Letizia Ramolino Buonaparte, Madame Mère
Maria Letizia Ramolino (Ajaccio, 26 August 1750–Rome, 2 February 1836) married Charles–Marie Buonaparte when she was just fourteen years old and they had thirteen children, eight of which survived. Due to her husband’s frequent business trips, she almost single–handedly saw to her children’s education, doing so with a balance of severity and sweetness that left her descendants with the image of an exceptionally modern mother. The premature death of her husband in 1785 constrained her and her family to years of financial straits which were definitively resolved only when her second–born son, Napoleon, took power.
In 1804 she settled in Paris where, three months later, she was proclaimed by decree “Son Altesse impériale, Madame, mère de l’Empereur”, which was immediately shortened to the more colloquial “Madame Mère”.
In 1814, the year of her son’s abdication, she spent a few months with Napoleon on the island of Elba, then taking up residence in Rome with her brother, the cardinal Joseph Fesch, where she remained until her death.
