JOSÉPHINE
Marie-Rose-Josèphe Tascher de La Pagerie was born in Martinique in 1763 (six years before Napoleon was born).Her parents were both from French noble families (at 16 her father had been a page at Versailles serving the dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe).
Josephine’s aunt was having an affair with the governor of Martinique, French nobleman François V de Beauharnais. They organised the marriage of his son Alexandre to Josephine (who was then known as “Rose”). They were married in Paris when Josephine was 16 and Alexandre was 19.
Their son Eugène was born when Josephine was 18 and daughter Hortense about 18 months later. It was an unhappy marriage with Alexandre absent most of the time and involved with other women. He wanted to marry someone else and treated Josephine dreadfully. He accused her of adultery, claiming Hortense was not his child. He despatched her to a convent, which ended up being a very positive move for Josephine.
She was surrounded by women of high nobility—in those days single women had apartments at convents as a standard thing. The rough edges from being brought up in Martinique were rubbed off as the noble women took Josephine (then known as Rose) under their wing. She went to court and won. Alexandre had to pay her an annual allowance and she went to live with her aunt and Alexandre’s father who were then living in Fontainebleau. She was struggling financially and after three years decided to return with Hortense to Martinique. Eugène remained in Paris with his father.
When the French Revolution broke out, Josephine returned to Paris. Alexandre was one of the rare nobles who had rallied to the cause, becoming quite prominent politically for the next four years. During the period known as “The Terror” Alexandre was imprisoned, followed by Josephine three months later, at the prison of Carmes in Paris. They saw each other in prison. Alexandre was guillotined three months later. Shortly after Robespierre was himself guillotined and the prisoners were released.
Josephine rented a house in Paris and concentrated on ensuring a good education for her son and daughter. She became a close friend of Theresa Tallien and aristocrat who had married one of the revolutionaries. The two women became fashion icons and leaders of society known as “Les Merveilleuses” (French for Marvels). They dressed in Greek or Roman style, mostly quite revealing clothes in sheer fabrics with sandals tied with ribbons or pearls.
Both women were close to Paul Barras, one of the Directors in the new government. It was at a dinner at his residence that Napoleon and Josephine officially met. Josephine was 32, Napoleon was 26.*
They were married less than six months later, two days before Napoleon leaving to head the division of the French army attacking Italy.
*They both lied about their age on the wedding certificate to make them appear to be
the same age.
Napoleon was madly in love with his new wife and he wrote her steamy love letters from Italy. He was desperate for her to join him there. She, however, was in no hurry. Through Napoleon’s brother-in-law, she had met Hippolyte Charles, a handsome young officer with a wicked sense of humour. They began an affair immediately, in spite of the fact he was ten years younger than Josephine and she had just married Napoleon.
Napoleon’s urgent pleas for Josephine to join him in Italy were ignored. She kept finding excuses,
feigning illnesses and even pregnancy. The Directory (French government of the time) were worried
that Napoleon might leave Italy if Josephine did not join him there. His military campaign in Italy had
been successful way beyond anything they had imagined and Paul Barras (who had himself been
Josephine’s lover before her marriage to Napoleon) ordered her to join her new husband. She finally
headed off to Italy—with Hippolyte Charles in her entourage.
Napoleon seemed to be oblivious to what was going on. It was only when he was in Egypt he was
finally told by Junot, one of his generals, that the gossip about Josephine was true. Napoleon decided
to divorce Josephine and sent a letter to his brother Joseph. Josephine’s son Eugène had accompanied
his stepfather on the expedition. He also wrote to his mother to warn her what had happened.
Neither Joseph nor Josephine received the letters. They were among thousands of letters on a ship
captured by the English admiral Nelson. He passed them on to the Morning Chronicle newspaper in
London who printed parts of them November 24 1798.
In spite of having been told by Napoleon Malmaison was too expensive, Josephine bought the chateau
while Napoleon was stranded in Egypt. Six months later Napoleon, who had escaped from Egypt,
arrived at their home in Paris—determined to divorce Josephine. The pleas of her children, along with
her tears, softened Napoleon. He went ahead and paid for Malmaison. He did not try to take any
revenge on Hippolyte Charles, which says a lot about his character. Josephine never strayed again.
Napoleon, on the other hand, having learnt of the affair, started his own affairs in Egypt and continued.
It was the price Josephine paid.
EMPRESS JOSEPHINE
In spite of everything they remained happily married. When he became Emperor five years later,
Josephine was at his side as the new Empress. Napoleon officially adopted her two children.
When he was forced into permanent exile after the defeat at Waterloo, all the furniture remained at the
Tuileries Palace, including his bed and Josephine’s.
Josephine’s bed from the Tuileries
In 1845 Louis Philippe fitted out a bedroom for his eldest daughter Louise. She had married the King of the Belgians. He used the bed from Josephine’s bedchamber at the Tuileries Palace and the chairs and sofas from her reception room.
At Fontainebleau Josephine took over the official bedchamber of the French Queens who had used it from the time of Marie de Medici, Henri IV’s wife.
