The article "The French Foreign Legion in World Wars I and II" mentioned Louis Blanchard, who joined the Foreign Legion in 1940 and fought in its ranks against Germany.
The real name of this man is Louis Jerome Victor Emmanuel Leopold Maria Napoleon. Until his death (which followed in 1997), he called himself Emperor Napoleon VI. He was forced to take a different name because in France there was a law on the expulsion of members of the royal and imperial families, which was canceled only in 1950. After the surrender of France, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte participated in the Resistance movement. On August 28, 1944, the car in which he was in had a serious accident: out of seven people, only one survived - himself. After recovering, he joined the Alpine Division, in which he ended the war.
However, the last officially recognized legal heir of the Bonaparte family is considered by many to be another person who died in June of the distant 1879. He was the son of Napoleon I's nephew, Charles Louis Napoleon, better known as Napoleon III. This man, who did not become Napoleon IV, will be discussed in the article, but first we will talk about the native children of the great emperor of the French.
Charles Leon
As you know, the first child of Napoleon I Bonaparte was Charles, who was born on December 13, 1806 from the emperor's fleeting romance with Eleanor Denuelle de la Plenier, who was a friend of Caroline Bonaparte and, according to rumors, the mistress of her husband, Joachim Murat.
This boy received the title of Count of Leon.
It is believed that it was the birth of Charles that pushed Napoleon to the idea of a divorce from Josephine: he was convinced that he could have children, and passionately wanted to become the father of a legitimate offspring who would become the heir to his empire.
Napoleon almost immediately lost interest in Eleanor, having bought off her with an annual allowance of 22 thousand francs, and allocated another 30 thousand a year to Charles.
With his son, who turned out to be very similar to him both in appearance and in temperament (but he did not inherit his father's abilities), he sometimes saw in the Tuileries, where the boy was specially brought to meet him.
In February 1808, Eleanor married Lieutenant Pierre-Philippe Ogier, who disappeared in Russia while crossing the Berezina. Her next husband was the Bavarian Count Karl-August von Luxburg, who at one time acted as ambassador to Paris. This marriage was concluded in 1814 and lasted thirty-five years.
In the will, drawn up on the island of St. Helena, Napoleon allocated 300 thousand francs to his firstborn. Notable for his unlucky behavior, Charles very quickly squandered them and in 1838 even ended up in a debt prison. With his studies and service, he also did not work out: he was never able to complete his studies at the University of Heidelberg, he was fired from the post of commander of the battalion of the Saint-Denis National Guard for "negligent attitude to duties."
But he became famous for his duel, in which in 1832 he killed in the Bois de Vincennes Carl Hesse - the same illegitimate prince, only of England, who was Wellington's adjutant and cousin of the future Queen Victoria. Between times, he visited England, where he met with his cousin (the future emperor Napoleon III) and also almost fought with him in a duel. The fight did not take place due to the fact that the rivals could not agree on the choice of weapons: Charles insisted on pistols, and the enemy's seconds brought two swords. They argued for so long that they caught the attention of the police. Personally, this story reminded me of the failed duel between M. Voloshin and N. Gumilyov, who managed to quarrel over the non-existent poetess Cherubina de Gabriak, under whose mask, as it turned out, Elizaveta Dmitrieva was hiding. Gumilyov was late, because his car got stuck in the snow, but Voloshin came even later, because on the way he lost one of his galoshes and was looking for it for a very long time (and earned the nickname "Vaks Kaloshin" in St. Petersburg). Gumilyov missed his opponent, Voloshin shot into the air.
For Charles Léon, the failed duel with the future emperor ended in expulsion to France, where he sued his mother, forcing her to pay him 4,000 francs a year. He tried to engage in literary activity and even wrote a letter to Pope Pius IX, in which he offered himself as a candidate for the "position" of King of Rome.
