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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.
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:
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:
Image source: FindAGrave
1822 |
September 9, 1822
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Trieste, Österreich (Austria)
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September 9, 1822
- June 24, 1860
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Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France
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November 2, 1822
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Trieste, Österreich (Austria)
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1860 |
June 24, 1860
- March 17, 1891
Age 37
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Kassel, Kassel, Hesse, Germany
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1862 |
July 18, 1862
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Palais Royal, Brussels, Brabant, Belgium
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1864 |
July 16, 1864
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Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
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1866 |
December 20, 1866
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25 Rue de Valois, Paris, Île-de-France, France
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1874 |
1874
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1877 |
July 7, 1877
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Paris VIIIème, 75056, Paris, Ile-de-France, France
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