criticising everyone and everything. The explanation was then offered, that madame could not console herself for not having accepted the hand of Napoleon." (The Illustrated American: 321)
" . . . By this time he was interested in a third actress, Catherine Josephine Raffin, known as Mlle Duchesnois. This was another brief affair, which ended when Napoleon insulted her as a woman. Busy with affairs of state, he asked his valet Constant to tell her to wait in a room adjoining his study. After an hour she knocked on his door and Napoleon asked Constant to tell her to get undressed. Duchesnois did so and shivered for another hour before knocking a second time. This time a disgruntled Napoleon barked that she should go home, thus making yet another unnecessary enemy." (Napoleon: A Biography)
"The same Emperor also left a son by another mistress, Louise Catherine Denuelle de la Plaigne, who, at the time of the Emperor's intrigue with her, was married to a certain Jean Francois Revel. He, discovering her infidelity, obtained a divorce from her on April 29, 1806. In the following 6th of December she gave birth to a son by the Emperor, which son received at his baptism the Christian names of Charles Leon, and, from his imperial father, the title of Count, with settlements representing 3000 pounds a year and also a right to certain dues on all the wood sold by the State from forests of the department of the Moselle. In 1808 the mother married a captain of Cuirassiers named Augier, this marriage being arranged by Napoleon, who then settled on the bride a personal income of 800 pounds a year. Captain Augier, however, died in r about 1812, and two years later his widow took a third husband in the person of Karl August, Count von Luxburg, Minister of State of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The Countess de Luxburg, as she was called in Paris, lived until 1868 in receipt of not merely the income of her settlement but of frequent financial help from Napoleon III, who also did a great deal for her son. There must still be many people able to remember Count Leon, as he was called. His origin is stamped upon his face, he was physically the living portrait of the great captain. He ought never to have known want, having been provided with such a handsome income by Napoleon, who further entrusted him to the guardianship of M. de Mauvieres, with whose sons he was educated with a view to his entering the magistracy. On completing his twenty-first year Leon came into possession of the fortune which had been accumulating during his minority. Unluckily he had a bad failing, he was a gamester, and no long period elapsed before he had reduced himself to beggary. At the advent of the Second Empire he not unnaturally applied to Napoleon III for assistance, asserting, moreover, a right to a sum of about 35,000 pounds, which he alleged was due to him by the State on account of the woodcut in the Moselle forests in 1815. But in that respect the first Napoleon's decrees had been annulled by the Bourbons. . . ." (The Court of the Tuileries, 1852-1870: 179)
Personal & family background.
Napoleon had an ephemeral affair with her.
17) Madame Fouresnell.
18) Madame Valkier.
19) Mademoiselle Branchui.
20) Mademoiselle Guillebea
" . . . Mademoiselle Georges, who was a magnificent woman but only a moderate actress, had been trained by Mademoiselle Raucourt. Without having an exceptionally fine voice she was a good elocutionist, exhibiting plenty of lofty dignity in her style and bearing. She was on the whole a beautiful tragedy-queen, though rarely, perhaps never, did she attain the greatest heights.'" (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 123)
"The final woman in the bevy of actresses 'entertained' by the Consul was Mlle Bourgoin, the mistress of Chaptal, Minister of the Interior. Indulging in his taste for the humiliation of others, Napoleon arranged to have la Bourgoin brought to him while he was in conclave with Chaptal; he thus gratuitously made another mortal enemy. But this affair did not last long either, for Bourgoin had a taste for coarse jokes which Napoleon did not like in women. By the end of 1804 this liaison too had fizzled out. Bourgoin went on to a notable career as grande horizontale, specializing in sleeping with men in some way close to her greatest conquest: she was the mistress of Czar Alexander and also of Jerome, when he was King of Westphalia, in 1812."(Napoleon: A Biography)
26) Teresa de Cabarrus, Princesse de Chimay (1773-1835).
Daughter of: Antoine-Omer Talon, French royal avocat.
Wife of: Achille-Pierre-Antoine Baschi du Cayla, Marquis d'Aubais, Peer of France (d.1851), mar 1802, sep?
Lovers of Napoleon's wives.
1. Josephine de Beauharnais (1763-1814)
Her lovers were:
1) Hippolyte-Charles (1773-1837)
4) Paul Barras (1755-1829)
French politician of the French Revolution
Physical Traits & Personal Qualities: ". . . She was a less conventional beauty than Madame Tallien, but no less alluring. Tall and slender with wonderful breasts (which the light, filmy neo-Grecian dresses of the day showed off to perfection) she obviously moved with a good sense of her own body. Her silky chestnut hair was regularly washed (setting a new, novel fashion), cut into ringlets and usually piled upwards and tied in a ribbon." (Horricks, 1995, p. 58)
Spouses: Josephine married 1) Alexandre de Beauharnais; and 2) in 1796, divorced 1809, Napoleon I, later Emperor of the French. "Her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais . . . took place in 1779 and was unhappy from the outset, even though it resulted in the births of two children, Eugene and Hortense. It also transported her from Martinique to the highest level of French society. De Beauharnais was both mean and unfaithful, but he was popular at court and Josephine was twice received by Marie Antoinette at the Trianon. By the time of the Revolution the couple were legally separated, however both were thrown into prison. De Beauharnais was guillotined and Josephine herself only escaped execution by four days: due to the fall of Robespierre. . . . " (Horricks, 1995, p. 58)
Benefits: The divorce...came about in 1809... She retained the rank of 'Empress-Queen'. Her annual income was the equivalent of L80,000 from public funds, plus L40,000 from Napoleon's own. And he gave her Malmaison." (Horricks, 1995, p. 60) [Ref1]
Napoleon I of the French Gallery.
An alarming affair, to Empress Josephine.
"The affair which Josephine took most seriously was with Marie Antoinette Duchatel. There were tears and recriminations, and Hortense and Eugene joined her in pleading with Napoleon to break it off. Marie Antoinette had been a lady-in-waiting to Josephine, another blonde -- and with blue eyes said to be almost as beautiful as Josephine's own. In the end France's ruler consulted his wife on how most easily to terminate his relations with the girl." (Napoleon's Elites: 64)
"On another occasion, however, Josephine's compulsion to discover Bonaparte with another woman led to a crippling contretemps. The court was at St-Cloud, where a staircase led to Bonaparte's private apartments to a hidden upstairs room that he used for erotic rendezvous. One night Josephine became suspicious when she saw Adele Duchatel, a tempting twenty-year-old brought to court by the Murats, slip away from the group gathered in the salon. Certain that Adele was on her way to join Bonaparte, Josephine left her guests, beside herself with jealous passion, and made her way to the private apartment at the top of the stairs. The door was closed, but she could hear, through the keyhole, the sound of Bonaparte's voice and Adele's. She knocked loudly." (Josephine: A life of the Empress: 226)
Adele's persona or character.
". . . Despite being attractive and intelligent and able to play to perfection the part of the coquette, Duchatel was at heart a cold and haughty woman, who gradually revealed the frightening scale of her ambition. . . Duchatel herself always remained loyal to Napoleon, even if fair-weather friends deserted him. Napoleon, characteristically, repaid her loyalty with slights and insults, cut her in public and refused to speak to her again; in short he behaved like the classical cad." (Napoleon: 301)
Affairs effects on lovers' family, other people and society.
"Much to Josephine's relied, when they returned to Paris that October Mme de Vaudey, who proved a little too acquisitive for her own good, was quickly put aside. Almost immediately, however, another candidate was dangled before Napoleon. She was Adele Duchatel, a twenty-five-year-old blonde with a much older husband. This affair caused Josephine paroxysms of jealousy...." (Josephine: The Rose of Martinique: 318)
2) Albine de Montholon (1779-1848)
French aristocrat
Wife of:
1. Jean-Pierre Bignon, mar 1797, div 1799.
2. Daniel Roger, mar 1800.
3. Charles-Tristan, Marquis de Montholon.mar 1812
1. Helene-Napoleone Bonaparte (1816-1910)
"Once on St. Helena, the pretty and vivacious Albine became Napoleon's mistress. Napoleon was most likely not the father of Napoleone (known as Lili), conceived en route to the island and born on June 18, 1816. He probably was the father of Josephine, born on January 26, 1818. Albine was also rumoured to have had other liaisons on the island, most notably with English Lieutenant Basil Jackson (not to be confused with Major Edward Jackson, who contributed to Engelbert Lutyens' troubles). In July 1819, Albine left St. Helena, taking the three children with her. . . ." (Shannon Selin)
"For six years, Montholon had supervised and engineered the demise of this man he had grown to hate so much. During that time, Bonaparte took audacious liberties with Albine de Montholon, and indeed there were some whispered question as to the actual parentage of the Montholons' daughter, Napoleona." (The Amadeus Legacy)
"She was reputed to have had a number of romantic liaisons whilst on the island. Possibly with Admiral Cockburn, more certainly with Napoleon and with Lt. Basil Jackson, who followed her off the island in 1819 at the wish of the Governor, and stayed with her in Brussels." (Reflections on a Journey to St. Helena)
"In 1808 Charles de Montholon became romantically involved with Albine-Helene de Vassal, a woman three years his senior. Albine hailed from a French family of minor nobility and was on her second marriage. She left her husband to live with Montholon. On October 3, 1810 they had a son named Tristan. Albine's husband demanded a divorce and Montholon was eager to wed her, but Napoleon opposed the marriage on account of Albine's matrimonial past. Montholon took advantage of Napoleon's passage through Wurzburg, on his way to Russia, to request permission to marry a niece 'of President Seguier' of the Supreme Court, without spelling out that the lady in question was Albine. When Napoleon assented, Montholon hurried back to Paris and married his love. Napoleon learned of the marriage at Moscow in October 1812. He was furious and removed Montholon from his diplomatic post." (Shannon Selin: Imagining the Bounds of History)
3) Anna Roche de La Coste (1885?-)
Lover in 1805?.Lady in waiting to the Empress Josephine.
