Yes, Napoleon really did love Josephine deeply, especially in the early years of their relationship, though their love story was complicated, passionate, and marked by infidelity on both sides. Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796 when he was a 26-year-old rising general and she was a 32-year-old widow with two children. His letters to her during his Italian campaign are among the most passionate love letters in history, filled with intense longing, jealousy, and devotion, writing phrases like I awake full of you and I have not spent a day without loving you. Josephine, at first, was less enamored and was unfaithful while Napoleon was away campaigning, which devastated him when he learned of it. Over time, their relationship evolved into a more stable partnership, and Josephine became his confidante, advisor, and social hostess who softened his image. Napoleon was deeply attached to her, calling her his good luck charm and refusing to leave her even when advisors urged divorce. However, because Josephine could not produce an heir after 14 years of marriage and Napoleon needed a dynastic successor for his empire, he reluctantly divorced her in 1810 to marry Marie Louise of Austria. Even after divorce, he continued to care for her, gave her the title Empress, allowed her to keep her estates, and his last words on his deathbed reportedly included France, the Army, Josephine.
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