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Napoleon II of France

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: duke von Reichstadt Napoleon II
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(born March 20, 1811, Paris, France — died July 22, 1832, Schönbrunn, Austria) The only son of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, he was born during Napoleon's reign as emperor and styled "King of Rome." On Napoleon's abdication (1814), Marie-Louise took her son to live at the court of her father, Emperor Francis II, rather than allow him to remain in France as the focus of resistance as Napoleon II. Given the Austrian title of duke of Reichstadt, he was controlled by Klemens, prince von Metternich. In 1830 Bonapartist insurgents attempted to restore Reichstadt as Napoleon II, but he was already ill with tuberculosis, which would kill him.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Napoleon II
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Napoleon II, 1811-32, son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise, known as the king of Rome (1811-14), as the prince of Parma (1814-18), and after that as the duke of Reichstadt. Napoleon's abdication in 1815 was in favor of his son, so that he was known to the Bonapartists as Napoleon II, although he never ruled. After 1815 he was a virtual prisoner in Austria, where he died of tuberculosis. In 1940 his remains were transferred, as a gift to France from Adolf Hitler, from Vienna to the dome of the Invalides in Paris, where he now rests beside his father. The pitiful life of the "Eaglet" is the subject of Edmond Rostand's drama L'Aiglon.

Bibliography

See biography by A. Castelot (tr. 1960).

Dictionary: Napoleon II,
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(Originally François Charles Joseph Bonaparte.) 1811-1832.

Titular king of Rome who succeeded his father, Napoleon I, as emperor of the French (1814) but remained a politically powerless figure.


Wikipedia: Napoleon II of France
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"Duke of Reichstadt" redirects here. For the 1921 operetta, see Petar Stojanović (composer).
For other persons named Napoleon, see Napoleon (disambiguation).
Napoleon II
King of Rome

Emperor of the French
Emperor of the French
Reign 22 June 1815 - 7 July 1815
Predecessor Napoleon I
as Emperor of the French; Napoleon II's succession was not officially proclaimed for the Bourbon Restoration was proclaimed immediately after the abdication of Napoleon I.
Successor Louis XVIII
as Bourbon king of France
Duke of Reichstadt
Reign 1818-1821
Predecessor Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
Successor Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
Full name
Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte
Father Napoleon I of France
Mother Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Born 20 March 1811(1811-03-20)
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 Bonaparte and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria. He was known from birth as the "His Majesty the King of Rome" which Napoleon I declared was the courtesy title of the heir-apparent. His father abdicated in his favor, transferring to him the title of Emperor of the French, in 1815.

Contents

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 would have liked to abdicate the throne in favour of his toddler son, who was taken by the empress to Château de Blois in April 1814, but Emperor Alexander I of Russia disagreed. In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son, whom he had not seen since his exile to Elba.

Napoléon II, Emperor of the French
Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, the King of Rome, and Duke of Reichstadt

The day after Napoleon's abdication, a Commission of Government of five members took the rule of France,[1] waiting the return of King Louis XVIII who was in Cateau-Cambresis.[2] 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 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, 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".[3]

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[4], 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[5], 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. Coming from Hitler, this "gift" was not appreciated by the French people. The remains of Napoleon I were moved there on 15 December 1940. 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. Pet Shop Boys used him as an emblem of loneliness amid wealth in their 2009 track "King of Rome," on their album Yes.

Sources

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

References

  1. ^ Act of settlement of the Commission, June 23. (French)
  2. ^ Proclamation of the king, June 25. (French)
  3. ^ Markham, Felix, Napoleon, p. 249
  4. ^ Maximilian and Carlota by Gene Smith, ISBN 0245524185, ISBN 978-0245524189
  5. ^ Altman, Gail S. Fatal Links: The Curious Deaths of Beethoven and the Two Napoleons (Paperback). Anubian Press (September 1999). ISBN 1-888071-02-8

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Napoleon II of France
Born: 20 March 1811 Died: 22 July 1832
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