"As he approached his thirty-sixth birthday the Emperor was, sexually speaking, a ripe fruit to be plucked. His infidelities were becoming more and more overt and the rows with Josephine as consequence more and more bitter. In April 1805, on his way to Milan for the second coronation, he had a brief fling with an unknown woman at Castello di Stupigini, about six miles outside of Turin. But the next liaison was almost a calculated insult to the Empress, as the twenty-year-old Anna Roche de La Coste was one of the ladies-in-waiting whose job it was to read to Josephine. Yet Napoleon did not have things all his own way during this tempestuous affair, since La Coste herself proved capable of running more than one lover at once. Hearing rumours that La Coste had been the mistress of his chamberlain Theodore de Thiard, Napoleon went to great lengths to ensure he and his new conquest would not be disturbed. Having posted guards around her room, he was stupefied when he arrived to find her and Thiard in flagrante. After a furious but ignominious altercation with Thiard, Napoleon sent him off on a mission to the Vatican, then bought La Coste's loyalty by the gift of a priceless jewel. Still smarting from the Thiard business, the Emperor seems to have displaced some of his hostility to Josephine, for we hear of a scene at court where he publicly humiliated his wife by offering La Coste a ring. When Josephine threw another angry scene and demanded La Coste's banishment, Napoleon agreed -- provided Josephine received his mistress at a state reception -- an unheard of privilege for a woman whose official function was supposed to be limited by protocol to the Empress's bedroom. But in order to get rid of La Coste Josephine swallowed the bitter pill." (Napoleon: 316)
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| Auguste Charlotte von Schonberg |
Lover in 1809.
German aristocrat
Daughter of: Peter August von Schonberg, Palace marshal to Elector of Saxony.
Wife of:
1. August zu Lynnar (d.1800) Married in 1796
2. Count Ferdinand Kielmannsegge, Captain in Hanoverian army.
"Paradoxically, however, the emerging cult, despite its more auspicious subsequent direction, actually thrived on lurid scandal. Indeed, the myth literature attributed to the Emperor's sexual capabilities which stagger the imagination! Of course, much has been made of Napoleon's intimate affiliation with Josephine as well as his aversion to Madame de Stael and Madame de Remusat. But considerably less attention has been paid to his love affair with Marie Walewska, the Polish Countess. Even more significant for our investigation is the relationship to the Countess Charlotte von Kielmannsegg, nee Schonberg. To be sure, a great deal of obscurity surrounds the actual friendship---no mention is made of her in any of the French memoirs nor for that matter in the campaign record of the Saxon Colonel Odeleben---but we are dealing here with myth. She served as the leading lady in a virtual cycle of legends concerning her intimacies with the Emperor. Hans Blum, son of the famous nineteenth-century German democratic leader Robert Blum, notes in his letters that she made a cult of Napoleon so extravagant during her life that if furnished material for q furnished material for a fantastic romance. Her house beside the Weisseritz was stuffed full of Napoleon relics. Almost every article of furniture was a memorial to him and his times. Gertrude Aretz visited the house and reported that Charlotte treasured a lock of his hair, splinters of wood from the floor of his study in the Marcolini Palace, an old bell-pull, a chimney ornament and so on. She was a fanatical venerator of the Napoleon grandeur. . . ." (The Emergence of the Napoleonic Cuit in German Literature)
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| Desiree Clary |
5) Desiree Clary (1777-1860)
Lover in 1794-1796.
Daughter of: Francois Clary, French shipowner.
" . . . Her sister Julie married Joseph Bonaparte in August 1794 and Desiree became engaged to his younger brother, Napoleon, who preferred to call her Eugenie. . . In early 1796, however, Napoleon ditched Desiree for Josephine de Beauharnais and in 1798 she married General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. Napoleon made Bernadotte Marshal of France in 1804 and in 1810 the Swedish Diet elected him Crown Prince and future successor to their childless king. . . ." (Napoleon's Fiancee: The Fabulous Destiny of Desiree Clary)
" . . . Napoleon in turn became enamored with Julie's sister, the 14 year-old Desiree, equally beautiful and also fiery, whom he actively courted (and soon seduced) when not figuring out where such and such a division should be deployed in the forthcoming campaign, or where a new battery should be erected on the French coast. . . ." (The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte: 96)
" . . . But there is no doubt that he seriously contemplated marrying Desiree Clary, the younger sister of Joseph's wife. Madame Joseph and her husband both ardently desired the union, and it is more than likely that Desiree would have consented but for her father's interposition. He saw no reason to be satisfied with Joseph, and he had had enough of the Bonapartes, whose reputation was not a desirable one. Desiree, afterward married Bernadotte, and became Queen of Sweden. But she always regretted the still more brilliant future of which she had been robbed. Mme. Ducrest tells how, at a ball in the Tuilleries, Mme. Bernadotte appeared in a detestable humor---criticising everyone and everything. The explanation was then offered, that madame could not console herself for not having accepted the hand of Napoleon." (The Illustrated American: 321)
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| Carlotta Gazzani @Wikipedia |
6) Carlotta Gazzani (1789-1827)
Baronne de Brentano
Lover in 1807.
Daughter of a Mme. Bertani, a dancer/singer with the Grand-Theatre.
First encounter with the Emperor.
"During the same journey to Italy, in the midst of the fetes given at Genoa in celebration of the union of France and the Ligurian Republic, a lady by the name of Gazzani or Gazzana (her name has been written both ways), crossed Napoleon's path; she was the daughter of a Mme. Bertani, a dancer, or, according to some historians, a singer connected with the Grand-Theatre. Out of compliment to Josephine a number of Italian ladies had gone to Milan, and it had been arranged that La Gazzani should accompany them; it was a strangely assorted party, comprising ladies of the Begrone, Brignole, Doria and Remedi families, and women like Mme. Gazzani and Blanchina La Fleche, who was destine to such a brilliant career in Westphalia." (Napoleon, lover and husband: 124)
"Mme. Gazzani, then called Mme. Gazzani Brentano, and who long afterwards assumed the title of Baroness de Brentano, replaced Mlle. Lacoste, at a salary of five hundred francs a month; from 1805 to 1807 little was heard of her, for during that period which comprised the battle of Austerlitz and the campaign in Prussia and Poland the Emperor was little in France, but on his return to Paris and later at Fontainebleau she saw her opportunity and seized it. She was so lodged that she could easily reach the Emperor at all hours, and when summoned by him immediately hastened to obey. She never attempted to pose as a favorite, but accepted with modesty her role of occasional mistress, and the Empress, at first inclined to be jealous, was quickly reassured by Napoleon's making her his confidante. The Italian retained a respectful and submissive attitude towards the Empress, and remained unpretentiously in her place. She was accorded the entree of the drawing room reserved for the ladies-in-waiting, but that favor bestowed, Napoleon did not publicly interest himself in her and permitted the ladies of the palace to treat her as they pleased and shun her if they chose; their hostility, however, was of a short duration, and soon several of them, and not the least the haughty, relented sufficiently to admit her into their circle. Mme. Gazzani obtained something more substantial, however, from her relations with the Emperor than the flatteries of the court, as she secured the general receivership at Evreux for her husband." (Napoleon, lover and husband: 125)
"Shortly after the return of Napoleon to France, the court removed to Fontainbleau, where the usual intrigues recommenced. . . His Majesty at this moment formed a liaison with a Madame Gazzani, remarked in Italy by Talleyrand, who had persuaded Napoleon to attach her to the Empress in the quality of reader. Madame Gazzani is said to have outshone all the most lovely women of the court. The Emperor made no secret of his liaison, and Josephine, convinced that resistance was useless, submitted quietly to her destiny. . . ." (The Marriages of the Bonapartes, Vol 1: 210)
Carlota came after Mademoiselle Lacoste.
