The Red Rose Beneath the Crown: Napoleon and Josephine

When candlelight illuminated the pearls at Josephine's temple in a Paris salon in 1795, she could never have imagined that her first encounter with Napoleon, a sharp-eyed, ambitious officer fallen on hard times, would spark a legendary romance spanning Europe's battlefields and imperial courts. At the time, he was a young general longing to climb the ladder of power; she was a worldly widow with two children. Yet with her unique tenderness and charm, she became the brightest light in his military life.

From a rainy-night invitation after the Revolt of 13 Vendemiaire to a thousand love letters from the Italian campaign; from standing by each other after the Coup of 18 Brumaire to his placing the imperial crown on her head with his own hands at the coronation, red roses bloomed in the gardens of Malmaison and in military camps thick with smoke. Napoleon conquered Europe as an emperor, yet willingly laid down his armor before her. Josephine, born a commoner, ascended to the throne as empress and managed his affairs at home with wisdom and warmth, becoming Europe's most celebrated empress. But at the pinnacle of power lay a fatal fracture: worries over having no heir, political pressures, and the corrosive force of rumors gradually drove a wedge into their passionate love under the crushing weight of the crown.

In the bitter winter of 1809, for the sake of the French Empire's succession, Napoleon signed the divorce papers with a heavy heart, sending the woman he loved into years of lonely solitude at Malmaison. His subsequent political marriage to the Austrian princess Marie Louise brought him an heir to the empire, the King of Rome, but never filled the emptiness in his heart. When the disastrous invasion of Russia tolled the death knell of the empire, and the smoke of Waterloo brought the Hundred Days to an end, only his love for Josephine sustained him through the bitter cold and loneliness of his long exile on Saint Helena...