The bed was not Empire style. Josephine used the bed Marie-Antoinette had ordered shortly before the Revolution but never slept in it. The bedhead still has Marie-Antoinette’s initials.
The simple private staircase leading up to the three small rooms on the mezzanine level above the Queen’s bedchamber is discreet.
The rooms were originally created for Louis XV’s wife Marie Leszczynska, who had a small private chapel, a study and maid’s quarters there.
Marie-Antoinette converted it to her Turkish boudoir. Josephine decided to refurbish Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir as a private bedchamber.
When Josephine arrived at Fontainebleau, Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir was empty. All the
furniture had been sold during the French Revolution.
Josephine decided to refurnish it as a private bedroom. She left the walls as Marie-Antoinette had
done them.*
Josephine’s new furniture and fabric sparkled with gold. The chairs were covered in silk velvet and the
gold taffeta curtains were held back with crescent moons. In addition to the bed, she ordered the chaise longue, four chairs and pedestal table shown in the picture. She also had two wing chairs and a footstool as well as a firescreen. All of the original furniture is displayed.
*The Turkish boudoir has been renovated and reopened in 2015. During the renovation Marie-Antoinette’s original walls were simply cleaned. Because of the small space, visits are restricted to small groups. The website—chateaudefontainebleau.fr has a 15 minute video about the restoration. It is in French but well worth seeing.
Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir had a sophisticated sliding mirror (operated by the push of a
button) which covered the alcove with the window overlooking the garden.
It was still there and Josephine softened the look by draping a curtain around it, matching the
curtain in front of her bed which was on the opposite wall.
The private bedroom Josephine had furnished in Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir was beautiful but small (barely 20 square meters).
Five years after her first stay at Fontainebleau, Napoleon gave Josephine a new spacious private apartment on the ground floor below her official apartment. It was the former apartments of the children of the royal family.
Her new private apartment had two large reception rooms. A small room for her ladies who acted as receptionists separated the three private rooms—a boudoir/bathroom, her bedroom and a study.
The furniture in the bedroom is original. The brocade fabric, which is also original,
has faded over time.
The boudoir next to the private bedroom doubled as a bathroom, thanks to an ingenious device
which allowed the sofa to slide (on the blue base). The bath was fitted into the floor underneath.
Note the full length mirror. This was the era they were introduced.
Josephine did not have long to enjoy her new private apartment. She was divorced by the end of the year. Josephine retired permanently to Malmaison.
Although she had now lived in all the former royal residences, Josephine’s favorite residence remained
the private mansion she had bought in Malmaison. Originally she and Napoleon slept in the same
bed, which was not the norm.
When Josephine retired to Malmaison permanently following the divorce she retained most of the original decor with the bedroom being a notable exception.
Her architect designed the bedroom in the form of a large tent. The new bed was more like a gold throne, a fitting reflection of the fact Napoleon had allowed her to keep the title of “Empress”.
Josephine died in this bed shortly before her 51st birthday. Napoleon was exiled on Elba at the time. The
following year he returned to France and ruled again for the “Hundred Days”, before being finally
defeated at Waterloo and being forced to abdicate again.
On his way to meet the ship transporting him to what turned out to be his final exile on Saint Helena,
he stayed for four nights at Malmaison. On the day of his departure he spent a long time in
Josephine’s bedroom. He spoke endlessly about her to Hortense, saying he could not get used to
living at Malmaison without her. He described her as “the most graceful woman I have ever known”.
Josephine’s son Eugène had his mother’s bed transported to his chateau in Munich.
When Napoleon III bought his grandmother’s former residence in 1861 (his mother was Josephine’s
daughter Hortense), he refurnished it and organised for Eugene’s widow to return the bed.
The two rooms preceding Josephine’s bedchamber at Malmaison were her bathroom and her maid’s bedroom. They are now displayed as one large room, featuring the frieze which was
originally at the Paris residence she shared with Napoleon when they were first married.
The room also contains original furniture from her bedroom and boudoir at the Tuileries palace, including the floor rug and her dressing table. The chairs feature her symbol of the swan.
Josephine’s little writing/make-up table—which every Empress needs in bed! It is displayed in the next room leading to her bedroom.
Next to the grand bedroom, Josephine had an “ordinary bedroom” with a day bed. It was on the corner overlooking the garden and filled with sunlight.
It was the ideal place for Josephine to read or to write letters.
The door next to the window leads to Josephine’s “cabinet de toilette”.
Josephine’s “cabinet de toilette” was between her “ordinary bedroom” and her boudoir. It was not a toilet
but the dressing room where she also did her hair and make up.
Josephine normally spent three hours each day there. Even when she was young, she may not have been
as beautiful as some of the women but she took great care over her grooming and normally outshone them all.
It is clear all the effort paid off when we take a look at the portrait of her by a Swiss artist which is displayed on the wall of her antichamber leading to the main bedroom. It shows Josephine at the age of 50, the year before she died.
The ceiling in Josephine’s octagonal boudoir is much lower than in the other rooms, allowing more effective heating. Half the original furniture is in place.
Josephine also used the boudoir as a dining room when she was living at Malmaison alone after the divorce.