A Brief History of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Sisters

(Host: Christine)

One of Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite methods of expanding control was to place his siblings in positions of power. Here, Christine takes a look at the lives of Napoleon’s three dynamic sisters (Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline), their rise to imperial prominence, and how they were impacted by the fall of their brother.

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Episode Transcript

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Emperor Napoleon I might be the most famous

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Bonaparte, but his sisters Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline were also pretty epic. This
episode of Footnoting History is all about their dynamic personalities and fascinating exploits.

(00:24):
Hey everyone, Christine here to talk all about Napoleon Bonaparte’s sisters Elisa,
Pauline, and Caroline. These three women had extremely different personalities,
but they all enjoyed being put in places of power and influence, living extravagant lives,
and they had a penchant for giving Napoleon a headache. But, before I start,

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please note that we have captioned versions of this episode on FootnotingHistory.com
and YouTube.com/FootnotingHistory. Also, as a disclaimer, I apologize in advance. Languages
are my forever weakness, and while I always do my best, I know there might be pronunciation slips.
So, Napoleon’s sisters. In order to understand them and their place in the world, let’s start

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by considering the family as a whole. The Bonaparte family’s roots were on Corsica,
an island that could be described as both off the coast of France and off the coast of Italy. The
patriarch of the family was Carlo, also called Charles. He supported Corsica’s independence,
but eventually accepted French control. Charles passed away in the 1780s, before Napoleon rose to

(01:31):
power. Charles’ wife, the formidable matriarch, was named Letizia. She would not only ride the
wave of Napoleon’s success, she also had no problem telling him when she thought he was
wrong, and outlived him by over a decade.From these parents the world received the

8 Bonaparte siblings. In birth order, they were:  Joseph (born in 1768), Napoleon (born in 1769), (01:46):
undefined
Lucien (born in 1775), Elisa (born in 1777), Louis (born in 1778), Pauline (born in 1780), Caroline

(02:08):
(born in 1782), and Jerome (born in 1784). So, Napoleon rose up through the French military,
originally seizing power in 1799 from the unstable government formed in the aftermath of the French
Revolution’s Reign of Terror. He was initially part of a new government called the Consulate,
where he and two others were supposed to serve as consuls for specific terms. Only,

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Napoleon rather quickly made himself Consul for Life, and then became Emperor in 1804. At that
point, every single Bonaparte sibling was under the age of 37. That is a young ruling family.
What, then, did all of this mean for Napoleon’s sisters?
Let’s start with Elisa. Although Elisa was originally Maria-Anna, she was known as Elisa

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for the vast majority of her life. As I mentioned, Elisa was born in 1777. As a child, her father
secured her a spot at an elite school in France that had been founded ages prior by Madame de
Maintenon, a mistress of King Louis XIV. While there, Elisa learned to read and write, a bit of
history, how to dance and make herself look good, all the things you would expect. When the French

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Revolution began, that’s where Elisa was and Napoleon visited. He found she had an aristocratic
air to her that made him suspect that had she known he supported the Revolution, she might not
have wanted to see him. When violence was erupting as the Revolution gained momentum and being in any
way aristocratic was not a good thing, Napoleon removed her from the school for her own safety.

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A few years later, Elisa turned to Napoleon for a dowry. She wanted to marry a man named
Felice or sometimes Felix Bacciochi. He was from a prominent Corsican family. And,
well, that was pretty much all he had going for him. He also liked playing the violin,
but allegedly wasn’t very good, nor was his personality exciting. Still the couple married

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in June of 1797. Although Napoleon technically approved of it, once he successfully launched his
coup and took over control of things in 1799, he lamented the situation. Elisa being married meant
he couldn’t arrange a better match for her now, and according to Napoleon’s stepdaughter Hortense,
despite Felix being, “of good family, honest, and kind, he did not come up to the Consul’s wishes.”

