Eugenio de Beauharnais was born on 3 September 1781 in Paris from the union of the viscount and officer of the French army Alexandre de Beauharnais and Giuseppina de Tascher de la Pagerie, who later became the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Eugenio thus became the first aide-de-camp to the young Napoleon in the countryside in Egypt and then, having become official, entered the highest political and military spheres of the newborn Empire. Bonaparte placed utmost trust in him (the motto of the Beauharnais was "Honneur et Fidèlitè", honor and loyalty) and for this in 1805 he invested him with the office of the newly established Kingdom of Italy, where he established his main residence in the Royal Villa of Monza .
The following year he married the august princess of Bavaria, giving Villa Mirabellino to his wife as a wedding present. In 1812 he was placed in command of the Italian, French and Bavarian troops in the campaign in Russia, remaining imprinted in the history books for heroic behavior in the battle of Ostrovno. The tragic retreat from Russia, however, leaves in Eugene profound signs both in character that frowned, both in political and military career: left practically only against the Neapolitan and Austrian army.
After Napoleon's abdication, the hopes of saving the throne and the Kingdom of Italy faded to disappear entirely when an angry mob lynched the minister of finance Prina, making it clear that the population no longer supported the French.
April 26, 1814 abdicated leaving Italy to retire in exile in Bavaria. However, after the second and definitive abdication of Napoleon after the defeat of Waterloo, the victorious powers left to Eugenio possession of the property and land received as a prerogative as viceroy. Thus spent the last years of life managing its heritage and taking care of the numerous progeny. He died in 1824, at only 42, in Munich following a stroke.