House of Bonaparte


The House of Bonaparte is a former imperial and royal European dynasty of Italian origin. It was founded in 1804 by Napoleon I, the son of Genoese nobleman Carlo Buonaparte. Napoleon was a French military leader who had risen to power during the French Revolution and who in 1804 transformed the First French Republic into the First French Empire, five years after his coup d'état of November 1799. Napoleon turned the Grande Armée against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, extending the power of the dynasty.
The House of Bonaparte formed the Imperial House of France during the French Empire, together with some non-Bonaparte family members. In addition to holding the title of Emperor of the French, the Bonaparte dynasty held various other titles and territories during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Kingdom of Holland, and the Kingdom of Naples. The dynasty held power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very powerful enemies, such as Austria, Britain, Russia, and Prussia, as well as royalist restorational movements in France, Spain, the Two Sicilies, and Sardinia, the dynasty eventually collapsed due to the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the restoration of former dynasties by the Congress of Vienna.
During the reign of Napoleon I, the Imperial Family consisted of the Emperor's immediate relations – his wife, son, siblings, and some other close relatives, namely his brother-in-law Joachim Murat, his uncle Joseph Fesch, and Eugène de Beauharnais, his stepson.
Between 1852 and 1870, there was a Second French Empire, when a member of the Bonaparte dynasty again ruled France: Napoleon III, the youngest son of Louis Bonaparte. However, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the dynasty was again ousted from the Imperial Throne. Since that time, there has been a series of pretenders. Supporters of the Bonaparte family's claim to the throne of France are known as Bonapartists. Current head Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon, has a Bourbon mother.

Italian origins

The Bonaparte family were patricians in the Italian towns of Sarzana, San Miniato and Florence. The name derives from Italian: buona and parte.
Gianfaldo Buonaparte was the first known Buonaparte at Sarzana around 1200. His descendant Giovanni Buonaparte in 1397 married Isabella Calandrini, a cousin of later cardinal Filippo Calandrini. Giovanni became mayor of Sarzana and was named commissioner of the Lunigiana by Giovanni Maria Visconti in 1408. His daughter, Agnella Berni, was the great-grandmother of Italian poet Francesco Berni and their great-grandson Francesco Buonaparte was an equestrian mercenary at the service of the Genoese Bank of Saint George. In 1490, Francesco Buonaparte went to the island of Corsica, which was controlled by the bank. In 1493, he married the daughter of Guido da Castelletto, representative of the Bank of Saint George in Ajaccio, Corsica. Most of their descendants during subsequent generations were members of the Ajaccio town council. Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, received a patent of nobility from the King of France in 1771.
There also existed a Buonaparte family in Florence; however, its eventual relation with the Sarzana and San Miniato families is unknown. Jacopo Buonaparte of San Miniato was a friend and advisor to Medici Pope Clement VII. Jacopo was also a witness to and wrote an account of the sack of Rome, which is one of the most important historical documents recounting that event. Two of Jacopo's nephews, Pier Antonio Buonaparte and Giovanni Buonaparte, however, took part in the 1527 Medici rebellion, after which they were banished from Florence and later were restored by Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence. Jacopo's brother Benedetto Buonaparte maintained political neutrality. The San Miniato branch extinguished with Jacopo in 1550. The last member of the Florence family was a canon named Gregorio Bonaparte, who died in 1803, leaving Napoleon as heir.
A Buonaparte tomb lies in the Church of San Francesco in San Miniato. Another in Ajaccio, the Chapelle Impériale, was built by Napoleon III in 1857.

Imperial House of France

is the most prominent name associated with the Bonaparte family, because he conquered much of Europe during the early part of the 19th century. Due to his indisputable popularity in France both among the people and in the army, he successfully took part in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, overthrew the Directory with the help of his brother, Lucien Bonaparte, president of the Council of Five Hundred, and participated in the creation of a new Constitution, which allowed him to become the First Consul of France on 10 November 1799. 2 December 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of the French and ruled from 1804 to 1814, and again in 1815 during the "Hundred Days" after his return from Elba.
Following his conquest of most of Western Europe, Napoleon I made his elder brother Joseph king first of Naples and then of Spain, his younger brother Louis King of Holland, and his youngest brother Jérôme King of Westphalia, the short-lived realm created from some of the states of northwestern Germany.
Napoleon's son Napoléon François Charles Joseph was created King of Rome and was later styled as Napoléon II by loyalists of the dynasty, though he only ruled for two weeks after his father's abdication.
Louis-Napoléon, son of Louis, was President of France and then Emperor of the French, reigning as Napoleon III. His son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial, died fighting the Zulus in Natal, today the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. With his death, the family lost much of its remaining political appeal, though claimants continue to assert their right to the imperial title. A political movement for Corsican independence surfaced in the 1990s which included a Bonapartist restoration in its programme.

