Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821 on the secluded island of St. Helens in the Atlantic Ocean, where the deposed emperor was sent into exile. He was buried on this island. Almost twenty years later, his remains were transported to France and now rest in the Paris Invalides.

As you know, Napoleon tried several times to escape from St. Helena, but all such attempts ended in failure. However, there is an assumption that Bonaparte still managed to escape. A similar version is shared by some historians, including the American researcher T. Wheeler. In 1974, his book “Who Lies Here” was published in New York. New research on the last years of Napoleon."

Wheeler's hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the following curious fact. A letter has been preserved from the wife of the French general Bertrand, who in August 1818 wrote from St. Helena to Paris: “Victory, victory! Napoleon left the island." This letter was intercepted by the British, and the prisoner's security was strengthened.

This is not the only legend associated with the mysterious rescue of Napoleon. On August 7, 1815, when the English ship with Napoleon was already approaching the island of St. Helena, a man calling himself Felix appeared in a village in the French Alps. He looked exactly like a deposed monarch. The peasants immediately notified the local authorities about this. The royal gendarmes quickly arrived, arrested Felix and put him in prison. No one else saw this mysterious man...

In 1822, the secretary of the prefecture of the city of Mand, Armand Marquise, reported that the new curate, Father Hilarion, who bought a dilapidated castle near the city, bore a striking resemblance to the deposed emperor. He had the opportunity to see this for himself. This story, however, had no continuation. Apparently, Father Hilarion managed to convince the authorities that he was not Bonaparte.

The French emperor had several doubles. Since 1808, one of them was Corporal François Rabot. After Napoleon's abdication and exile, Rabaud returned to his native village in the department of Meuse and took up peasant labor. In the fall of 1818, a richly dressed gentleman with a military bearing appeared in his village, looking for “his old friend Francois.” Soon Rabo and his sister disappeared from the village.

The police searched for the former corporal throughout France and finally found his sister in the city of Tours, who suddenly became rich. When asked where her brother was, she answered, laughing, that he became a sailor and went on a long voyage. They got nothing more from her...

According to Wheeler, Francois Rabaud was brought to St. Helena and replaced as the emperor. The corporal had successfully played the role of the French ex-emperor since the autumn of 1818; in any case, the British authorities did not seem to suspect anything. By the way, all that the English sentries could do was look through the window into Napoleon’s bedroom once a day to make sure that he was still there. Even the commissars of the Allied powers could not visit the deposed emperor.

Outwardly, Napoleon did not change, but he became forgetful and was often confused about the obvious facts of his former life. And his handwriting became different. Some of his inner circle soon returned to France. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon (or Francois Rabaud) died, according to the official version from stomach cancer.

What about Bonaparte who fled, where did he go? According to Wheeler, Napoleon went to Italy, to Verona. Together with his companion, the Italian Petrucci, he opened a small optics and jewelry store there. The people of Verona rarely saw this Frenchman, who looked very much like Napoleon. His name was Monsieur Revard; he was almost never in the city or even in his store. Five years passed like this.

Another thirty years passed. Petrucci, already an old man, suddenly appeared before the magistrate and made a statement under oath that his companion in Verona for five years was Napoleon Bonaparte himself. So says the legend.

The letter that so suddenly moved Napoleon-Révard from his seat was supposedly from his wife Marie-Louise, the former French Empress, who, after her husband's expulsion, returned with her son to Vienna. In the letter, she wrote that his twelve-year-old son, Francois-Charles-Joseph, was seriously ill with scarlet fever. Napoleon immediately went to Vienna. On the night of September 4, 1823, he climbed over the stone fence of Schönbrunn Palace and was shot by sentries.

In the morning, the police arrived at the scene, drew up a report and left. Marie-Louise ordered to bury the murdered man in the park in an unmarked grave, but next to her family crypt...

