Hortense de Beauharnais

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Hortense de Beauharnais,
Queen of Holland
by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson (1808)

Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, Grand Duchess of Berg and Cleves, Countess of Saint-Leu (April 10, 1783 - October 5, 1837), was the wife of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland and the mother of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.

Hortense was born in Paris, France, the daughter of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and of his wife Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie. In 1794 her father was executed during the Reign of Terror. Two years later her mother married Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1802 at Napoleon's request, Hortense married his brother Louis Bonaparte. The couple had three sons:

Napoléon Louis Charles (October 10, 1802 - May 5, 1807)
Napoléon Louis (October 11, 1804 - March 17, 1831)
Charles Louis Napoléon, later Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (20 April 1808- 9 January 1873)

In 1806 Napoleon appointed his brother Louis, King of Holland. Hortense accompanied her husband to The Hague, in spite of the fact that their marriage was an unhappy one (the paternity of at least one of Hortense's sons has been questioned). In 1810 Louis abdicated as King of Holland and settled in Germany; Hortense, on the other hand, returned with her sons to France.

In 1811 Hortense gave birth to a son by her lover, Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut:

Charles Auguste Louis Joseph (October 21, 1811 - March 10, 1865), later made duc de Morny by his half-brother, Napoleon III.

At the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, Hortense received the protection of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia; at his instigation she was created duchesse de Saint-Leu by King Louis XVIII. During the Hundred Days, however, Hortense supported her step-father and brother-in-law Napoleon. This led to her banishment from France after his final defeat. She travelled in Germany and Italy before purchasing the Château of Arenenberg in the Swiss canton of Thurgau in 1817. She lived there until her death on October 5, 1837. She is buried next to her mother Josephine in the St Pierre-St Paul church in Rueil-Malmaison.

Arenenberg today

A portrait of Hortense hangs at Ash Lawn-Highland, the Virginia plantation home of James Monroe, 5th President of the United States. It was one of three portraits given by Hortense to Monroe's daughter Eliza, who went to school with Hortense in France. (The other two portraits are of Hortense's brother Eugene de Beauharnais and of Madame Campan, the headmistress of the school attended by Hortense and Eliza). Eliza's daughter Hortensia Monroe Hay was named in honour of Hortense.