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Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, III

Male 1808 - 1873  (64 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and 55 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Napoleon Bonaparte 
    Prefix Emperor 
    Suffix III 
    Birth 20 Apr 1808  Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Prominent People 1848-1852 
    Death 9 Jan 1873  Chislehurst, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Siblings 2 Siblings 
    Association Fürst Giuseppe Poniatowski (Relationship: befriended) 
    Person ID I2567  Geneagraphie | B(u)onaparte family
    Links To This person is also Napoleon III at Wikipedia 
    Last Modified 16 Aug 2016 

    Father King Louis Bonaparte,   b. 2 Sep 1778, Aiacciu, Corse-du-Sud, Corse, Collectivité Territoriale Unique Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Jul 1846, Livorno, Toscana, Italia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 67 years) 
    Mother Duchess Hortense Beauharnais,   b. 10 Apr 1783, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Oct 1837, Arenensberg, Confoederatio Helvetica Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 54 years) 
    Marriage 4 Jan 1802  Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Divorce 1810 
    Family ID F1048  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Condesa Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augusta de Montijo Palafox y Kirkpatrick,   b. 5 May 1826, Granada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jul 1920, Madrid, España Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 94 years) 
    Marriage 29 Jan 1853  Château des Tuileries Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Prince Napoléon Louis Eugène Jean Joseph Bonaparte,   b. 16 Mar 1856, Château des Tuileries,, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1 Jun 1879, Ulundi, Zoulouland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 23 years)
    Family ID F1049  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 26 Jul 2006 

    Family 2 Eleonore Veugeot-Camus,   b. 3 Sep 1820, Estouilly (Ham), Somme Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Aug 1886, Les Vesinet, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 65 years) 
    Children 
    +1. Comte Eugene Alexandre Louis Bure,   b. 25 Feb 1843, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 Feb 1910, Saint-André-de-Seignanx Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 66 years)
    +2. Comte Louis Ernest Alexandre Bure,   b. 19 Mar 1845, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Feb 1882, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 36 years)
    Family ID F15968  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2000 

    Family 3 Julie Leboeuf,   b. 10 Jun 1838, Saint Lambert-lez-Levee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Nov 1886, Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 48 years) 
    Children 
     1. Charles Blanc,   b. 24 Feb 1864, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 6 Feb 1902, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years)
    Family ID F15969  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2000 

    Family 4 Elisabeth Rachel Félix,   b. 18 Feb 1820, Mumpf, Rheinfelden, Argau, Confoederatio Helvetica Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 04 Jan 1858, Le Canet, Alpes Maritimes Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years) 
    Marriage Type: Relation  
    Family ID F377891  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 14 Apr 2014 

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 20 Apr 1808 - Paris, Île-de-France, France Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 9 Jan 1873 - Chislehurst, Kent, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Photos Photos (Log in)Photos (Log in)

  • Notes 
    • Pr français (Imperial Highness) and Pr of Holland, President of France 10 Dec 1848, became Napoléon III, Emperor of the French 2 Dec 1852.

