How Napoleon wanted to become RELATED to the Russian Tsar!
If the French emperor had married Alexander's sister, the invasion of the Grande Armée into Russia in 1812 might never have happened.
In the Fall of 1808, Bonaparte proposed to Catherine Pavlovna, the sister of Tsar Alexander I. The French emperor was married to Josephine de Beauharnais at the time, but they had no children and Napoleon dreamed of heirs and the creation of a dynasty.
After the conclusion of the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Russia and France were in an alliance, but it was difficult to call it strong. The emperor wanted to strengthen it by marrying the Russian Grand Duchess.
“Alexander was not averse to agreeing to this marriage, but he encountered such strong opposition from the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the youngest Grand Duchess that he had to give in to them,” wrote Countess Sophie Choiseul-Gouffier, a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Russian emperor, in her memoirs.
The tsar's mother did not want to get involved with the "upstart". The reason given for the refusal was that Catherine had already been promised to Prince George of Oldenburg.
Bonaparte was offended, which, however, did not prevent him from asking for the hand of Anna Pavlovna, Alexander's other sister, a year later. This time, the emperor was more determined and officially divorced Josephine.
"Personally, this thought smiles at me; I will even tell you frankly, in my opinion, my sister can do nothing better," the Russian tsar declared to Marquis Armand de Caulaincourt, the French ambassador to Russia.
In fact, the Romanovs still did not want to tie themselves to Napoleon by family ties. Even despite the high position he occupied.
Alexander deliberately voiced a condition for the marriage that was unacceptable to Bonaparte: France would be obliged to prevent the expansion of the territories of the Duchy of Warsaw, which was under its control, as well as the restoration of Poland.
The negotiations reached a dead end and the Frenchman chose Marie-Louise of Austria instead.
