.. back to Napoleon 1st’s little brother Jerome… history (and we) forgot he married Elizabeth “Betsy” Patterson in 1803!
She was the daughter of the richest man in Baltimore at the time; the closest Americans had to “nobility” or “upper class”.
He was a French naval officer stationed in the new United States, and fell in love. Of course, Napoleon didn’t like it. As usual, Napoleon had a princess lined up for his brother in order to make a political liason.
(portrait: an AMERICAN “Betsy” in 1803, wearing the very latest fashion of the “little white dress”. As with French nobility, she ‘beefed it up’ with gold ornamentation)