The Kingdom of Holland was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte for his brother Louis Bonaparte, who became the first King of Holland in 1806. Louis was – unhappily – married to Napoleon’s stepdaughter Hortense, who was thus the first – and as it would turn out the last – Queen of the Kingdom of Holland. [read more]
Read part one here. Read part two here. The new Empress of the French took care of petitions, planned dinners and became a patron of the arts. She often awoke together with her husband before going about her toilette. She was given an allowance of 600,000 francs to maintain her household. Her days hardly ever [read more]
Read part one here. Joséphine had to rely on a man she met while in prison, General Hoche, to rebuild her life. All her property had been taken from her. She wrote to her mother in Martinique, currently being blockaded by the British, “You have without a doubt heard about all the awful things that [read more]
Joséphine de Beauharnais was born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie on 23 June 1763 as the daughter of Joseph de Tascher de la Pagerie and Rose-Claire des Vergers de Sannois in Les Trois-Îlets, Martinique. Her mother wrote, “It has pleased God to give us a daughter. My own joy has been no less great. [read more]
Read part one here. On 20 March 1811, Napoleon’s second wife Marie Louise gave birth to a son. Napoleon had an heir at last. He wrote to her, “My sister, I love to associate you with all my happy occasions, and I should like you to be godmother to the son whose birth has overwhelmed [read more]
Caroline Bonaparte was born on 25 March 1782 as the daughter of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino and as such was Emperor Napoleon I’s younger sister. She hardly knew her father as he would die two years after her birth of cancer of the stomach. She grew up rather poor and did not receive new clothes [read more]
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