The Queen who composed national anthems while living as a prisoner

Food & Drink · Published 9 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Hortense de Beauharnais lived a life of extreme contradictions. A queen who felt like a prisoner, a mother who hid a secret pregnancy, and an amateur composer whose melodies eventually became the national anthem of France. Her complex legacy connects the Napoleonic era to the rise of the Second Empire.

Born in Paris on 10 April 1783, Hortense's early life was marked by upheaval. During the French Revolution, her father, Alexandre François Marie, Vicomte de Beauharnais, faced execution on 23 July 1794, shortly before the Reign of Terror concluded. After surviving jail, her mother, Joséphine de Beauharnais, wed Napoléon Bonaparte, which turned Hortense into the Emperor's stepdaughter.

In 1806, Hortense became the Queen of Holland after marrying Napoléon's brother, Louis Bonaparte. However, the marriage was unhappy; the couple lived in separate parts of their palace to avoid each other. While the Dutch public welcomed her warmly, Hortense felt like a prisoner in the Netherlands, a sentiment she maintained even when she returned to France in 1807 to raise her son, Louis-Napoléon, in a better climate.

Hortense was also a talented amateur musician. Despite having no formal training in composition, she composed several pieces, including the romance 'Partant pour la Syrie.' This work became so popular that it was later adopted as the national hymn of France by her son, Napoleon III. Her home became a cultural hub, attracting luminaries such as Franz Liszt, Lord Byron, and Alexandre Dumas.

Her private life was equally dramatic. In 1811, she secretly gave birth to a son, Charles, Duc de Morny, by her lover, the Comte de Flahaut. She managed to disguise her pregnancy during the baptism of Napoléon's son, Napoleon II, by using her health as a pretext for a visit to Switzerland. At fifty-four years old, she passed away from cancer on 5 October 1837.

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