.. She, like her 2nd cousins Eugene and Hortense, was adopted by Napoleon.
Empress Josephine married Napoleon I as her 2nd marriage. Her husband’s brother had been executed in the Reifn of Terror, leaving Stephanie in need of protection.
Napoleon, at his rise in power, ended up being the protector of the de Beauharnais family and children. He used them well to improve political influence and control countries.
(portrait: Stephanie de Beauharnais 1815)