According to her Wikipedia article, "Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie was born in Les Trois-Îlets, Martinique to a wealthy white Creole family that owned a sugar plantation." She married one Alexandre de Beauharnais who lost his head in the Revolution. She had a daughter, Hortense, by Alexandre who married Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Louis and was then installed as Queen of Holland. Joséphine married Napoleon in 1796, but Joséphine's marriage to Napoleon was not successful. In one instance in 1804, daughter Hortense reconciled the two. Joséphine and Napoleon were crowned in 1804. She could not produce an heir so Napoleon divorced her in 1810.
Her son by Alexandre, Eugene, had a daughter named Joséphine who became Queen of Sweden, succeeding Napoleon's one-time fiancée Desirée Clary as Queen of Sweden.