". . . Madame Gazzani, who was usually styled Gazzani Brentano, and who at a later period took the title of Baronne de Brentano, on what grounds we know not, accordingly became a reader in the place of Mademoiselle Lacoste, at a salary of 500 francs a month." (Sex Life of an Emperor: The Many Loves of Napoleon Bonaparte: 92)
Physical appearance & personal character.
"Carlotta Gazzani was tall, somewhat too slight for perfect beauty, but very gracefully formed, save that her feed and hands were ugly, a defect she concealed to some extent by never appearing without gloves. Her face was exquisite, a perfect type of Italian beauty in its absolute purity of outline. Her dark eyes were large and beautiful, and the delicate harmony of her features was enhanced by an arch smile that displayed the most beautiful teeth. Every woman who saw her praised her loveliness -- a proof that she was unquestionably beautiful, but that she lacked the supreme charm that rouses the envy of other women. . . ." (Sex Life of an Emperor: 92)
"Carlota Gazzani was tall, rather too slight perhaps, but with a most graceful and elegant carriage; her hands and feet were not remarkable for their beauty, indeed she invariably wore gloves, but her features were of the purest type of Italian beauty and her eyes large, dark and very brilliant. Even women praised La Gazzani's beauty, which is positive proof that it was great, but also, that she lacked that peculiar and indescribable charm which renders some women so captivating and the envy of all their sex. Mme. Remusat admitted that it was her husband, then first chamberlain, who charged himself with the Italian beauty's introduction at court, and who persuaded the Emperor to nominate her reader to Josephine; evidently it was not Talleyrand alone who, as Napoleon once said, 'always had his pockets full of mistresses.'" (Napoleon, lover and husband: 124)
The Emperor wanted Carlota gone; the Empress kept her in her household.
" . . . She also mentions the curious fact that Madame Gazzani remained attached to the household, and thus alludes to an incident upon which we have already dwelt. 'Two months after Madame Gazzani became the Imperial favourite, the Emperor, fearing, as often happened, lest he should be enslaved by a woman, suddenly said to Josephine, 'Turn her out; let her go back to Italy.' Josephine refused to drive a woman to despair who had been 'torn from her duties.' 'I shall perhaps,' she said, 'be one day as unhappy as she is.' Madame Gazzani remained with Josephine after the divorced and the repudiated found some consolation in talking to the repudiated mistress of their faithless lord and master. Madame Gazzani was made a receiver of taxes at Evreux.'" (The Marriages of the Bonapartes, Vol 1: 347)
Spouse & Children
". . . (S)he was consoled for his (Napoleon's) forgetfulness by the success in life of her daughter, Charlotte-Josephine-Eugenie-Claire, self-styled Baroness de Brentano, who made a brilliant match and married M. Alfred Mosselman, by whom she had a daughter who married M. Eugene Le Hon." (Sex Life of an Emperor: 126)
Beneficiaries & Patronages
" . . . She had obtained something more substantial than Court honors -- namely, her husband's appointment as Receiver-General for Evreux. . . ." (Sex Life of an Emperor: 93)
Affair's aftermath
". . . Her intimacy with the Emperor terminated at Fontainbleau, after that he only saw her by chance. He never loved her and appears never to have talked of her. . . " (Sex Life of an Emperor: 126)
Carlotta Gazzani's other lover was:
1) M. de Pourtales.
Husband of: Mademoiselle de Castellane.
" . . . Her chief bond of union with Navarre was her liaison with one of the Empress's equerries, M. de Pourtales, who contributed largely to her expenditure until his marriage with Mademoiselle de Castellane. . . ." (Sex LIfe of An Emperor: 93)
"After the imperial divorce Mme. Gazzani rejoined her lord, and being close to Navarre, where Josephine was residing, she became an intimate of the household to which she was strongly attracted by a liaison with M. de Pourtales, a groom of the Empress' household. . . . " (Napoleon, Lover and Husband: 126)
"When not entertaining guests, Josephine turned her attention to her own household. An incurable romantic, she could not resist matchmaking and meddling in the love lvoes of those around her. When she discovered that M. de Pourtales had begun corresponding with Mlle de Castellane, she immediately intervened. He was something of a roue and had already had an affair with Mlle Gazzani, one of Josephine's lectrices, with whom Napoleon had a brief fling. Determined that he should not take advantage of the rather innocent and sweet-natured Mlle de Castellane, Josephine took them both for a turn around the grounds, where she informed them she was was aware of their burgeoning romance. Then, with a wiliness worthy of her husband, she said to Mlle de Castellane, 'You possess nothing but your name ... M. de Pourtales is very rich; you cannot believe that he intends to marry you.' Embarrassed Pourtales interrupted, piping up his own defence that he would be very happy to do so. Before he had finished uttering the words, Josephine announce, 'I give a dowry of a hundred thousand francs and the trousseau.' When it was discovered that the couple were of different faiths, Josephine also smoothed this complication away by organizing one service by a pastor in the salon and another by a cardinal in the chapel." (Josephine: the Rose of Martinique: 396)
"When not entertaining guests, Josephine turned her attention to her own household. An incurable romantic, she could not resist matchmaking and meddling in the love lives of those around her. When she discovered that M. de Pourtales had begun corresponding with Mlle de Castellane, she immediately intervened. He was something of a roue and had already an affair with Mlle Gazzani, one of Josephine's lectrices, with whom Napoleon had a brief fling. . . ." (Josephine: The Rose of Martinique: 396)
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| Marie du Columbier @Wikipedia |
6) Marie du Columbier (1761-?).
Lover in 1785
French actress & writer
" . . . Napoleon took a fancy to Mademoiselle du Colo,bier, who on her side was not insensible to his advances. It was the first experience of the kind for both of them, and was of the nature to be expected from their age and education. 'No one could have been more innocent than we were,' said the Emperor; 'we often used to arrange little assignations. I recollect one in particular which took place at daybreak one morning in the middle of summer. It may not be credited, but our sole delight on that occasion consisted in eating cherries together.' . . . ." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 10)
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| Catherine-Josephine Duchesnois @Grenadier Labeille |
" . . . Mademoiselle Duchesnois, 'a tragedienne of great merit but extremely plain off the stage, was passably good-looking behind the footlights, her acting being wonderfully fine, particularly in Phedre. . . ." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 123)
" . . . By this time he was interested in a third actress, Catherine Josephine Raffin, known as Mlle Duchesnois. This was another brief affair, which ended when Napoleon insulted her as a woman. Busy with affairs of state, he asked his valet Constant to tell her to wait in a room adjoining his study. After an hour she knocked on his door and Napoleon asked Constant to tell her to get undressed. Duchesnois did so and shivered for another hour before knocking a second time. This time a disgruntled Napoleon barked that she should go home, thus making yet another unnecessary enemy." (Napoleon: A Biography)
Mlle. Duchesnois's other lovers were:
Casimir Baecker, a harpist in the service of Madame de Genlis, lover in 1810
Mademoiselle Raucourt, her lesbian lover
Marquis Anatole-Charles-Alexis de la Woestine, grandson of Madame de Genlis, lover in 1812
Charles Gelinet, lover in 1815.
First encounter with Napoleon.
"In 1802 she was brilliant in 'Phedre', where Napoleon saw her. She turned into a rival for the famous Mademoiselle George and every now and then this led to spectacular outbursts. The empress Josephine herself was on her side. In 1804 she had a brief affair with Napoleon, who once let her wait for a long time and then sent her away. The lesbian Mademoiselle Raucourt was another of her suitors." (androom)
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| Louise-Charlotte Rigaud de Vaudreuil @geneanet |
8) Louise-Charlotte Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1770-1831)
Lady-in-waiting to Empress Josephine
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| Eleonore Denuelle de la Plaigne @Wikipedia |
9) Eleonore Denuelle de la Plaigne (1787-1868)
Lover in 1805-1806
Natural offspring:
a. Charles Leon Denuelle (1806-1881)
"Though Napoleon claimed he had only seven mistresses, he probably had at least 21. One of these was Eleonore Denuelle de La Plaigne. Napoleon met her in 1805, when she was a beautiful eighteen-year-old in the employ of Napoleon's sister, Caroline Bonaparte Murat (Eleonore was also the mistress of Caroline's husband Joachim). In April 1806 Eleonore obtained a divorce from her husband, who was in prison for forgery. Napoleon set her up in a house on Rue de la Victoire in Paris. On December 13, 1806, she gave birth to Napoleon's first child, a boy. Napoleon was delighted, as this proved he was not responsible for his wife Josephine's infertility. When Eleonore asked for permission to name the boy Napoleon, he agreed to half the name. So the baby was christened Leon, and the birth certificate read: 'Son of Demoiselle Eleonore Denuel, aged twenty years, of independent means; father absent.' Napoleon's liaison with Napoleon ended shortly after Leon's birth. In 1808 Napoleon arranged for her to marry an infantry lieutenant. He was killed during the Russian campaign in 1812. In 1814, she married Charles de Luxbourg, a Bavarian diplomat." (Imagining the Bounds of History)
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . She was scarcely more than eighteen years of age, tall, slim, well set-up, graceful in her movements and endowed with a certain natural distinction of manner. Her hair was dark, her eyes also, and she knew how to give them an alluring expression to which her vivacity and coquetry imparted a magical effect. These lovely eyes of hers probably gazed more lingeringly on the Emperor than was befitting, whenever chance (which she well knew how to direct) placed her in her Sovereign's path. In the end, as a result of frequent encounters and lingering sidelong glances, Napoleon came to notice her. . . ." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 247)
First encounter.