After his cousin nevertheless came to power in France, Charles came to him, demanding for himself some kind of "dust-free" position, but he limited himself to the appointment of a pension of 6,000 francs and allocated another 255,000 francs one-time. Charles quickly squandered this money too. Feeling the approach of old age, he married his mistress (the daughter of the former gardener of the count), with whom he lived for 9 years (and during this time she managed to give birth to 6 children). He died at the age of 75 on April 14, 1881. The family did not have money for his burial, and therefore the first son of the great emperor of France was buried at the expense of the municipality of the city of Pontoise.
Alexander Valevsky
Napoleon's second son, Alexander-Florian-Joseph Colonna-Walewski, was born on May 4, 1810 to a young Polish countess (a little more than a month after Napoleon's marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria, daughter of Emperor Franz I).
When, six months later, Maria and her son came to Paris, Napoleon did not spare money and ordered the allocation of her monthly maintenance of 10 thousand francs. Nevertheless, he did not detain his former mistress in Paris: the countess left for Warsaw, and the next (and last) time Napoleon saw his son only 4 years later - on the island of Elba.
In September 1816, Maria married Philippe-Antoine d'Ornano, a former colonel in the guard of her royal lover, and in December 1817 she died after giving birth.
In 1820, her son Alexander was sent to study at one of the private schools in Geneva, returning to Warsaw, he did not accept the offer of Grand Duke Constantine to become his adjutant and lived as a private person under the secret police supervision (after all, everyone remembered who his father was) … But this observation was purely formal, it was carried out very badly, and in 1827 Alexander fled to France, where he contacted the emigrants and three years later took part in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, and after losing the rank of captain he entered the service into the French army. He turned out to be smarter and more capable than his older brother Charles, and therefore, having retired in 1837, made a good career in the diplomatic field. His business went especially well after the accession of Napoleon III, under which he successively served as ambassador to Florence, Naples and London, and in May 1855 he was appointed foreign minister. It was Alexander Valevsky who became chairman of the Paris Congress of 1856, at which the results of the Crimean War were discussed. Then he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honor. He later served as Acting President of the Legislative Corps and was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
Bonaparte's second son was married to the Italian countess Maria-Anne di Ricci, who also had Polish roots - she was the grand-niece of the last king of Poland, Stanislav August Poniatowski.
He died on September 27, 1868, before he lived to see the war with Prussia and the collapse of the empire, unfortunate for France and his influential relative.
Eaglet
But the only legitimate son of Napoleon I was the Eaglet - Napoleon Francois Joseph Charles Bonaparte, who was born on March 28, 1811 in the Tuileries from the second wife of the emperor - Marie-Louise of Austria.
Immediately after his birth, he was proclaimed heir to the empire and received the title of Roman king.
After his father's abdication from the throne, the boy was transported to Vienna, where he was forced to speak only German and was called Franz, Duke of Reichstadt.
He grew up as a very sickly child, but, as was customary then in noble families, from the age of twelve he was enlisted in military service. By 1830, Bonaparte's son had already managed to "rise" to the rank of major, by that time he had four orders: the Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, the Grand Cross of the Italian Order of the Iron Crown, the Order of the Legion of Honor and the Order of Constantine of St. George (Duchy of Parma) …
For some time he was even considered as a candidate for the "position" of the King of Belgium, but this proposal caused strong opposition in Paris, London and Vienna.
He died in Schönbrunn on July 22, 1832 at the age of 21, presumably from scarlet fever. In Bonapartist circles, rumors immediately spread about a possible poisoning: this unfortunate young man was too uncomfortable for everyone, who during his lifetime was "guarded as carefully as they guard a desperate criminal."
A legend also appeared that Napoleon himself, who had fled from the island of St. Helena (who was allegedly replaced with a double), having learned about his son's poor health, tried to enter Schönbrunn at night on September 4, 1823, but was shot by a sentry. Some person really tried to climb over the fence, he did not have documents, his body was buried in an unmarked grave on the territory of the castle.
Napoleon III later sought to transfer the ashes of this young man to Paris, wanting to bury him in the House of Invalids, but Emperor Franz Joseph refused him, stating that the son of the Austrian princess was lying where he was supposed to be: between the tombs of his mother and grandfather.
