biography
| name: |
Joséphine de Beauharnais
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née Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1763–1814)
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| biography:
| First wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and French empress, born in Trois-Ilets, Martinique. In 1779 she married the Vicomte de Beauharnais who was executed during the French Revolution (1794). Two children were born of the marriage, Eugène (later viceroy of Italy) and Hortense (later queen of Holland). She married Napoleon (1796), and accompanied him on his Italian campaign, but soon returned to Paris. At Malmaison, and afterwards at the Luxembourg and the Tuileries, she attracted round her the most brilliant society of France, and contributed considerably to the establishment of her husband's power. The marriage, being childless, was annulled in 1809 because of her alleged sterility, but she retained the title of empress and lived in retirement at Malmaison. |
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