What ended the 5 most high-profile novels in history, which are still talked about

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Love is one of the most beautiful feelings in the world, which inspires, gives strength and opportunities to create unimaginable things. And, of course, many historical figures have carried through the years of their lives that very, ardent and vivid feeling. Your attention is the five most famous couples, whose love was not as simple as it seems at first glance.

1. Napoleon and Josephine

The love affair between Napoleon and Josephine was so explosive that their passionate letters were immortalized in countless books and films. It is said that there are more books about Napoleon than about any person in history.

But in addition to stories about the French statesman and military leader, his crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and exile to Saint Helena, there are stories about his relationship with his first wife, which are discussed to this day by his contemporaries, including writers and filmmakers.

Josephine - this is how Napoleon called his first wife, nee Marie-Joseph-Rose Tachet de la Pagerie, the daughter of a petty aristocrat and an avid gambler. The family called her Maria or Rose, but Napoleon did not like either name, so he renamed her Josephine.

It is believed that when a young girl was growing up in Martinique, France, a fortune teller told her that one day she would become the "Queen of France." True or not (Josephine was said to be a great storyteller) is impossible to say. But, be that as it may, the prediction came true.

Marie married at the age of sixteen to the aristocrat Alexandre de Beauharnais and gave birth to a son, Eugene and a daughter, Hortense. The marriage did not last long, and in 1794, when Alexander was arrested for treason, Josephine was also thrown into prison. During the execution of Alexander, she managed to escape and become the mistress of Paul Barras. But by the time Napoleon and Josephine first met their eyes, Barras was already tired of his mistress and wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible. He was very interested in finding a new mistress to take her place, so he encouraged Napoleon to have an affair with Josephine.

Rosa understood that she was about to be replaced, so she looked for a way to survive in French society. Josephine was thirty-two years old when she met twenty-six-year-old Napoleon in 1795 at a secular ball hosted by her lover Paul Barras, Napoleon's mentor and "de facto" governor of France.

At the time of their meeting, Napoleon was only a Corsican officer. He was looking for an older woman, because he believed that with such a sophisticated lady he would be more readily accepted in society. And it is not at all surprising that his choice fell on the charming Maria. The couple began to seduce each other, exchanging glances and compliments, completely unaware of what lies ahead.

Napoleon proposed to Josephine in January 1796, inundating her with extremely romantic love letters, in which there were many frank confessions. And the woman had no choice but to agree.

By this time, Napoleon was already the emperor of most of Europe. And a few days after the wedding, he was forced to leave his beloved in Paris, going to the battlefield with the Italians and Austrians.

While their letters clearly show that the couple truly loved each other, Josephine led a very loose lifestyle, finding solace in the arms of other men while her husband was away, fighting battles and conquering foreign lands. However, Bonaparte also did not waste time, starting an intrigue on the side. A woman named Pauline became known as Napoleon's "Cleopatra". Subsequent romances appear to have resulted in at least two illegitimate children.

But Napoleon never doubted that he and Josephine loved each other very much, although he constantly made fun of her when it came to replies to his letters.

In 1798 he led an army of 35,000 to conquer Egypt, and in October 1799 he was assigned to lead a government with unlimited powers.

During this time, Bonaparte managed to restore French control over Italy after defeating the Austrians, he created the Bank of France, reformed the education system, as well as the French legal system, establishing new laws known as the Napoleonic Code.

More than anything, Napoleon wanted an heir, and Josephine could not give him either a son or a daughter. She had at least one miscarriage, but it soon became clear to everyone that she would not be able to have another child.

Just five years after he tied the knot and wrote hundreds of passionate letters to the woman who was supposedly the love of his life, Napoleon broke up with his Josephine. It was said that they still love each other, but the need for an heir outweighed everything else.

Curious fact: Josephine's daughter from her first marriage, Hortense, later married Napoleon's brother, making her both his stepdaughter and sister-in-law.

In January 1810, Napoleon secured the annulment of his marriage on the grounds that the parish priest was not present at the ceremony. This allowed him to easily get rid of his wife without causing discontent with the church about the actual divorce.

