Napoleon Louis Bonaparte

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Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (October 11, 1804 - March 17, 1831), or Louis II of Holland, was the middle son of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland (aka Louis I of Holland), and Hortense de Beauharnais. His father was the younger brother of Emperor Napoleon I and king of Holland, while his mother was the daughter of Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife. Napoleon Louis's elder brother, Napoleon Charles, died in 1807, when he was only four years old. On his death, Napoleon Louis became Prince Royal of the Kingdom of Holland. It also made Napoleon Louis the eldest nephew of the Emperor, who that time had no children, and his heir apparent, a status he lost in 1811.

In 1809 Napoleon appointed him as Grand Duke of Berg, a status he kept to 1813.

For the ten days between his father's abdication and the invasion of the French army in 1810, Louis Napoleon reigned as Lodewijk II, King of Holland.

When Napoleon was deposed in 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo the House of Bourbon was restored to the throne of France. Napoleon Louis fled into exile, but the Bonapartes never abandoned the thought of restoring the Napoleonic Empire.

Napoleon Louis married his first cousin, Charlotte, the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoleon I. He died on March 17, 1831, in Forlì (Italy), fighting for Italian independence. So, he predeceased Napoleon I's only legitimate son by one year. Eventually the Napoleonic Empire was restored by Napoleon Louis's younger brother who became Napoleon III in 1852.

Napoleon Louis is buried at Saint-Leu-La-Foret, Île-de-France.

Preceded by Louis I

King of Holland 1810

Succeeded by direct French rule No King until 1815, with William I