Josephine de Beauharnais

Josphine de Beauharnais was Napoleon Bonaparte's first wife and the first Empress of France. Widowed after her first husband was executed during the Reign of Terror, she narrowly escaped the same fate. Though she bore Napoleon no children and was divorced in 1810, her lineage shaped European royalty across France, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, and Luxembourg. She was also famed for Napoleon's love letters and her celebrated rose garden at Chteau de Malmaison.