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Yesterday I touched on Napoleon and his indirect responsibility of the invention of Braille,  the script for the blind . It’s impossible to think of Napoleon and not mention his first wife, Josephine de Bauharnais, who was an outstanding figure in her own right and - perhaps, a role model for social climbing!

Born as Marie-Rose Tescher on the Carribean island of Martinique, she grew up on a sugar plantation. Her family was not very wealthy and was hard hit by a hurricane which destroyed their fields. Through the machinations of an astute aunt, Josephine met and married her wealthy first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais in Paris in 1779 and the family was in the money again.

During the Reign of Terror however, both Alexandre and Josephine were arrested and imprisoned. Whilst Alexandre was guillotined, Josephine luckily escaped that fate because Robbespierre was arrested and excuted. However, the  hardship of her imprisonment is thought by historians to have caused Josephine’s later infertility.

After she was freed and allowed to recover her husband’s wealth, the widow started her climbing in earnest. She became the mistress of several leading polititians until she met and enticed Napoleon in 1795. He fell hopelessly for Josephine’s charms and many moving and even sentimental love letters have survived. They married in 1796.

But, Josephine was not careful. Whilst the rising star Napoleon was on one of his war campaigns in Italy, she started an affair with a young hussar. Napoleon found out and was so enraged by her behavior, that from that moment on, he embarked on his  own line of numerous affairs. Josephine learned her lesson, but Napoleon’s feelings for her were never the same again. They did stay together however and in 1804 Josephine was crowned as the first Empress of France by her husband. As a monarch Josephine’s infertility became a serious issue, because Napoleon needed an heir to continue the monarchy. They divorced in 1810 and Napoleon married an Austrian princess with whom he had the much longed for and needed son.

Josephine moved to her charming chateau Malmaison near Paris and dedicated her time to botany and gardening, her hobbies. She was a spendthrift and drove Napoloen to distraction, but he nevertheless paid her debts. She died in 1814.

Despite the emotional ups and downs in their relationship it appears that Napoleon harboured deep feelings for Josephine, because his last word on his deathbed in St. Helena was “Josephine.”