However, after the surrender of France, Hitler wanted so much to please his new subjects that he ordered the remains of Napoleon II to be returned to Paris, leaving only his heart in Vienna.
It is curious that Marshal Pétain, whom Hitler personally invited to the solemn reburial ceremony (took place on December 15, 1940), refused to come, suspecting that the Fuhrer wanted to lure him out of Vichy in order to arrest him. It was said that the offended and wounded Hitler shouted in anger then: "It is insulting - so not to trust me when I have such good intentions!"
Well, what can you do, Adolf? That was your reputation.
The little Prince
After the death of Napoleon III (January 9, 1873), his son, Napoleon IV Eugene Louis Jean-Joseph Bonaparte, the grand-nephew of the first of the Bonapartes, became the heir to the vacant imperial throne of France. The mother of this prince was Maria Eugenia Ignacia de Montijo de Teba - a beauty of "complex origin", in whose family were the Spaniards, French and Scots, but contemporaries called her the Spanish woman.
The grandmother of our hero was credited with an affair with Prosper Merima, and some even considered the future Empress Eugenia to be the daughter of this writer.
Interestingly, by the standards of that time, the beauty of Eugenia Montijo could not be called a standard: more magnificent forms were appreciated. But it was she, who became the empress, who set a new trend: since then, much more attention has been paid to the slenderness of the female figure. In addition, she introduced the fashion for seaside recreation and ice skating.
Many people associate the appearance of modern Paris with the activities of the city's prefect - Baron Haussmann and Napoleon III, but there is information that it was the empress who was a real ally and even co-author of Haussmann - the emperor limited himself to putting his signature on the documents.
Maria Eugenia entered into marriage with the newly-made emperor on January 30, 1853. The only child of this couple was born on March 16, 1856, before that the younger brother of Napoleon I Jerome (Girolamo) was considered the official heir to the throne. "King Yereoma".
Pope Pius IX became the godfather of the new heir (in absentia), and J. Strauss wrote the Prince Imperial square dance on this occasion.
The boy, who was often called Lulu at court, received a good education, showed a special inclination for mathematics, in addition to French, he knew English and Latin well.
It seemed that nothing could prevent the new Napoleon from becoming emperor in the future.
After the Crimean War, France claimed the role of the leading power in Europe, and Paris was the capital of world fashion and the center of attraction for rich lovers of "beautiful life" of all nationalities.
However, Napoleon III allowed France to be drawn into a conflict with Prussia, which was caused by the dynastic crisis in Spain and the desire to prevent the election of Leopold Hohenzollern as king of this country. The matter was complicated by the warlike moods of the emperor's inner circle, which, not realizing that the balance of forces in Europe had irreversibly changed not in favor of France, stubbornly wished to organize a new victorious war. The phrase of the Minister of War Leboeuf: "We are ready, we are completely ready, everything is in order in our army, right down to the last button on the gaiters of the last soldier" went down in history as an example of blatant arrogance and incompetence.
The story of this war is beyond the scope of this article, let's just say that the 14-year-old "prince of the empire" went to the front with his father and on August 2 even fired a symbolic cannon shot in the direction of the Prussian positions near Saarbrücken.
But it all ended, as you know, with the catastrophic defeat of France, the surrender of the troops at Sedan (September 1, 1870) and Metz (October 29), the capture of the emperor, the revolution and the siege of Paris.
As a result, the Second Empire ceased to exist, and the failed heir was forced through Belgium to go to Britain, where he settled in Camden House (now this area is already within the boundaries of London).
In January 1873, Napoleon III, expelled from France, died, after which the Bonapartists of this country began to consider his son a legitimate claimant to the throne. At the age of 18, he was officially declared head of the House of Bonaparte. In addition to the Bonapartists, representatives of the Legitimist party, who nominated the candidacy of Count Heinrich de Chambord, the grandson of Charles X, wanted to see their pretender on the French throne, but the latter lost all chances, abandoning the “revolutionary” tricolor banner in 1873. After his death, the Legitimists were divided: the majority wanted to see Louis Philippe Albert of Orleans on the throne, Count of Paris - the grandson of Louis Philippe I. Others fantasized about the accession to the throne of the Spanish prince Juan Monteson (who also claimed the Spanish throne).
