Borderline Geniusness-ness here :o)
Last evening, the research into The Long-Haired Kings continued until I came across something that stopped me in my tracks.
Not Tonight, Josephine.
After the post about Merovech and Napoleon, this one made my smile so Big and Happy.
OK. As most people will say, Josephine was the great love of Napoleon’s life.
Oh. Really? That’s why he divorced her when she gave him no children?
There is (apparently) a source in the French National Library in Paris that was compiled in 1805 at the behest of Bonaparte. It’s a genealogy of the Long-Haired Kings which stated that Josephine’s first husband, de Beauharnais, had Merovingian blood. Therefore so did her children, whom Nappy adopted.
The daughter of Josephine then went on to marry Nappy’s brother, Louis. And then the Emperor, chucked Josephine out and married Marie-Louise of Austria, of Merovingian descent via her Holy Roman Emperor father.
It’s convoluted but worth following the countries involved. Especially when Napoleon Bonaparte (A man with one hell of a Plan) is in your sight.