Napoléon Victor Bonaparte

Infobox_pretender
English name = Victor Napoléon


birth_date = July 18 1862
birthplace = Palais Royal
death_date = May 3 1926
deathplace = Brussels
regnal = Napoléon V
title = Prince Napoléon
throne = France
pretend from = 1 June 1879 - May 3 1926
year = 1870
king = Napoleon III
relationship = Cousin
house = Bonaparte
father = Prince Napoléon
mother = Princess Maria Clotilde of Italy
spouse = Princess Clémentine of Belgium
children = Princess Marie-Clotilde, Prince Louis
predecessor = The Prince Imperial
successor = Prince Louis
footnotes =

Prince Victor Napoléon ("Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric Bonaparte") (18 July 1862 - 3 May 1926) was the Bonapartist pretender to the French throne from 1879 until his death in 1926. He was known as Napoléon V by his supporters.

Biography

Early life

He was born in the Palais Royal of Paris during the Second French Empire the son of the Prince Napoleon and his wife Princess Marie Clothilde of Savoy, daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. At the time of his birth he was third in the line of succession to the throne behind the Prince Imperial and his father. The Empire came to an end in 1870 with the abdication of Emperor Napoléon III.

Bonaparte heir

He was appointed head of the house of Bonaparte at the age of 18 in the will of Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial, who died in 1879, and so became Napoleon V to his supporters, though his younger brother, Prince Louis, a colonel in the Russian Imperial Guard, was preferred to him by many Bonapartists. cite book | title = The Great Round World | publisher = Universe Publishing company | date = 1899 ] The decision by the Prince Imperial to bypass Prince Victor's father led to a complete breakdown in relations between father and son. In May, 1886 the French Republic expelled the princes of the former ruling dynasties and so Prince Victor left France for exile in Belgium. [ cite book | title = Library of Universal History | author= Israel Smith Clare | publisher = R. S. Peale, J. A. Hill | date = 1897 ]

Dreyfus affair

At the time of the death of President Félix Faure during the Dreyfus affair, a number of political factions attempted to take advantage of the disorder and Prince Victor announced to a delegation from the Imperialist committee that he would take action to restore the French Empire when he felt that the time was favourable. In order to achieve this, he announced he would place himself at the head of the movement with his brother, Prince Louis, fighting beside him who he said would be "bringing to the Bonapartist forces his prestige and his military talents as well as his rank in the Russian army". The Duke of Orléans, rival claimant to the throne, also had forces available and they were ready to cross the French frontier at same time as the Bonapartist forces. In the end the anticipated outbreak in France didn't materialise and the French Third Republic survived one of its gravest crises.

Death

Prince Victor died on May 3, 1926 in Brussels with the French author Charles Maurras commenting on Prince Victor's time as pretender saying that he hadn't offered any new ideas since 1884 and no radical alternatives to republican governments. [cite book | last = Gildea | first = Robert | title = The Past in French History | year = 1994 | publisher = Yale University Press | pages = 78 ] He was succeeded as the Bonaparte heir by his only son Prince Louis.

Family

On 10 November/14 November, 1910, at Moncalieri, Prince Victor was married to Princess Clémentine of Belgium (1872-1955), daughter of Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. They had two children:
*Princess Marie Clotilde Eugénie Alberte Laetitia Généviève Bonaparte (1912-1996) married Serge de Witt
*Prince Louis Napoléon (1914-1997)

References

External links

* [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/bonaparte.html Imperial House of France]
* [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/belgium.html Royal House of Belgium]
* [http://www.musee-napoleon.com/prince_victor1.htm Prince Victor Napoleon]