V. MARIE PAULINE (1780-1825), the gayest and most beautiful member of
the family, was born at Ajaccio on the 20th October 1780. At seventeen
years of age she married General Leclerc, a staff officer of Napoleon,
and accompanied him to St Domingo, where he died of yellow fever in
1802. Returning to Paris she espoused Prince Camillo Borghese (August
23, 1803) and went to reside with him in Rome. She soon tired of him,
returned to Paris and gratified her whims in ways that caused some
scandal. In 1806 she received the title of duchess of Guastalla. Her
offhand treatment of the new empress, Marie Louise, in 1810 led to her
removal from court. Nevertheless in 1814 she repaired with "Madame Mere"
to Elba, and is said to have expressed a wish to share Napoleon's exile
in St Helena. She died in 1825 of cancer. Canova's statue of her as
Venus reclining on a couch is well known.
See J. Turquan, _Les Soeurs de Napoleon: les princesses Elisa, Pauline
et Caroline_ (Paris, 1896); F. Masson, _Napoleon et sa famille_ (4
vols., Paris, 1897-1900).