In 1956, London officially announced that part of Napoleon's intestines with traces of a bayonet or bullet wound was stored in Britain. Perhaps these were traces of that tragic September night in 1823?

There is another version concerning the last years of Napoleon’s life and his death. In 1969, a book by two French historians entitled “The British, Give Us Back Napoleon” was published in France. It was stated there that in May 1821, it was not Napoleon or Rabo who was buried on St. Helena, but the former housekeeper of the emperor, the Italian Francesco Cipriani.

Now let’s move away from all kinds of legends and traditions concerning the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, and try to approach the events of almost two centuries ago somewhat objectively. Let's assume that in the fall of 1818 it was possible to replace the French emperor with his double, and Napoleon managed to escape from the island. In the United States, in New Orleans, there was then a large colony of French Bonapartists led by Napoleon's elder brother. There Bonaparte could live quite legally, surrounded by honor and respect. What was he supposed to do in Europe, especially in Italy, which was then largely occupied by Austrian troops?

François Rabaud was indeed Napoleon's double, but after he returned to his village in 1815, traces of him were lost. Everything else is a legend, the authenticity of which can no longer be verified.

The papers that Napoleon Bonaparte wrote and dictated in the last years and even months of his life contain references to hundreds of things, many details that could only be known to the emperor. Napoleon did not experience any memory loss.

Apparently, the former Emperor of the French actually died in exile in 1821. He died quite early: he was not even 52 years old. His death on a distant Atlantic island gave rise to many rumors, and then legends that have survived to this day.

Scientists from a research team led by Dr. Robert M. Genta from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas were able to make a definitive diagnosis of Napoleon's death. According to them, the death of the emperor is explained by the first known official version.

Recall that after defeat in the war in 1815, Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena, where he died six years later at the age of 52.

According to the results of an autopsy carried out soon, the cause of death was stomach cancer. However, after arsenic was discovered in Napoleon's hair in 1961, rumors of poisoning began to spread. This murder was beneficial to many: it could prevent Bonaparte’s escape from the island and his further political activity.

However, if you believe the results of a new comprehensive study, which collected a wide variety of data (autopsy results, memories of Napoleonic doctors, descriptions of eyewitnesses, as well as medical histories of family members), the picture of Napoleon’s illness was not associated with poisoning. Combining this information with modern medical evidence, the scientists said the immediate cause of death was gastric bleeding. According to them, we are talking about a final diagnosis.

According to the documented autopsy data, Bonaparte was found to have two stomach ulcers, one of which turned out to be through and reached the liver. Genta and his colleagues studied the features of modern photographs of 50 ulcers and 50 tumors and compared them with the description of Napoleon's ulcers. Researchers concluded that Napoleon's ulcers were caused by a cancerous tumor. According to the participants in the work, this is indicated by the size of one ulcer – about 10 centimeters.

According to Dr. Genta, even if Napoleon had been released from the island or had fled from there, his serious condition would not have given him the opportunity to somehow influence the course of history. “Even with modern sophisticated surgical techniques and chemotherapy, patients with stomach cancer of Napoleon's grade have a poor prognosis,” says the researcher. “Even if he were treated now, he would still die within a year.”

Also relying on the analysis of genetic material, scientists have refuted the long-standing but little widespread belief that Napoleon could have had a hereditary form of stomach cancer. According to them, a significant role in the development of the commander’s illness was played by the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables and the abundance of salty canned food - provisions often used during long military campaigns.

"Encyclopedia of Death. Chronicles of Charon"

Part 2: Dictionary of Selected Deaths

The ability to live well and die well is one and the same science.

Epicurus

NAPOLEON I, Napoleon Bonaparte

(1769-1821) - French statesman and commander

During his turbulent life, Napoleon repeatedly exposed himself to mortal danger. During the Italian campaign of 1796, at the Battle of the Arcole Bridge, Napoleon rushed forward with a banner, despite a hail of bullets, and remained alive thanks to the fact that Muiron covered him with his body.

