Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial
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Napoléon VI, Prince Imperial (Napoléon Eugène Louis John Joseph), (March 16, 1856 – June 1, 1879), Prince Imperial, Fils de France, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo.
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, he accompanied his father to the front and first came under fire at Saarbrücken. When the war began to go against the Imperial arms, however, he had to flee from France with the Imperial Family and settled in England at Chislehurst, Kent. On his father's death Bonapartists proclaimed him Napoleon IV. During the 1870s there was some talk of a marriage between him and Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice.
He served as an officer in the British Army and volunteered to join the British expedition to Zululand. While out on reconnaissance he was surprised by Zulus and speared to death in a deserted kraal near the iTyotyosi river. Evidence suggested that he had put up a brave resistance until the ammunition of his revolver ran out. His death sent shock waves throughout Europe as he was the last dynastic hope for the restoration of the Bonapartes to the throne of France. The Zulus later claimed that they would not have killed him if they had known who he was.
His terribly decomposed body was brought back to England and buried in Chislehurst. Later it was transferred to a special mausoleum constructed by his mother as the Imperial Crypt at Saint Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire, England, next to his father. As his heir the Prince Imperial appointed Prince Napoléon Victor Bonaparte, thus omitting the genealogically senior heir, Victor's father, the rather detested Prince Napoléon (Plon-Plon).
The asteroid moon Petit-Prince was named after the Prince Imperial in 1998, because it orbits an asteroid named after his mother (45 Eugenia).
Titles from birth to death
- His Imperial Highness The Prince Imperial (1856–1870)
- His Imperial Highness Louis Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France (1870–1873)
- His Imperial Highness Prince Imperial Napoléon, Head of the Imperial House of France (1873–1879)
References
- Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears. Simon and Schuster, 1965, pp 511-545.
Further reading
- Ellen Barlee, Life of Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France, (London, 1889)
- M. d'Hérrison, Le prince impérial, (Paris, 1890)
- André Martinet, Le prince impérial, (Paris, 1895)
- R. Minon, Les derniers jours du prince impérial sur le continent, (Paris, 1900)
- Ernest Barthez, Empress Eugenie and her Circle, (New York, 1913)
| House of Bonaparte Born: 16 March 1856; Died: 1 June 1879 |
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| Titles in Pretence | ||
| Preceded by: Napoleon III |
* NOT REIGNING * Emperor of the French Prince Napoléon line (1873–1879) |
Succeeded by: Napoléon V Victor |
