| Mathilde Bonaparte | |
|---|---|
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| Spouse | Anatole Demidov Claudius Marcel Popelin |
| Father | Jérôme Bonaparte |
| Mother | Catharina of Württemberg |
| Born | 27 May 1820 |
| Died | 2 January 1904 (aged 83) |
Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte, Princesse Française (May 27, 1820 – January 2, 1904) was a daughter of Napoleon's brother Jerome Bonaparte and his second wife, Catharina of Württemberg.
Born in Trieste, Mathilde Bonaparte was raised in Florence and Rome. She married a Russian rich tycoon, Anatole Demidov on November 1, 1840 in Rome. Anatole was raised to the station of Prince by the Grand Duke of Tuscany shortly before the wedding to fulfill the wishes of Mathilde's father and to preserve Mathilde's station as Princess. Anatole's princely title was never recognised in Russia. They had no children.
Princess Mathilde's mother was Emperor Nicholas I's first cousin, and the emperor supported Mathilde in her clashes with her husband, a Russian subject. As consequence, Anatole chose to live much of his remaining life outside Russia.
The marriage between these two strong and prominent personalities was stormy. Prince Demidoff insisted on keeping his mistress, Valentine de St Aldegonde, which of course was fiercely resisted by Mathilde. In the end, Mathilde fled the household for Paris with her new lover Émilien de Nieuwerkerke and with Anatole's jewelry. The jewelry constituted the dowry that Anatole was forced to bankroll for his father-in-law so it formed the property of Anatole.
The terms of the separation announced by the Tribunal in Petersburg forced Anatole to pay annual alimony of 200,000 French francs. Anatole vigorously pursued the return of his property, which led Mathilde and her strong circle of literary friends to mount highly personal and unfair counter-attacks using the public media. In the end, Anatole's heirs never recovered his property since Mathilde's last will was altered towards the end of her life.
Princess Mathilde lived in a mansion in Paris, France where she was a prominent member of the new aristocracy during and after the Second French Empire as a hostess to men of arts and letters. Referring to her uncle Napoleon I, she once told Marcel Proust: "If it weren't for him, I'd be selling oranges in the streets of Ajaccio."
Throughout her time in France, she maintained ties with the imperial court in Saint Petersburg, her maternal cousins. Following the death of Prince Demidoff in 1870, she married the artist and poet Claudius Marcel Popelin (1825-1892).
She died in Paris in 1904, aged 83.
Joanna Richardson published a biography of her: Princess Mathilde (London & New York, 1969).
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