Napoleon II of France
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Napoleon II, Duke of Reichstadt (March 20, 1811 – July 22, 1832) was the son of Napoleon Bonaparte, and briefly the second Emperor of the French.
Napoléon François Joseph Charles, known from birth as the King of Rome, was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and his second wife, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. He was styled as HM The King of Rome, which Napoleon I declared was the courtesy title of the heir-apparent.
Three years after his birth in Paris, the First French Empire - to which he was heir - collapsed, and Napoleon abdicated the throne in favour of his infant son, who was taken by the empress to Château de Blois in April 1814. In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon again abdicated in favour of his son.
The Chamber of Representatives and Chamber of Peers recognized him as Emperor from the moment of his father's abdication (June 22, 1815), but the entrance of the Allies into Paris (July 7) put an end to this short-lived regime. Despite his nominal reign, he is not normally referred to as "Napoleon II" except by Bonapartists who also call him the King of Rome. The next Bonaparte to come to the throne of France took the name Napoleon III in deference to his cousin's mostly theoretical reign.
After 1815, the young prince, now known as "Franz," after his maternal grandfather, rather than as "Napoleon," was a virtual captive in Austria. He was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt in 1818. He died of tuberculosis at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna on July 22, 1832. He once said "Had Josephine been my mother, my life would have been different".
It has been suggested<ref>Altman, Gail S. Fatal Links: The Curious Deaths of Beethoven and the Two Napoleons (Paperback). Anubian Press (September 1999). ISBN 1888071028</ref> that his death was the result of deliberate lead or arsenic poisoning at the hands of agents of Metternich's police state.
In 1940 his remains were transferred, as a gift to France from Adolf Hitler, from Vienna to the dome of Les Invalides in Paris, where he rested for some time beside his father, later being moved to the lower church. His heart and intestines remain in Vienna, in urn 42 in the Herzgruft, and his viscera are in urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt in Vienna.
He was also known as "L'Aiglon", or "The Baby Eagle". Edmond Rostand wrote a play, L'Aiglon, about his life. Serbian composer Petar Stojanović composed an operetta "Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt", premiered in Vienna in the 1920s.
[edit] Trivia
- A small stuffed bird is exhibited in one of the chambers in Schönbrunn Palace; apparently the animal was the only friend the young Duke of Reichstadt had.
[edit] Publications
- Welschinger, Le roi de Rome, 1811-32, (Paris, 1897)
- Wertheimer, The Duke of Reichstadt, (London, 1905)
[edit] References
<references/>
| House of Bonaparte Born: 20 March 1811; Died: 22 July 1832 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Regnal Titles | ||
| Preceded by: Napoleon I | Emperor of the French 22 June–7 July 1815 | Vacant Title next held by Napoleon III |
| Preceded by: Napoleon I | French Head of State 22 June - 7 July, 1815 | Succeeded by: Louis XVIII |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Bourbon Restoration | * NOT REIGNING * Emperor of the French (7 July 1815–22 July 1832) | Succeeded by: Joseph Prince Napoléon Line |
| Lucien I Prince Canino Line | ||
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