Background
Louis Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, on September 2, 1778, the seventh child of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino.
Louis Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, on September 2, 1778, the seventh child of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino.
He received a military education in France, and in 1796 he joined his brother Napoleon in Italy, where he served 2 years with the army.
In 1798 he accompanied Napoleon to Egypt as his aide-de-camp. Returning to France in 1799, Louis played no part in the coup d'etat of Brumaire.
Louis showed no aptitude for military life and did not take part in the numerous French campaigns. In 1806 Napoleon placed him on the throne of Holland, but he was never satisfied with his younger brother's actions. The Emperor intended Holland to be a satellite kingdom governed in the best interests of France; Louis, however, chose to defend Holland's national interests. In 1808 Louis was offered the throne of Spain, which he refused; it was subsequently accepted by his brother Joseph. Napoleon's displeasure mounted through 1809-1810 because of Louis's lax enforcement of the continental blockade, which was ruining Dutch trade. Finally, in 1810, after repeated attempts to bring his brother into line, Napoleon sent French troops into Holland and forced Louis to flee to Austria. Louis had unsuccessfully tried to divorce his wife in 1810; and when he fled the empire, she remained behind with their three sons, the youngest of whom later reigned as Napoleon III. Louis took no further part in the affairs of the French Empire. After his brother's abdication in 1814, he settled permanently in Rome. During the revolutions of 1830 he encouraged the nationalist and liberal factions in Italy and expressed satisfaction that his two sons fought for Italian unity.
He died in Rome on July 25, 1846.
Louis supposedly had a poor mental condition at times, and supposedly suffered from periods of mental illness.
Louis was married on 4 January 1802 to Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of the deceased general Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and his wife Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie. Josephine was the first wife of Louis's brother Napoleon. Thus Hortense was also Louis's step-niece.
This marriage had been forced upon them and was rather loveless, though they supposedly consummated it and interacted often enough to produce three sons. As a rule, the Bonapartes, with the exception of Napoleon, loathed the Beauharnais. Hortense also certainly had extra-marital lovers.
Hortense de Beauharnais gave birth to three sons which were officially claimed by Louis Bonaparte, despite his own doubts about their paternity:
Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, born 10 October 1802, Prince Royal of Holland. When he died on 5 May 1807 at 4½ years of age, his body lay in state at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He is buried at Saint-Leu-La-Foret, Ile-de-France.
Napoleon Louis Bonaparte, born 11 October 1804. Became Prince Royal of Holland on his brother's death, and was King Lodewijk II for eight days in 1810, between his father's abdication (1 July) and the fall of Holland to Napoleon Bonaparte's invading army (9 July). Napoleon Louis Bonaparte died on 17 March 1831, and his remains were buried at Saint-Leu-La-Foret, Île-de-France.
Charles Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, (1808–73). Born in Paris, he was the third and last son, and would become Emperor Napoleon III of France (1852–70).
Title and styles :
2 September 1778 – circa 1795: Nobile Luigi Buonoparte circa 1795 – 18 May 1804: Monsieur Louis Bonaparte, 18 May 1804 – 5 June 1806: His Imperial Highness Louis, French Prince, 5 June 1806 – 1 July 1810: His Majesty The King of Holland, 5 July 1810 – 22 June 1815: His Imperial Highness Louis, French Prince, 22 June 1815 – 25 July 1846: His Imperial Highness The Count of Saint-Leu, Full title as King of Holland, His Majesty Louis I, By the Grace of God and the Constitution of the Kingdom, King of Holland.