(04:32):
Elisa is often called the brightest sister, but also the least pretty and
definitely not the nicest. The thing is, all the Bonapartes—literally, all of them—had the ability
to be vicious and petty. For example, none of the sisters liked Napoleon’s first wife, Josephine,
and they didn’t hide it. Famously, when Napoleon and Josephine were crowned Emperor and Empress,

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the sisters threw fits about having to carry Josephine’s train. They mostly, though,
could also turn on the charm. However, Elisa was known for being very selective about who
she turned on the charm for and, as a result, she had a reputation for being unlikable.
When Napoleon became Emperor in 1804, his sisters made it known that they would accept

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nothing less than fancy titles and treatment. Embracing elitist attitudes was not a problem
for these ladies. Napoleon complied and made them Imperial Highnesses. Elisa was the first
to get a station for foreign influence and power, which riled up jealousy in her younger sisters,
but, the thing is, Elisa had a genuine interest in governing, and so Napoleon made use of it.

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He placed her in modern Italy, by making her Princess of Piombino and Lucca. And when I say, he
gave her control, that’s truly what I mean. Felix was in no way the one in charge. Anyway, Elisa did
love governing and she owned no less than five palatial residences, making significant updates
to them. She built up an enormous entourage and household so it was sure to impress. And she made

(06:08):
a lot of changes, including creating a bank, roads, bridges, schools and she named a lot of
things after herself. She also liked to hold large parties, welcoming literary and musical persons of
importance to fill out her social circle.My favorite thing that Elisa did though,
is that she took an interest in marble. She knew there were marble quarries in her control now,

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and she oversaw their revitalization. Under her watch, they became a Napoleon bust-making
powerhouse. In historian Philip Mansel’s book The Eagle in Splendour, he talks about this,
stating that the marble works were “devoted to the mass production of busts and statues of the
Emperor. Over 12,000 busts of Napoleon I were sold to municipalities throughout the Empire at a huge

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profit (for the princess, not the sculptors).” I’ve read a LOT about the Bonaparte family over
the years, and for some reason the idea of Elisa as, like, the one to turn her hand to
making money off of her brother’s image has always stayed with me and I can’t explain it, but I find
it to be a truly entertaining bit of information.Elisa’s influence expanded in 1809, when Napoleon

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made her Grand Duchess of Tuscany. It didn’t take long for Elisa and Felix to make their way to
Florence. There, Elisa didn’t have as much freedom to govern as she did in her original holdings. It
was extremely well known that she was going to be Napoleon’s Person on the Ground, if you will.
Still, she tried to make a proper Court there, and govern similarly to how she did elsewhere,

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but she never truly succeeded in becoming popular.Behind the scenes though, throughout all of this,
Elisa and Felix lived quite the interesting “private” (there’s
air quotes implied there) lives. Although they outwardly appeared as a united front,
both of them had lovers. For Elisa it included people like famous composer and violinist

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Paganini and her Grand Equerry. For Felix there were rumors that some of the women he took as
lovers were actually chosen for him by his wife.When, eventually, Napoleon’s hold on the Empire
began to crumble as Allied forces looked poised to win, his family members took different tactics
to stave off also being defeated, but ultimately everyone suffered. Initially, Elisa was run out

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of Florence and she tried to keep a hold of her own power by cutting ties with France. Still,
when Napoleon was exiled to Elba, much of the furniture he had there came from his sister,
so she certainly hadn’t forgotten him. Nevertheless, Elisa could not retain
control. Her family had to accept their glory days were over, and they settled in Trieste.

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In 1820, Elisa—who had been in bad health for some time, was dealing with weight issues, lost hair,
etc.—well she caught a fever and passed away at the age of 43. Her husband passed away much later,
in the early 1840s. Although the couple had several children together, only one, a daughter
named Napoleone-Elisa, lived to what we would call older age. I mention her largely because,

(09:24):
she lived until the age of photography, so we have a picture of her, and I am going to link to it on
our site because the first time I saw it, I did a triple take. She looked exactly like what I
would imagine Napoleon looked like if he’d been around in the age of photography, but in a dress.
The likeness was so uncanny as to be unsettling!Now, if Elisa was the one who wasn’t the prettiest

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but might have been the most interested in governing, the next sister, Pauline,
was regarded as an absolute stunner and she could not have cared less about the mechanics of ruling.
Born in 1780, Pauline (who went by other names at times, such as Maria Paola/Paoletta and Paulette),
is often regarded as Napoleon’s favorite sister. Her looks were always a topic for commentary.