But it was precisely the chances of “Prince Lulu” that were rated most highly in Europe: there were even negotiations on his marriage with Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria.
In the meantime, the prince graduated from the military college in Woolwich (1878) and entered service in the British army as an artillery officer. \
The point, of course, was not to obtain a livelihood: some kind of military feat was expected from the pretender to the French throne and the descendant of the great Bonaparte. This would contribute to the growth of his popularity in his homeland and facilitate the path to the election to the throne. Therefore, Napoleon Eugene Louis Bonaparte went to the first war that came across, which turned out to be the Anglo-Zulu (began in 1879). No one expected any feats from the "wild natives", besides, the British commander-in-chief Lord Chelmsford received a strict order to keep this prince away from the front line, but he would certainly present him with some kind of military award before returning to Europe.
The Zulus, however, turned out to be not so simple: in the very first major battle at the Isandlvan Hill, on January 22nd, they defeated Colonel Dernford's detachment, destroying about 1,300 Englishmen (although they themselves lost about 3 thousand). Then they defeated the British twice in March (on the 12th and 28th), but on the 29th they were defeated at Kambula, on April 2 at Gingindlovu, and after that they suffered only defeats.
The war was already coming to an end, a little more than a month remained before the fall of the "capital" of the Zulu - the royal kraal (type of settlement) Ulundi.
In general, it was time for the prince to at least symbolically take part in the hostilities. And so he was allowed to "walk" with a detachment of scouts of Lieutenant Carey (8 people) through the territory where the Zulu warriors had never met before and therefore was considered safe from the military point of view.
On June 1, 1879, this detachment entered Zululand and, finding nothing of interest, camped at an abandoned kraal on the banks of the Itotosi River. This kraal could look something like this:
The British turned out to be so reckless that they did not even set up an outpost. And they were attacked by the suddenly appeared Zulu, of which there were about 40 people. The attackers were armed with traditional spears, which the Zulu themselves called "ilkwa", and the Europeans called them Assegai (therefore, the Zulu warriors were often called "spearmen"): longer spears were used for throwing at the enemy, short ones for hand-to-hand combat.
Jumping on their horses, the British tried to break through, but the prince was unlucky: his horse started galloping before he could get into the saddle, and he had to hang on it "like a circus", clinging to a strapped holster. But it was still not a circus, and the leather belt broke, unable to bear the weight of his body. He managed to shoot from the pistol he had only once, and then the zulu who ran up threw him with spears: later, 18 wounds were counted on his body, and the wound in his right eye was fatal.
The corpse was so mutilated that the prince's mother, Eugene Montijo, recognized her son only by an old scar on his thigh.
Together with the prince, two British soldiers were killed in this unexpected skirmish. Lieutenant Carey and the four soldiers who remained with him could not help or (given the balance of forces) did not want to.
The death of the head of the House of Bonaparte made a great impression in Europe. His body was taken to England, the funeral was attended by Queen Victoria, her son Edward, Prince of Wales, all representatives of the imperial house of Bonapartes and several thousand Bonapartists, for whom the death of the prince actually meant the collapse of all hopes and expectations.
Oscar Wilde dedicated one of his poems to the memory of the "little prince", who for some reason decided that the "heir to the imperial family" was not killed with a spear, but "fell from the bullet of a dark enemy." A hint of Zulu skin color?
Evgenia Montiho survived her son by almost 50 years. Forgotten by all, she died in 1920. In 1881, she founded the Abbey of St. Michael in Farnborough (Hampshire), where her husband and son, and then herself, were reburied in one of the crypts.
Now the heirs of the imperial house of Bonaparte are the descendants of the younger brother of Napoleon I - Jerome. However, they have long ceased to claim power in France.
