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Empress Joséphine
Empress Joséphine or Joséphine de Beauharnais (French: [ʒo.ze.fin də‿bo.aʁ.nɛ]; born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie; 23 June 1763 – 29 May 1814) was the first wife of Napoleon and the first Empress of the French after he proclaimed himself Emperor.
Throughout Josephine's life time she was a great lover of the arts. She worked closely with sculptors, painters and interior decorators to establish a unique Consular style at the Château de Malmaison that is well known. She helped establish the popularity of the Empire and Consular styles. Thorough her knowledge she became one of the leading collectors of different forms of in her time such as sculpture and painting.[1] The Château de Malmaison was noted for its magnificent rose garden, which she supervised closely, owing to her passionate interest in roses, collected from all over the world.
Her marriage to Napoleon was her second; her first husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais, was guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she was imprisoned in the Carmes Prison until five days after his execution. Her two children by Beauharnais became significant to royal lineage. Through her daughter Hortense, she was the maternal grandmother of Napoleon III. Through her son Eugène, she was the great-grandmother of Swedish and Danish kings and queens. The reigning houses of Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg also descend from her. Because she did not bear Napoleon any children, he divorced her in 1810 to marry Marie Louise of Austria.
Joséphine was the recipient of numerous love letters written by Napoleon, many of which still exist.