The Life of Napoleon’s French Mistresses
One was a painter and a novelist, others a noblewoman and a middle-class beauty. A commoner nicknamed “Cleopatra”, with another a divorcée. All were intelligent and pretty, and all were married off and cared for by Napoleon I himself.
The individuals who made history often did so because of their deeds, their exuberant personalities, as well as the positions they earned or inherited. For this reason, they also led lives that were far from common, which extends to the way they behaved around loved ones.
When wealth and power is at a person’s fingertips, he can possibly afford to let his eyes wander to beauty inaccessible to most others. With his many mistresses, this was certainly the case for the first French emperor himself.
Countess Albine de Montholon
With her portrait painted by one of the most well-known French artists of the era, it is not surprising to learn that Countess Albine was one of Napoleon I’s favorites.
In context, however, this was during his exile on Saint Helena. A running theme with Napoleon’s mistresses, she had been divorced from the husband she had at an early age.
