Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, 3rd prince de Montfort

Biography

Prince Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (9 September 1822 – 17 March 1891), usually called Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte or Jérôme Bonaparte, (9 September 1822 – 17 March 1891) was the second son of Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, by his wife Catherine, princess of Württemberg. He was a French political and military figure of the Second Empire, first cousin of Emperor Napoleon III.

As well as bearing the title of Prince Napoléon, given to him by his cousin Emperor Napoleon III in 1852, he was also 2nd Prince of Montfort, 1st Count of Meudon and Count of Moncalieri, following his marriage with Maria Clotilde of Savoy in 1859. His popular nickname, Plon-Plon, stemmed from his difficulty in pronouncing his own name while still a child, although other notable historians and contemporary letters by his nephew Colonel Jérôme Bonaparte claim it was because he ran in cowardice during battle when the bombs fell. Another nickname, "Craint-Plomb" ("Afraid-of-Lead",) was given to him by the army due to his absence from the Battle of Solferino.

He served first in the army of the Kingdom of Wurtemberg. After the Revolution of 1848 he returned with his father to France and became a member of the National Convention as a representative of Corsica. At first he supported the autocratic regime of his cousin, the emperor Napoleon III, but later his liberal and anticlerical ideas alienated him from the imperial court. In 1876, after the fall of the Second Empire, he became the leader of the opposition.

Prince Napoléon-Jérôme, upon being banished from France by the 1886 law exiling heads of the nation's former ruling dynasties, settled at Prangins on the shores of Lake Geneva, in Vaud, Switzerland where, during the Second Empire, he had acquired a piece of property. The Villa La Bergerie de Prangins is still in the possession of the House of Bonaparte.

Villa Prangins, Gland, Switzerland

Image source: Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0

He spent winters in Rome. There’s a commemorative plaque on the facade of the « Hôtel de Russie » where Principe Girolamo Napoleone died on March 18, 1891:

Image source: Wikimedia CC0 1.0 Copyright Waiver (public domain)

He was buried in Turin and still rests there alongside his wife, in the Savoy crypt of the Basilica of Superga.

The opening of his will, on the very day of the funeral, triggered a scandal: he disinherited his wife and two of their three children, Victor and Marie-Laëtitia, for the benefit of the third, Louis. Not in accordance with republican law, the will was not applied, as Louis had no claim to assert his dynastic rights.

Family

• Father: Jérôme, King of Westphalia
• Mother: Catharina of Württemberg
• Spouse: Maria Clotilde of Savoy ​(m. 1859)​

Portrait of Napoleone, Clotilde di Savoia, 1859.

Source: Archivio storico dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino (Wikimedia) (public domain)

He and Princess Maria Clotilde had three children:

1. Napoléon (1862-1926) married Princess Clémentine of Belgium, a daughter of Leopold II of Belgium.
2. Louis Bonaparte (1864-1932) Russian Lieutenant General and Governor of Erivan
3. Maria Letizia Bonaparte (1866-1926) who in 1888 became the second wife of her maternal uncle Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (1845–1890), who had, from 1870 until 1873, reigned as King of Spain.

Prince Napoléon Bonaparte and his two sons.

Source: Wikimedia (public domain)

He was one of the best-known customers of courtesan Anna Deslions.

He also has two children with Marie Scheppers, wife of Hervé de Carbonnel, Marquis of Canisy (younger branch of the former lords of Canisy). The Marquis and Marquise de Canisy divorced in 1875, once the liaison between the Marquise and Prince Napoleon became public knowledge. The birth certificate of these two children indicates that they are "unknown parents", but Prince Napoleon will write to them until his death by presenting himself as their "godfather". These are:

1. Lucien de Céligny, who marries Miss Maria Luisa Daireaux, hence an only daughter, Léticia de Céligny, who marries Harold Fitch. They have a son, Douglas Lucien Jérôme Jacques Fitch-Celigny, married to Lucila Castro-Fuentès, hence five children; they currently live between France and Argentina. They also have a daughter, Béatrice Marie-Louise Catherine Fitch-Céligny, married to concert pianist François-Joël Thiollier;
2. Catherine de Céligny, who married Dr. Edmond Lévy-Solal, obstetrician, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, member of the Academy of Medicine; the children are named Solal-Céligny (including Jérôme Solal-Céligny, Councillor of State, one of the authors of the Constitution of the V-Old Republic in 195817).

Image source: FindAGrave

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Find a Grave
• Johann the Younger #1092
• English Wikipedia; French Wikipedia; Italian Wikipedia
• Genealogics cites
  • Addington, A. C., ~The Royal House of Stuart, London, 1969, 1971, 1976 . 217

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Find a Grave
• Johann the Younger #1092
• French Wikipedia