". . . The Murats threw lavish parties for Napoleon's and his entourage. They also procured mistresses for him. In 1805, they introduced him to Eleonore Denuelle de la Plagne, a beautiful eighteen-year-old in their employ, whom Murat was bedding. In December 1806 Eleonore gave birth to Napoleon's first child, Charles Leon Denuelle. . . ." (Napoleon: 316)
"It was on Napoleon's return from Italy....that the Murats played their master card. They introduced to the Emperor a tall, willowy black-eyed brunette called Eleonore Denuelle de la Plagne, an eighteen-year-old beauty with the status of 'grass widow' since her husband was in jail. (Napoleon: A Biography)
"The Murats, persistent troublemakers, introduced Napoleon to Eleonore Denuelle de la Plaigne, a tall delicate brunette aged 18. She became pregnant by him, but then Napoleon went off on campaign and never resumed their affair. . . ." (Napoleon's Elites: 64)
Natural offspring.
" . . . In December 1806 she bore a son, whose paternity the Emperor at first accepted, until wagging tongues and Fouche's spies put him in the picture. While still accepting the theoretical possibility that he could have been the father, he suspected that the true impregnator was Murat. . . ." (Napoleon: A Biography)
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| Elisabeth de Vaudey |
10) Elisabeth de Vaudey (1773-1833)
Lover in 1804.Lady-in-waiting to Empress Josephine, 1804
Wife of Captain Francois-Xavier-Octave Barberot de Vaudey de Vellexon, mar 1798
Personal & family background.
"Elisabeth the Michaud d'Arçon de Vaudey (1773 - 1863) She was born in Besançon on October 27, 1773 in a noble family, her father was general under the revolution and senator under the consulate. Married at the age of 16 to Mr. Barberot de Vellexon de Vaudey who emigrates a year after this union. She inherits the intellectual qualities of her father and the beauty of her mother. She is described by her contemporaries as 'a very pretty person, witty, musician, friendly voice, very educated, but also very intriguing'. By another, she is charming, all grace, all sweetness, with pretty face, very beautiful teeth, beautiful blond hair, an aquiline nose a little long, but hooked and full of character, a hand to notice, a very small foot '. In 1804, she is chosen to be bridesmaid of the Empress Josephine. It is noticed by the emperor during a trip of this one to Aix-la-Chapelle. She is famous for being the mistress of Napoleon. Their affair was the cause of a violent domestic scene between the Emperor and his wife Josephine shortly before their coronation. Elisabeth de Vaudey officially lost her position as lady of the palace on October 29, 1804, she will then experience the decay. She becomes the owner of a luxury brothel, she is declared bankrupt by the Paris Commercial Court. She is then interned in a psychiatric asylum in Montmartre. She died in the most complete indigence on April 14, 1863. She is buried in the mass grave." (Racinescomtoises)
" . . . One of her [Empress Josephine] new ladies-in-waiting was Elisabeth de Vaudey, a pretty thirty-one-year-old blonde with a good singing voice and a passion for intrigue. She was fond of Jose pone but scornfully thought her 'need to open her heart, to repeat all that happens between herself and the Emperor, takes away much of Napoleon's confidence in her.'She saw her mistress as superficial. 'Josephine is like a ten-year-old child in her generosity, her frivolity and her rapid emotions, she can weep and be comforted in minutes.' Elisabeth thought Josephine was as 'ignorant as most Creoles' but had acquired 'graceful manners' and with, although she did admit that the empress was 'perfectly gentle and equable; it is impossible not to be fond of her.' Josephine made a mistake in telling Elisabeth her secrets, for the young woman liked to gossip, and everything Josephine told her found its way back to the Emperor." (Ambition and Desire: Napoleon's Josephine:)
"Madame de Vaudey, at appears, was a very attractive woman, tall, which does not always mean well-proportioned, and gifted with such a fund of self-confidence that it would hardly have been charitable to have wished her any more of it. This quality enabled her to make the most of her beauty, which of itself, perhaps, would have been of no very great account. It is the most likely thing in the world that she did not wait for the Emperor to deign to notice her, but that she herself knew well how to attract his attention. She was perfectly aware---indeed, it is the very A B C of the art of coquetry---that a man can rarely resist a compliment, particularly when it proceeds from a pair of pretty lips. In this regard Napoleon was not wiser than the rest, and his marriage which is the proof of it) had not yet opened his eyes to a stratagem so ordinary and yet so popular among coquettes. In addition to this, his vanity, which had already been flattered by his marriage with a Vicomtesse, derived further satisfaction from an intrigue with a woman of title, a woman of the Faubourg St. Germain clique. In short, it was no long time before he took this schemer for his mistress." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 165)
" . . . One of her [Empress Josephine] new ladies-in-waiting was Elisabeth de Vaudey, a pretty thirty-one-year-old blonde with a good singing voice and a passion for intrigue. She was fond of Jose pone but scornfully thought her 'need to open her heart, to repeat all that happens between herself and the Emperor, takes away much of Napoleon's confidence in her.'She saw her mistress as superficial. 'Josephine is like a ten-year-old child in her generosity, her frivolity and her rapid emotions, she can weep and be comforted in minutes.' Elisabeth thought Josephine was as 'ignorant as most Creoles' but had acquired 'graceful manners' and with, although she did admit that the empress was 'perfectly gentle and equable; it is impossible not to be fond of her.' Josephine made a mistake in telling Elisabeth her secrets, for the young woman liked to gossip, and everything Josephine told her found its way back to the Emperor." (Ambition and Desire: Napoleon's Josephine:)
"Madame de Vaudey, at appears, was a very attractive woman, tall, which does not always mean well-proportioned, and gifted with such a fund of self-confidence that it would hardly have been charitable to have wished her any more of it. This quality enabled her to make the most of her beauty, which of itself, perhaps, would have been of no very great account. It is the most likely thing in the world that she did not wait for the Emperor to deign to notice her, but that she herself knew well how to attract his attention. She was perfectly aware---indeed, it is the very A B C of the art of coquetry---that a man can rarely resist a compliment, particularly when it proceeds from a pair of pretty lips. In this regard Napoleon was not wiser than the rest, and his marriage which is the proof of it) had not yet opened his eyes to a stratagem so ordinary and yet so popular among coquettes. In addition to this, his vanity, which had already been flattered by his marriage with a Vicomtesse, derived further satisfaction from an intrigue with a woman of title, a woman of the Faubourg St. Germain clique. In short, it was no long time before he took this schemer for his mistress." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 165)
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| Emilie Levert @geneanet |
"'On that day,' says the editor in a note to the words 'and at St. Cloud before their imperial and royal majesties, on the 18th of August'---'on that day, they played together with Artaxerxes the comedy of The Legacy, in which Mlle. Emilie Levert made her first appearance before their majesties, in the part of the countess: the day was doubly fortunate; the emperor, pleased by the representation of both pieces, granted to the author of Artaxerxes a pension of 2,000 francs, and to Mlle. Emelie Levert a gratuity of 3,000 francs.'" (The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature: 499)
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| Victoria Kraus as Venus @Wikipedia |
Lover in 1805-1813.
Daughter of: Joze Kraus, a mining lawyer & Rosalia Schlibar, a teacher's daughter
Wife of Johannes Michael Schonauer, an Austrian lawyer, mar 1817, div 1820
Natural offspring: 1. Eugen Alexander Megerle von Muhlfeld (1810-1868), Austrian jurist & politician
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| Félicité Longrois @Wikipedia |
13) Félicité Longrois (1786-1847)
Lover in 1805-1806.
Lady-in-waiting to Empress Josephine.
"A typical case was that of Felicite Longory, daughter of a petty officer of the cabinet, whom Josephine had called to fill the position of lady usher. As such she was stationed in the salon in which the private apartments opened, and her duties consisted simply of throwing open the double doors for the passage of the Emperor or Empress; for this service she received three thousand, six hundred francs a year, which sum Josephine supplemented by six hundred francs in 1806. Felicite was a personage of no importance, almost a servant, yet she succeeded in attracting the attentions of the Emperor, and, the inevitable scene with the Empress ensuring, was naturally discharge, and later married well." (Napoleon, Lover and Husband: 122)
"Delacroix rarely portrayed anyone other than his closest family and friends. His affection for Madame Riesener, an aunt by marriage, is expressed through the frank tenderness of this portrait. She was once known for her beauty: some thirty years before the date of this portrait she served as a lady-in-waiting to empress Josephine, and having caught Napoleon’s eye, engaged in a brief liaison with him. After she died, Delacroix wrote to George Sand, "each of the beings necessary to our existence who disappears, takes away with him a whole world of feelings that no other relationship can revive." (Met Museum)
Personal & family background.
