Hortense de Beauharnais

Biography

Girl of Joséphine de Beauharnais and its first husband the Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais, it has as a father-in-law the emperor Napoleon I {{er}}, which marries his/her mother in 1796, after death on the scaffold of the Viscount in 1794.

She enters at twelve years the pension of M {{me}} Campan then attends with her majority the consular high society. After the marriage of his/her mother with Napoleon the March 8th 1796, this one decides to adopt Hortense and its older brother, Eugene.

Joséphine, which is due so that a new union seals the alliance of the families Bonaparte and Beauharnais, makes marry his/her daughter, Hortense, the January 4th 1801 with Louis Bonaparte (1778 - 1846), one of the younger brothers of the First Consul. The ceremony is celebrated by the cardinal Caprara, street of the Victoire. Hortense becomes thus the sister-in-law of its mother. The couple has three wire:

Napoleon Louis Charles Bonaparte (October 10th 1802 - May 5th 1807);
Napoleon Louis (October 11th 1804 - March 17th 1831);
Charles '' Louis Napoleon '' (April 20th 1808 - January 9th 1873), future Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.

In 1804, they acquire of the Château of Saint-Leu, whom it preserves until in 1815 and where it gives brilliant festivals.

Louis becoming king de Hollande in 1806, itself becomes queen of Holland (from where his nickname the Queen Hortense ). She reigns until in 1810, date on which the kingdom of Holland is annexed by Napoleon I {{er}}.

The marriage appears disastrous: Hortense is madly éprise of Duroc (some claim that they were even lovers), while Louis suffers from an obsession of persecution and a venereal disease never neat.

Beautiful, tempting and intelligent, Hortense falls in love with Charles de Flahaut, Aide-de-camp of Murat and wire naturalness of Talleyrand. It has a natural son of them, Charles (1811 - 1865), future duke of Morny.

During the First Restoration, it flirte some time with the tsar Alexandre Ier of Russia. With its request, Louis XVIII does it duchess of Saint-Leu .

Faithful to the Emperor during the Hundred Days, it is forced to gain the Suisse in 1817 where it only raises its sons. Thanks to the succession of his mother and with the intercession of his brother, son-in-law of the king of Bavaria, it has a fortune of 3 million which ensures a comfortable income of 120 to him; 000 francs.

Again married, it loses her son Napoleon-Louis during the Italian revolt in March 1831. A little later at the end of April 1831, it goes to Paris and, via the general of Houdetot, Assistance-of-camp of Louis-Philippe and former friend of Eugene de Beauharnais, it obtains a secret interview with the king, who does not forget that it intervened in favor of her mother, the duchess of Orleans, and its aunt, the duchess of Bourbon, during the Hundred Days. It is probable that she wanted to discuss the conditions of a durable establishment in France for her and for his/her son; one evoked a possible rise in Louis-Napoleon to the peerage with the title of duke of Saint-Leu . At all events, after having assisted with his/her son, the May 5th 1831, day of the tenth birthday of died of the Emperor, with the procession of the Bonapartists come in pilgrimage with the Column Vendôme since the windows from the hotel where it is descended with her son Rue from Peace, it quickly sets out again for the England. It will not return any more to France since the Loi of exile of the April 10th 1832 will also strike the members of the family Bonaparte.

In 1836, its last wire, Louis-Napoleon is stopped and expelled towards the the United States following its attempt at rising of Strasbourg. Seriously suffering, Hortense informs it of its disease. It returns at once, just in time to assist with dead his mother the 5 October 1837. All its life, the future Napoleon III kept in his wallet the last letter of Hortense. As she wished it, she is buried close to her mother with the church Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul of Rueil-Malmaison.

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