Joséphine de Beauharnais was born on June 23, 1763 in Trois-Ilets in Martinique under the name of Marie-Josephe-Rose Tascher de la Pagerie. She was the daughter of a rich family of farmers, both also born in Martinique. At age 16, she was sent to the mainland where she married shortly after Alexandre de Beauharnais, a friend of the family. She brings closer to the French nobility, her family forming part of the ancient nobility.
Abused and humiliated by an unfaithful husband, they separate and Josephe-Rose finds herself alone with her two children in 1794. His ex-husband was guillotinedandshe manages to escape and save her children. Now poor and widow, she plumped however quickly. Worldly, passionate about fashion and toilets, she revels in the most prominent lady salons for the good society of the Directoire.
She met Napoleon Bonaparte when she was 32, via Barras, she was the mistress... Passionately in love of Joséphine that he names in this way because that name had never been used by her other lovers, he marries her on March 9, 1796. Napoleon, left for the army of Italy through the relationships of his wife, Josephine known for being a insatiable sexual and peerless seductive cheating on him with a captain Hussars. Then, she brings to her husband who wanted to conquer power, starting with thecoup d'État of Brumaire.
The couple spent at the coronation at Notre Dame. Civil marriage is reinforced by a religious ceremony the night before the coronation. Unable to give Napoleon the heir he needed, she must resolve to divorce for reasons of state, on December 16, 1809. She retains the title of Empress of the French, inherits the Elysee and the Chateau de Malmaison. She will end her life beaming as a mother and grandmother, receiving also many European royals visits.
Napoleon, who had retained his affection for her, will continue to pay her visits and even financial assistance following several debts.
She died on May 29, 1814 at the age of 50, following a pneumonia.