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However, she was the least educated of the three sisters, and entered her teen years with a
reputation for acting like a silly school girl and indulging in inappropriate romantic dalliances.
Although an initial marriage match for Pauline fell through, in June of 1797—on literally the
same day and in the same location as her elder sister Elisa, surprise!—she married French

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military officer Victor Emmanuel LeClerc. He was both in love with Pauline and loyal to Napoleon,
two things that worked in his favor. Soon, Pauline gave birth to a son. He would, unfortunately, die
of a fever when he was still quite young—around age 6—and would also be Pauline’s only child. The

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small family remained in Europe during Napoleon’s rise to the Consulate, but once he was in power,
he had a big move in store for them.As Consul, he turned part of his attention
to the French colonies in the Caribbean. One, Saint-Domingue, which is now Haiti, wasn’t as
under control as Napoleon wanted. He told LeClerc to go there to prevent Toussaint Loverture from

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continuing to rile up the population and erode French control in favor of control of the Haitians
by actual Haitians. The family and the force backing Pauline’s husband arrived in 1802 and,
understandably, immediately faced resistance. For Pauline, life there was terrible and uncertain and

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dangerous. Ultimately, it also cost her husband his life. He faced off against Toussaint Loverture
and the result was that the Haitian leader was arrested and sent to France. But any glory he felt
was to be short-lived, for before he had been in the colony a year, he was felled by yellow fever.
A distraught Pauline was back in France, widowed, with her son, in early 1803. In her mourning she

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placed her hair with him in his coffin. She also had his heart placed in an urn upon which part
of the inscription read that she, “enclosed in this urn her love with the heart of the husband
with whom she shared dangers and glory.”However sad she might have been, Pauline
would not be lonely, because she hated being bored and she hated the restrictions of being

(12:35):
in formal mourning. Quickly she was married again, this time to Prince Camillo Borghese,
of a long, high-standing family from Rome. This union was, well, financially lucrative and it
came with a lot of established connections, but that razzle dazzle couldn’t make their
personalities a long-term match. Although Pauline initially joined her husband in Rome,

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the cracks in their relationship (and her firm belief that Rome’s society was severely lacking in
comparison to Paris’) meant they weren’t bound to live in close quarters for long. Napoleon told her
in no uncertain terms that she needed to behave, but Pauline decided to not do that and the pair

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spent the majority of their time living apart.The marriage was, however, the reason for

arguably the most enduring image of Pauline (13:25):
an  impressive marble statue called Venus Victrix.
It depicts Pauline as Venus, breasts on full display, reclining on a chaise,
and holding an apple. Her husband had commissioned the artist, Antonio Canova, to create it early in
their marriage. Pauline chose to be depicted as Venus and the statue became famous quickly.

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I’ve linked to that on our site, too.The rift in Pauline’s marriage occurred
not far in time from her brother becoming Emperor in 1804. She was, you’ll recall, there for the
coronation and to complain about having to carry Josephine’s train. She did not complain, however,
when earlier that year she was made an Imperial Highness or when Napoleon gave her husband a new

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position, centered at Turin, which made him quite far removed from her geographically. In fact,
she quite liked the distance and rebuffed Napoleon’s efforts to get her to go to him,
though she did at least briefly visit.Most of Pauline’s time was spent entertaining.
She had a list of lovers that’s so long I couldn’t remember all the names if I tried,

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though I will say it included her Chamberlain and Talma, the celebrated actor of the day.
When Napoleon divorced Josephine and married Austria’s Marie-Louise, Pauline showed that
she hadn’t changed at all. She protested against carrying Marie-Louise’s train at her wedding and
then was seen making faces behind the new empress’ back. Pauline was flirtatious and could also be

