About

Born Marie-Josèphe-Rose Tascher de La Pagerie on her family’s sugar plantation in Martinique, she came to France at sixteen and married Alexandre de Beauharnais in 1779. The couple obtained a formal separation in 1785. Known as Rose during the Revolution, she was arrested on 21 April 1794 and held at the Carmes prison for 107 days. Alexandre, a former president of the Constituent Assembly and commander of the Army of the Rhine, was guillotined on 23 July. She was released on 6 August, although the intervention responsible for her release is uncertain. After recovering some of her property and relying on loans and influential connections, she entered the social circle around Thérésa Tallien and Paul Barras. She married Bonaparte on 9 March 1796, reducing her age by four years on the marriage certificate while he added eighteen months to his. Their marriage was dissolved in December 1809. She retained the title of empress and died at Malmaison in 1814.