Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand-Duchess of Baden (1784-1860), facing left in gold-bordered white dress, short brown hair

Stéphanie-Louise-Adrienne was a niece of Empress Josephine's first (guillotined) husband. When Emperor Napoleon planend to marry her off to Charles Louis of Baden, the Margravine of Baden complained 'If at least she was of your blood', so Napoleon instantly adopted Stéphanie in order to satisfy the future mother-in-law. Thus Stéphanie de Beauharnais became a Princesse française with the qualification of Imperial Highness. The marriage was celebrated in 1806 but turned out be very unhappy as Charles-Louis Frederick of Baden preferred the company of young officers to his wife. Nevertheless, in a desperate attempt to supply Baden with a male heir, she gave birth to five children but only the daughters, including the future Princess Wasa and the future Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon, survived.
The pair to the present miniature depicting the husband-to-be, signed and dated 1805, is in the Louvre (illustrated in P. Jean-Richard, Miniatures sur ivoire. Musée du Louvre. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 1994, pp. 202-203, fig. 368).