Joséphine was born the eldest daughter to an impoverished French aristocrat who had a commission in the navy so she grew up on the island of Martinique. At 16, she married a rich young army officer and moved with him to Paris. The couple had two children, but her husband grew ashamed of Joséphine’s provincial manners and unsophisticated ways and they eventually separated. She stayed on in Paris and became a student of fashion and sophistication. Eventually her first husband would be guillotined for his participation in the French Revolution and she would be imprisoned for her unfortunate association with him. Her prison stay would be brief and upon release, now no longer unsophisticated; Joséphine was able to catch the eye of Napoleon Bonaparte, then a rising young army officer. They married in a civil ceremony in 1796 (she likely fudged the truth about her age and true financial means). She obviously charmed the socks off the (shall we say) less-sexually-experienced Napoleon who wrote her heaps of passionate love letters (e.g., “Sweet and incomparable Joséphine, what a strange effect do you produce upon my heart!â€) that she largely ignored. This femme fatale was too busy causing a scandal by flirting with another army officer. Napoleon almost divorced her, but eventually forgave her. When Napoleon finally became Emperor of the French (1804) she insisted on a proper marriage with religious rites. The following day she attended Napoleon’s coronation by the Pope in Notre-Dame as Empress of France. Serious problems in the marriage began when Joséphine was unable to produce a male heir which was also compounded by her extravagant spending. Napoleon was cleverly able to use a church technicality in order to annul the marriage, but he didn’t quite give her the old heave-ho. Joséphine continued to live out her life lavishly and entertain extravagantly, the cost of which was footed by the Emperor.
