Louis Bonaparte
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Louis I Napoleon Bonaparte, King of Holland, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, Count of Saint-Leu (Lodewijk Napoleon in Dutch) (September 2, 1778 – July 25, 1846) was the fifth surviving child and fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino.
Louis was born in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was a younger brother of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon I of France, Lucien Bonaparte and Elisa Bonaparte. He was an older brother of Pauline Bonaparte, Caroline Bonaparte and Jérôme Bonaparte.
His early career was spent in the army and he served with Napoleon in Egypt. Thanks to Napoleon he was a General by the age of 25, though he himself felt that he had been risen too far and too fast.
King of Holland
His brother Napoleon made him king of Holland on June 5, 1806. Intended by his older brother as little more than a French governor, Louis took his duties as King seriously, calling himself King Lodewijk I (adopting the Dutch form of his name), attempting to learn the Dutch language and trying hard to be a responsible, independent ruler of Holland. When he first arrived in Holland, he told the people he was the Konijn van 'Olland (rabbit of Olland), because his Dutch was not yet good enough. This however was special, because he showed he was at least trying to speak Dutch.During his reign, Holland was struck by two major tragedies: the explosion of a ship filled with gunpowder in the heart of the city of Leiden in 1807, and a major flooding in 1809. In both tragedies, Louis personally and effectively oversaw local relief efforts, which helped earn him the moniker of Louis the Good.
Napoleon, accusing Louis of putting Dutch interests above those of France, forced him to abdicate on July 1, 1810.
Louis Bonaparte had also been created the Count of Saint-Leu. He was created Constable of France in 1808, a strictly honorary title. He was also Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves from 1809 to 1813 under the reign name of Karl Ludwig Napoléon.
After the death of his elder brother Joseph in 1844, Louis was seen by Bonapartists as the rightful Emperor of the French, although he took little action himself to advance the claim. (His son and heir, the future Napoleon III, on the other hand, was at that time imprisoned in France for having tried to engineer a Bonapartist coup d'etat).
Louis died on July 25, 1846, and is buried at Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Île-de-France.
Marriage and children
Louis was married on January 4, 1802 to Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of deceased general Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and his wife Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie. Josephine was the first wife of his brother Napoleon. Thus Hortense was also a niece-by-marriage to Louis.The marriage had been forced upon them and was quite loveless. As a rule the Bonapartes, with the exception of Napoleon, loathed the Beauharnais. Louis even doubted the legitimacy of his sons.
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais had three sons:
- Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, born December 10, 1802, Prince Royal of Holland. When he died on May 5, 1807 at 4½ years of age, his body lay in state at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He is buried at Saint-Leu-La-Foret, Ile-de-France.
- Napoleon Louis Bonaparte, born October 11, 1804. Became Prince Royal of Holland on his brother's death, and was King Lodewijk II for one week between his father's abdication and the fall of Holland to Napoleon's invading army. He died on March 17, 1831, and is buried at Saint-Leu-La-Foret, Île-de-France.
- Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, (1808-1873). Born in Paris, he was the third and last son, and would become Emperor Napoleon III of France (1852-1870).
See also
Louis II |- |-style="text-align: center; background: #ffccff;" |align="center" colspan="3"|Titles in Pretence
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|width="30%" align="center" rowspan=""|Preceded by:
Joseph Bonaparte
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan=""|Succeeded by:
Louis Napoleon
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