Napoleon II
| Napoléon II Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte |
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| Emperor of the French Duke of Reichstadt King of Rome |
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| Reign | 22 June 1815 - 7 July 1815 (16 days) |
| Predecessor | Napoleon I as Emperor of the French; Napoleon II's succession was not officially proclaimed as the Bourbon Restoration was proclaimed immediately after the abdication of Napoleon I. |
| Successor | Louis XVIII as Bourbon king of France |
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| Reign | 1818-1821 |
| Predecessor | Ferdinand, Duke of Parma |
| Successor | Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès |
| Full name | |
| Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte | |
| Father | Napoleon I |
| Mother | Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma |
| Born | 20 March 1811 Tuileries Palace, Paris, France |
| Died | 22 July 1832 (aged 21) Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria |
Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt (20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832) was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria. He was known from birth as the King of Rome which Napoleon I declared was the courtesy title of the heir-apparent. His father abdicated in his favour, transferring to him the title of Emperor of the French, in 1815.
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Life
Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte was born at the Tuileries Palace in Paris to Emperor Napoleon I and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria in 1811. Napoléon declared him his heir-apparent and gave him the style "His Majesty the King of Rome". Three years later, the First French Empire—to which he was heir—collapsed. Napoleon wanted to abdicate the throne in favour of his toddler son, but the Allied Powers, at the insistence of the Emperor Alexander I of Russia, refused.
On 29 March 1814, accompanied by her suite, the empress left the Tuileries Palace with her son. Their first stop was the Château de Rambouillet; then, fearing the advancing enemy troops, they continued on to the Château de Blois. On 13 April, with her suite much diminished, Marie-Louise and the three-year-old King of Rome were back in Rambouillet where they met her father, the Emperor Francis II of Austria, and the Emperor Alexander I of Russia. On 23 April, escorted by an Austrian regiment, mother and son left Rambouillet and France forever, for their exile in Austria.[1]
In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son, whom he had not seen since his exile to Elba.
The day after Napoleon's abdication, a Commission of Government of five members took the rule of France,[2] waiting the return of King Louis XVIII who was in Cateau-Cambresis.[3] The Commission held the power for two weeks, and it never summoned Napoleon II as emperor, and no regent was ever appointed. The entrance of the Allies into Paris on 7 July brought a rapid end to his supporters' wishes. Napoleon II, aged 4, was residing in Austria with his mother and was probably never aware at the time that he had been proclaimed Emperor in his father's will. The next Bonaparte to come to the throne of France (in 1852) took the name Napoleon III in deference to his cousin's theoretical reign.
After 1815, the young prince, now known as "Franz" (after his maternal grandfather, Emperor Francis of Austria), lived in Austria. He was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt in 1818.
Upon the death of his stepfather, Neipperg, and the revelation that his mother had borne two illegitimate children to him prior to her marriage, Franz said to his friend, Prokesch von Osten, "'If Josephine had been my mother, my father would not have been buried at Saint Helena, and I should not be at Vienna. My mother is kind but weak; she was not the wife my father deserved".[4]
He was very close to Princess Sophie of Bavaria and it has been suggested that he was the father to her son, the future ill-fated Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico[5], but this suggestion has not found acceptance.
He died of tuberculosis at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna on 22 July 1832.
It has been claimed that his death was the result of deliberate lead or arsenic poisoning at the hands of agents of Metternich[6], but this suggestion has not found acceptance.
Remains and legacy
On 15 December 1940, the remains of Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte were transferred from Vienna to the dome of Les Invalides in Paris. This was done as a "gift" to France by the German dictator Adolf Hitler[7][8]. The remains of Napoleon I had been returned to France in December 1840, at the time of the July Monarchy.[9] For some time, the young prince rested beside his father. Later the remains of Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte were moved to the lower church. While most of his remains were transferred to Paris, his heart and intestines remained in Vienna. They are in Urn 42 in the "Heart Crypt" (Herzgruft) and his viscera are in Urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt.
Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte was also known as "The Eaglet" (L'Aiglon). Edmond Rostand wrote a play, L'Aiglon, about his life. Serbian composer Petar Stojanović composed the operetta Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt, which premiered in Vienna in the 1920s. Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert collaborated on an opera, L'aiglon, which premiered in 1937. Pet Shop Boys used him as an emblem of loneliness amid wealth in their 2009 track "King of Rome," on their album Yes.
Ancestry
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Sources
- Welschinger, Le roi de Rome, 1811-32, (Paris, 1897)
- Wertheimer, The Duke of Reichstadt, (London, 1905)
References
- ↑ G. Lenotre, le Château de Rambouillet, six siècles d'histoire, ch. L'empereur, Éditions Denoël, Paris, 1984 (1930 reedition), pp. 126-133, ISBN 2-207-23023-6.
- ↑ Act of settlement of the Commission, June 23. (French)
- ↑ Proclamation of the king, June 25. (French)
- ↑ Markham, Felix, Napoleon, p. 249
- ↑ Maximilian and Carlota by Gene Smith, ISBN 0245524185, ISBN 978-0245524189
- ↑ Altman, Gail S. Fatal Links: The Curious Deaths of Beethoven and the Two Napoleons (Paperback). Anubian Press (September 1999). ISBN 1-888071-02-8
- ↑ Poisson, Georges, (Robert L. Miller, translator), Hitler's Gift to France: The Return of the Ashes of Napoleon II, Enigma Books, ISBN 9781929631674, ISBN 1929631677 (Synopsis & Review by Maria C. Bagshaw).
- ↑ Poisson, Georges, Le retour des cendres de l'Aiglon, Édition Nouveau Monde, Paris, 2006, ISBN : 2-847361847 (French)
- ↑ Driskel, Paul (1993). As Befits a Legend. Kent State University Press. p. 168 ISBN 0873384849
External links
Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Napoleon II". Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Napoleon II
House of Bonaparte
Born: 20 March 1811 Died: 22 July 1832 |
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| Titles in pretence | ||
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| Loss of title |
— TITULAR — Emperor of the French 22 June 1815 – 22 July 1832 |
Succeeded by Joseph Bonaparte |
| French royalty | ||
| Preceded by Joseph Bonaparte |
Heir to the Throne as Heir apparent 20 March 1811 — 11 April 1814 |
Succeeded by Charles, Count of Artois |
| Preceded by Charles, Count of Artois |
Heir to the Throne as Heir apparent 20 March 1815 — 22 June 1815 |
Succeeded by Joseph Bonaparte |
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