Pauline: The Exotic and Turbulent Life of an Imperial Princess

Pauline Bonaparte and Her Lovers by Hector Fleischmann & Pauline Bonaparte, a Short Biography by Joseph Turquan

Two accounts: From poverty to princess-the life of an amorous Bonaparte

Paula Maria Bonaparte Leclerc Borghese was popularly known as 'Pauline' or 'Paulette'. Twelve years her famous brother's junior, she became, in consequence of Napoleon's meteoritic rise to power, an imperial French princess, the first sovereign Duchess of Guastalla and the princess consort of Sulmona and Rossano. A universally acknowledged beauty, she was said to have been Napoleon's favourite sister. Born on Corsica in 1780, Pauline fled to France together with the Bonaparte family when British forces occupied the island. Somewhat against her wishes, since she had a more favoured suitor in mind, Napoleon married her to General Charles Leclerc to whom she bore a son, Dermide in 1798, though she was frequently separated from her husband because of his poor health. She accompanied him to the West Indies, however, where rampant yellow fever swept away thousands of soldiers, including Leclerc. By 1803, a widow, she was in Paris and was promptly married, once again by her brother, to Camillo Borghese, Prince of Sulmona, in an abortive attempt to consolidate ties with the truculent population of French-occupied Italy. Thereafter she launched herself whole-heartedly into a life of infamous self-indulgence which involved numerous extramarital affairs. Her relationship with her husband soon soured and her son, always in poor health, died in 1804. After Napoleon's fall Pauline was the only sibling to visit him in exile. She died in 1825, probably of tuberculosis. This special Leonaur edition presents two perspectives on Pauline's extraordinary life.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.