In December 1796-January 1797, Napoleon was seriously ill with fever; he turned yellow all over, lost weight, dried out; his opponents believed that he had no more than two weeks to live. But the future Emperor of France survived.

During the Egyptian campaign, he visited the plague hospital in Jaffa and did not become infected. When Napoleon abandoned the army in Egypt and returned to France, the Directory that ruled the country almost declared him a deserter. One of the members of the Directory, Boulay de la Merte, proposed to publicly expose the headstrong general and declare him an outlaw. Another member of the Directory Sieyes noted that “this would entail execution, which is significant, even if he deserved it.” To this, Boulay de la Merte objected: “These are details that I do not want to go into. If we outlaw him, whether he is guillotined, shot or hanged is just a way of carrying out the sentence. I don’t care about that!”

During the coup of 18-19 Brumaire, when Napoleon appeared in the meeting room of the Council of Five Hundred, a crowd of deputies obstructed him, shouting: “Down with the dictator!”, “He is outlawed!” etc. Moreover, some deputies rushed at him with pistols and daggers. One deputy pushed him, another hit him with a dagger, but the grenadier managed to deflect the blow. Napoleon was defended by General Lefebvre. With the exclamation "Let's save our general!" he and the grenadiers managed to push aside the deputies and drag Bonaparte out of the hall.

There was also such an episode in the life of the emperor: during the fighting, a bomb with a lit fuse fell on the position of the French troops, not far from the place where Napoleon was located. The soldiers rushed to the sides in horror. Napoleon, wanting to shame them, galloped up on his horse to the bomb and stood right in front of it. There was an explosion. The horse's belly was torn apart, but Napoleon once again remained unharmed. Well, there were probably dozens of pre-prepared attempts on Napoleon’s life. In one case (December 24, 1800), a carriage filled with gunpowder, grenades and bombs was placed on his way to the theater.

The time was calculated to within a few seconds. Bonaparte escaped only because his coachman drove the horses harder than usual that day, and the explosion occurred when the carriage had already passed the mined area. Another time, the infernal machine prepared for Napoleon exploded in the hands of its manufacturer, the Parisian worker Chevalier. In Vienna, during a military review, student Friedrich Stabs was detained, who intended to stab the emperor with a dagger.

The suicide attempt was also unsuccessful. On April 6, 1814, after the defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon signed an act of complete and unconditional abdication of power, and on April 12 he took potassium cyanide, which he had been carrying with him for two years. However, the poison lost much of its properties, and Napoleon, having suffered through the night, came to his senses by morning.

Death overtook the ex-emperor on May 5, 1821 on the island of St. Helena, where he was exiled by the British.

Some biographers claim that Napoleon did not trust medicine and, dying, refused to be treated.

Dr. O'Neer once asked him: "Are you a fatalist?"

“Of course!” Napoleon answered. “I have always been one. You must obey fate. What is written is written above!” - And he raised his eyes to the sky.

The doctor remarked to the ex-emperor that his behavior was similar to the behavior of a person who has fallen into an abyss and refuses to grab the rope thrown by the rescuers. To this Napoleon laughed and said: “May destinies be fulfilled. Our days are numbered...”

On March 1, 1821, Napoleon was in a particularly sad mood; he was depressed. These days he said to his doctor, Dr. Antomarchi: “You understand, I refuse medicine. I want to die from the disease.” The night of March 13 was difficult for the patient. He felt a sense of fear. On March 16, the ex-emperor fell into a prolonged drowsy state. Sometimes, however, he woke up and began to talk a lot, making caustic jokes about doctors and medicine. On one of these days, Napoleon got into a conversation with Doctor Antomarchi. In his memoirs, Antomarchi writes that they were talking about fate, about fate, the blows of which no one in the world has the power to prevent. “Quod scriptam, scriptam,” said Napoleon. “Can you doubt, doctor, that our hour of death is predetermined?”

