Letizia Bonaparte Madame Mere..

Letizia Bonaparte is chiefly famous for being the mother of Napoleon I.  Born in Corsica, as Letizia Ramolino, to a noble army family, she was born in 1750.  Her family was related to families in Genoa, and she spoke Italian as her first language.   Her mother remarried after her father’s death and she had more children...   Joseph Fesch, Letizia’s half-brother who became a Cardinal... was an important part of the Bonaparte family in later years.
At the early age of 13 she was married to Carlo Buonaparte, a trainee lawyer who fought for Corsican independence from France.  Carlo then however accepted French domination of the island.   Letitiza was a strong young girl who bore a large family and had 8 of them survive to adulthood… Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, Louis and Jerome were the boys and there were 3 girls, Caroline, Elisa and Pauline.
Although Carlo could have made his fortune under French rule, he was something of a gambler and not very responsible.  The family was noble- but they did not have much land, and his legal career while lucrative enough wasn’t enough to keep up with his spending and his large family.   In 1785, Carlo died of stomach cancer and the family were left very badly off.
Letizia and her children moved to Marseilles, to try and make a new life.  They were very poor but they found opportunities, to train for new lives.  Napoleon was training as a soldier and Elisa went to a school founded by Mme de Maintenon, the morganatic wife of Louis XV….where she learned ladylike accomplishments.  Letizia had simple frugal tastes and was a formidably strong character, and managed on a small income.   However her second daughter Pauline seems to have escaped any education and was wild and flighty…  Letizia had been a strict disciplinarian to her children but the younger ones were somewhat wild.
As Napoleon began to rise in the world, he remained devoted to his mother.  He married Josephine de Beauharnais, a move that Letizia disapproved of.  She did not want him to marry "for love" a frivolous light hearted widow with a somewhat tarnished reputation, who had 2 children and was 6 years his senior.   She preferred Italy to France and she and Napoleon also quarreled over the issue of her son Lucien.  Lucien had married a widow also, who had been his mistress.  However  Napoleon wanted him to divorce her and marry a Princess whom he had chosen.
 Lucien refused, provoking a quarrel and Letizia tended to side with him…In the end he refused to leave his wife....
Letizia and the other Bonapartes all disliked Josephine and hoped Napoleon would divorce her....

Letizia did not attend the Coronation in 1804, but was given the title of Madame Mere, as the Emperor’s mother.  She still led a quiet life, saving money, though Napoleon was generous to her.  She never quite believed that their fame and fortune would last and saved for a rainy day.