Crowns held by the family

Emperors of the French

Disputed since 1997:
married Maria Letizia Ramolino in 1764. He was a minor official in the local courts. They had eight children:
  1. Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, then King of Spain, married Julie Clary, sister of Napoleon's childhood sweetheart, Désirée, who was to become the wife of General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
  2. *Julie Joséphine Bonaparte
  3. *Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte
  4. *Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte
  5. Napoléon Bonaparte Emperor of the French
  6. *Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, Prince Imperial, King of Rome, Prince of Parma, son of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, Empress consort, then Duchess of Parma
  7. Lucien Bonaparte Roman Prince of Canino and Musignano
  8. *3 daughters with first wife, Christine Boyer:
  9. **Charlotte Philistine Bonaparte, married Prince Mario Gabrielli
  10. **Victoire Gertrude Bonaparte
  11. **Christine Charlotte Alexandrine Egypta Bonaparte, married Count Arvid Posse, then married Lord Dudley Stuart
  12. *10 children with second wife, Alexandrine de Bleschamp:
  13. **Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, ornithologist and politician married Princess Zénaïde Bonaparte
  14. ***Joseph Lucien Charles Napoléon Bonaparte
  15. ***Alexandrine Gertrude Zénaïde Bonaparte
  16. ***Lucien Louis Joseph Napoléon Bonaparte
  17. ***Julie Charlotte Pauline Zénaïde Laetitia Désirée Bartholomée Bonaparte
  18. ***Charlotte Honorine Joséphine Pauline Bonaparte
  19. ***Léonie Stéphanie Elise Bonaparte
  20. ***Marie Désirée Eugénie Joséphine Philomène Bonaparte
  21. ***Augusta Amélie Maximilienne Jacqueline Bonaparte
  22. ***Napoléon Charles Grégoire Jacques Philippe Bonaparte
  23. ****Zénaïde Victoire Eugénie Bonaparte
  24. ****Marie Léonie Eugénie Mathilde Jeanne Julie Zénaïde Bonaparte
  25. ****Eugénie Laetitia Barbe Caroline Lucienne Marie Jeanne Bonaparte
  26. ***Bathilde Aloïse Léonie Bonaparte
  27. ***Albertine Marie Thérèse Bonaparte
  28. ***Charles Albert Edmond Bonaparte
  29. **Laetitia Christine Bonaparte
  30. **Joseph Lucien Bonaparte
  31. **Jeanne Adélaïde Bonaparte
  32. **Paul Marie Bonaparte
  33. **Louis Lucien Bonaparte
  34. **Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte married Éléonore-Justine Ruflin
  35. ***Roland Bonaparte married Marie-Félix Blanc
  36. ****Princess Marie Bonaparte married Prince George of Greece
  37. ***Princess Jeanne Bonaparte
  38. **Antoine Lucien Bonaparte
  39. **Alexandrine Marie Bonaparte
  40. **Constance Marie Bonaparte
  41. Maria-Anna Elisa Bonaparte, Grand-Duchess of Tuscany, married Félix Baciocchi, Prince of Lucca
  42. * Marie-Laetitia Bonaparte Baciocchi
  43. Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, married Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepdaughter
  44. *Napoléon Charles Bonaparte
  45. *Napoléon Louis Bonaparte
  46. *Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte Emperor of the French, married Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augustina Palafox de Guzmán Portocarrero y Kirkpatrick
  47. **Napoléon Eugène Louis John Joseph Bonaparte, Prince Imperial
  48. Maria Paola or Marie Pauline Bonaparte Princess and Duchess of Guastalla, married in 1797 to French General Charles Leclerc and later married Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona.
  49. Maria Annunziata Caroline Bonaparte married Joachim Murat, Marshal of France, Grand Duke of Berg, then King of Naples
  50. *Prince Achille Murat, married Catherine Willis Gray, great-grandniece of George Washington.
  51. *Prince Napoléon Lucien Charles Murat, married Caroline Georgina Fraser.
  52. **5 Children, including:
  53. ** Joachim Joseph Napoléon Murat, 4th Prince Murat, Major-General of the French Army, married firstly Malcy Louise Caroline Berthier de Wagram and had issue, and secondly Lydia Hervey, without issue.
  54. **Prince Louis Napoléon Murat, married in Odessa, Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova, had issue now extinct in male line.
  55. Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia
  56. *1 child from first marriage, to Betsy Patterson of Baltimore:
  57. **Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte, married Susan May Williams and had 2 sons :
  58. ***Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, married Caroline Le Roy Appleton Edgar
  59. ****Louise-Eugénie Bonaparte, married in 1896 Count Adam Carl von Moltke-Huitfeld ; numerous descendants
  60. ****Jerome Napoléon Charles Bonaparte III, married Blanche Pierce Stenbeigh, no posterity
  61. ***Charles Joseph Bonaparte, United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Attorney General, married Ellen Channing Day, no issue
  62. *3 children from second marriage, to Princess Catharina of Württemberg:
  63. **Jérôme Napoléon Charles Bonaparte I, unmarried and childless
  64. **Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte, married Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato: no posterity
  65. **Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon, called Plon-Plon married Princess Marie Clothilde of Savoy daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
  66. ***Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon married Princess Clémentine of Belgium
  67. ****Marie Clotilde Eugénie Alberte Laetitia Geneviève Bonaparte married Count Serge de Witt
  68. ****Louis Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon, married Alix de Foresta
  69. *****Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon
  70. ******Two children from first marriage, to Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies:
  71. *******Caroline Marie Constance Bonaparte
  72. *******Jean-Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon
  73. ******1 child and 1 adopted child from second marriage, to Jeanne-Françoise Valliccioni:
  74. *******Sophie Catherine Bonaparte
  75. *******Anh Laëtitia Bonaparte
  76. *****Catherine Elisabeth Albérique Marie Bonaparte
  77. *****Laure Clémentine Geneviève Bonaparte
  78. *****Jérôme Xavier Marie Joseph Victor Bonaparte , married in 2013 with Licia Innocenti
  79. ***Napoléon Louis Joseph Jérôme Bonaparte Russian General, unmarried and childless
  80. ***Marie Laetitia Eugénie Catherine Adélaïde Bonaparte married Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta

