Hortense de Beauharnais

Hortense de Beauharnais
Duchess of Saint-Leu
Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland
Queen consort of Holland
Tenure	5 June 1806 – 1 July 1810
Born	10 April 1783 Paris, France
Died	5 October 1837 (aged 54) Arenenberg, Thurgau, Switzerland
Burial	St Pierre-St Paul Church, Rueil-Malmaison, France
Spouse	Louis I of Holland
Issue	Napoleon Charles, Prince Royal of Holland Louis II of Holland Napoleon III of France Charles de Morny, 1st Duke of Morny (illegitimate)
House	Beauharnais
Father	Alexandre de Beauharnais
Mother	Joséphine de Beauharnais
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Royal styles of Queen Hortense of Holland
Reference style	Her Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty
Alternative style	Ma'am

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (French pronunciation: ​[ɔʁtɑ̃s øʒeni sesil bɔnapaʁt]) (née de Beauharnais, pronounced: [də boaʁnɛ]) (10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837), Queen consort of Holland, was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoleon I, being the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. She later became the wife of the former's brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, and the mother of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. She had also an illegitimate son, Charles de Morny, 1st Duke of Morny, by her lover Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut.

Hortense was born in Paris, France on 10 April 1783, the daughter of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie. Her parents separated shortly after her birth. Her father was executed on 23 July 1794, at the time of the French Revolution, a few days before the end of the Reign of Terror. Her mother was imprisoned in the Carmelites prison, from which she was released on 6 August 1794, thanks to the intervention of her best friend Thérèse Tallien. Two years later, her mother married Napoleon Bonaparte.

Hortense was described as having been an amusing and pretty child with long, pale golden-blonde hair and blue eyes. She received her education at the school of Madame Jeanne Campan in St-Germain-en-Laye together with Napoleon's youngest sister Caroline Bonaparte, who later married Joachim Murat. She had an elder brother, Eugène de Beauharnais. Hortense was an accomplished amateur musical composer and supplied the army of her stepfather with rousing marches, including Partant pour la Syrie. She also enjoyed playing games and particularly excelled at billiards.