He had hoped that Mme Pauline Foures might give him a son, during
their affair, but she did not become pregnant.
Napoleon was uneasy about his lack of children. As an old fashioned “male chauvinist” Corsican
and a man with ambitions to rule in France, he hoped for male heirs. And he wanted a family for his own sake… he
had eagerly believed Josephine when she told him she was pregnant soon after
their wedding.
But the pregnancy proved a mistake or a lie on her part... and since his wife was 6
years his senior, it began to seem unlikely that she would provide him with a
brood of children. However, Pauline Foures also
did not become pregnant and he remarked that the “little fool didn’t know how
to have a child…” a remark that probably betrayed his uneasiness about whether
he could father children.
Josephine was aware of his anger, and that he wanted a
divorce, and she hoped to charm him back to their marriage. However though she tried to catch him before
he met with his relatives, who would press him to get rid of her... He was heading
towards Paris; she missed him on the road.
Eventually she got to Malmaison to find that her husband was refusing to
see her. Luckily Hortense and Eugene
were there and both of them spent hours outside his locked bedroom door, crying
and talking and trying to beg him to see Josephine.
Napoleon had grown to love both step children in the years
of the marriage and they both cared for him.
He found Eugene more loyal and supportive as a step-son than his own
brothers often were.
The children loved their mother dearly, and wanted to save
the marriage… for her sake. And they
also loved their stepfather. Under
their persuasion, he finally opened the door and let his wife in, to talk.
The following morning, Joseph Bonaparte arrived, gleefully
hoping that his brother was now about to throw out his wife and divorce her, as
the family still held onto their hostility towards Josephine. However, to his angry amazement, he found the
couple in bed together.
Josephine had saved her marriage, though it was never quite
the same. Napoleon still loved her but
not in the wild passionate adoring way that he had done before. He was frequently unfaithful to her… and
harsh with her when she complained.
However, she remained devoted to him, and to her children…
Eugene benefited from his step father’s patronage in his
army career and he was a good soldier.
Napoleon remarked that the step children were more loyal and affectionate
than his own siblings and that (later when Hortense had married Louis) he would
go out of a meeting to see Madame Louis if she asked for him, when he might not
for his sisters…
When Napoleon became Emperor, the marriage was under strain again, because in this position, he needed male heirs. He knew by then that Josephine would not give
him children, but she pointed out to him that he might not be fertile, since
she had had 2 children
.However, the marriage survived... and Eugene benefitted by being adopted by the Emperor, made an official member of the Imperial family, and given the job of Viceroy of Italy. He continued to prosper in his military career and in 1806; he married Augusta of Bavaria, a royal wife. The marriage was arranged by Napoleon, but Eugene agreed to it and he and Augusta grew to love each other. They had a happy and stable marriage. They were to have 7 children in all, 5 daughters (one of whom died in infancy) and 2 sons.
.However, the marriage survived... and Eugene benefitted by being adopted by the Emperor, made an official member of the Imperial family, and given the job of Viceroy of Italy. He continued to prosper in his military career and in 1806; he married Augusta of Bavaria, a royal wife. The marriage was arranged by Napoleon, but Eugene agreed to it and he and Augusta grew to love each other. They had a happy and stable marriage. They were to have 7 children in all, 5 daughters (one of whom died in infancy) and 2 sons.
Eugene was considered a good soldier, and an able
administrator, unlike some of Napoleons family who were placed on thrones as
subordinate rulers for the Emperor. He
was also a cheerful good natured man, and was loved by his mother and was
always popular as a visitor to her household.
When the couple divorced, he and Hortense were willing to retire into
the background, believing that it might be better for their mother to end the
marriage, and not torment herself over Napoleon’s infidelities and her fear
that she was going to be put aside…. And they felt that their first loyalty
must be to their beloved mother.
But Napoleon persuaded his stepson and daughter to remain in
their positions and to retain a close relationship with him, as well as to
Josephine. She retained the title of
Empress and was given a handsome income, though she still got into debt. Her children remained close to her, but
Eugene retained his public roles until the empire finally collapsed.
Then in 1817, after his mother’s death and Napoleon’s defeat
at Waterloo, Eugene was given the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg, by his father
in law, Maximillian of Bavaria and was treated as a member of the family. He and Augusta lived together quietly, until
Eugene died at the early age of 42, in 1824.
Their children were Josephine, Eugenie, Amelie, Theodolinde
and Caroline Clotilde, and the 2 sons Maximilian and Auguste. All of the
children, (except Caroline who died as a baby) made marriages into the royal families
of Europe. Josephine became Queen of Sweden,
and Amelie married the Emperor of Brazil...
August married the Queen of Portugal, Maria II but died only 2 months
after the wedding. His brother
Maximilian married a Russian Grand Duchess.
So as the son of 2 French aristocrats, Eugene managed to attain a position where he married a Princess and his children's blood was passed on in many other Royal families....
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