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A Brief History of Napoleon Bonaparte's Sisters

8/30/2025

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Three horizontally-cut portraits of Bonaparte women in royal clothing. Top is Elisa, middle is Pauline, bottom is Caroline. All are pale women with dark hair. Elisa looks very serious, Pauline is looking at a bust of Napoleon, and Caroline is almost smiling
One of Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite methods of expanding control was to place his siblings in positions of power. Here, Christine takes a look at the lives of Napoleon’s three dynamic sisters (Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline), their rise to imperial prominence, and how they were impacted by the fall of their brother.
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Host: Christine
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Further Reading

At the Court of Napoleon: Memoirs of the Duchesse d’Abrantes, Doubleday, (1989).

Michael Broers, Napoleon, Volume I: Soldier of Destiny, Faber & Faber, (2014).

–, Napoleon, Volume II: The Spirit of the Age: 1805-1810, Pegasus, (2018).

–, Napoleon, Volume III: The Decline and Fall of an Empire: 1811-1821, Pegasus, (2022).

“Caroline Murat, later Queen of Naples, and Her Daughter”, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fondation Napoleon, “Caroline Murat, the Grand Duchess of Berg and Cleves.” 

–,“Collaboration between the Fondation Napoléon and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca: Élisa Bonaparte’s letters to go online at Napoleonica les archives”, (2025). 

–, “Imperial Family Tree.” 

–, “Murat, Joachim.”

–, “Portrait of Elisa Baciocchi, Grand Duchess of Tuscany.” 

Flora Fraser, Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire, Knopf, (2009).

Judith Harris, Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery, I.B. Tauris, (2014).

Christopher Hibbert, Napoleon: His Wives and Women, Norton, (2002).

History of Villa Reale di Marlia. 

In Napoleon’s Shadow: The Memoirs of Louis-Joseph Marchand, Valet and Friend of the Emperor 1811-1821, Greenhill Books, (2018).

Philip Mansel, The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon, I.B. Tauris, (2015).

The Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Volumes I & II, Cosmopolitan, (1927).

“Portrait of Princess Napoleone Elisa Bacciochi, Countess of Camerata (1806-1869), daughter of Princess Elisa Bonaparte”, The Museums of the City of Paris. 

Andrew Roberts, Napoleon: A Life, Viking, (2014). 

Ingrid D. Rowland, From Pompeii: The Afterlife of a Roman Town, Harvard University Press, (2014).

“Venus Victrix by Canova”, Borghese Gallery. 

Eli Wizevich, “What Was Daily Life Like for the Women Who Lived in Ancient Pompeii 2,000 Years Ago?”, Smithsonian Magazine, (2025). 

Adam Zamoyski, Napoleon: The Man Behind the Myth, William Collins, (2018).

Related Content


This episode is part of our Women's History series and our Revolutionary France series.

​Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)
Black and white photograph of Napoleon's niece, Elisa's daughter, Napoleone-Elisa, in older age. She is sitting down, wearing voluminous black dress, and looks very much like Napoleon
“Portrait of Princess Napoleone Elisa Bacciochi, Countess of Camerata (1806-1869), daughter of Princess Elisa Bonaparte”, The Museums of the City of Paris.
Photograph of the statue of Venus Victrix, a marble piece depicting Pauline Bonaparte as Venus, reclining topless on a chaise and holding an apple
Venus Victrix (Pauline Bonaparte) by Antonio Canova. Image via Wikimedia Commons
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