Golden Fleece - Grand Masters

Golden Fleece - Knights: Spanish Branch

• Wikipedia - Spanish - José I Bonaparte
• Wikipedia - English - Joseph Bonaparte

Early Years and Personal Life

Joseph was born Giuseppe Buonaparte in 1768 to Carlo Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino at Corte, the capital of the Corsican Republic. In the year of his birth Corsica was invaded by France and was conquered the following year. His father was originally a follower of the Corsican Patriot leader Pasquale Paoli but later became a supporter of French rule. As a lawyer, politician, and diplomat, Joseph served in the Cinq-Cents and was the French ambassador to Rome. He married Julie Clary on 1 August 1794 in Cuges-les-Pins, France. They had three daughters, Julie Joséphine Bonaparte (1796–1796), Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte (1801–1854) and Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte (1802–1839). He claimed the surviving two daughters as his heirs. He also sired two children with Maria Giulia, the Countess of Atri (Giulio, born 1806 and Teresa, born 1808). Joseph had two American daughters born at Point Breeze his estate in New Jersey by his mistress Annette Savage ("Madame de la Folie"), Pauline Anne who died young and Catherine Charlotte (b. 1822, d. 1890) who married Col. Zebulon Howell Benton of Jefferson County, New York, and had issue.

In 1795 Joseph was a member of the Council of Ancients where he used his position to help his brother overthrow the Directory.

The Château de Villandry had been seized by the French Revolutionary government and in the early 19th century Joseph's brother, Emperor Napoleon, acquired the château for him. In 1806, Joseph was given military command of Naples, and shortly afterward was made king by Napoleon, to be replaced after two years by his sister's husband, Joachim Murat, when Joseph was made king of Spain in August 1808, soon after the French invasion. ------------

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, King of Naples and Sicily, King of Spain and the Indies, Comte de Survilliers (Corte, France, 7 January 1768 – Florence, Italy, 28 July 1844) was the elder brother of Napoleon I of France, who made him King of Naples and Sicily (1806–1808) and later King of Spain as Joseph I of Spain. In Spain he was known as Pepe Botella, with "Pepe" being a diminutive of the name Jose (Joseph) and "Botella" (Bottle) being a reference to his supposed alcoholism. He was king of Spain from 6 June 1808 to 11 December 1813, but from 13 June 1812 he was back in France.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Bonaparte