When Antomarqui began to challenge this opinion, Napoleon became angry and sent him and, in his person, all European science to hell. The painful condition increased the superstition of the ex-emperor. On April 2, 1821, Antomarqui wrote in his diary: “At seven and a quarter in the evening, his servants assured him that they had seen a comet in the east.” On this day, the doctor found Napoleon very agitated.

“Comet!” exclaimed the emperor. “The comet announced the death of Caesar and also announced mine!” The next day, April 3, Antomarchi noted a sharp deterioration in Napoleon's condition. Generals Burton and Montolon undertook to prepare the ex-emperor for near death.

Ten days before his death, on April 25, Napoleon suddenly felt better. Antomarqui went to the pharmacy, and in the meantime Napoleon ordered wine, fruit, biscuits to be brought, drank champagne, ate some plums and grapes. When the doctor returned, Napoleon greeted him with loud laughter. The next day things got worse again. Napoleon finally decided to leave his small, uncomfortable, poorly ventilated room to settle into the salon. They wanted to carry him in their arms. “No,” he refused, “you will have such an opportunity when I die. For now, it’s enough that you support me.”

On April 28 at 8 o'clock in the morning, Napoleon made his last orders in complete calm. On May 2 he began to become delusional. He talked about France, about his first wife Josephine, about his son from his second wife Marie-Louise, about comrades in arms. He stopped recognizing those around him. At noon, consciousness returned to him for a minute - Napoleon opened his eyes and said with a deep sigh: “I’m dying!” Then he lost consciousness again. His oblivion was interrupted by bouts of vomiting and barely audible laughter. The dying Napoleon could not stand the light. We had to get him up, change his clothes and feed him in the dark.

During his agony, Napoleon remembered the Chinese, slaves on the island of St. Helena, and said quietly: “My poor Chinese, we must not forget them. Give them a few dozen Napoleons. I need to say goodbye to them too.” “On the fifth of May, a terrible storm broke out,” the fiction historian describes. “The waves rushed with a roar onto the shores of the island. The thin walls of the Longwood house shook. The ominous copper-brown mountains darkened. Stunted trees, sadly covering the nakedness of volcanic rocks, torn off by a thunderstorm, heavily rolled into a deep abyss, clinging to stones with branches.

No matter how cheerfully the cheeky Doctor Antomarchi walked around the rooms of the Longwood villa, with the air of a man who foresaw everything and therefore could not be afraid of anything, it was absolutely clear that the last minutes had come for his patient. It seemed that Napoleon's soul, naturally, should depart to another world precisely in such weather - among the heavy peals of thunder, under the howling of a fierce wind, in the light of tropical lightning.

But the one who was the emperor was no longer aware of anything. It was not easy for Napoleon's wheezing body to part with its spirit. The echoes of the cannonade seemed like thunderclaps to the frozen brain, and the last words were vaguely whispered by the lips: “Army... Vanguard...” At 11 o’clock in the morning, Napoleon’s pulse was extremely weak. A deep Sigh escaped from his chest, followed by pitiful moans. The body moved in convulsive movements, ending in loud crying. From that moment until 6 o'clock in the evening, when Napoleon breathed his last, he did not utter another sound. His right arm was hanging off the bed. The eyes froze in deep thought - there was not a shadow of death throes in them. At 17.45 Antomarqui once again glanced towards the bed, then quickly walked up to Napoleon and put his ear to his chest. Unbending, he spread his arms, indicating that it was all over.

The diagnosis made by Napoleon's attending physicians: stomach cancer. However, starting in 1840, after Napoleon's ashes were transported to Paris, rumors arose that the emperor had been poisoned by the British. In 1961, at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Glasgow (Scotland), studies were carried out on Napoleon's hair, cut off the day after his death and preserved by his servant. Using neutron activation analysis, experts determined that the arsenic content was 13 times higher than the normal level for human hair; Moreover, its deposits coincided in time with the period of stay on the island of St. Helena. Moreover, the uneven distribution of arsenic along the length of the hair indicated that Napoleon was given poison constantly during the last four months of his life. The results of the analysis were published by an English scientific journal.

