Beauharnais, Hortense Eug�nie C�cile 1783-1837
Queen of Holland

She was born in Paris, the daughter of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais. As a child she was a great favourite of her stepfather, Napoleon I, and in 1802 married his brother Louis, King of Holland (1806-10); the youngest of their three children became Napoleon III. In 1810-11 she was the mistress of Comte Auguste de Flahaut, their son becoming Duc de Morny. She was created Duchesse de St Leu by Louis XVIII (1814) at Tsar Alexander I's request. She was a gifted artist and a composer, whose marching song, Partant pour la Syrie ('Onward to Syria'), became the national anthem of France's Second Empire.