Josephine Bonaparte, born Marie-Josephe-Rose Tascher in Martinique in 1763, was from a wealthy family but did not enjoy unlimited riches growing up (per PBS). Her family’s estate was destroyed in a hurricane, and though Josephine or her sisters could marry to provide financial security, matchmaking was complicated by their limited education. Josephine’s first marriage to Alexandre Francois de Beauharnais was an unhappy arrangement, and it ended with the stroke of the guillotine in 1789 during the French Revolution. When Napoleon and Josephine first met, she was supporting herself as a mistress.
In Napoleon, Josephine had a husband who offered support, a potentially glorious future, and passionate affection, which Josephine did not return in kind. Her infidelities aroused his anger, provoked affairs of his own, and damaged their marriage. Another strain came from Josephine’s spendthrift ways (per the Foundation Bonaparte). Upon becoming empress, Josephine was given an annual 120,000-franc allowance for her household that was carefully managed to cover her official expenditures on charities, patronage, and upkeep (per Ernest John Knapton’s “Empress Josephine”). But her personal allowance, at 360,000 francs a year, was regularly exceeded, and she had also wracked up debt while Napoleon was still First Consul.
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Even after discounts regularly extracted by her husband, Josephine was a big spender. Some of this was for the court — per The Telegraph, she spent 25 million francs over six years to reshape the wardrobe and jewels of France. But much of it was on personal effects and careless generosity. Napoleon grumbled and occasionally attempted to implement economies, but to little avail.
