As Napoleon's consort, she was also Queen of Italy from 26 May until the annulment. Her first husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais , was guillotined during the Reign of Terror , and she was imprisoned in the Carmes Prison until five days after his execution. Members of the current royal families of Sweden , Denmark , Belgium , and Norway and the grand ducal family of Luxembourg also descend from her.
Because she did not bear Napoleon any children, he had their marriage annulled and married Marie Louise of Austria. She became one of the leading collectors of different forms of art of her time, such as sculpture and painting.
She sometimes reverted to using her maiden name in later life. On Martinique, Joseph-Gaspard earned his living as a plantation owner and a lieutenant of the Troupes de marine , apart from a small pension for his previous work in the royal household.
He was almost always close to bankruptcy and suffered from ill health. However, this has been disputed by several sources. In , Dom Daviot, parish priest in Gros Islet on Saint Lucia, wrote a letter to one of his friends, stating that " it is in the vicinity of [my] parish that the wife of the first consul was born ". In Henry H. Breen's The History of St. There, they learned to read, write, sing, dance, and embroider for four years.
Soon, the parents returned to France, and left the infant with the Tascher family until As the bride's father was impoverished and the bridegroom was to become a wealthy man upon his marriage, he asked for no dowry. Not wanting to lose the rich suitor, her father offered his youngest daughter instead, which was accepted by Alexandre. In October , she went to France with her father. She married Alexandre on 13 December , in Noisy-le-Grand.