"Madame Riesener led a remarkable early life. She was born Felicite Longrois, and was the granddaughter of Pierre Longrois, who was in charge of the furniture at the Chateau de la Muette. Through one of her uncles she was introduced to the Imperial service, where she became a dame d'annonce. . . . " (The Wrightsman Collection: 64)
Spouse & children.
". . . During the following summer (i.e., 1806-1807) she was married off to Henri Riesener, the Empress Josephine signing the prenuptial contract. Riesener was then almost forty years old, his attractive wife not yet twenty. . . The Rieseners settled near Rouen and seem to have led a happy life. . . Henri Riesener was a tolerably successful painter who specialized in neoclassical portraits. . " (The Wrightsman Collection: 64)
[Fam1:GeneaNet]
Lover in 1810.
Daughter of: French bookseller
Wife of: Henri de Pellapra, French financier.
Natural offspring:
1. Emilie-Louise-Marie-Francoise-Josephine Pellapra (1806-1871)
"Françoise-Marie LeRoy was the mother of Émilie Louise Marie Françoise Joséphine Pellapra. Emilie may have been an illegitimate daughter of Napoleon I. LeRoy was daughter of a Lyon bookseller. Her husband was Henri (de) Pellapra, a rich financier. Emilie Pellapra claimed she was the natural daughter of Napoleon. This would have had to have been the result of an affair with her mother at the time of a stay by Napoleon in Lyon. This claim was that an affair took place in April 1805, whilst Napoleon was on the way to Italy to be crowned. But this date is incompatible with the birth of Emilie in November 1806. For Emilie to have been the daughter of Napoleon it would have been necessary that he stayed in Lyon in February 1806. However, no stay in this city at that time seems to have taken place and, according to several authors (in particular André Gavoty in the Bulletin de l'Institut Napoleon April 1950), Napoleon only met LeRoy in 1810." (Wikipedia)
"Caroline immediately sent the news to Napoleon by courier. Nobody, however, seems to have informed him of the birth of his other child, which had occurred in Lyons on 11 November. The mother was Francoise-Marie-Emilie Pellapra, the pretty scatterbrain whom he had met in Lyons in the spring of 1805 and who had eagerly followed him to Paris to be seduced in an alcove adjoining his map-room in the Tuileries. She was slim and attractive, dark-haired and blue-eyed, married to a dour minor government official who was far from appreciating the honor conferred on his wife by the Emperor. Later, when Napoleon heard of the birth and rewarded the cuckolded husband with a post as tax collector, Alain Pellapra relented a little, but his first instinct was to deny paternity of the child. After sending Francoise back to her native Lyons for the birth, he insisted on the child being left there with his mother-in-law, Madame Louise Leroy. The baby girl was given a mixture of her mother's names, her grandmother's and that of Napoleon's deceived wife, for it was still popular to name children after Our Lady of Victories, the gracious Josephine, and Madame Pellapra was giddy-minded enough not to see anything odd in it. For most of the next four years little Emilie-Louise-Marie-Francoise-Josephine stayed in the Leroy apartment in the center of Lyons. From the balcony she could peep across the plain of Les Brotteaux, the scene of some of the most hideous atrocities of the Revolution. Day by day her cheeks plumped into an Italian chubbiness, her small nose gently curved into a budgerigar beak. There could be no doubt she was a Bonaparte." (Alexander Palace)
Affair's effect on family, friends and society: " . . . His liaison with Emilie Pellapra of Lyon ws even shorter and troubled Josephione hardly at all." (Napoleon's Elites: 64)
Lover in 1800.
Italian singer
"Contralto Giuseppina Grassini (1773-1850) became Napoleon's lover on June 4, 1800. They carried on a brief relationship in Paris. Strictly neutral in politics, after Napoleon's fall she became the mistress, first of Viscount Castlereagh, the British Secretary of War, then the Duke of Wellington, during her London engagement. She retired in 1823 with a comfortable fortune, and died on January 2, 1850, still a beautiful woman, in her 77th year." (History Through the Opera Glass: 331)
"One liaison in which Napoleon indulged during the Consular period is worthy of remark, in proof of the control he exercised over his passions where they were likely to interfere with more material interests. When in Italy, after Marengo, the celebrated singer Grassini attracted the attention of the conqueror. He sent for her, and she reminded him that she had made her debut at the moment of his first exploits as general of the army of Italy. 'I was then,' she said, 'in the height of my beauty and my talent. I charmed all eyes and inflamed all hearts. The youthful General alone remained cold, and yet I only thought of him. How strange! When I was worth something, and had all Italy at my feet, and would have disdained everything for a look from you, I could not obtain it; and now, when I am no longer worthy of your notice, you regard me with a favourable eye.' The liaison with Madame Grassini seems to have lasted for a year. Napoleon gave her money to go to Paris, and she was engaged to sing at the court concerts, much to the annoyance of Josephine. The last one hears of this lady in the memoirs of the period is in 1814, when , according to Bourrienne, the Duke of Wellington sought her good graces, 'in order, no doubt, to acquire some resemblance to General Bonaparte'!" (The Marriages of the Bonapartes, Volume 1: 181)
A young rival lover: "Napoleon greatly appreciated music and the human voice, although he himself sang out of tune. He bestowed the Order of the Iron Crown on the great Italian singer Crescentini, and also gave Grassini fifteen thousand francs per month as he (rather wittily) installed her as his mistress in the guest-house on the rue Chantereine. Grassini wanted to become Napoleon's openly avowed mistress, but for both political and personal reasons the first consul wanted to keep the affair secret, so fairly soon she took on a lover, a twenty-two-year-old violinist from Bordeaux called Rode. Rode was understandably nervous of the Corsican emperor finding out, yet when he did he acted very generously, and in March and October 1801, Grassini and Rode performed with his permission in the Theatre de la Republique where the receipts amounted to 13,868 francs on the latter occasion alone. The lovers then left for an extended and triumphant tour of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Napoleon had clearly not entirely forsworn her, however, as in 1803 Josephine was writing to her friend Madame de Kreny to ask whether she might send her maid to Julie to spy on Grassini on her return to Paris. . . ." (Napoleon and Wellington: 126)
Imperial largesse to a lover: "When Grassini returned to Paris, Napoleon welcomed her back with a thirty-six thousand franc salary and a fifteen thousand franc 'bonus' as prima donna at -- ironically enough -- the Theatre de l'Imperatrice. He even paid 1,200 francs for a box at her and Rode's concerts. Along with other miscellaneous gifts she is estimated to have cost the French taxpayer seventy thousand francs per annum between 1807 and 1814, and it is hard to believe that these enormous sums solely covered her services to song. When she was robbed of a diamond-encrusted portrait of the emperor on the Cote d'Or in 1807, two of the four Swiss deserters responsible were executed by the local National Guard commander, to whom Napoleon awarded the legion d'honneur. Napoleon was also present in November 1813 when she appeared as Horatia in Gli Orazi at the Theatre-Italien." (Napoleon and Wellington: 127-128)
15) Grace Dalrymple.
A young rival lover: "Napoleon greatly appreciated music and the human voice, although he himself sang out of tune. He bestowed the Order of the Iron Crown on the great Italian singer Crescentini, and also gave Grassini fifteen thousand francs per month as he (rather wittily) installed her as his mistress in the guest-house on the rue Chantereine. Grassini wanted to become Napoleon's openly avowed mistress, but for both political and personal reasons the first consul wanted to keep the affair secret, so fairly soon she took on a lover, a twenty-two-year-old violinist from Bordeaux called Rode. Rode was understandably nervous of the Corsican emperor finding out, yet when he did he acted very generously, and in March and October 1801, Grassini and Rode performed with his permission in the Theatre de la Republique where the receipts amounted to 13,868 francs on the latter occasion alone. The lovers then left for an extended and triumphant tour of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Napoleon had clearly not entirely forsworn her, however, as in 1803 Josephine was writing to her friend Madame de Kreny to ask whether she might send her maid to Julie to spy on Grassini on her return to Paris. . . ." (Napoleon and Wellington: 126)
Imperial largesse to a lover: "When Grassini returned to Paris, Napoleon welcomed her back with a thirty-six thousand franc salary and a fifteen thousand franc 'bonus' as prima donna at -- ironically enough -- the Theatre de l'Imperatrice. He even paid 1,200 francs for a box at her and Rode's concerts. Along with other miscellaneous gifts she is estimated to have cost the French taxpayer seventy thousand francs per annum between 1807 and 1814, and it is hard to believe that these enormous sums solely covered her services to song. When she was robbed of a diamond-encrusted portrait of the emperor on the Cote d'Or in 1807, two of the four Swiss deserters responsible were executed by the local National Guard commander, to whom Napoleon awarded the legion d'honneur. Napoleon was also present in November 1813 when she appeared as Horatia in Gli Orazi at the Theatre-Italien." (Napoleon and Wellington: 127-128)
15) Grace Dalrymple.
