"Napoleon’s Son" Topic

"Three-year-old Francis Bonaparte and his mother Marie Louise, empress and acting regent of France, fled Paris in March 1814 as Allied armies swarmed through France. The two traveled with an Imperial Guard cavalry escort 1,200-strong, capable of defending against irregular Russian cavalry units (Cossacks) operating in their path. Unable to link up with Napoleon—who was leading a doomed final defense—the two sought the safety of Marie Louise's father, Francis I, emperor of Austria, who was traveling with the Austrian forces. He ordered his daughter and grandson to Vienna as the final weeks of the war played out.

Neither would see Napoleon again. Emperor Francis forbade his daughter and grandson to join Napoleon in exile on the island of Elba off the coast of Italy. Napoleon, however, broke the terms of his exile in March 1815 and returned to France, resuming power without a shot fired. Napoleon's defeat on 18 June 1815 at Waterloo resulted in another exile, this time to the British island of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic. Marie Louise became duchess of Parma, an Austrian province in Italy, and sadly, her father did not allow his grandson to join her. Austria and its allies feared that the boy would become a pawn by those wishing to replace the newly reinstalled Bourbon monarchy with another Bonaparte regime…"

Main page

link

Armand

A sad story full of might-have beens. 21 is too young to pass.

That is a very interesting article. The story of "The Wingless Eagle" is usually a very brief footnote to any Napoleonic text, telling us that he was largely separated from his mother as much as his father, languished aimlessly in an Austrian court and died young.

This paints a much more personal picture and is new to me. It is very coy in glossing over how Marie Louise quickly sought and found much solace with her handsome military escort and promptly forgot Boney.

A very nice find, even if nothing to do with wargame campaigns. Made a nice change as such.

Thanks

Have him be killed?…

Armand

I can't help being reminded of Louis Napoleon, the Prince Imperial -- also showed early promise and was enthused by the idea of emulating his famous forebear, but youth, impetuosity, and bad luck brought a premature death. Might "Napoleon II" have gone the same route, in the military career he sought?

Interesting article, thank you Armand for posting.

I have not read anything on the subject, however, the Austrian and then Austro-Hungarian seems to have been an evil institution.

A votre service mon ami…

Armand