Happy Tiara Tuesday! This week’s tiara was owned by one of the most fascinating women in American history, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, or Betsy. She has inspired countless books, movies, plays, articles, and fictionalized accounts.
One of 13 children, she was born in Baltimore in 1785 to a wealthy Irish shipping merchant. She attended Madame Lacombe's Academy, where she studied French, a skill that would become quite useful to her later in life. She grew up witty and gorgeous and refused quite a few marriage proposals. She became quite the source of gossip in Baltimore. Her taste for European fashion led her to wear gowns that were considered risqué by American standards.
At the turn of the 19th century she met Jerome Bonaparte, Napoléon's youngest brother, while he was in the U.S., avoiding British capture. He was smitten by Betsy and the two were married in 1803. The marriage only lasted three years. But that was long enough for Betsy to become pregnant with Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte, or Bo, as she called him.
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Both Betsy's father and Napoléon himself strongly disapproved of the marriage. When faced with his brother's threat to strip him of all title, privilege, and wealth, Jérôme gave in. Napoléon forbade Betsy from entering France or using the Bonaparte name. Betsy got a modest annuity from the Bonaparte family, and eventually turned that into an estate worth over a million dollars, becoming the first female millionaire in American history.
Even though she enjoyed celebrity status and was making news even at the age of 94 as one of America's richest women, Betsy was quite bitter and spent the last 74 years of her life on a failed quest to win royal status for her son and grandsons. She turned into a shrewd businesswoman, determined to protect her family. To that end she became one of the most successful female investors of her time. You can see the above artifacts, plus many more of Betsy's belongings on display at the Maryland Historical Society's museum through June 2014.
