Hortense and Napoleon went through a lot. They both became stupefied at the loss of their sons. They both were in such agony that they sought death as a source of relief. Napoleon was heartbroken when Hortense became catatonic, then suicidal at the loss of her son. He felt it meant that his still being alive meant nothing to her.
What Napoleon learned was that Hortense was the kind of mother who put her children before anyone else, even him.
The last time they saw each other, he knew he was doomed. She knew he was doomed. They both knew the Napoleon’s enemies would do everything within their power to destroy his physical life and that they would show him no mercy.
Still, Napoleon had once been lucky and perhaps destiny would give him one more chance.
When Hortense was afraid that killers were coming for Napoleon during this last period where they were under the same roof, she physically threw herself before them. She didn’t think at all of her own future and did nothing to protect the little she had left. She pushed him to take a diamond necklace. All she could think of was Napoleon. She was obsessed with him and she couldn’t think of anything except him.
At their parting, Napoleon was telling her that the only hope for her sons was following him wherever he was going. Ever since her teens, Napoleon had employed every lever he could to keep Hortense attached to him. Finally he was out of power and they both had to submit to their separation.
Hortense wrote:
For who is there who can without emotion leave a spot where he has been happy and which he will never see again, a spot associated in his mind with so many visions of success, fame, fortune and happiness, a spot where so many hearts have submitted to his spell, from whence he has set forth to conquer the world, and where now he is spending the last few days that he is allowed to live in his own country, before setting out banished from his own soil, to face whatever uncertain fate awaits him overseas?
The whole story is here:
https://www.thetanster.com/blog/2019/2/11/napoleon-memoirs-links