"It was about this time, if reliance can be placed on Madame Elliot, or rather on the editor of her unfinished Memoirs, that Bonaparte asked this beautifl and charming Englishwoman to marry him. Madame Elliott, nee Grace Dalrymple, was one of the prettiest women of her day and one of its greatest coquettes, but what differentiated her from most others of her class was that her relations with men were always redeemed from vulgarity by a certain high-minded ambition. She was the mistress successively of the Prince of Wales and Philippe Egalite Duc d'Orleans, by the former of whom she had had a daughter. During the Terror she had been shut up in the prison of Les Carmes, and it would seem as though a singular fatality had brought together as captives within the walls of this erstwhile convent three of the women, Madame Elliot, Madame Beauharnais and Madame Tallien, who succeeded in attracting for a time the attentions of that fickle gallant, Napoleon. The editor of Madame Elliot's memoirs writes in the following terms: 'Madame Dalrymple Elliot never wearied of recounting about the man who was destine to make the world resound with his triumphs, numberless stories of his less conspicuous days. She had even received a proposal of marriage from him and refused it.' It is unfortunate that there is not more detailed information available on this point for, if there is any truth in the story, it is noteworthy that Napoleon, who was always strongly prejudiced against divorced people, overcame his aversion when paying his attention to this Englishwoman, who was herself a divorcee. If only she had been no more than that!" (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 55-56)
16) Louise Rolandeau.
Lover in 1802.
French actress of the Theatre-italien
" . . . In June 1802 he had an affair with the young actress Louise Rolandeau. This was no more than a 'fling' but in November the same year he began a more sustained liaison with another actress. . . ." (Napoleon: A Biography: n.p.)
17) Madame Fouresnell.
18) Madame Valkier.
19) Mademoiselle Branchui.
20) Mademoiselle Guillebea
"Although oblivious of Mme. Gazzani, Napoleon often spoke of a certain Mlle. Guillebeau, the daughter of a bankrupt banker, who was, in 1808, appointed to assist Mme. Gazzani as reader. Mlle. Guillebeau's mother was Irish by birth, and had three daughters, two of whom were grown and contributed to the family income by dancing and playing the tambourine in the drawing-rooms of the nobility. . . . " (Masson, n.d., p. 128)
21) Mademoiselle Lacoste.
21) Mademoiselle Lacoste.
"In the early days of April 1805 . . . the Emperor left Paris for Italy. . . His feelings of satisfaction, added to the exhilarating influence if the rapid change of scene, doubtless had the effect of inflaming the Emperor's desires, for he did not omit to observe that on of the Empress's readers, Mademoiselle Lacoste, was the possessor of the bluest of eyes and the fairest of skins. It was only quite recently that she had entered the Imperial service. 'She was a penniless orphan and had been brought up by an aunt, who was said to be a very deigning woman. Without being able to boast of any extraordinary beauty, she was decidedly attractive, although slightly too thin and rather too self-possessed. Still she was perfectly proportioned and ha very fine fair hair. She was, moreover, of an exceedingly gentle disposition, and had received an excellent education, uniting with considerable wit a fund of alluring gaiety.'" (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 228-229)
"Mlle. Lacoste stood a little higher on the social plane. She was a slight and pretty blonde, an orphan without fortune, who had been brought up by an aunt who was said to be a schemer, and who managed her niece's presentation to Josephine. The Empress, touched by the girl's forlorn state, gave her an ambitious position, vaguely entitled a reader. Mlle. Lacoste certainly did not find her duties fatiguing, for hardly had she assumed the position when the court departed for Milan where the coronation was to take place, and she followed the court, without being of it, for she had no clearly defined position. . . . " (Masson, n.d., p. 123)
22) Marguerite-Josephine Weimer (1787-1867)
Lover in 1803.
French actress
"Only fifteen at her debut as Clytemnestra in November 1802, but already physically mature with firm, full breasts, Mademoiselle George stunned Paris, and within a few months she had made her way to Napoleon's bed. On his third visit to the Comedie-Francaise to watch her perform, as Emilie in Corneille's classic Cinna, Napoleon arrived late amid cries of 'Rocommencez!' When Mademoiselle George then came to the key line, 'If I could seduce Cinna, I can seduce many others too,' the parterre exploded with delight, all eyes turned toward Napoleon's box."
" . . . Mademoiselle Georges, who was a magnificent woman but only a moderate actress, had been trained by Mademoiselle Raucourt. Without having an exceptionally fine voice she was a good elocutionist, exhibiting plenty of lofty dignity in her style and bearing. She was on the whole a beautiful tragedy-queen, though rarely, perhaps never, did she attain the greatest heights.'" (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 123)
" . . . His most enduring sexual adventure, which was an open secret for the public, was with Mademoiselle George. When writing her memoirs under the Second Empire and hoping for a pension from Napoleon's nephew, George described the affair as a model of patriarchal relations. She, virginal and naive, agreed to the liaison at first out of duty and awe for the nation's leader but soon came to love him for his tenderness. In spite of her growing love, she never forgot how insignificant she was in the life of her master, who was necessarily preoccupied with affairs of state. Therefore, every act of attentiveness filled her with gratitude. In reality, the affair, which lasted two years, was nothing like the model. After the Consul decided to sleep with the beautiful actress, he had to send her current lover, a foreign prince, packing. Both Napoleon and George had other lovers between their trysts. (Daughters of Eve: 82)
Napoleon treated Mademoiselle George -- whom he called 'Georgina' -- generously if boisterously, once pushing forty thousand francs down her cleavage, presumably in notes. They had a two-year affair during his consulship, which infuriated Josephine, but as Napoleon once put it: 'Exclusivity is not in my nature.'. . . The affair ended in 1804. When years later Alexandre Dumas the Elder as Mademoiselle George why, she answered, with slightly more poetry than accuracy: 'He left me to become an emperor.'." (Napoleon and Wellington: 130)
Lover in 1798.
"In Egypt, Napoleon in his separation was solaced by a lady called La Bellilote, who concealed a well-rounded pair of buttocks in tight officer's breeches. . . ." (The Age of Napoleon: 55)
His mistress in Cairo.
"Madame Foures, whom the whole army now dubbed Notre Souveraine de l'Orient, was playing the dutiful mistress at Cairo while her husband was being wafted towards the shores of France. But the sea was furrowed in all directions by the English cruisers, and few were the vessels which, setting sail from Egypt, succeeded in threading te complicated network of hostile ships that were ever on the look-out for prey. Foures' cutter met with the usual fate, and fell into the hands of the enemy." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 97)
Became the object of his desire.
"During his stay in Egypt Bonaparte had little to do with the local women. He found them 'Ruben-esque' and undeserving of his attentions. It was a French woman then, who turned Bonaparte's head. He had always been faithful to Josephine, but why should he now - the divorce was only awaiting his return to France? A young blonde, Pauline Foures, wife of a lieutenant in the Chasseurs, became the object of his desire." (Pauline Foures: Napoleon's Cleopatra)
" . . . [H]is attention was drawn to Pauline Foures whom he soon set about separating from her husband. He gave orders for the lieutenant to leave immediately by diligence for the coast of Rosetta. From there he was to take dispatches (all of no importance) to Paris by way of Malta. He was to remain in Paris for ten days and then -- Bonaparte might well have tired of Bellilotte by then -- Foures was to return to Egypt 'as quickly as possible'." (Napoleon: His Wives & Women)
First encounter: " . . . He was to meet Pauline in the Tivoli Egyptien, a Cairo pleasure gardens run on the model of the Parisian Tivoli. Attracted by her blond hair, petite figure and perfect teeth, Napoleon sent Junot and Duroc to pay court for him. She however resisted. There then followed protestations, declarations and expensive gifts - all calculated to soften the opposition. Then Napoleon played his master card. Foures (who had been promoted to Lieutenant 18 October, 1798) was ordered to go to France on a mission to deliver a message to the Directory. He boarded the Chasseur 28 December 1798. Napoleon was able to move in. . . ." (Pauline Foures: Napoleon's Lover)
Aftermath:" . . . In Egypt he gave free rein to his passions. He found a Bathsheba in a bright and pretty woman named Mme/ Pauline Foures, wife of one of his sub-lieutenants. To get Uriah out of the way, he was sent on a mission to Paris. But the vessel that carried him fell into the hands of the English; they read the despatches with which he was intrusted, and, suspecting the truth, put him back on shore at Alexandria. When M. Foures learned how he had been duped, he flew into a violent passion, and ended by obtaining a divorce. Napoleon and Madame Foures seem to have really attached to each other. When he returned to Paris the lady followed him, in the hope of renewing the intimacy. But he had made his peace with Josephine, the imperial pair were living together in amity, and, in the first joy of reunion Bonaparte had no wish to rejoin her. He provided handsomely for Mme/ Foures, however, and always retained an interest in her. Foures, on his return from Egypt was willing to forgive and forget, and had even appealed to the tribunals to annul the divorce, when Napoleon stepped in and forced the lady, much against her will, to marry a M. Rauchoppe, who was desperately in love with her and made her an excellent husband. But Mme. Rauchoppe never forgot Napoleon. Whe he was at St. Helena she ruined herself in trying to compass his deliverance. She survived his death only a few days. (The Illustrated American: 321)
"Her friend, Pauline de Ranchoup, Bonaparte's former mistress, died in 1869 at the age of ninety. She had outlived Napoleon by almost half a century." (Napoleon: His Wives & Women: 92)
24) Marie Leczynska, Countess Walewska (1786-1817)
Lover in 1807.
