We owe our modern roses to Napoleon's wife, the Empress Josephine, she of the "not tonight' fame. Less well-known is that she was born Marie Joséphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie in Southrière, St. Lucia--note the 'Rose' in her birth name. It was to prove significant to modern horticulture.
Upon her first marriage at age 17, she became Joséphine de Beauharnais until her unfortunate aristo was guillotined. Luckily, she escaped the same fate then met the rapidly rising Napoleon Bonaparte. When he became a public figure, she gave up her plunging décolletage dresses and partying for gardening.