Napoleon II of France

Infobox French Royalty|monarch
name=Napoléon II
title=Emperor of the French
King of Rome
Duke of Reichstadt


caption=
reign=22 June-7 July 1815
coronation=22 June 1815
titles="HSH" The Duke of Reichstadt
"HIM" The Emperor of the French
"HM" The King of Rome
full name=Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte
predecessor=Napoleon I
successor=De Facto Louis XVIII
De Jure Joseph Bonaparte
consort=
issue=
royal house=Bonaparte
royal anthem =
father=Napoleon I of France
mother=Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
date of birth=Birth date|1811|3|20|df=yes
place of birth=Paris, France
date of death=Death date and age|1832|7|22|1811|3|20|df=yes
place of death=Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria|

Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt (March 20, 1811 – July 22, 1832) was the son of Napoleon Bonaparte and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria. Known from birth as the King of Rome, he was styled as "His Majesty the King of Rome", which Napoleon I declared was the courtesy title of the heir-apparent. He was briefly the second Emperor of the French.

Life

Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte was born in Paris to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria in 1811. Styled "His Majesty the King of Rome," Napoleon I declared him his heir-apparent. Three years later, the First French Empire — to which he was heir — collapsed, and Napoleon abdicated the throne in favour of his infant son, who was taken by the empress to Château de Blois in April 1814. In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon again abdicated in favour of his son whom he had not seen since his exile to Elba.

The Chamber of Representatives and Chamber of Peers recognized him as Emperor from the moment of his father's abdication (June 22, 1815), but the entrance of the Allies into Paris on July 7 brought a rapid end to his fictive rule. 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. The next Bonaparte to come to the throne of France (in 1851) 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, rather than as "Napoleon," was a virtual captive in Austria. He was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt in 1818. He died of tuberculosis at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna on July 22, 1832. Upon the death of his stepfather, Neipperg, and the revelation that his mother had borne two illegitimate children to him prior to their 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". [Markham, Felix, "Napoleon", p.249] It has been suggested that his death was the result of deliberate lead or arsenic poisoning at the hands of agents of Metternich's police state. [Altman, Gail S. Fatal Links: The Curious Deaths of Beethoven and the Two Napoleons (Paperback). Anubian Press (September 1999). ISBN 1-888071-02-8]

He was very close to Princess Sophie of Bavaria and it has been further suggested that he was the father to her son, the future ill-fated Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. ["Maximilian and Carlota" by Gene Smith, ISBN-10: 0245524185, ISBN-13: 978-0245524189]

Remains and legacy

In 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 from German dictator Adolf Hitler. The remains of Napoleon I were moved there in 1840. 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 an operetta "Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt", which premiered in Vienna in the 1920s.

ources

* Welschinger, "Le roi de Rome, 1811-32", (Paris, 1897)
* Wertheimer, "The Duke of Reichstadt", (London, 1905)

References

Ancestry

ahnentafel-compact5
style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
border=1
boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
1= 1. Napoleon II of France
2= 2. Napoleon I of France
3= 3. Marie Louise of Austria
4= 4. Carlo Buonaparte
5= 5. Letizia Ramolino
6= 6. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
7= 7. Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies
8= 8. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte
9= 9. Maria-Saveria Paravicini
10= 10. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino
11= 11. Angela Maria Pietrasanta
12= 12. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
13= 13. Maria Louisa of Spain
14= 14. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
15= 15. Marie Caroline of Austria
16= 16. Sebastiano Nicolo Buonaparte
17= 17. Maria-Anna Tusilo di Bocognano
24= 24. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
25= 25. Maria Theresa of Austria
26= 26. Charles III of Spain
27= 27. Maria Amalia of Saxony
28= 28. Charles III of Spain (= 26)
29= 29. Maria Amalia of Saxony (= 27)
30= 30. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (= 24)
31= 31. Maria Theresa of Austria (= 25)

-
-