Polish patriot
Wife of:
1. Count Anastazy, Waleski mar 1804
2. General Philippe-Antoine d'Ornano, Napoleon's distant cousin, mar 1817
Natural offspring:
1. Alexandre-Florian-Joseph Colonna, Duc de Walewski 1866 (1810-1868), French politician & diplomat
French ambassador to Britain, 1851-1855
French foreign minister, 1855-1860
"The young Polish woman's name was Countess Marie Walewska. Just twenty years of age at this time, she was already married to a septuagenarian aristocrat who, it seems, did not overly object to his wife being used a s a pawn in attempts to wrangle a Polish state from the French. Blonde and beautiful, Marie exuded the same powerful femininity that had attracted Napoleon to Josephine. Smitten at first by her physical attractiveness, Bonaparte came to grow very fond, perhaps even genuinely to love, the young Polish woman, but her feelings for him were certainly stronger. She would bear him a son in May 1810 and remain loyal to him to the very end. How far his affection for her influenced his attitude towards the Poles in general is impossible to say, but as Napoleon undoubtedly had a strong romantic streak, it is possible that it coloured his judgement. What it did not do, however, was what the Polish aristocrats who had pressed the match on Marie had hoped it would -- induce the Emperor to resurrect Poland immediately." (Napoleon and Russia: 143)
"The young Pole, Marie Walewska, was the one mistress for whom Napoleon entertained real fondness, even love. Following their affair in Poland in early 1807, the Emperor had encouraged her to come to Paris, which she eventually did at the start of 1808, staying there and resuming their intimate relationship for several months before returning once more to Poland. Them in late summer 1809, while Bonaparte was working out the peace settlement with Austria, he invited her to join him in Vienna. By the end of September, to both their surprise, Marie was pregnant. This time there could only be one father." (Napoleon and Russia: 238)
First Encounter: "...Bold and beautiful, she was presented to Napoleon in January 1807 during his winter campaign in Poland and later captivated him at a ball in Warsaw. She only yielded to his advances, however, when persuaded by Polish patriots that it was her national duty. After spending the spring with Napoleon at the chateau of Finkenstein, she visited him in Paris in 1808 and at Schonbrunn in 1809...." (Nicholls, 1999. p. 258)
"Napoleon and Maria Waleska had first met seven years before, when the emperor passed through Warsaw and showed an obvious infatuation with the young Polish woman, than an eighteen-year-old newlywed.
25) Marie-Therese Bourgoin (1785-1833)
Lover in 1804.
French dramatic & comedic actress.
"Mademoiselle Bourgoin, a pretty woman and a pleasing actress, was a sort of celebrity on account of her rather suggestive bons mots---utterances somewhat in the style of Mademoiselle Arnould's . . ." (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 130)
"The final woman in the bevy of actresses 'entertained' by the Consul was Mlle Bourgoin, the mistress of Chaptal, Minister of the Interior. Indulging in his taste for the humiliation of others, Napoleon arranged to have la Bourgoin brought to him while he was in conclave with Chaptal; he thus gratuitously made another mortal enemy. But this affair did not last long either, for Bourgoin had a taste for coarse jokes which Napoleon did not like in women. By the end of 1804 this liaison too had fizzled out. Bourgoin went on to a notable career as grande horizontale, specializing in sleeping with men in some way close to her greatest conquest: she was the mistress of Czar Alexander and also of Jerome, when he was King of Westphalia, in 1812."(Napoleon: A Biography)
" . . . In Napoleon's retinue was his old mistress Mlle Bourgoin,
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Teresa de Cabarrus Princesse de Chimay |
French social figure.
Physical appearance and personal qualities.
"It was Bonaparte's object to conciliate by his affability the good offices of the Citoyenne Tallien. She was so beautiful, and he so ready to love her! And yet what a contrast between them! He, of low stature, thin, hollow-eyed, his sallow skin drawn tight like parchment across his temples, his hair long and ill-powdered, just, in a word, as we know him in Guerin's splendid portrait. She, tall, of brilliant complexion, overflowing with that happiness which in a woman is a second dower of beauty, and tended from heat to foot with all the care and all the art that mark the consummate coquette. 'Her sole head-dress,' says the Duchesse d'Abrantes, one of her adorers, 'was her own splendid black hair plaited around the head, not hanging down at all, but simply plaited in antique fashion as in the busts in the Vatican. It was a style which admirably became her regular, classic type of beauty, setting off like a framework of ebony the gleaming ivory of her perfect neck and lovely features which, though without apparent colour, were of a whiteness instinct with life and warmth---a veritable complexion of Cadiz. Her only adornment was a long ample robe of muslin falling in large folds about her limbs, and modelled after the drapery of a Grecian statue. Only, the robe was of choice Indian muslin and fashioned, no doubt, more elegantly than those of Aspasia or Poppaea. It was caught up at the bosom, and the sleeves were drawn back over the arms and fastened with old-fashioned cameo brooches. Similar cameos adorned her shoulders and her waist. She wore no gloves, but on one of her arms---arms which might have served as a model for Canova's finest statue---she wore a serpent of gold enamelled with black, the head of which was composed of a superb emerald carved in the form of a reptile's head. She also wore a magnificent shawl of cashmere, a luxury then very rare in France, the folds of which she would draw around her with inimitable grace and infinite coquetry, for the crimson and purple hues of the Indian stuff intensified the gleaming whiteness of her arms and shoulders. When she smiled, and she smiled most graciously, in acknowledgement of the many bows that were made her, she displayed two rows of glittering pearls that must have made man a woman jealous.'" (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 59-60)
First encounter.
"Another witness who, since he was one of Madame Tallien's lovers, deserves credence, to wit the financier and contractor Ouvrard, has written as follows:---'It was shortly before the 13th Vendemiaire that Bonaparte was introduced at Madame Tallien's. He was perhaps the least conspicuous, the least favoured by Fortune of all the people who composed her salon. It often happened that in the midst of the most animated discussions people would go off into little groups where they forgot in light and careless converse the grave matters that but too often oppressed their thoughts. Bonaparte rarely joined them, but when he did so he displayed an abandon and a light-heartedness full of sparkle and wit. One evening, he adopted the tone and mannerisms of a fortune-teller, and seizing Madame Tallien's hand began to deliver himself of all sorts of extravagances.'" (The Love Affairs of Napoleon: 58)
References for Princesse de Chimay.
World of the Marchioness.
References for Princesse de Chimay.
World of the Marchioness.
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| Comtesse du Cayla with children @ Palace of Versailles |
27) Zoe Talon, Duchesse du Cayla (1785-1852)
Daughter of: Antoine-Omer Talon, French royal avocat.
Wife of: Achille-Pierre-Antoine Baschi du Cayla, Marquis d'Aubais, Peer of France (d.1851), mar 1802, sep?
Lovers of Napoleon's wives.
1. Josephine de Beauharnais (1763-1814)
Her lovers were:
1) Hippolyte-Charles (1773-1837)
Lover in 1796.