A few years later, scientists received another sample of Napoleon's hair. Once again, studies showed the presence of arsenic. The version of poisoning seemed to be confirmed. Historians argued only about whose hands it was. The French were convinced that the fault here lay with the British. The British argued that the search for the poisoner should be among the emperor’s compatriots, and even named the name of Count Montolon, Napoleon’s heir.

The authors of the book “Chemistry in Forensics” L. Leistner and P. Bujtash write, however, that “the increased content of arsenic in hair still does not give grounds to unconditionally assert the fact of intentional poisoning, because the same data could have been obtained if Napoleon had systematically used medicines containing arsenic.

In 1982, another intriguing article appeared in print. Another lock of the emperor's hair was subjected to neutron activation analysis, this time from a third source. According to these new data, there is quite a bit of arsenic in the emperor’s hair, but there is a lot of antimony! As you know, Napoleon complained of stomach pain and took medications containing antimony.

Analyzing all available data (his own and previously published), the author of the last article drew attention to the fact that the technique used in the analysis of the first two samples did not allow us to separately determine arsenic and antimony when present together."

Later, another version arose. Research conducted by the laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, has established that the amount of arsenic contained in Napoleon's hair is too small to cause poisoning.

According to pharmacologists, the poison got into the emperor’s hair from the wallpaper: green wallpaper with arsenic-based dye was used in his house. In dry air, paint practically does not emit poison, but in a humid climate, if the wallpaper becomes damp and mold grows on it, mold fungi convert stable inorganic arsenic compounds into volatile trimethylarsenic. Even if Napoleon did not touch his head to the walls, toxic fumes could enter his body.

Finally, there is an almost fantastic assumption that Napoleon did not die, but managed to escape from St. Helena. Instead, the peasant and soldier Francois, Eugene Rabaud, who was surprisingly similar to the emperor, was allegedly buried. Supporters of this version differ in further details: some claim that Napoleon died in a shipwreck on the way to Europe, while others say that he nevertheless reached Europe and lived for a long time in Verona, hiding under the name Revard.

The cause of Napoleon's death was a hereditary disease.

The autopsy of the 51-year-old Napoleon was performed by the Corsican pathologist Francesco Antomarchi, who observed his patient during the last 18 months of his life. In the presence of English doctors, the 30-year-old doctor opened the chest cavity so that everyone present could see the vital organs. The heart was placed in a silver vessel with alcohol, which, according to Napoleon's will, was to be sent to Marie-Louise, but the governor ordered it to be placed in a coffin. Then the stomach, which was supposed to be the source of the disease, was removed. Doctors could not reach a consensus and publish a general conclusion about the cause of Napoleon’s death. As a result, four different documents appeared, further fueling the rumors. Each of the bulletins states the presence of a stomach ulcer near the pylorus, i.e. opening connecting the stomach to the intestines. Antomarchi directly wrote about “cancerous ulceration”, his English colleagues - “about partial hardening of tissue, ready to degenerate into a cancerous tumor.”

Researchers have now concluded that Napoleon died from an inherited disease (his father died of stomach or pyloric cancer), which is caused by a chronic bacterial infection. Thus, scientists finally rejected the version of poisoning expressed in recent years, which was confirmed both in the symptoms of the disease and in the results of the autopsy. In general, the researchers came to the conclusion that even if Napoleon had returned from exile before 1821, due to his fatal illness, he would hardly have been able to interfere with the course of world history again. The researchers came to a completely unromantic conclusion. They even admitted that if a similar clinical case were to occur today, the medical prognosis would be very guarded and the chances of survival would be minimal. A new scientific study into the causes of Napoleon's death proves that he died at age 51 from terminal stomach cancer caused by a bacterial ulcer. If at the beginning of the 19th century gastric tumors were known to science, then no one knew about their bacterial origin.

