Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, King of Holland, Comte de Saint-Leu (Lodewijk Napoleon in Dutch) (2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was the fifth surviving child and fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, and brother of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Louis was born Luigi Buonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was a younger brother of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon I of France, Lucien Bonaparte and Elisa Bonaparte, and the older bro...
more
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, King of Holland, Comte de Saint-Leu (Lodewijk Napoleon in Dutch) (2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was the fifth surviving child and fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, and brother of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Louis was born Luigi Buonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was a younger brother of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon I of France, Lucien Bonaparte and Elisa Bonaparte, and the older brother of Pauline Bonaparte, Caroline Bonaparte and Jérôme Bonaparte.
His early career was spent in the army and he served with Napoleon in Egypt. Thanks to Napoleon, he was a general by the age of 25, although he himself felt that he had risen too far in too short a time.
Upon his return to France, he was involved in Napoleon's plot to overthrow the Directory. After becoming first consul, Napoleon arranged a marriage for Louis to Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of Empress Josephine and Napoleon's stepdaughter. Hortense, who was opposed to...
less