Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial
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Napoléon IV, Prince Imperial (Napoléon Eugène Louis John Joseph), (16 March 1856 – 1 June 1879), Prince Imperial, Fils de France, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo.
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[edit] Biography
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.
With the demise of the Second French Empire, the Prince Imperial was exiled to the United Kingdom, where he applied and was accepted to a British Military College. After finishing 17th in his class, he transferred to the artillery in order to follow in the foot-steps of his famous great-uncle. Finally, with the outbreak of the Zulu War in 1879, the Prince Imperial, with the rank of Lieutenant, forced the hand of the British Military to allow him to take part in the conflict.
Upon arrival in Zululand he did not take part in many skirmishes under the order of Lord Chelmsford who, due to fear of political repercussions, ordered that he was to be escorted at all times or not to engage in conflict. However on June 1 he, Lieutenant Carey and a small group explored a small kraal for reconnaissance purposes. After coming across nothing striking, the group settled down near the iTyotyosi river to break. After a time, a group of forty Zulus ambushed them, leading to a frantic escape of all personnel. Two British officers and a guide were killed, and after heavy fighting and misfortune, the Prince Imperial soon succumbed. There is speculation as to whether Lieutenant Carey was in charge and fled from the skirmish leaving the Prince to his fate, thus meaning he was responsible of the death of the Prince Imperial due to possible cowardice and incompetence, but to this day debates ensue as to whether the Prince could have been saved. 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).
[edit] 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)
[edit] References
- Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears. Simon and Schuster, 1965, pp 511-545.
- David, Saul Zulu. Penguin/Viking, 2004, pp 311-336.
[edit] 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)
[edit] External links
- The South African Military History Society The Prince Imperial
- South African Military History Society: Memorandum Regarding the Discovery of the Late Prince Imperial's Uniform and Other Effects
- Osprey: The curious case of the Prince Imperial
- Battlefields of KwaZulu-Natal Includes a section on the Prince Imperial
| Bonaparte family Born: 16 March 1856 Died: 1 June 1879 |
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| Preceded by Napoleon III |
* NOT REIGNING * Emperor of the French Prince Napoléon Line (1873–1879) |
Succeeded by Napoléon V Victor |