The version of stomach cancer is supported by Swiss and English researchers. Not to mention the attending physician of Napoleon himself, Antommarchi, whose version was questioned in the 60s of the twentieth century after the unexpected discovery of Stan Forshwood. The report of the doctor who performed the autopsy is in Appendix A.

Opponents of the version of stomach cancer argue that in the event of an illness of this kind, Bonaparte would not be able to eat normally. However, Napoleon's large dying weight does not prove anything, says Alessandro Lugli and his colleagues from the University Hospital in Basel. According to the Swiss, it is not the weight itself that is important, but its change during illness. After conducting an experiment, they established a relationship between body weight and trouser size. Armed with the knowledge gained, the researchers found out that in the period from 1804 to 1820, Napoleon grew considerably fat: his weight increased from 68 kg to 90 kg, which was not prevented by either the constant stress associated with endless battles or exile - first to Elba , and then to St. Helena Island. However, already in 1821, a few months before his death, the emperor began to lose weight and lost weight to 80 kilograms. Pathologists concluded that at the end of 1820 Napoleon developed a malignant tumor. It began to grow quite quickly, so that the true cause of death could be internal hemorrhage caused by stomach cancer.

So, for those who want to find a sensation, this version of the death of the great ruler of France is less tempting. However, in my opinion, it is she who is more plausible. It just so happens that something unusual and sensational arouses unconditional interest. Is this why they look for a conspiracy in any tragic accident? Maybe. The fact of material interest cannot be ruled out - let us recall, for example, the Canadian Vader.

The cause of Bonaparte's death was a hormonal disease

This version stems from a rather curious addition to the sexy portrait of Napoleon. It was put forward in the English edition of The Guardian by American endocrinologist Robert Greenblatt.

The scientist claims that Napoleon was not poisoned by arsenic, and died not from cancer, but from a hormonal disease, which gradually turned him into a woman! Various symptoms that appeared in the emperor 12 years before his death indicate that he was susceptible to the so-called “Zollinger-Ellison disease,” which caused a disorder of the hormonal system and gradually changed Napoleon’s gender.

The lethargic state of the emperor and the difficulties he experienced with urination during the siege of Moscow, his swollen legs before the Battle of Borodino, severe stomach pains in Dresden, fatigue and neuralgia in Leipzig, lack of initiative and apathy in Waterloo - all these signs, says Robert Greenblatt, indicate that the emperor simply changed his gender.

The American researcher also notes that Napoleon was constantly gaining weight, and his figure little by little took on feminine contours. After Napoleon's death, during an autopsy, he was found not only to have an extensive stomach ulcer and bladder stones, but also to have a thick layer of fatty tissue on his body. The emperor had thick thighs, white and tender skin, completely devoid of hair, miniature arms and legs, soft round breasts and completely atrophied genitals.

In my opinion, this version is more designed to attract the attention of the crowd. As long as there are people who want to know the “truth,” there will be writers who are ready to provide this “truth.”

In the history of France there were many coups and revolutions, monarchies were replaced by republics, and vice versa. Bonaparte was one of the significant figures in the history of this country and all of Europe.

Few people know that after his defeat he abdicated the throne in favor of his young son. The Bonapartists gave him the name Napoleon II. What happened to the rightful heir, how many other Napoleons were there in the history of France?

Sons of Napoleon

The French emperor had three sons, two of them illegitimate. The fate of each of the offspring developed differently.

The ruler had his first son from a relationship with Eleanor de la Pleine. At that time, Napoleon was married to Josephine Beauharnais, but the couple had no children during ten years of marriage. The boy was born on December 13, 1806 at two o'clock in the morning. The Emperor received the good news while in Poland. His first thought was to adopt a child, but she soon disappeared. Napoleon wanted a legitimate heir.

