No matter who it is, from King, mandarin, commoner or rich person, everyone has had a love. They will also be in pain because of love and hope for love to be reciprocated.

Emperor Napoleon had such a love affair, but in reality life was not “gentle” with him. As a result, Napoleon had to despair in the most precious relationship of his life.

Blind love story with a widow 6 years older

Napoleon Bonaparte was an excellent military strategist. He ascended the throne in 1804 and with many successful conquests, affirmed his position as the most powerful man in Europe at that time.

However, despite his reputation, Napoleon is still just a normal person, knowing how to love and love deeply, crazy for his own love.

Josephine is the name Napoleon once called his first wife. She was born as Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, the daughter of a minor noble.

There is a story that Josephine was born and raised in Martinique (France), a fortune teller told her: “One day, you will be Queen of France and more than a queen.” At that time, she just laughed and thought those words were really wild and untrue.

At the age of 16, Josephine married aristocrat Alexandre de Beauharnais and gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl. But that marriage did not last long, in 1794 her husband was arrested for treason, and she was also imprisoned.

Beauharnais was later executed. While in prison, the widow promptly became acquainted with the generals there. Charming, seductive and fond of sexual adventures, she soon became the lover of Paul Barras – a commander. However, Paul was always “craving for strange things” and wanted to find another lover, so he gradually no longer had much love for Josephine.

At the same time, he introduced the young general Napoleon to Josephine. The first person to meet Napoleon was not Josephine but her son. In the memoirs of Napoleon’s private secretary, it was recorded that at that time the boy wanted to present himself to General Napoleon to talk about his sword. Even though the young general was busy, he still took the time to welcome him. He liked the boy very much and praised him for his good sword. When Josephine learned of the young general’s favor for her son, she wanted to meet him and thank him. From that first moment, Napoleon was fascinated with this widow.

At that time, she was 32 and he was only 26 years old. Maneval – Napoleon’s personal secretary revealed: “Josephine has irresistible charm. She is not too beautiful but very charming.”

At that time, Napoleon had a fiancee, Eugenie, but he could not resist Josephine’s charm and grace.

After 6 months of intense pursuit and dozens of handwritten letters expressing his love, Napoleon won the beauty’s heart. The two’s wedding was held in January 1976 in Paris in a civil ceremony and there were many inappropriate things due to the couple’s sensitive status. The bride arbitrarily reduced her age by 4 years to 29 years old, and the groom gave the wrong address and date of birth.

Just two days after the wedding, Napoleon continued his journey of conquest and reached Italy. Josephine stayed in Paris.

Napoleon loved his wife deeply. His feelings are like an obsession. He passionately wrote letters to his wife every day and considered it his indispensable duty. They had many ” dirty talks” in their love letters. Unable to be with his wife every day, Napoleon used words to express his crazy love.

“How happy I would be if I could help you undress, see your small white breasts, your lovely face, your hair tied up in a scarf” , or “ Without my Josephine, there is no love.” Assuring your love, it seems like nothing else exists on Earth, what can I do? “… Those were all the words the talented general sent to his wife.

As a general on the battlefield, Napoleon always took the time to send his love through letters. He even blamed his own ambition for keeping him fighting like that: ” I cursed the glory and ambition that made my soul leave my life.”

Napoleon’s madness in love is also shown by the way he sent detectives to follow his wife every day. What his wife did, who she went with, what she wore was all recorded… This affair, this love was probably the thing that damaged Napoleon’s own life.

Betrayal and the last thing to remember

At the time of acquaintance and acceptance with Napoleon, Josephine was struggling to find a way to cling to those in power to survive in French high society. Perhaps that’s why she agreed to marry the young general. But it was her later actions that made people doubt whether she loved Napoleon or not.

It is known that before that, Josephine rarely wrote letters to reply to her husband. She even considered his letters a pastime, reading them aloud to her friends for fun and of course rarely writing back. When he was in Italy, he also wanted his wife to visit, but she always gave reasons not to go.

Accordingly, right after her husband left to fight, Josephine could not stand the loneliness and had an affair with Lieutenant Hippolyte Charles. On the rare time she went to Italy to visit her husband, she brought her lover along without Napoleon knowing anything.

In 1798, he learned about his wife’s adultery while in Egypt. Before that, he had a series of suspicions about his wife. In a letter he wrote, he declared that it seemed as if Josephine had never loved him: “ Farewell, dear, if you love me less it is better than if you never loved me at all. If that case is true, I am truly pitiful.”

But then, when his wife’s affair broke out, he expressed his sadness and wrote to his brother: “I have a great sadness but that veil has now been completely removed.” After that, he started to stop writing letters to his wife and had an affair with the beautiful wife of an officer named Pauline Foures.

The relationship between the two was so broken, there was a time when Napoleon thought about divorce, but they continued their relationship. Despite everything, Napoleon ignored his wife, and in 1804 he ascended the throne as Emperor and crowned her Queen.

At that time, Napoleon only wanted an heir born from the Queen herself. His son and daughter all agreed, but after a miscarriage, Josephine was no longer able to get pregnant.

After 5 years together, hundreds of passionate love letters, and being betrayed many times, Napoleon finally got tired and decided to divorce. In 1809, when she heard the Emperor mention his intention to break up, Josephine screamed and collapsed to the floor, her screams were said to echo throughout the palace. Napoleon and another entourage had to carry her to her private room.

In 1810, Napoleon arranged a divorce with a priest as witness. The reason given was that the marriage did not benefit France. Josephine read a prepared statement agreeing to end the marriage.

Shortly after, Napoleon married Marie-Louise, daughter of the Emperor of Austria, and had his own legitimate child.

Josephine has moved to Malmaison, near Paris. She continued to live a lavish lifestyle and was provided with money by her ex-husband. Even debt bills were paid by Napoleon. In 1814, she died of pneumonia at the age of 51. When informed of his ex-wife’s death, Napoleon was extremely hurt and turned to ask a question: ” She really loved me, right?” .

7 years later, Napoleon also died after experiencing the greatest failure of his life. He was a prisoner on the island of Saint Helene in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Before his death, Napoleon mentioned the precious and lingering things in the world. He spoke of his first love and perhaps his only love throughout his life: ” France, the army, the army commander, Josephine”.

From beginning to end, Napoleon loved only Josephine. Betrayed, he had to divorce because he had no children, but at the end of his life, the pain of his love was only for the woman who betrayed him.