A question I was asked on Quora:
My project is largely about whom he married: Hortense de Beauharnais.
I believe Hortense was very important to Napoleon and that he obligated her to marry his brother so she would stay attached to him despite the fact he was planning to divorce Josephine, her mother. After Josephine was mostly out of Napoleon’s life and Hortense got free of Louis, Napoleon never let Hortense go willingly.
I’ve been doing all this memoir reading in an attempt to see if my theory aligns with the facts. So far it really does.