Desiree (1954)
Director: Henry Koster.
Starring: Marlon Brando (Napoleon), Jean Simmons (Desiree), Merle Oberon (Empress Josephine), Michael Rennie (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte), Cameron Mitchell (Joseph Bonaparte), Elizabeth Sellars (Julie, Desiree's sister), Charlotte Austin (Paulette Bonaparte), Cathleen Nesbitt (Mme. Bonaparte), Evelyn Varden (Marie), Isobel Elsom (Mme. Clary, Desiree's mother), John Hoyt (Talleyrand), Alan Napier (Despreaux).
A seamstress spurns Napoleon as an impoverished young man but then falls in loves with him when he makes it big. His marriage to aristocrat Jospehine spoils her dreams.
Historical Background:
See Napoleon (2003).
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was born in the town of Pau, France.
He was the brother-in-law of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Napoleon.
He became one of Napoleon's generals; a Marshal of France; and Prince of Ponte Corvo, southern Italy.
1794 -- the beautiful Desiree Clary, sister-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, met Napoleon Bonaparte.
1794 -- Desiree and Napoleon became engaged. (His meeting with Josephine Beauharnais led Napoleon to cancel the engagement.)
1798 -- Bernadotte was French ambassador at Vienna.
1798 -- Bernadotte married Desiree Clary.
1799 -- he was Minister of War.
1805 -- he play a prominent part in the French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz.
1804 -- Napoleon made him marshal of the empire.
1806 -- Napoleon made him prince of Ponte Corvo.
1809 -- following Sweden's loss of Finland in the Finnish War, resentment grew against Swedish King Gustav IV Adolf. The King was overthrown and replaced by his uncle, the childless Charles XIII.
1810 -- the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates chose the Marshal of France, Bernadotte to be heir apparent to the Swedish throne. After receiving Napoleon's approval and joining the Lutheran Church, Bernadotte accepted the new position. He assumed the name Karl Johan and acted as regent for the remainder of Charles XIII's reign.
Bernadotte sided with Russia and England against Napoleon and Denmark, because he wanted to take Norway from Denmark
1813 -- the Swedes played an important part in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig.
1814 -- Bernadotte secured a forced union between Sweden and Norway after marching his troops into Denmark.
1818 -- Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte reigned as King Charles XIV and Carl III Johan of Norway. (He established the Bernadotte dynasty that still reigns in Sweden.)
until 1823 -- Desiree was not permanently installed in Sweden until this year when her only son became engaged to Josephine of Leuchtenberg, daughter of Eugene de Beauharnais.
1829 -- Desiree was officially crowned as Queen.
1844 -- the death of King Charles XIV. He was succeeded by his son, Oscar I. Desiree wanted to leave cold Sweden, but she was forbidden to abdicate.
1860 -- the death of the Queen of Sweden. She is buried beside her husband in a Lutheran Church, Stockholm, Sweden.
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