Editing Hortense de Beauharnais (section)

==Queen of Holland ==
{{See also|List of Dutch royal consorts}}
Napoléon appointed his brother Louis as King of Holland in 1806 and Hortense accompanied her husband to [[The Hague]]. Hortense's reaction to her appointment as Queen of Holland was negative for two reasons. First, it was necessary for her to move there with Louis, with whom she did not get along. Second, she had to leave her life as a celebrated member of Parisian society. She had hoped to be "a Queen of Holland in Paris," but Napoléon did not agree.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> She was forced to depart to the [[Netherlands]] with Louis eventually, where she arrived on 18 June 1806.

Queen Hortense was pleasantly surprised<ref name="ReferenceA" /> when the Dutch public welcomed her warmly. She quickly became accustomed to life in the Netherlands and came to like the country. She attended official celebrations and ceremonies, visited the marketplaces where she made large purchases, and was much liked by the public, which annoyed her husband.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> She learned water-colour painting and made trips around the countryside. Nevertheless, she hated her stay there because of her relationship with King Louis. The couple lived in different parts of the palace and avoided each other at every opportunity, with Hortense describing herself as a prisoner.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> She also refused to give up her French citizenship and declare herself Dutch as Louis did.

In 1807 her first son died; she was allowed to stay in France subsequently, as the climate there was considered better for raising her other son [[Louis-Napoléon]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /> She remained in [[France]], again pleased by her status as a queen at the French court, until 1810, when Napoléon remarried to [[Marie Louise of Austria]].

This forced Hortense to return to the Netherlands and reconcile with her husband. When Napoleon married Marie Louise, Hortense returned to the Netherlands temporarily, but found that the Dutch did not welcome her. She considered this the end of her marriage and left for France shortly before her husband abdicated the throne to their oldest living son, [[Napoleon-Louis Bonaparte]], making him [[Louis II of Holland]].<ref name=":1" />