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cruel. There are accounts, though I suppose they might not be reliable, that say Pauline
was seen using the neck of her lady-in-waiting as a footstool. Unfortunately, her love affairs
and making of her own rules meant that she was perpetually the subject of scandalous rumors,
not the least of which was that one of her lovers was none other than Napoleon himself. Yes, people

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absolutely went there, and you can see it in political illustrations of the time. While Pauline
was never in an incestuous relationship with her brother, we do know that at least once she
provided him entertainment in the form of one of her ladies-in-waiting becoming one of his flings.
Pauline’s glamorous life was also regularly plagued by health issues including severe

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pain in the abdomen and pelvic region. It has been speculated by biographers that she
had a run-in with venereal disease, possibly something like gonorrhea. It also appears as
though a large part of it was inflammation, especially of her fallopian tubes. It was,
no matter what, extremely painful, and debilitating. Certainly, some people blaming

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her overly-sexual nature didn’t make her feel good, and a true, lasting, help was never found.
When Napoleon’s reign ended the first time, in 1814, and he was exiled to Elba,
Pauline was the only sister to join him there. She was seen as responsible for the revival
of any form of fun and frivolity. Marchand, Napoleon’s valet, said of Pauline during her

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time on Elba that she “lent an air of gallantry and mirth to all who surrounded her” and that,
“Nothing was as perfectly beautiful as this princess.” She remained there until Napoleon
left to retake France, and then she returned to the Continent. When Napoleon was exiled again
after the defeat at Waterloo, Pauline again wanted to follow her brother, but her requests

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for permission to go to the far-away, utterly unappealing island of St. Helena were ignored.
As a result of her family’s fall from grace, Pauline remained in Italy. But, she did support
her brother from afar—even sending her cook down there to serve him. She was fortunate, at least,
that she was able to live comfortably due to savings and money she had accrued through the

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sale of her homes and jewelry. When she learned of her brother’s death in 1821, she was inconsolable.
During this period, though, she managed to somewhat revive her marriage. Although her husband
was now in an established relationship elsewhere, her health was deteriorating and with some help
from the pope, she convinced him to return to her. It was a reunion based on obligation,

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but it appears that he took good care of her. She passed away in June of 1825, at the age of 44.
So, if Elisa and Pauline were polar opposites, where does that put the youngest sister,
Caroline? Caroline, originally Maria Nunziata, was born in 1782. Her youngest years were spent

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with the family on Corsica, but once the family had followed Napoleon to France,
she attended Madame Campan’s school. The school was a respected one, as Madame Campan had been
in service to Queen Marie Antoinette once upon a time. Also at the school was my favorite person
from the Napoleonic era, Josephine’s daughter Hortense. I think, today, they would be considered

(18:23):
“frenemies.” Anyway, Hortense’s memoirs said Caroline had NO interest in being at school.
Caroline told Napoleon that Hortense was not only purposely showing off to make her look bad
but also encouraging other girls to humiliate her. When word of this got back to Hortense,

she confronted Caroline and received a confession:  Caroline wanted to get out of the school and marry (18:42):
undefined
Joachim Murat, one of Napoleon’s fellow military men, and would say whatever she needed to do it,
even if it meant throwing Hortense under the bus. Hortense says she forgave Caroline
for this, but I’m not sure I would have!Nevertheless, Caroline got what she wanted.

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In January of 1800, she married her man. The couple would have four children together, and as

an interesting aside, at least to me (19:11):
two of them  ended up moving to the United States. Although the
flamboyantly showy Murat was seen as a wonderful soldier who was devoted to Napoleon, he had humble
origins and Napoleon believed Caroline could do better. Nevertheless, his brother-in-law was
a good military companion, serving dutifully for Napoleon’s cause with distinction for a long time.