      Emperor of the French People (1852-1870).
      Charles-Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was the son of Louis Bonaparte, King of the Low Countries, and nephew of Napoleon I. He lived in exile after the fall of the Empire and, having secretly become a member of the carbonari, became involved in revolutionary movements in the Papal States in 1831 . The death of Napoleon I's son, the Duke of Reichstadt, in 1832 made him the leader and hope of the dynasty. He twice attempted to overthrow King Louis-Philippe I (1836 and 1840). After the failure of his second attempt, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and interned in Ham Fort. He escaped in 1846 and reached Britain. The 1848 revolution enabled him to return to France. Taking advantage of the popularity and prestige linked to the name of his uncle, the Emperor, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected to the Constituent Assembly then, on 10th December 1848, he became President of the Republic with a crushing majority. He manoeuvred skilfully and let the Assembly fall into disrepute through its conservative measures. He then took centre stage as the defender of universal suffrage. He ensured that his popularity was maintained by touring the provinces. Once the Assembly had rejected a constitutional change which would have enabled the President to stand for reselection, Louis-Napoleon organi­sed the coup d 'etat of 2nd December 1851, facing only token resistance. The January 1852 Constitution gave him full power. The Prince-President then had to re-establish the Empire. Having sounded out French public opinion by travelling throughout the country and having reassured an anxious Europe, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte decla­red himself to be Emperor of the French People under the title Napoleon III on 2nd December 1852. Until 1860, the Empire was authoritarian - the dictatorial regime that had been created by the coup d'etat of 2nd December 1851 remained in place, unchanged. Despite the re-establishment of universal suffrage, the principle of an official candidate in fact suppressed any opposition. Moreover, any discontent was quickly quashed by the police or by exile. The press was subject to controls and uni­versities were under close surveillance. On an economic level, the Second Empire marked the arrival of the industrial era in France (leading banks were set up, the transport system developed, free trade was instigated, industrial output rose sharply and major construction work was undertaken in Paris under Baron Haussmann) yet the new prosperity did not benefit the working classes whose working and living conditions remained very difficult. In foreign policy, Napoleon III quickly took up arms again and involved France in foreign conflicts, firstly in the Crimean War where it fought alongside Britain to support the Ottoman Empire against Russia (1855-1856) then in Italy where it helped the Piedmont to achieve Italian unity and fight Austria (1859). These successes strengthened the Emperor's prestige, especial­ly as France annexed Savoy and Nice in 1860 in the face of more marked opposi­tion within the country. The Catholics were hostile to his Italian policy, industrialists were unhappy about the free trade treaty signed with Britain in 1860, Republican opposition began to become apparent again, and there was general unrest within the working classes as a result of the creation of the First International. Napoleon III changed course and aimed at establishing a liberal Empire. He granted the Chambers the right of address (1860), another law granted workers the right to strike and form coalitions (1864), the press was liberalised and a right of meeting was granted (1868). These measures led to strong progress for the opposition during the elections of 1869 and, in April 1870, Napoleon III proclaimed a liberal Empire, a change that received massive approval in a plebiscite organised in May. However, it was on the international scene that the Empire was beginning to suffer its greatest defeats. Although colonial expansion continued (Indochina, New Caledonia), Napoleon III was singularly unsuccessful abroad. The Mexico Expedition (1862-1867) led to a humiliating defeat and the Emperor's prestige suffered badly as a result. His European policy, which involved encouraging German unity to the detriment of Austria, merely reinforced Prussian power, especially as Napoleon III brought dis­credit on himself by asking for compensation. This policy inevitably led to confron­tation between France and the German States which Bismarck dreamt of unifying. The Emperor then made a mistake in 1870 by involving France, without adequate military preparation (the Niel Law was only passed in 1868) or diplomatic efforts, alone and without any allies, in a war against Prussia with the whole of Germany behind it. The beginning of the war was marked by numerous defeats for the French army. The Emperor himself was encircled in Sedan on 2nd September. He was for­ced to capitulate and the military disaster led to the downfall of the imperial regime. On 4th September 1870, the Republic was proclaimed. Napoleon III, who was freed after the end of the war, went into exile In Britain where he died in 1873.
      *************************************************************
      Napoleon III was trapped with the bulk of the army in Sedan and had to surrender to Bismarck: 1st september 1870. he is then interned in the castle of Wilhelmshöhe near Cassel. On march 1 1871, the National Assembly in Bordeaux confirmed his destitution and stated that "he was responsible for the defeat, ruin and dismemberment of France". From then on, he was of no interest to the germans (he actually never really had been...). He decided to exile himself in England. The good relations the imperial regime had had with Victorian britain bore its fruits. He was acclaimed as he landed at Dover (he was the first surprised) and settled in Chislehurst (Kent) in a fine country mansion: Camden Place (20 March 1871).

      Napoleon had in fact been a very sick man for several years. he had a serious bladder stone condition and this ruled out any hope of him trying to regain power in France. All hopes were left with the Prince Impérial who went on to study at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich.

      On the 9th january 1873, after an attempt at surgery to remove the stone, Napoleon III died.

      His only son, died in 1879 during the Zulu war a brilliant and brave officer. He was buried in Farnborough in the presence of Queen Victoria and a monument is dedicated to him in Windsor.

      Eugenie, the empress was bestowed with an exceptionnally long life, born in 1826, she died in 1920 in her native Spain - happy to see France victorious again.
      *************************************************************************
      President of the Second French Republic (1848--52) and emperor of the French (1852--70), born in Paris. After the death of Napoleon II he became the head of the Napoleonic dynasty. He made two abortive attempts on the French throne (1836, 1840), for which he was imprisoned. He escaped to England (1846), but when the Bonapartist tide swept France after the 1848 revolution he was elected first to the Assembly and then to the presidency (1848). Engineering the dissolution of the constitution, he assumed the title of emperor, and in 1853 married Eugénie de Montijo de Guzman (1826--1920), a Spanish countess, who bore him a son, the Prince Imperial, Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Napoleon (1856). He actively encouraged economic expansion and the modernization of Paris, while externally the Second Empire coincided with the Crimean conflict (1854--6), the expeditions to China (1857--60), the annexation (1860) of Savoy and Nice, and the ill-starred intervention in Mexico (1861--7). Encouraged by the empress, he unwisely declared war on Prussia in 1870, and suffered humiliating defeat, culminating in the Battle of Sedan. Confined at Wilhelmshohe until 1871, he went into exile in England.



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