On this day in history: Napoleon Bonaparte married archduchess Marie-Louise
And so ended one of the iconic love stories of all time - that of Napoleon and Josephine.
In March 1810 Napoleon divorced the love of his life, Josephine. He had met the recently widowed Josephine in September 1795 and was instantly smitten with her. The following March they got married. Their marriage was stormy from the start, but they stayed together. There was one problem, however, that couldn’t be solved. Josephine had been unable to give Napoleon, now Emperor of the French and desperate for an heir to succeed him on the throne, a son. At 46 it was unlikely that she would. Napoleon decided that Josephine had to go. Although it was a difficult decision for him, he was already looking around for a new, royal, and fertile young bride. His choice fell on the Austrian archduchess Marie-Louise, a niece of Marie Antoinette. On 11 March 1810 he married Marie-Louise by proxy.
