Napoléon Louis Bonaparte

Napoléon-Louis Bonaparte (11 October 1804 – 17 March 1831) was King of Holland for less than two weeks in July 1810 as Louis II. He was a son of King Louis I and Queen Hortense. His father was the younger brother of Napoléon I, Emperor of the French, and ruled Holland from 1806 to 1810. His mother was the daughter of Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoléon's first wife. His younger brother, Louis-Napoléon, became Emperor of the French as Napoléon III.

Louis II
King of Holland
Reign1 July 1810 – 13 July 1810
PredecessorLouis I
Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves
Reign3 March 1809 – 1 December 1813
PredecessorJoachim I
RegentNapoleon
Born11 October 1804
Paris, First French Empire
Died17 March 1831(1831-03-17) (aged 26)
Forlì, Papal States
Burial
Saint-Leu-la-Forêt
SpouseCharlotte Bonaparte
HouseBonaparte
FatherLouis I of Holland
MotherHortense de Beauharnais
Royal styles of
Louis II of Holland
Reference styleHis Majesty
Spoken styleYour Majesty

Background

Napoléon Louis's elder brother, Napoléon Charles, died in 1807 at the age of four. On his death, Napoléon Louis became Prince Royal of Holland. It also made Napoléon Louis the second eldest nephew of Emperor Napoléon I, who at the time had no legitimate children, and he was his uncle's likely eventual successor. He lost this presumptive status on 20 March 1811 when his uncle's second wife, Marie Louise, gave birth to a son, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, who was styled the King of Rome and later the Duke of Reichstadt.

In 1809, Napoléon I appointed him as Grand Duke of Berg, a status he kept until 1813.

On 1 July 1810, Louis I of Holland abdicated his throne in favour of Napoléon Louis.[1] For the nine days between his father's abdication and the fall of Holland to the invading French army in July 1810, Napoléon Louis reigned as Lodewijk II, King of Holland.

When Napoléon I was deposed in 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo, the House of Bourbon was restored to the throne of France. Napoléon Louis fled into exile, but the Bonapartes never abandoned the thought of restoring the Napoleonic Empire.

On 23 of July, 1826 Napoléon Louis married his first cousin, Charlotte, who was the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoléon I. He and his younger brother Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte settled in Italy, where they espoused liberal politics and became involved with the Carbonari, an organization fighting Austria's domination of northern Italy.

On 17 March 1831, while fleeing Italy due to a crackdown on revolutionary activity by Papal and Austrian troops, Napoléon Louis, suffering from measles, died in Forlì.[2] Eventually, the Napoleonic Empire was restored by Napoléon Louis's younger brother, Charles-Louis, who became Napoléon III in 1852.

Napoléon Louis is buried at Saint-Leu-La-Foret, Île-de-France.

Arms
  • Coat of arms of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg
  • Coat of arms of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as King of Holland

References
  1. Foissy, M. (1830). La famille Bonaparte depuis 1264 (in French). Paris: Vergne. p. 101.
  2. Bresler 1999, pp. 94–95
Napoléon Louis Bonaparte
Born: 11 October 1804 Died: 17 March 1831
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Louis I		 King of Holland
1 July 1810 – 13 July 1810		 Vacant
Title next held by
William I
as King of the Netherlands
Preceded by
Joachim I		 Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves
3 March 1809 – 1 December 1813		 Title abolished
Dutch royalty
Preceded by
Napoléon Charles Bonaparte		 Heir to the Dutch throne
as Prince Royal of Holland
5 May 1807 – 1 July 1810		 Vacant
Title next held by
William Frederick
as Prince of Orange
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