While Napoleon's mistresses had children by him, Joséphine did not produce an heir, possibly because of either the stresses of her imprisonment during the Reign of Terror or an abortion she may have had in her twenties.
Napoleon ultimately chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir.
Imperial Family
Napoleon, Marie-Louise and the king of Rome
While Napoleon's mistresses had children by him, Joséphine did not produce an heir, possibly because of either the stresses of her imprisonment during the Reign of Terror or an abortion she may have had in her twenties.
Napoleon ultimately chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir.
In March 1810, he married Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of Marie Antoinette by proxy; thus he had married into a German royal and imperial family.
They remained married until his death, though she did not join him in exile on Elba and thereafter never saw her husband again.
The couple had one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (1811–1832), known from birth as the King of Rome.
He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21.