The two were said to remain on good terms, and Napoleon allowed Josephine to retain the title of Empress. She moved to a private residence in Malmaison, near Paris, where she could lead her luxurious lifestyle, entertaining high society people who knew she was still connected to her ex-husband, who continued to pay her bills (Josephine was regularly in debt). But the bright life of the brilliant empress was cut short at the age of fifty-one when she died of pneumonia on May 29, 1814.

Napoleon died seven years later while being held captive by the British on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. His last phrase was the words addressed to his ex-wife:

2. Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII

For many decades, Wallis Simpson was considered a temptress, a woman who managed to get a prince into her network, and then a future king.

Wallis was blamed for the fall of the monarchy throughout her life, but what she really wanted was Edward to stay on the throne. She tried to convince him that she should be his mistress, not his wife, wondering whether it would be better to go the simple way. And yet Edward VIII fell head over heels in love, despite the fact that the girl behaved quite unobtrusively and modestly. He was determined to get her as a wife, making her part of his family, as well as the empress of India.

Wallis Warfield was born in Pennsylvania in 1896 and spent her formative years in Baltimore. In 1916, she married a pilot named Earl Winfield Spencer. But Spencer was an inveterate drunkard and hot-tempered person, so they soon divorced, and the girl fell in love with Ernest Simpson, who became her second husband. / In January 1934, when Wallis was thirty-eight years old and she was living with her husband in London, her friend Thelma Furness, who at that time was the mistress of Prince Edward, turned to her for help. The woman asked Wallis to look after Edward while she was be absent for a while. Unfortunately for Thelma, Edward fell in love with Wallis and almost immediately forgot about his former mistress. Everyone hoped it would pass. Wallis's husband waited patiently, and even Wallis herself believed it would not be long.

But as Edward became more passionate and persistent, she resisted in every possible way, trying to avoid this relationship. Unlike all the other women in his circle, who wanted to get the prince and made it clear, Simpson, on the contrary, showed her indifference. But the more she held back, the more he clung to her. The prince not only said that he would persecute her if she dared to leave him, but would kill herself.

On January 20, 1936, King George V died and Prince Edward suddenly took his place, still courting his American mistress, dreaming of making her his wife. But it was Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who explained to the new monarch that, as the head of the Church of England, he could not marry a divorced woman.

A possible plan was developed according to which Wallis could become the king's wife, but not queen, with the title of Duchess of Cornwall (this title is held by Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles), but it was rejected. The newspapers blinked the news with glaring headlines like the story of "The Harpy and the King."

Wallis fled the press to France, where she announced that she was abandoning Edward. But the newly made king was clearly not happy about this. Therefore, he decided to give up the throne for the sake of, as he said in his infamous address to the nation.

Wallis found herself embroiled in a love story that Edward concocted and was attacked as the woman who overthrew the monarchy. She was even accused of the fact that the monarch was carried away by the Third Reich, and was called a Nazi spy. But in fact, the woman had nothing to do with this story and did not influence Edward's choice in any way.

This man always made his own decisions: he mercilessly persecuted a woman who more than once offered him to end their relationship, and for this he renounced his oath duty. It was even argued that he did not like the role of the king and he saw a way out of the situation in Wallis.

3. Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett

On January 10, 1845, Robert Browning first wrote to Elizabeth Barrett after reading her volume of poetry. He was an obscure thirty-two-year-old poet and playwright; she was a world-renowned poet, an invalid and a thirty-nine-year-old spinster., - said in the letter. Over the next twenty months, they will write about 600 letters to each other. This is one of the greatest love-literary correspondences of all time.

The last exchange of letters took place on September 18, 1846, on the eve of the couple's departure to Italy and two weeks after their secret marriage. Their romance, which she ultimately credited with saving her life, lasted fifteen years and spawned some of the most beautiful poetry in the world.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the daughter of Mary Moulton Barrett and Edward Moulton Barrett, an extremely wealthy landowner with sugar plantations in Jamaica. Her mother died (leaving twelve children behind) when Elizabeth was only twenty-one years old. Despite the fact that Elizabeth was the beloved child of her father, she fought alongside her brothers and sisters with his tyrannical upbringing. Incredibly overbearing, Mr. Barrett insisted that none of his children get married, perplexing even the closest friends of the family.

