Creating an heir was a central aspect of the Napoleon drama. Because Napoleon couldn’t procreate with Josephine, they came up with the strange idea to marry her daughter Hortense to his brother Louis. This marriage was a total sacrifice on the part of Hortense and Louis was constantly furious because
People were saying that Napoleon and Hortense were lovers and because
They really were obviously in love with each other.
Napoleon finally did create an heir with a Hapsburg princess but she ran off when he lost the throne and she left her son in harm’s way and surprise, he didn’t make it to adulthood. It’s a complicated story but those are the facts.
Hortense brought up her sons to vindicate Napoleon. One of them became Napoleon the 3rd. In a way, Napoleon’s scheme worked (to create an heir through Hortense) but mostly because Hortense was so into him and his beliefs.
Unfortunately, Hortense died fairly young and never met her one legitimate grandchild. This young man was bizarrely murdered by Zulus. Young men in this family had a tendency to die young. It’s quite a pattern.
This left the line of Josephine’s other offspring, her adored Eugene. He was set up with a Bavarian princess and their daughters were married off to royals. When we see Josephine’s jewels parading around, it’s on the descendants of Eugene.