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Caroline and her husband rose along with Napoleon, and it is she who is famously documented as
pushing for high titles for the sisters when Napoleon became Emperor, and she certainly
was part of the contingent who complained about all the train carrying that went on.
In 1806, the couple was given the Grand Duchy of Berg and Cleves, but then in 1808 they were

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elevated to King and Queen of Naples. They would spend significantly more time and
effort focusing on Naples than they ever did on Berg and Cleves. Like Elisa with Tuscany,
Caroline and her husband were intended to be Napoleon’s representatives on the ground. As such,
they modeled much of their court after what was happening in Paris, though of course with

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their own spin. They redecorated and filled their courts with desirable people, embracing
their status both in the sense of being lavish and trying to take care of Naples by creating schools,
a naval academy, and other improvements.Now, if Elisa was unlikeable but useful and
smart and Pauline was beloved and beautiful but frivolous, Caroline was somewhere in the middle,

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though she did share their penchant for taking and discarding lovers. She was considered pretty and,
also, like Pauline, she provided Napoleon with access to a mistress. Only in Caroline’s case
that mistress got pregnant and gave birth to one of Napoleon’s illegitimate children—an event which
she likely was pleased helped sow seeds of discord in Napoleon’s marriage to Josephine, as she could

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no longer have children. When tasked with painting a portrait of Caroline and her daughter, famed
artist Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun complained that, “The interval between sessions was so long
that she had sometimes changed her hairstyle . . . so that I was obliged to scrape off the hair I
had painted around the face.” Meanwhile, Hortense reflected, tellingly, that “To be sure, at times

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a little claw emerged beneath the velvety touch of her caress, but a most carefully calculated
abandon and the most gracious manner promptly cured the wound and captivated you anew. Proud,
brave, persevering, passionate, careless, and variable as were her moods, the same charms

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which attracted people to her could not mask her desire to secure all power for herself,
nor her jealousy of the success of others.” So, Caroline could charm but she could also harm.
Still, she did have an interest in reforms, renovations, and discovery. During her time
as Queen of Naples, Caroline developed a true admiration for archaeology. She loved to tour

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archaeological sites like Pompeii and is regularly credited with pushing to expand
the efforts at the site, while also proposing new approaches. Plus, we know that she liked to take
some of the findings and display them where she resided, uh, creating almost a personal
little museum of some of her favorite finds.Hortense was right, though, about Caroline’s

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desire to hold and maintain power. She often acted as a mediator between her husband and her brother,
but there were multiple occasions when her husband was away on military campaigns and she ruled
Naples solo, and did a great job at it. Still, the husband and wife didn’t trust each other much
at all, which often caused issues. At one point, too, Caroline was associated with a plot to put

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her husband (and by extension, herself) on the throne of France should Napoleon be killed. And,
when the cracks in the Empire started to show, Caroline and her husband really didn’t want to
go down with the sinking ship. They began to put out feelers for joining the Allies who
were fighting against Napoleon. There was even a treaty signed with Austria in hopes

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that if Napoleon was defeated, the Allies would let them hold on to their kingdom.
However, you rarely win when you play both sides, and what happened to Caroline’s husband
proves that point. His negotiations with the Allies did absolutely nothing to secure his
throne permanently, neither did his attempts to go back to Napoleon when he briefly reclaimed power,

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nor did a try at using Italian unification to rally support from the Italians. Ultimately,
when he made the bad decision to try and return to Naples with a small group to retake the place,
he was summarily captured and executed in October of 1815.
Following her husband’s death and brother’s defeat at Waterloo, Caroline was looked down

(24:08):
upon by her mother for betraying Napoleon and her station in life sank considerably. She had
been living in Austria, certainly under watch by their government, but was eventually allowed to
move to Italy. Money problems that didn’t plague her sisters so much, plagued Caroline a lot,
to the point where it has been said she needed to sell gold embroidery removed from her formerly

(24:30):
fancy clothing. Caroline wasn’t alone though, she entered into a long-term relationship with
General Francesco MacDonald, though he predeceased her. She passed away in 1839, at the age of 57.
And with that, we reach end of our look at the lives of Napoleon’s sisters. I really,
really love talking about them and would love to have been a fly on the wall when they were

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all in the same space, because imagine the personalities and the drama! I hope this made
you find them fascinating, too. Thank you so much for joining me for this triple biography,
probably the first one I’ve done! Don’t forget to check out my further reading suggestions on
FootnotingHistory.com and to spread the word that the best stories are in the footnotes.