Christine Boyer


Catherine Christine Eléonore Boyer was a member of the Bonaparte family as the first wife of Lucien Bonaparte, a younger brother of Napoleon.

Life

Born in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, France, Boyer was the daughter of Pierre André Boyer and Rosalie Fabre. Other explain that she was the sister of an innkeeper with whom Lucien had lodged in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. Christine was illiterate, and unable to sign her own name.
Lucien Bonaparte and Christine Boyer married on 4 May 1794. The couple were married hastily, and without the consent of the Bonaparte family. Lucien's brother Napoleon and their mother, Letizia, were displeased with the match.

Issue

The couple had four children, of whom two daughters had descendants.
  • Filistine Charlotte ; married first, 1815, Prince Mario Gabrielli. She married secondly, 1842, Cavaliere Settimio Centamori. She had eight children by her first husband.
  • a son :
  • Victoire Gertrude ;
  • Christine Charlotte Alexandrine Égypta ; married first, 1818, Swedish Count Arvid Posse. This ended in divorce in 1824. She married secondly, 1824, Lord Dudley Stuart. She had one child, a son, by her second husband.

    Death

Boyer died in Paris, in childbirth. She was buried in the Santi Apostoli Giovanni e Andrea cemetery in Canino, Lazio, Italy. According to other source, she fell gravely ill with a pulmonary disease and died at Château du Plessis-Chamant, near Paris, on 14 May, at age twenty-eight. She was pregnant; the unborn child died with her. She was buried in the park of Le Plessis and the devastated widower Lucien Bonaparte erected a monument of white marble to her memory.