Talk:Napoleon II of France

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I think this title should be altered to Duke of Reichstadt. Although Reichstadt was often referred to as Napoleon II, this was an informal designation and there was no such person as "Emperor Napoleon II of France". There was a I and a III, but no II.

Cheers JackofOz 02:56, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I second that. This is a pretentious Bonapartist fantasy. Wetman 22:49, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

No, he was Emperor of the French. Briefly, sure, but he still held the title. Renaming this to a lesser title would be the same as renaming "Louis XVII of France" to a lesser thing. -Alex, 12.220.157.93 01:24, 6 February 2006 (UTC).

It's even better, as Napoleon II was actually recognized within France and by the French govt. as the Emperor, albeit briefly. No government ever controlled any party of France in Louis XVII's name. --Jfruh 20:30, 6 February 2006 (UTC)


Back on this topic again. The article says:

Despite his nominal reign, he is not normally referred to as "Napoleon II" except by Bonapartists who also call him the King of Rome.

Are we saying that Wikipedia is a Bonapartist conspiracy? JackofOz 20:36, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know. Does having an entry called Louis XVII of France make Wikipedia a mouthpiece of Bourbon legitimists? I'm not a Bonapartist (does anyone even need to say that anymore? Are there any active Bonapartists out there?) but the title seems to me to be fully in keeping with Wikipedia's styles for rulers. France was ruled in his name for two weeks in 1815. This was longer than, say, Dipendra of Nepal or John I of France; and, as I noted earlier, we have a "Louis XVII" page despite the fact that he never reigned at all.
The fights over his titlature are no doubt a legacy of the fight over Napoleon's legacy in the aftermath of the 100 days. The unsourced statement that "he is not normally referred to as 'Napoleon II' except by Bonapartists" seems to me to be a canard away from the obvious fact that he was the recognized sovereign of France for two weeks. --Jfruh 21:19, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Custom?

A recent edit changed a sentence to read:

The next Napoleon to come to the throne of France took the name Napoleon III in deference to the French custom of continuing to count regnal numbers even when a royal family is not reigning.

Can this really be said to be a "custom" at the point in history under discussion? Napoleon III was only the second to follow it (Louis XVIII being the first, at the beginning of the century). Perhaps France is like the American South in this regard; a friend of mine from Virginia once remarked that "once is a precedent, twice a tradition."

Finally, it should be noted (again) that Napoleon II did in fact reign (though of course he never ruled in the way that his father and cousin did). For two weeks in June and July of 1815, he was recognized as head of state by the French government in Paris. I know its brief, and that the anti-French coalition never recognized him as Emperor, but he wasn't like Louis XVII, who spent his "reign" in the Bastille and probably never knew that some exiles considered him to be king of France. --Jfruh (talk) 14:52, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

This is all quite true (except that Louis XVII was imprisoned in the Temple, and not in the Bastille, which had been torn down in 1789). In fact, having read up on this very period, this is exactly what Napoleon III' himself said. In explaining his choice of number to the suspicious eastern courts, who suspected exactly this, that Napoleon III was asserting a claim to some kind of legitimist succession, Napoleon's people said that if he was like Louis XVIII, he would have been Napoleon V, as his uncle Joseph and father Louis would've been Napoleon III and IV. This ought to be changed. On the other hand, the question of whether Napoleon II actually reigned is a somewhat involved one. I'm not sure if Fouché and company ever explicitly recognized him as Emperor. Of course, it was a moot point, as he was an Austrian prisoner and there was no way he was staying on the throne for long. I'll try to change the text. john k 21:43, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sucession

Why does the succession box have a reference to the Prince Canino line? I thought that neither Lucien or his decendents claimed the French Imperial throne. Lucien wasn't even in the line of succession. Though Napoleon I made him an imperial prince, he did not officially place him in the line of succession. Besides, even if he was in the line of succession, wouldn't he come after Joseph, therefore even if he was the pretender, it would have been after Joseph, not Napoleon II. Because of this, I think that Lucien's name should be deleted from the succession box. Emperor001 21:09, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

As no one has responded to the above mentioning, I am going to delete Lucien from the sucession box as he was never the claiment to the throne. Emperor001 21:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Emperor of the French

Perhaps in title only. Napoleon II never reigned, according to most historians (and encylopedias), we shouldn't be re-writing history. GoodDay (talk) 19:17, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Did Louis XIV. reign as a child?Did Dipendra reign while in coma?The Chamber of representatives recognised him as Emperor and head of state of France and governed the nation in the name of the young sovereign.A similar case to Simeon II. and Fu'ad II. 81.91.217.80 (talk) 21:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)