Biographies : 11
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BiographyBEAUHARNAIS, Hortense de
Hortense’s premature birth, on 10 April, 1783, was the pretext for the separation of her parents, Alexandre and Rose de Beauharnais. Alexandre even initially denied that he was Hortense’s father (though he later recognised her as his), and Hortense was taken by her mother to the Antilles in 1788-1790. Whilst such an experience certainly left […]
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BiographyBEAUHARNAIS, Stéphanie de
Daughter of Claude III de Beauharnais (1756-1819) and his first wife Gabrielle de Lezay-Marnézia – Claude III and Alexandre de Beauharnais (father of Eugène and Hortense) were first cousins, therefore Stéphanie and Eugène and Hortense were second cousins. On the death of her mother, Stéphanie was brought up by the Englishwoman, Lady Bath. She was […]
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BiographyBONAPARTE, Jerome
Born in Ajaccio (Corsica) on 15 November 1784 and died in Massy, Essone (France), 24 June 1860, Jerome was rear-admiral (19 September 1806), French Prince (24 September 1806), general of division (14 March 1807), king of Westphalia (8 July 1807 – 2 June 1813), made prince of Montfort by king Frederick I of Wurtemberg (31 […]
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BiographyBONAPARTE, Joseph
Born in Ajaccio, 7 January, 1768, he was the eldest son of Charles Bonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. Initially destined for the Law, Joseph was forced by the exile of the Bonapartes from Corsica, after the rift with Paoli, to return to Provence. In 1794 he married Marie-Julie Clary (1771-1845), the daughter of a rich Marseilles […]
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BiographyEugenie de Guzman Palafox Y Portocarrero, Empress of the French (1826-1920)
A privileged childhood immersed in the cult of Napoleon Eugenie was born on 5 May 1826 in Granada. Despite a rather eventful birth (as an earthquake was shaking Andalusia, her mother had to give birth in a tent in the garden), Eugenie’s childhood was an easy one. Her father, Don Cipriano, who had been removed […]
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BiographyJOSEPHINE (Marie-Joseph-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie)
(1763-1814) It is extremely difficulty to get a real historical picture of Josephine; such has been the power of the Josephine ‘legend'. Early 19th-century British caricatures presented Josephine in a sexual and political light. And still today, the colour of accounts of Josephine's life is set by the traditional story of her meeting with Napoleon, […]
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BiographyLucien Bonaparte (Prince of Canino), 1775-1840, Minister
Lucien Bonaparte (Prince of Canino), 1775-1840, Minister. Lucien Bonaparte was born on 21 May 1775 in Ajaccio and was the third son of Charles Buonaparte. He was destined for the infantry, and followed in the footsteps of his elder brothers by attending the military schools at Autun and Brienne, but the death of his father […]
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BiographyMarie Charlotte of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Charlotte of Belgium ex-Empress of Mexico
Marie Charlotte (Marie-Amélie-Auguste-Victoire-Clémentine-Léopoldine) of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium and Leopold’s second wife, Louise-Marie of France (eldest daughter of Louis-Philippe), and sister of Leopold II of Belgium, was born in Laeken on 7 June, 1840. Upon the death of her mother in 1850, Charlotte was handed over to a governess, the countess […]
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BiographyMARIE-LOUISE OF AUSTRIA
Childhood in Austria Marie-Louise de Habsburg-Lorraine was born on 12 December, 1791, in Vienna. Her parents, Francis II, who succeeded his father, Leopold II, as Holy Roman Emperor on 1 March, 1792, and Maria Theresa of Naples were both related to Marie-Antoinette. Raised by her various governesses, she had a bourgeois but happy upbringing despite […]
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BiographyMarie Walewska
1786-1818, Napoleon’s Polish mistress The beautiful Marie Walewska (née Laczynska) was born in Warsaw on 7 December, 1786, into a family that had been ennobled in 1574. Her father, Mathieu Laczynski, who had fought heroically during the struggle for Polish independence, died prematurely, leaving his wife Eva to bring up their six young children on […]