In both of Napoleon’s marriages, he was very emotionally invested and he was “marrying up”. The first time he was a General on the rise joining in matrimony the widow of a Viscount who had been in charge of France - though briefly, Alexandre de Beauharnais. The second time he married, it was to “a daughter of the Caesars”. Marie Louise’s father had been Holy Roman Emperor until Napoleon dismantled that system.
What first entranced me about Napoleon was his first love letters to Josephine. I recognized in his self described “bizarre” personality someone who reminded me A LOT of my own bizarre personality. I have been trying to solve the riddle of the meaning of this obsession since the mid 1990s. These letters start at 200 years before that time.
Let me share the notable letters with you.
The memoirs so far are available here.