The boy was given the name Charles. Mother and son received annual money for their maintenance. The father loved and spoiled the boy. After his death, he left him a significant amount. However, Charles squandered it very quickly, because he loved to spend money, play cards, and participate in duels. He was dismissed from military service for non-compliance with the regulations, and tried to study to become a clergyman. As a result, the young man found a way to exist - he won an annual allowance from his mother, and later received a pension from his cousin, who became the emperor. After the overthrow of Napoleon III, Count Leon went bankrupt, and was later buried as a beggar tramp.

The birth of Charles prompted the emperor to think about breaking up with his official wife, who was unable to give birth to an heir. He meets Maria Valevskaya, who gives birth to her son Alexander on May 4, 1810. When the mistress returned with her son in her arms to Paris, the emperor had already found a replacement for her. He allocated a significant amount for the maintenance of his son. Maria Valevskaya died very early, and Alexander had to take care of his life himself. In 1830 he took part in the Polish Uprising. After its defeat, the young man moved to Paris, where he became a captain in the French army. After retiring, he was engaged in journalism, drama, carried out diplomatic assignments, was Minister of Foreign Affairs under Napoleon III, and participated in the Paris Congress of 1856. He died in 1868, leaving behind seven children.

Napoleon II, whose biography will be discussed below, was the third son of the emperor. He became the only legitimate child. Who was his mother?

Heir's mother

After his divorce from Josephine, the ruler of France began searching for a wife who would give him a legitimate heir. At a special council it was decided that Napoleon should enter into a marriage alliance with a great power. This would allow him to guarantee his rights in the international arena.

Most ministers saw the best candidate in the sister of Russian Emperor Alexander the First, Anna Pavlovna. There were also those who were inclined towards an alliance with Austria through marriage with Marie-Louise, the daughter of Emperor Franz I.

Alexander the First did not want such a relationship, so he came up with new excuses. Napoleon was tired of waiting, he turned his gaze towards the Austrian party. The agreement was signed in 1810, at the same time a marriage by proxy was concluded in Vienna. Only after this the couple met. They had not seen each other before this.

The emperor fell in love with the young woman as soon as he saw her. A year later (04/20/1811) she gave him an heir, who was named Napoleon-Francois-Joseph. What fate awaited the heir named Napoleon II?

King of Rome

At birth, the boy was proclaimed King of Rome. However, this title was formal. In 1814, the emperor abdicated the throne. He did this in favor of his legal heir, and Napoleon II was declared French Emperor. Only the Bonapartists considered him a ruler, who called the boy this: Napoleon II Eaglet.

The history of this nickname is connected with the repressive regime that was introduced after Napoleon's abdication. It turned out to be unsafe to mention the name of the former emperor, so his followers called him Eagle. The bird was the heraldic symbol of the ruler. It was dangerous to mention his son, who left France, so he was called Eaglet. It is unknown who came up with the nickname, but Edmond Rostand made it famous. In 1900, he wrote the drama “The Little Eaglet” about the life of Napoleon II. In it, a young man is forced to live in a golden German cage.

The three-year-old heir was not crowned because the government in France had changed. In addition, the Russian emperor opposed the coronation. Together with Talleyrand, he insisted that the Bourbons be returned to power.

Marie-Louise took her son and returned to her family in Vienna. There she received the Duchy of Parma and met her future husband, who was initially assigned to keep an eye on her.

From Napoleon to Franz

Napoleon II remained the main hope of the Bonapartists. That is why he was guarded much more carefully than the most dangerous criminal. Everyone understood that the boy's origin could lead to a serious Bonapartist movement not only in France, but throughout the world.

The son of the deposed emperor lived near Vienna (Schönbrunn Castle). He was forced to speak only German, and was addressed by his middle name - Franz. In 1818 he was given the title of Duke of Reichstadt.

The Duke was involved in military service from the age of twelve. Despite all the prohibitions, and perhaps despite them, Franz remembered his origin. He was an ardent admirer of his great father.

