Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte (56 page)

Queen Hortense with Her Son, Napoleon Charles,
by François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard, 1806. The little boy died a year later from croup. He was just four years old, and his death plunged Hortense into deep despair. (
illustration credit i1.26
)

Imperial Botany, or: A Peep at Josephine’s Collection of English Exoticks,
Captain Williams (attributed to George Cruikshank), 1814. Wellington (on right) and Prince Regent (as Royal Sun-Flower) grew strong, while Napoleon (Crown Imperial) is a droopy weed. (
illustration credit i1.27
)

The divorce settlement of Napoleon and Josephine (
illustration credit i1.28
)

Empress Marie-Louise with the King of Rome
by François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard, 1813. Napoleon’s longed-for son was fat and healthy—and the Emperor thought him destined to rule the world. (
illustration credit i1.29
)

The house at Navarre where Josephine lived when Napoleon married Marie-Louise (
illustration credit i1.30
)

Napoleon I on the Imperial Throne,
by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1806. The emperor is styled as a god. (
illustration credit i1.31
)

Acknowledgments

So many new letters and documents have emerged, and yet popular notions persist of Josephine as featherbrained. In the summer of 2008, I rented a flat near the Musée de Cluny in Paris and spent every day in the Archives Nationales, studying Josephine’s letters and the memoirs of her friends and enemies. It became clear that her reputation as excessively “feminine,” lacking intellect or ambition, was a carefully cultivated power play that worked perfectly until the very end. This was the Josephine I wanted to explore in this book. Josephine’s own propaganda of the gentle consort occupied only by trivialities is very seductive. But in a merciless time, she had to be tough to survive, and her letters lay bare her ruthless determination. It feels fitting that she chose as her symbol a swan, a bird that appears graceful but is scrabbling underneath the surface—and has a pretty unforgiving bite.

I am indebted to all those who have edited the letters and diaries of Josephine and her circle, and who have written on her life and those of her associates. The current project of the Fondation Napoléon, led by Victor André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, to publish Napoleon’s full correspondence—including letters omitted from the earlier volumes—is a joy to all Napoleon scholars. Ten volumes have been published to date, with four to come, and they have been invaluable to me, as they will be to researchers in the future.

My work would not have been possible without the efforts of archivists to conserve the papers of Josephine, Napoleon, and her circle, and I am very grateful to them all. The generosity of other scholars is always
humbling. I am indebted to those who have written books that have transformed our view of Josephine and her circle—and been very helpful to me with advice, insight, and help. Bernard Chevallier, to whom anyone who works on Josephine is always greatly indebted, Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, who was always full of generous encouragement (and kindly loaned me her book), Andrew Roberts, Munro Price, Paul Strathern, Flora Fraser and the generous Mlle. Mountjoly at the Musée de la Pagerie, Martinique, have all been very welcoming, and Andrea Stuart was very kind. Sandra Gulland’s work is always inspiring. A welcome grant from the Society of Authors allowed me to consult the Archives in Martinique. Working in the Fondation Napoléon, Malmaison Archives, and Archives Nationales has been an incredible privilege, and I am very grateful to all the staff.

I am also grateful to everyone at Ballantine and Random House, always this book’s greatest support. I am very grateful to Susanna Porter, a great friend to me and the books; she has given me so much wonderful inspiration, kindness, and great patience and generosity—and a lot to Josephine, too. I have been so very fortunate to have her as my editor for almost ten years. Priyanka Krishnan has been a really splendid editor, clarifying, questioning, and so very helpful. The team at Ballantine has done brilliant things—Josephine would be so pleased!

My parents and friends have put up with repeated absences—thank you. Marcus and Persephone have kindly endured a house full of books on Josephine and done so much to support me—with love and gratitude, thank you for everything.

Listing all the papers, articles, and books I consulted would use up pages and exhaust the reader’s patience. My research focused on the letters of Josephine and her circle. A select bibliography of my sources can be found on
this page
.

Notes

Prologue

  
1
.  Barras,
Mémoires,
II, 61.

1.
La Pagerie

  
1
.  R. Pichevin,
L’Impératrice Joséphine,
64.

  
2
.  J.B.T. Chanvalon,
Voyage à la Martinique
(1763), 38.

  
3
.  Pichevin,
L’Impératrice Joséphine,
44.

  
4
.  Stuart,
Josephine,
7.

  
5
.  Anne Marie le Normand,
Historical and Secret Memoirs of the Empress Josephine
(London: H. S. Nichols, 1895), I, 6.

  
6
.  Pichevin,
L’Impératrice Joséphine,
26.

  
7
.  Antonia Fraser,
Marie Antoinette,
62.

  
8
.  Jean Hanoteau,
Le Ménage Beauharnais,
67.

  
9
.  Comte de Montgaillard,
Souvenirs
(Paris, 1895), 277.

10
.  Le Normand,
Historical and Secret Memoirs,
19–20.

11
.  
Le Thai,
May 30, 1797.

12
.  Aubenas,
Histoire,
I, 92.

13
.  Frédéric Masson,
Josephine,
104.

14
.  Ibid., 75.