Émilie Louise Marie Françoise Joséphine Pellapra

Émilie Louise Marie Françoise Joséphine Pellapra, by marriage Countess of Brigode, then later Princess of Chimay, was born in Lyon on November 11, 1806 and died Château de Menars on May 22, 1871. She may have been an illegitimate daughter of Napoleon I by Françoise-Marie LeRoy.

LeRoy was daughter of a Lyon bookseller and her husband was Henri (de) Pellapra, a rich financer.

Emilie Pellapra made it clear she was the natural daughter of Napoleon. This would have had had to have been the result of an affair with her mother at the time of a stay by Napoleon in Lyon. This claim was that an affair took place in April 1805, whilst Napoleon was on the way to Italy to be crowned. But this date is incompatible with the birth of Emilie in November 1806. For Emilie to have been the daughter of Napoleon it would have been necessary that he stayed in Lyon in February 1806. However, no stay in this city at that time seems to have taken place and, according to several authors (in particular André Gavoty in the Bulletin de l'Institut Napoleon April 1950), Napoleon only met LeRoy in 1810.

Emilie Pellapra married Count Louis-Marie of Brigode (1777-1827) who died shortly after though they had twins. She remarried on August 30, 1830 with Prince Joseph de Riquet de Caraman (1808-1886), 17th prince de Chimay, and had four children:
* Marie Therese Emilie (1832-1851), countess of Lagrange;
* Marie Joseph Guy Henry Philippe (1836-1892) (ép. Marie de Montesquiou-Fezensac then Mathilde de Barandiaran);
* Valentine (1839-1914), Princess Paul de Bauffremont then Princess Georges Bibesco;
* Eugene (1847-1881) (married Louise de Graffenried-Villars)

Bibliography

* "Une fille de Napoléon" (A daughter of Napoleon), Memoires of Emilie de Pellapra, Countess of Brigode, Princess of Chimay, Introduction by Princess Bibesco.