“Darling, I’m coming home, don’t wash!” This was the life of Napoleon Bonaparte’s lover of women

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader and statesman, emperor from 1804 to 1814, and then also emperor for one hundred days in the spring and summer of 1815. This man was feared throughout Europe for his military skills. He was the personification of the Great French Revolution and his soldiers literally worshiped him.

However, he is still a relatively ambivalent figure for contemporary historians. According to some, he spread the liberal ideas of the French Revolution throughout Europe. But others claim that he was an extremely cruel person with extremely conquering tendencies. The truth will be, as it always is, probably somewhere in the middle.

A dizzying career awaited Napoleon Bonaparte, when he became a general at the age of 24, a little later the first man in the state, and at the height of his power he controlled most of Western Europe. However, it was followed by a rapid fall, which was practically blamed on the lost battle at Waterloo. He spent the end of his life on the island of Saint Helena.

What was Napoleon Bonaparte like in private?

In addition to this public image, however, this remarkable figure in world history naturally had a private face as well. The theory about his height is widely known.

She even gave the popular name to the so-called Napoleon complex. Psychologists today admit that there are indeed men who have a psychological problem with their small stature, that is, in a broader sense, with any physical indisposition.

Napoleon, however, is apparently innocent in this. At least in the context of his body constitution. Paradoxically, according to today’s findings, he did not belong to small men. He is said to have been about 170 cm tall. Considering the height of an ordinary European of that time, this can be considered rather above average. Men of the time are said to have averaged approximately 165cm.

However, the famous warlord was probably somewhat responsible for his bad reputation. He surrounded himself with above-average size men in his personal guard. And in relation to them, the public was understandably smaller.

The famous warlord alternated his wives, but he only loved Josefina

This famous man managed to get married twice. However, there were countless women who passed through his life. The number of mistresses is said to be in the thousands. And apparently Napoleon didn’t care too much about whether the object of his interest was entered.

His first wife was Josefína, who at that time had already married Alexandre de Beauharnais, with whom she had two common children. According to some sources, he loved no other woman more than her. And this despite the fact that their relationship was quite stormy. Neither of them avoided extramarital affairs during it.

Apart from the fact that Josefina was definitely not loyal, she wasn’t really very beautiful either. She came from an impoverished noble family, and her manners were more on the level of a country girl than a noble’s daughter. Mention is made of her black rotten teeth, which she had as a result of eating sweets.

But that apparently didn’t bother the legendary warlord. The love letters that Napoleon sent to his wife have been preserved. Historians were particularly interested in the sentence during their research: “Darling, I’m coming home, don’t wash.” Against taste…

But even the fact that Napoleon decided to crown his wife as Empress of France did not save the relationship. Josefina failed to give birth to an heir to the throne. The second wife for Napoleon Bonaparte subsequently became the Habsburg Archduchess Marie Luisa, Marie Antoinette’s great-niece. At first, this union was not about pure feelings, but about political calculation, but in the end the marriage was happy.

Why did women really like Napoleon Bonaparte so much?

Napoleon held very traditional views on women’s abilities and their role in society. He recognized that they could be strong. And he considered them powerful to the point of being able to seduce men. However, he did not believe they were as intelligent as men. In his opinion, the fairer sex was certainly not suited to serve in the army or to play a role in the public sphere. A woman’s place was in the home, primarily in the role of wife and mother.

As much as the excellent warlord appears from this image as a typical “macho”, he surprisingly suffered from a number of complexes. These related to his class origin, insecurity about money, envy of the intellectual layers of society, sexual anxiety, social awkwardness. He was also persistently hypersensitive to criticism. Taken together, these traits fueled his great ambitions, but at the same time significantly undermined his grandiose intentions.

In addition, he was surrounded by downright strong and headstrong women, who in the end were much more difficult to subdue than to conquer new territories. Whether it was a mother, an exceptionally charming sister, or the fateful love of Josefín.

At the same time, he himself was quite painfully aware that he was not very attractive. However, he was able to conquer women mainly thanks to the way his influence and power grew. Historians today, however, are reluctant to confirm that he was allegedly a great lover.

Apparently, it was a relatively varied range of complexes that was to blame for the fact that he thought so negatively mainly about eloquent, assertive and politically engaged women. Historians have equally failed to confirm the theory that Napoleon Bonaparte was actually homosexual.