In addition to all these difficulties, since adolescence, Elizabeth suffered from an unknown illness that caused her uncontrollable spasms of pain, shortness of breath and general malaise due to which she could not leave the house. In fact, she rarely left her room and believed that she was destined to forever remain a sickly recluse and an old maid. When Robert Browning first began courting her through their correspondence, she seemed to enjoy their relationship, but rejected any romantic side of his attention, not wanting to believe he might actually be interested in her.

Browning, the son of Robert and Sarah Anne Browning, a bank clerk and pianist, was a direct and passionate admirer of the famous writer. But despite his obvious affection and mutual admiration, which is noticeably evident in their letters, Elizabeth refused to see him until the spring, a few months after their first contact, as the cold winter worsened her health. The first meeting of the future spouses took place in May 1845, after five months of regular correspondence. Elizabeth, sickly and isolated for so long, found it difficult to believe his intentions and was skeptical about marriage. Despite all the obstacles, Browning's visits continued, but only when Elizabeth's father was not at home.

In the summer of 1845, the doctor Barrett recommended that she go for the winter to Pisa, Italy, in order to improve her health. But her father, for completely unknown reasons, refused her this trip. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles, Elizabeth and Robert continued to see each other regularly, and thanks in part to the unseasonably warm winter, the woman's health began to improve. In January 1846, Elizabeth, inspired by Browning, took an important step towards recovery, leaving the room where she spent the last six years of her life.

By May 1846, Barrett began to take to the streets and in her letters attributed to Browning a major role in her recovery. In addition, she began to reduce her use of morphine and opium, prescribed by her doctor to relieve pain. By the summer, she began to lead a much more active life. On September 12, Barrett and Browning were married before another London winter could weaken her health again. Unfortunately, the wedding took place in secret, with only her maid and Browning's cousin as witnesses. Despite the fact that she was then already forty years old, Barrett lived in fear of the anger of her controlling father. When her deception was exposed, her father disinherited her, like his other two children who dared to challenge him.

Just a week after Elizabeth's wedding, Barrett Browning and Robert Browning left London for Italy, where they would spend the next fifteen years of their lives. Barrett Browning's series Sonnets from Portuguese became one of the most famous poetry books written during their courtship and early marriage, telling about her dramatic romance with Browning and how he helped her escape from a life of illness and loneliness.

In Italy, both poets worked fruitfully for fifteen years, and also enjoyed life, incredibly happy about the birth of their son, Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, in 1849.

Over the years, the woman was finally able to feel alive and truly happy, because she had everything that she could not even dream of before. Elizabeth died in the arms of her husband in June 1861, leaving behind a huge legacy.

4. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were madly in love with each other. The Hollywood beauty and the Welsh actor were married and divorced twice, and shortly before his death he wrote her a love letter - one that his widow now disputes.

She was a shining Hollywood star and he was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation. Their romance was described in detail in his personal letters and diaries. And the whole world followed their relationship with undisguised interest.

Their bond was so overwhelming that it almost ruined both of them, financially and physically. Long years of love, struggle, drunkenness and partying have taken their toll. The couple sorted out the relationship for every trifle. Driven by their own emotions and anger, they then diverged, then again converged, tying themselves in another marriage.

He constantly wrote to her during all the years of their life together, sometimes even when she was sleeping in the next room. And I still could not believe that this amazing woman is with him and loves him.

Despite their different upbringing, there was much more in common between them than it might seem at first glance. Both of them were strongly pushed aside by the adults around them. Both of them became financially independent very early: Elizabeth was the main breadwinner of the family in her early teens and learned to face the uncertainty of life with courage and humor.

The fatal meeting on the set of Cleopatra was actually their second meeting. The first time they met was at a party, where Taylor met Burton with a cold and somewhat indifferent look.

