Zia Wesley's Blog: The Veil and the Crown - Posts Tagged "empress-jospehine"

Less than a week after posting her letter to Rose, Aimée received her first letter. That could only mean their letters had crossed paths, for it was much too soon to be receiving a response. She tore the letter open and was shocked to read of the sudden, unexpected death of Rose’s younger sister, Catherine, who had contracted a fever and died.

“And dear cousin, you will not believe what I am going to tell you, but the terrible loss of my dearest little sister was followed by a miracle. The Vicomte Alexandre de Beauharnais, to whom Catherine had recently been betrothed, has asked for my hand in her stead. The old witch was right. I sail for France in early February to marry the Vicomte!”

From The Stolen Girl – Book 1 of The Veil and The Crown by Zia Wesley

Alexandre de Beauharnais (May 28, 1760 to July 23, 1794) was a French aristocrat serving as a Lieutenant in the French army when he married Aimée’s cousin, Rose Tashcer de la Pagerie.

Alexandre was born in Fort-Royal, Martinique; the third of three sons born to François de Beauharnais, Marquis de La Ferté-Beauharnais, a former Governor of Martinique, and Marie Henriette Pyvart de Chastullé.

On December 13, 1779, Alexandre and Rose married in France. The marriage had been arranged by Rose's aunt, Désirée Renaudin and was originally to have been between Alexander and Rose’s younger sister Catherine. When Catherine died suddenly from a fever, Rose was asked to take her place.

During the American Revolutionary War, Alexandre fought in Louis XVI’s army. He would later become deputy of the noblesse in the Estates-General and was made president of the National Constituent Assembly in 1791. In 1792, he was promoted to General and was offered the position of Minister of War during the French Revolution, but declined the promotion.

In 1793 he was appointed to the position of General-in-Chief of the Army of the Rhine and after the French lost the Siege of Mainz Alexandre was blamed for the loss and subsequently, arrested. Like so many other Frenchmen of the time, he was jailed and executed during the Reign of Terror leaving Rose a widow with two young children.