Napoleon II

Napoleon II
Emperor of the French
Reign	4 April 1814 – 11 April 1814 22 June 1815 – 7 July 1815
Predecessor	Napoleon I as Emperor of the French; Napoleon II's succession was not officially proclaimed as the Bourbon Restoration was proclaimed immediately after the abdication of Napoleon I.
Successor	Louis XVIII as Bourbon king of France
Duke of Reichstadt
Reign	1818–1821
Predecessor	Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
Successor	Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
Full name
Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte
Father	Napoleon I
Mother	Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Born	(1811-03-20)20 March 1811 Tuileries Palace, Paris, France
Died	22 July 1832(1832-07-22) (aged 21) Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

Napoléon II (20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832), after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria. By Title III, article 9 of the French Constitution of the time, he was Prince Imperial, but he was also known from birth as the King of Rome which Napoleon I declared was the courtesy title of the heir-apparent. He was widely known in France as "the Eaglet". When his father abdicated on 4 April 1814, he named his son Emperor, but the coalition partners that had defeated Napoleon refused to acknowledge his son as successor, so he was forced to abdicate unconditionally a week later. Although he never actually ruled France, he was the titular Emperor and he is still generally referred to by historians as Napoleon II.

Biography

Birth

Napoleon II as an infant, François Gérard

Between 8 and 9 o'clock PM on 19 March, Empress Marie Louise began to experience the first pains of labour. The princes and princesses of the family, as well as the grand dignitaries, ministers, grand-officiers of the crown, grand-officiers of the Empire and the ladies and officers of the household, informed of this by the lady-in-waiting, assembled at the Tuileries Palace. On 20 March 1811, at 9:20 AM, a baby boy weighing 9 pounds (4.1 kg), with a height of 20 inches (51 cm) was born at Tuileries. He was ondoyed (a traditional French ceremony which can relate to a concise baptism) by Joseph Fesch, with his full name Napoleon François Charles Joseph.

The baptism, inspired by the baptismal ceremony of Louis, Grand Dauphin of France, was held on 9 June 1811 in Paris' Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, Austrian ambassador of France, wrote of the baptism:

“

[...] the baptism ceremony was beautiful and impressive; the scene in which the emperor took the infant from the arms of his noble mother and raised him up twice to reveal him to the public [thus breaking from traditional, as he did at his coronation] was loudly applauded; in the monarch's manner and face could be seen the great satisfaction that he took from this solemn moment.

”

He was put in the care of Louise Charlotte Françoise Le Tellier de Montesquiou, a descendant of François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, who was named Governess of the Children of France. Affectionate and intelligent, the governess assembled a considerable collection of books intended to give the infant a strong grounding in religion, philosophy and military matters.

Succession rights

As Napoleon I's eldest legitimate son, he was already constitutionally Prince Imperial and heir-apparent, but the Emperor also gave his son the style "His Majesty the King of Rome". Three years later, the First French Empire, to which he was heir, collapsed.

Napoleon saw his second wife and their son for the last time on 24 January 1814. On 4 April 1814, Napoleon abdicated in favour of his toddler son after the Six Days' Campaign and the Battle of Paris. The three-year-old became Emperor of the French under the regnal name Napoleon II. However, a week later, Napoleon fully abdicated and renounced not only his rights to the French throne, but his descendants' also. Treaty of Fontainebleau gave the child the right to assume the title Prince of Parma and his mother was soon styled Duchess of Parma.

Reign

Napoleon, as Duke of Reichstadt in Austrian military uniform (Painting by Moritz Daffinger)

On 29 March 1814, accompanied by her suite, the empress left the Tuileries Palace with her son. Their first stop was the Château de Rambouillet; then, fearing the advancing enemy troops, they continued on to the Château de Blois. On 13 April, with her suite much diminished, Marie-Louise and the three-year-old King of Rome were back in Rambouillet where they met her father, the Emperor Francis II of Austria, and the Emperor Alexander I of Russia. On 23 April, escorted by an Austrian regiment, mother and son left Rambouillet and France forever, for their exile in Austria.

In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son, whom he had not seen since his exile to Elba, for a second time.

The day after Napoleon's abdication, a Commission of Government of five members took the rule of France, awaiting the return of King Louis XVIII, who was in Le Cateau-Cambrésis. The Commission held the power for two weeks, and it never summoned Napoleon II as emperor, and no regent was ever appointed. The entrance of the Allies into Paris on 7 July brought a rapid end to his supporters' wishes. Napoleon II, aged four, was residing in Austria with his mother and was probably never aware at the time that he had been proclaimed Emperor on his father's abdication. The next Bonaparte to come to the throne of France (in 1852) took the name Napoleon III in deference to his cousin's titular reign.

Life in Austria

After 1815, the young prince, now known as "Franz" (after his maternal grandfather, Emperor Francis of Austria), lived in Austria. He was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt in 1818.

Upon the death of his stepfather, Neipperg, and the revelation that his mother had borne two illegitimate children to him prior to her marriage, Franz said to his friend, Prokesch von Osten, "'If Josephine had been my mother, my father would not have been buried at Saint Helena, and I should not be at Vienna. My mother is kind but weak; she was not the wife my father deserved".

He died of tuberculosis at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna on 22 July 1832.

Disposition of his remains

Tomb of Napoleon II in Les Invalides, Paris

On 15 December 1940, the remains of Napoléon II were transferred from Vienna to the dome of Les Invalides in Paris. This was done as a gift to France by Adolf Hitler. The remains of Napoleon I had been returned to France in December 1840, at the time of the July Monarchy. For some time, the young prince who had briefly been an Emperor rested beside his father. Later the remains of the prince were moved to the lower church. While most of his remains were transferred to Paris, his heart and intestines remained in Vienna. They are in Urn 42 in the "Heart Crypt" (Herzgruft) and his viscera are in Urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt.

Legacy

Napoléon II was also known as "The Eaglet" (L'Aiglon). Edmond Rostand wrote a play, L'Aiglon, about his life. Serbian composer Petar Stojanović composed the operetta Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt, which premiered in Vienna in the 1920s. Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert collaborated on an opera, L'Aiglon, which premiered in 1937. Pet Shop Boys used him as an emblem of loneliness amid wealth in their 2009 track "King of Rome," on their album Yes. The journalist Henri Rochefort joked Napoleon II, having never really governed, was France's best leader, since he brought no war, taxes or tyranny.

Coats of arms of Napoleon II

• 

  Coat of arms, as the King of Rome.

• 

  Coat of arms, as the Emperor of the French (titular).

• 

  Coat of arms, as the Duke of Reichstadt.

Sources

• Welschinger, Le roi de Rome, 1811–32, (Paris, 1897)
• Wertheimer, The Duke of Reichstadt, (London, 1905)

External links

• Media related to Napoleon II of France at Wikimedia Commons
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Napoleon II". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Spencer Napoleonica Collection at Newberry Library

Napoleon II House of Bonaparte Born: 20 March 1811 Died: 22 July 1832
Titles in pretence
Loss of title Bourbon Restoration	— TITULAR — Emperor of the French 22 June 1815 – 22 July 1832	Succeeded by Joseph Bonaparte
French royalty
Preceded by Joseph Bonaparte	Heir to the Throne as Heir apparent 20 March 1811—11 April 1814	Succeeded by Charles, Count of Artois
Preceded by Charles, Count of Artois	Heir to the Throne as Heir apparent 20 March 1815—22 June 1815	Succeeded by Joseph Bonaparte