A quirk of fate brought them together. Burton replaced Stephen Boyd in the role of Mark Antony, and his legendary Welsh charm almost instantly captivated Elizabeth, although she promised herself that she would not fall in love with him.

The chemistry between them happened instantly - their first on-screen kiss lasted much longer than the cameras showed, and soon they were already making love everywhere: in dressing rooms, on boats, in rented apartments and in a photographer's studio. The spark that flared up between them literally swept away everything in its path, and this despite the fact that both were married with children. But this did not stop the sweet couple from achieving their goal.

They first got married in Montreal in 1964. They had a whole fleet of Rolls-Royces, a jet plane, paintings by Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and Rembrandt, a horse farm, an estate in the Canary Islands, a villa in Mexico and houses in Gstaad, Hampshire and Celigny. They bought a huge seven-bedroom yacht, crossing the seas and oceans, but they continued to stay in hotel suites, booking entire floors and ordering room service, without denying themselves anything. It was equally absurd and sweet. The couple did not spare money for their entertainment, but at the same time they also generously donated impressive sums to charity.

But, as you know, any fairy tale comes to an end. And under the onslaught of quarrels, scandals and betrayals, the couple broke up. Less than a year later, they met again, ostensibly to discuss the terms of a divorce, and, moved to tears by the reunion, literally fell into each other's arms, and then got married again. Burton continued to drink, rant, and indulge, while Elizabeth increasingly suffered from back and neck pain (she was diagnosed with lung disease and arrhythmias, and skin cancer), as well as an addiction to painkillers. Her career went downhill, and the need for Richard became unbearable. A couple of months after their second marriage, Burton met Susie Hunt.

Tall, blonde and athletic, she was the complete opposite of Elizabeth, and in her Burton saw new opportunities, a new beginning, a departure from the destructive cycle of his relationship with Liz, in which booze fueled quarrels, drowned out by alcohol. The second marriage of the star couple did not last even a year. Three weeks after the divorce, Burton married Susie, and Liz later married Republican Senator John Warner. But this was not the end of their love affairs. Each of them continued to look for love, over and over again tying himself in regular marriage ties with new chosen ones.

5. Mark Antony and Cleopatra

Perhaps the most famous story of passionate feelings can be considered the connection between the Roman commander Anthony and Queen Cleopatra. Their love is considered to be truly immortal, and their crazy saga of relationships is the most memorable, intriguing and tragic in the history of the world. Soon, Maestro Shakespeare will lay down a story about these two personalities, which happens on stage even in modern theater. Their relationship is not just a test of love, but also direct proof that you can die for it. The last queen of Egypt was not only good-looking, but also incredibly smart. She was fluent in a dozen languages and was well versed in mathematics. And it is not at all surprising that the wise and great seductress was able to get Julius Caesar into her networks, becoming his mistress.

But fate decreed otherwise. After the murder of the ancient Roman commander, accusations began to pour on her that she was in cahoots with Cassius. The hype grew, thereby causing general discontent. And Cleopatra was summoned by Mark Antony to Rome for an explanation. As soon as these two met their eyes, the same spark flashed between them. Their relationship was gaining momentum, forcing others to whisper ominously behind their backs, and their union opened up new borders and opportunities for Egypt, causing a number of indignation and discontent among the Romans.

Despite all the threats and warnings, Antony and Cleopatra got married. They soon joined forces to confront Octavian, Caesar's nephew, who clearly did not want to see these two at the head of the government in Rome. Their confrontation lasted for many months, and its outcome put an end to the lovers. Mark Antony, not wanting to be taken prisoner, committed suicide. This news shocked the captured Cleopatra by Octavian. Frustrated with grief, but still maintaining her sane mind, she achieved her goal … and in the basket with figs, brought by the faithful and devoted servant, there was an adder. And as soon as the servants left her, the queen of Egypt put on the best clothes, and then, sitting on a golden couch, released a snake on her chest. After a while, Cleopatra was found dead. True to her feelings and love, she left after her husband …

And in continuation of the theme of love, read also about what is, being away from them.