    Bonaparte arms

The arms of the Bonaparte family were: Gules two bends sinister between two mullets or. In 1804, Napoleon I changed the arms to Azure an imperial eagle or. The change applied to all members of his family except for his brother Lucien and his nephew, the son from Jerome's first marriage.

DNA research

According to studies by G. Lucotte and his coauthors based on DNA research since 2011, Napoleon Bonaparte belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup E1b1b1c1*. This haplogroup, rare in Europe, has its highest concentration in Ethiopia and in the Near East. According to the authors of the study, "Probably Napoléon also knew his remote oriental patrilineal origins, because Francesco Buonaparte, who was a mercenary under the orders of the Genoa Republic in Ajaccio in 1490, was nicknamed The Maure of Sarzane." The latest study identifies the common Bonaparte DNA markers from Carlo Bonaparte to 3 living descendants.
Lucotte et al. published in October 2013 the extended Y-STR of Napoleon I based on descendant testing, and the descendants were E-M34, just like the emperor's beard hair tested a year before. The persons tested were the patrilineal descendants of Jérome Bonaparte, one of Napoleon's brothers, and of Alexandre Colonna-Walewski, Napoleon's illegitimate son with Marie Walewska. These three tests all yielded the same Y-STR haplotype confirming with 100% certainty that the first Emperor of the French belonged to the M34 branch of haplogroup E1b1b.

Living members

, and his son Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon currently dispute the headship of the Bonaparte family. The only other male member of the family is Charles's recently married brother, Prince Jérôme Napoléon. There are no other legitimate descendants in the male line from Napoleon I or from his brothers.
There are, however, numerous descendants of Napoleon's illegitimate but unacknowledged son, Count Alexandre Colonna-Walewski, born from Napoleon I's union with Marie, Countess Walewski. A descendant of Napoleon's sister Caroline Bonaparte was the late actor René Auberjonois. Recent DNA-matches with living descendants of Jérôme and Count Walewski have confirmed the existence of descendants of Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, namely the Clovis family.