Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte
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Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte
In Wondrous Beauty, Carol Berkin tells the story of this audacious, outsized life. We see how the news of the union infuriated Napoleon and resulted in his banning the then Âpregnant Betsy Bonaparte from disembarking in any European port, offering his brother the threat of remaining married to that “American girl†and forfeiting all wealth and power—or renouncing her, marrying a woman of Napoleon’s choice, and reaping the benefits.
Berkin writes that this naïve, headstrong American girl returned to Baltimore a wiser, independent woman, refusing to seek social redemption or a return to obscurity through a quiet marriage to a member of Baltimore’s merchant class. Instead she was courted by many, indifferent to all, and initiated a dangerous game of politics—a battle for a pension from Napoleon—which she won: her pension from the French government arrived each month until Napoleon’s exile.
