Louis, Prince Napoléon
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| Louis | |
|---|---|
| Prince Napoléon | |
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| Period | 3 May 1926 - 3 May 1997 (71 years, 0 days) |
| Predecessor | Napoléon V Victor |
| Successor | Napoléon VII Charles Napoléon VIII Jean-Christophe |
| Spouse | Alix de Foresta |
| Issue | |
| Prince Charles Princess Catherine Princess Laure Prince Jérôme |
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| House | House of Bonaparte |
| Father | Victor, Prince Napoléon |
| Mother | Princess Clémentine of Belgium |
| Born | 23 January 1914 Brussels, Belgium |
| Died | 3 May 1997 (aged 83) Prangins, Switzerland |
Louis, Prince Napoléon, (Louis Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie Bonaparte; 23 January 1914 – 3 May 1997) was the claimant to the Imperial throne of France in the Prince Napoléon pretentious line from 1926 until his death.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in Brussels, Belgium, due to a law banning members of the French royal families from residing in France. He was the son of Victor, Prince Napoléon and his wife Princess Clémentine of Belgium, daughter of Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. As a child, Prince Louis spent some time in England where he stayed with Empress Eugénie, the widow of Napoleon III. He was educated in Leuven in Belgium and Lausanne in Switzerland. His father died on 3 May 1926, and so Prince Louis succeeded as the Bonapartist claimant to the French throne at the age of 12 with his mother acting as regent until he came of age.[1]
[edit] World War II and later life
On the outbreak of the World War II Prince Louis wrote to the French Prime Minister, Edouard Daladier, offering to serve in the French Army. His offer was turned down so he assumed the name Louis Blanchard and joined the French Foreign Legion and saw action in North Africa before being demobilised in 1941 following the Armistice. After being demobilised, he joined the French Resistance and was arrested by the Germans after attempting to cross the Pyrenees to get to London to join Free French leader Charles de Gaulle. Following his arrest he spent time in various prisons including Fresnes. Following his release, he joined the French Resistance group Organisation de Résistance dans l'Armee under the name Louis Monnier. Another member of the Charles Martel Brigade that he was part of was his cousin Prince Joachim Murat who was killed in July 1944. Prince Louis himself narrowly escaped death a month later when, on 28 August, he was badly wounded when the seven man patrol he was in was attacked, he was the only one to survive. Following his recovery he joined the Alpine Division and was later decorated for bravery.
After the war, he lived in Switzerland and illegally in Paris until 1950 when the law banning the French royal families was repealed. In his professional life, Prince Louis became a successful businessman with a number of business interests in Africa. In 1951, the prince sent a memorial wreath bearing the Napoleonic 'N' insignia to the funeral of William, German Crown Prince, the former Imperial Crown Prince of Germany and of Prussia, and son of the deposed Wilhelm II, German Emperor. This was seen as an ironic gesture by royalists at the time, given the fact that it was the German house of Hohenzollern who had helped to overthrow Louis Napoleon's own royal house during the Franco-Prussian War decades earlier.
Following Prince Louis' death in Prangins, Switzerland, his will designated his grandson, Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon, as his successor thereby bypassing his son Prince Charles Napoléon.[2]
[edit] Decorations
- Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur
- Croix de guerre 1939-1945.
- Médaille de la Résistance
- Médaille commémorative de la Seconde Guerre mondiale
[edit] Family
Louis married Alix de Foresta (born 1926) on 16 August 1949 at Linières-Bouton. They had four children:
- Charles Marie Jérôme Victor, born 19 October 1950 (current Prince Napoléon)
- Catherine Elisabeth Albérique Marie, born 19 October 1950, married 1stly to Nicolò San Martino d'Agliè dei Marchesi di Fontanetto (div), without issue, and secondly to Jean Pierre Dualé, and had two daughters
- Laure Clémentine Geneviève, born 8 October 1952, married to Jean-Claude Leconte and had one son
- Jérôme Xavier Marie Joseph Victor, born 14 January 1957
[edit] Ancestry
[edit] References
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Louis, Prince Napoléon
Born: 23 January 1914 Died: 3 May 1997 |
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| Titles in pretence | ||
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| Preceded by Napoléon V Victor |
— TITULAR — Emperor of the French 3 May 1926 – 3 May 1997 Reason for succession failure: Empire abolished in 1870 |
Succeeded by Napoléon VII Charles or Jean-Christophe Napoléon |
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