Profile
Joséphine de Beauharnais: Napoleon's Empress
French empress, born 1763
Joséphine de Beauharnais was born in Les Trois-Îlets on 23 June 1763.
She was born on the Caribbean island of Martinique.
She married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796.
Napoleon divorced her in 1810 because she had no heir by him.
Career highlights
- 1779Marriage: weds Alexandre de Beauharnais
- 1794Prison: survives the Terror
- 1796Napoleon: marries the young general
- 1804Empress: crowned at Notre-Dame
- 1810Divorce: marriage annulled
Did you know?Her rose garden at Malmaison held one of the largest collections in Europe.