Early death

By 1830, Napoleon II, who was about the same height as his father, had risen to the rank of major. It is unknown whether he could have lived up to the hopes of the Bonapartists. His life was short-lived. He died in 1832 from tuberculosis.

Napoleon-Francois was buried in Vienna, next to the other Habsburgs.

Posthumous fate

A hundred years later, Napoleon II (the photo has not survived to this day) was disturbed. In 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered his remains to be transferred to the Cathedral of the Invalides. He was placed next to his father's tomb.

Heir to Napoleon II

The last monarch of France was Napoleon III Bonaparte. He was the nephew of the illustrious emperor and the cousin of the Duke of Reichstadt. At birth, the future monarch was named Charles Louis Napoleon. Father was Louis Bonaparte. Mother - Hortense de Beauharnais. The marriage between them was forced, so the couple lived in constant separation.

The boy grew up at his uncle's court. Since childhood, he literally worshiped him and was devoted to “Napoleonic” ideas. He strove for power and walked towards his goal, clearing the road ahead of him.

After the overthrow of Bonaparte, the boy, his brother and mother moved to Switzerland, where Hortense acquired Arenenberg Castle. Louis did not receive a systematic school education due to constant moving. In Switzerland he entered military service.

After the death of Napoleon II, Charles Louis became the one who represented Napoleonic ideas and claims. Four years later he tried to seize power in France. His act went down in history as the Strasbourg conspiracy. The attempt was unsuccessful, Bonaparte was exiled to America. He stayed there for a year, after which he settled in Switzerland and then in England.

The second attempt to become the head of France was made in 1840. It also turned out to be unsuccessful. As a result, Charles Louis was arrested with other conspirators and put on trial by the peers. His punishment was life imprisonment with the preservation of all rights. Surprisingly, such a punishment did not exist in French law. The unsuccessful conspirator spent six years in the Gam fortress. At this time, he wrote articles, published books, and communicated with friends. In 1846, Bonaparte fled from the fortress to England. On the island he met Harriet Gowar, who was an actress, owner of a fortune and many useful acquaintances. She helped her lover in many ways.

Reign of Napoleon III

In 1848, a revolution occurred in France. Louis hurried to Paris. He took a wait-and-see approach until the opportunity arose to nominate his candidacy for the presidency. According to the election results, he received 75% of the votes. At the age of forty he became President of the Republic.

He was not satisfied with being president, so in 1851 he dissolved the Assembly and established an empire in the state.

A year later he was proclaimed emperor under the name Napoleon III. According to the Bonapartist tradition, it was taken into account that for fourteen days the head of state was Napoleon II (son of Emperor Bonaparte).

The monarch was in power until 1870. The Franco-Prussian War put an end to his reign. During these years he suffered greatly from gallstones and took opiates. Because of this, he was lethargic and did not think well.

Napoleon the Third surrendered to William the First. A day later, the September Revolution took place in Paris. The empire ceased to exist. The deposed ruler moved to England, where he died in 1873.

Prototype of Baron Munchausen

Many art historians suggest that for the illustrative image of the famous Baron Munchausen, artist Gustave Dore took the appearance of Napoleon III as a prototype. The similarity is manifested in the oval of the head, the shape of the nose, mustache and goatee. Munchausen's coat of arms were three ducks, which can be considered an allusion to the Bonaparte coat of arms (three little bees).

Dynastic connection

There are a total of five Napoleons in history. They were all relatives.

It is customary to begin the genealogy of the Bonapartes with Carlo Buonaparte. He had five sons: Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, Louis, Jerome. Napoleon II is the son of Napoleon the First, Napoleon the Third is the son of Louis, Napoleon the Fourth is the grandson of Louis, Napoleon the Fifth is the grandson of Jerome. In fact, only two from the list ruled; the rest were considered rulers only by the Bonapartists.