"Hippolyte Charles, a lieutenant in the Hussar regiment and deputy to General Leclerc, Bonaparte's brother-in-law, first met Josephine in Paris. They began an affair immediately. Although she was 9 years his elder, she could not resist his charm and his uniform. Hippolyte Charles was a Southerner and made up for his short stature with a very handsome face with a dark complexion and long black whiskers and moustache...Charles was attracted to Josephine for her confidence, power and sexual experience...." (Wikipedia)
"Toward the end of April 1796, less than two months after her wedding, Josephine entertained two officers at her house in the rue Chantereine. Once, Colonel Leclerc of the Army of Italy, was stocky and solemn, an undistinguished young man with little to say. But the other, Lieutenant Hippolyte Charles, was not only handsome but highly entertaining... "...He was the beau ideal of the fashionable drawing room in May and June, his dark beauty a foil for the pallor of the women, who were just then following a fad for wearing blonde wigs. Hippolyte was elegant---'no one before him has ever known how to tie a cravat,' Josephine said---and with his fine features, olive skin, black hair and merry blue eyes he was quite irresistible." (Erickson, 2000, p. 139)
Physical Traits & Personal Qualities: "The consensus was that Charles was indeed a very attractive man... He was a 'Mediterranean type', according to one contemporary, slightly shorter than average (the same height as Napoleon, around five feet six inches), with a well-muscled physique and small hands and feet. He had a handsome face: fine-featured with a rounded chin and passable teeth, piercing blue eyes, and olive skin that tanned easily to a deep brown. His features were framed by perfectly styled jet-black hair, moustache, sideburns and beard. An impeccable dresser, he was a picture of elegance in his sky-blue uniform, red belt, Hungarian trousers, boots of beaten Moroccan leather and a curved sabre in a sheath of leather and silver, decorated with bristling dragon breathing flames of gold." (Stuart, 2011, p. 194)
Persona or Character: ". . . Women adored him and he was easy in their company. 'He was', remarked one female contemporary, 'utterly charming, with the impeccable manners of a hussar. . . and great elegance.' He took an active interest in fashion and complimented women adroitly. He always knew the latest gossip and had for each conversational sally some clever riposte. . . His practical jokes were of the vulgar slapstick variety, thoughtless and silly. . . Mostly he was famous for his quips and puns. . . M. Charles was more than just a 'card', he was also an honourable man. . . He acquired the nickname 'l'Eveille' ('the lively one'), because of his ability to raise his companions' spirits. . . In later years, despite his lack of funds, he never attempted to capitalize on the valuable love letters he had received from Josephine. . . . " (Stuart, 2011, p. 194)
"Hippolyte Charles met the married Josephine Bonaparte in Paris at one of the soirees frequently given by Josephine's friend Theresia Tallien The couple embarked on one of the most intense love affairs of Josephine's life." (Only Love the Musical)
First Encounter: ". . . They had met in the middle of April, when Charles accompanied Napoleon's old friend General Leclerc to Paris in order to pay his respects to the young conqueror's wife. Despite the fact that he was almost ten years her junior, Charles pursued Josephine with impressive energy. She was captivated. . . . " (Stuart, 2011, p. 193)
Why him?: "Whereas Napoleon was loving and sincere in his adoration for his new wife, he was solemn, serious and intense in his outlook. Hippolyte Charles was the opposite: a young man in his mid twenties; handsome, outgoing, full of fun and extremely popular with the women in a social world in which he felt completely at ease. He and Josephine became lovers during Napoleon's frequent absences." (Only Love the Musical)
Aftermath: "Hippolyte and Josephine were to continue seeing each other, but when she learned that he had taken an Italian lover she was deeply upset. . . . " (Only Love the Musical)
"Hippolyte Charles met the married Josephine Bonaparte in Paris at one of the soirees frequently given by Josephine's friend Theresia Tallien The couple embarked on one of the most intense love affairs of Josephine's life." (Only Love the Musical)
First Encounter: ". . . They had met in the middle of April, when Charles accompanied Napoleon's old friend General Leclerc to Paris in order to pay his respects to the young conqueror's wife. Despite the fact that he was almost ten years her junior, Charles pursued Josephine with impressive energy. She was captivated. . . . " (Stuart, 2011, p. 193)
Why him?: "Whereas Napoleon was loving and sincere in his adoration for his new wife, he was solemn, serious and intense in his outlook. Hippolyte Charles was the opposite: a young man in his mid twenties; handsome, outgoing, full of fun and extremely popular with the women in a social world in which he felt completely at ease. He and Josephine became lovers during Napoleon's frequent absences." (Only Love the Musical)
Aftermath: "Hippolyte and Josephine were to continue seeing each other, but when she learned that he had taken an Italian lover she was deeply upset. . . . " (Only Love the Musical)
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| Lazare Hoche |
2) Lazare Hoche (1767-1797).
Lover in 1794.
French general.
Husband of: Adelaide Dechaux, Daughter of a grocery store keeper, mar 1794.
"...Josephine herself, before marrying Napoleon, had been the lover of a more famous revolutionary general, Lazare Hoche...." (McMillan, 2000, p. 36)
"Lazare Hoche, Rose's lover and fellow prisoner -- handsome, gallant, good-humoured, but also married. Hoche supported Rose through her darkest hours. Many felt that, had he been available, she would have married him in preference to Napoleon." (Stuart, 2011, p. 128]
First Encounter: " . . . While in prison, he met the widow of General de Beauharnais, Josephine de Beauharnais, who was to later become the wife of General Bonaparte. Trapped in the prison with uncertain fates, they allegedly became lovers and were not released until after the fall of Robespierre." (virtualarc.com)
Physical Traits & Personal Qualities: ". . . Tall, thin, straight, nervous, and high-chinned, his face scarred by a saber cut, he had a commanding presence and great courage. Some obscure illness sapped his strength, but he never spared himself. Originally coarse and dissolute, he steadily improved in character and knowledge... [H]e died suddenly in 1797." (Elting, 1997, p. 42)
Personal & Family Background: "A grimmer figure was Louis-Lazare Hoche, whom Napoleon acknowledged 'a true man of war.' Son of a groom in the King's stables, and assistant groom himself when he was tall enough, he enlisted in the French Guard in 1784. Like many of the Guard, he became an ardent revolutionist; unlike his comrades, he studied the military art. On the dissolution of the French Guard he passed to the Regulars; a captain in 1792, he was a general a year later. . . . " (Elting, 1997, p. 42)
Honours & Accomplishments: Considered one of the best of the Revolutionary generals (Jensen); Assistant Stableman of the King (1782); French Guard (1784); Corporal (1789); Sergeant, National Guards (1791); Lieutenant (1792); Aide-de-Camp to Le Veneur (1793); Chef de Bataillon (1793); Chief of Staff to Souham & Chef de Brigade(1793); General de Brigade (1793); Chief of Staff to the Army of the Ardennes (1793); General de Division & Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Moselle (1793) (Jensen)
3) Napoleon I of the French.
Napoleon said that their first meeting came about due to his helping the young Eugene receiver his dead father's sword....Afterwards Josephine called to thank the general and he told his friends later that he found her 'seductive'. Several days later they met again at one of Paul Barras' dinner-parties; and then on a regular basis...." (Horricks, 1995, p. 59)
French politician of the French Revolution
Physical Traits & Personal Qualities: ". . . She was a less conventional beauty than Madame Tallien, but no less alluring. Tall and slender with wonderful breasts (which the light, filmy neo-Grecian dresses of the day showed off to perfection) she obviously moved with a good sense of her own body. Her silky chestnut hair was regularly washed (setting a new, novel fashion), cut into ringlets and usually piled upwards and tied in a ribbon." (Horricks, 1995, p. 58)
Spouses: Josephine married 1) Alexandre de Beauharnais; and 2) in 1796, divorced 1809, Napoleon I, later Emperor of the French. "Her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais . . . took place in 1779 and was unhappy from the outset, even though it resulted in the births of two children, Eugene and Hortense. It also transported her from Martinique to the highest level of French society. De Beauharnais was both mean and unfaithful, but he was popular at court and Josephine was twice received by Marie Antoinette at the Trianon. By the time of the Revolution the couple were legally separated, however both were thrown into prison. De Beauharnais was guillotined and Josephine herself only escaped execution by four days: due to the fall of Robespierre. . . . " (Horricks, 1995, p. 58)
Benefits: The divorce...came about in 1809... She retained the rank of 'Empress-Queen'. Her annual income was the equivalent of L80,000 from public funds, plus L40,000 from Napoleon's own. And he gave her Malmaison." (Horricks, 1995, p. 60) [Ref1]
Her lover was:
"It is to be noted that at St. Helena Napoleon spoke in the most affectionate terms of his wife. He alluded to her in his will as 'my dear Marie Louise,' and 'my very dear and well-beloved spouse.' On the subject of this union Baron Meneval relates that the Austrian general who became the second husband of Marie Louise was the son of a Frenchman. He says that 'while his father, Count Neipperg, filled a diplomatic mission in Paris, he made the acquaintance of a French officer of a distinguished family, and received him in the most familiar manner at his house. The comtesse de Neipperg was not insensible to the merits of this gentleman, who was very assiduous, while the Comte de Neipperg paid very little attention to his wife, and left her mistress of her actions. The consequence was a liaison between the countess and the young French officer, the fruit of which was a child, who afterwards became a general. The proof of this fact is to be found in a letter which the general's mother addressed to the French officer, and which was found among his papers when he died." (The Marriages of the Bonapartes, Volume 1: 327-328)
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| Napoleon Bonaparte by Henri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux |
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| Napoleon in Toulon by Edouard Detaille, 1793 |
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| Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1796 @ Palace of Versailles |
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| Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1804-04 @ Musee des beaux-arts de Liege |
Gallery of Napoleon I's Children.
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| Alexandre Walewski, 1832 by Sir George Hayter |
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| Napoleon II, Duke of Reichstadt (1811-1832) |
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| Alexandre Colonna-Walewski (1810-1868) |
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| Eugen Alexander Megerle von Muhlfeld Lithogaph by Adolf Dauthage, 1851 |
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| Jules Barthelemy-Saint-Hilaire (1805-1895) |
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