Throughout the ages, certain couples have captured the world‘s imagination with their passion, devotion, and defiance in the name of love. As a historian, I find endlessly fascinating how these romances were shaped by and in turn influenced the social, political and religious forces of their times. More than just storybook romances, the love between these famous couples in history had ripple effects that changed the course of nations and empires.
While some of their stories ended happily and others in tragedy, these iconic pairings continue to be celebrated as testaments to the power of the human heart. Drawing on surviving love letters, contemporary chronicles, and meticulous historical records, let us examine ten of history‘s most legendary love affairs and the indelible marks they left on the world.
1. Cleopatra and Mark Antony
Perhaps no ancient romance is as renowned as that between the last queen of Egypt and the Roman triumvir Mark Antony. After the assassination of Cleopatra‘s lover Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Antony summoned the queen to Tarsus (modern-day Turkey) to reaffirm Egypt‘s loyalty as a client kingdom of Rome. Plutarch describes their first meeting aboard Cleopatra‘s opulent golden barge:
"She came sailing up the river Cydnus in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her."
Captivated by her beauty and charm, Antony plunged into a love affair with Cleopatra that would ultimately seal both their fates. According to the historian Appian, the couple spent the winter of 41-40 BC living a life of leisure and excess in Egypt, even forming their own drinking society called the "Inimitable Livers."
But their romance was also highly political. Cleopatra saw Antony as the means to maintain her throne and assert her son Caesarion‘s claim as the true heir of Caesar. For Antony, Egypt‘s immense wealth could fund his military campaigns in Parthia. In 36 BC, he even married Cleopatra in an Egyptian ceremony, though the union was not legally recognized in Rome where he already had a wife.
Antony‘s rival Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) exploited the couple‘s relationship to portray him as a traitor bewitched by a foreign seductress. After Octavian defeated their forces at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Antony and Cleopatra retreated to Alexandria and took their own lives the following year. Plutarch alleges that Cleopatra died by clutching a poisonous snake to her breast, a symbol of divine royalty in ancient Egypt.
Though their affair ended in tragedy, the romance of Antony and Cleopatra has inspired countless works of art, from Shakespeare‘s play to the epic 1963 film with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The image of the two doomed lovers, consumed by passion and torn apart by the tide of empire, endures as a poignant emblem of a grand amour fou ("crazy love").
2. Napoleon and Josephine
Another famous couple whose turbulent marriage steered the course of nations was Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais. The young general was thoroughly smitten when he met the alluring widow Josephine in 1795, who was six years his senior and already had two children. In one of many ardent love letters to her, he wrote:
"I awake full of you. Your image and the memory of last night‘s intoxicating pleasures has left no rest to my senses…I shall see you in three hours. Until then, a thousand kisses, mio dolce amor! But give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire."
But the marriage was tempestuous from the start. Josephine initially married Napoleon reluctantly and was notoriously unfaithful to him during his long military campaigns. She also racked up enormous gambling debts that strained their finances. Yet Napoleon remained besotted, once telling a friend "I love my wife madly, I cannot live without her."
After assuming the title of Emperor in 1804, Napoleon had Josephine crowned as Empress in an extravagant ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral. But their inability to produce an heir put an irreconcilable strain on their marriage. After 14 years together, Napoleon made the agonizing decision to divorce Josephine in 1810 to wed the Austrian archduchess Marie Louise.
On his deathbed in exile some years later, Napoleon‘s last words were supposedly "France, the army, the head of the army, Josephine." Their relationship, inextricably tangled with his dizzying rise and fall, left an indelible imprint on the Napoleonic Era that reshaped Europe in the early 19th century.
3. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
One of the most enduring royal love matches began when Queen Victoria first laid eyes on her German cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1836. The teenaged princess described him in her diary as "extremely handsome" with "such beautiful blue eyes."
Three years later, Victoria proposed to Albert (as custom dictated for a reigning queen) and they were married in a lavish ceremony in 1840. Over the next two decades until Albert‘s death, the royal couple had a passionate relationship that produced nine children and set the tone for domestic life in Victorian England.
In a departure from the norm for previous monarchs, Victoria and Albert presented an image of familial harmony and moral uprightness that became synonymous with their era. Behind closed doors, they had an active and affectionate sex life, as evidenced in the queen‘s diaries and Albert‘s censored letters.
But theirs was also an intellectual and political partnership. Albert used his role as prince consort to champion social and educational reforms like the Great Exhibition of 1851. He was Victoria‘s most trusted advisor and emotional anchor, making his sudden death of typhoid in 1861 all the more devastating for the queen.
Victoria fell into a deep depression and wore black in mourning for him for the remaining 40 years of her life. She had a sculptor cast Albert‘s hands and slept with them every night. On her own deathbed in 1901, her last request was to be buried in her wedding veil and holding a plaster cast of Albert‘s hand. Their romance embodied the Victorian ideal of marital love and fidelity that defined an empire at its zenith.
The Numbers Behind These Legendary Loves
-
Cleopatra and Antony‘s love affair spanned 11 years from their first meeting in Tarsus in 41 BC to their joint suicide in Alexandria in 30 BC.
-
Over the course of their marriage, Napoleon wrote Josephine at least 75 love letters, many of which contained erotic and jealous fantasies.
-
Victoria and Albert shared a bed every night of their 21-year marriage whenever they were together and produced 9 children (4 sons and 5 daughters).
A Love for the Ages
From ancient Egypt to Victorian England, these famous historical couples shared a deep romantic connection that transcended their times. By defying convention, making tremendous sacrifices, and leaving lasting legacies, the passion between these extraordinary pairings continues to fascinate and inspire us centuries later.
While not all of their love stories had happy endings, each offers an intimate glimpse into the private desires and political destinies of some of history‘s most towering figures. In an age of arranged dynastic marriages and strict social mores, these couples fought against immense pressure and prejudice to forge their own paths.
Their romances had seismic impacts on history, from the fall of the Roman Republic to the heights of the British Empire. By interweaving the personal and the political, these iconic lovers shaped art, culture, and the world as we know it. As long as people fall in love, the extraordinary devotion and drama embodied by the likes of Cleopatra and Antony, Napoleon and Josephine, and Victoria and Albert will live on as testaments to the enduring nature of the human heart.
Sources
- Appian. (1912). Roman History, Vol. IV: The Civil Wars. Harvard University Press.
- Asprey, R. (2000). The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. Basic Books.
- Hibbert, C. (2000). Queen Victoria: A Personal History. De Capo Press.
- Plutarch. (1920). Makers of Rome. Loeb Classical Library.
- Schom, A. (1997). Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life. HarperCollins.
- Wead, D. (2003). All the Presidents‘ Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America‘s First Families. Atria Books.
- Williams, K. (2010). Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte. Ballantine Books.
