Louis Bonaparte



King of Holland (1806-1810)

fullname Louis Napoleon Bonaparte formerly Luigi Buonaparte byname the Good

Born September 2, 1778, Ajaccio, Corsica Died July 25, 1846, Livorno, Italy

French soldier and younger brother of Napoleon I of France. As king of Holland, he guarded the welfare of his subjects. His unwillingness to join the Continental System brought him into conflict with the emperor. He is also the father of the future Napoleon III of France.

Early Life and Career
Luigi Buonaparte was born in Ajaccio, Corsica. The fifth surviving child of Carlo Bonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. After attending military school at Châlons, France, Louis accompanied Napoleon on the Italian campaign of 1796–97 and acted as his aide-de-camp in Egypt in 1798–99. 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 Josephine and Napoleon's stepdaughter. Hortense, who was opposed to the marriage, was convinced by her mother to marry Louis for the sake of the family.

King of Holland
Napoleon proclaimed Louis king of Holland on July 5, 1806. Though his older brother had intended for him to be little more than a French governor, Louis took his duties as king seriously, calling himself Koning Lodewijk I (adopting the Dutch form of his name), attempting to learn the Dutch language and trying hard to be a responsible, independent ruler of Holland. While in Holland he declared that he was Dutch and renounced his French citizenship. He also forced his court and ministers (mostly supplied by Napoleon) to speak only Dutch and to also renounce their French Citizenship. His wife Hortese who at that time was in France refused his request.

Hortense bore Louis's son, Napoléon Louis Bonaparte while he was in Holland. In 1806 he called for the boy to be sent to him in Holland but again was refused by Hortense, who believed her son would never be returned. When Louis appealed to Napoleon for help, Napoleon sided with Hortense. Napoleon kept the boy in his own court and even had him named heir to the French throne until the birth of Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte.



Two major tragedies occurred during his reign: the explosion of a ship filled with gunpowder in the heart of the city of Leiden in 1807, and a major flood in 1809. In both instances, Louis personally and effectively oversaw local relief efforts, which helped earn him the moniker of Louis the Good

However his reign of the Netherlands was short-lived. As Napoleon was preparing an army for the campaign into Russia, he wanted troops from the entire region under his control, the allied border countries. This included troops from the Netherlands. Louis refused his brother’s demand. Napoleon then accused Louis of putting Dutch interests above those of France, and removed most of the French forces in Holland for the coming war in the east, leaving only about 9,000 garrison soldiers in the country. Unfortunately for Louis, the English landed an army of 40,000 in 1808 in an attempt to capture Antwerp and Flushing. With Louis unable to defend his realm, France sent 80,000 militiamen and successfully repelled the invasion. Napoleon then suggested that Louis should abdicate, citing Louis's inability to protect Holland as a reason. But Louis refused and Napoleon finally removed Louis from the Dutch throne on July 1, 1810. His son, Napoléon Louis Bonaparte, assumed the control of the kingdom until its fall to Napoleon's invading army in July 9.

Later Life
After his kingdom was taken from him, Louis remained in Holland for nearly three years and turned to writing and poetry. He wrote Documents historiques et réflexions sur le gouvernement de la Hollande, 3 vol. (1820; Historical Documents and Reflections on the Government of Holland, 1820), and two partial works, Marie, ou les peines de l’amour, 2 vol. (1812; Maria; or, the Hollanders, 1815), and Le Retour (1846; “The Return”). Styling himself the comte de Saint-Leu, Louis lived for some time in Bohemia, Austria, and Switzerland. Louis wrote to Napoleon after the latter's defeat in Russia to request the Dutch throne be restored to him; predictably, Napoleon refused. Louis finally returned to France in 1813 where he remained for the rest of his life.

After his brother's abdication in 1814, he settled permanently in Rome. During the revolutions of 1830 he encouraged the nationalist and liberal factions in Italy and expressed satisfaction that his two sons fought for Italian unity. After the death of his elder brother Joseph in 1844, Louis was seen by Bonapartists as the rightful Emperor of the French, although he took little action himself to advance the claim. Louis died in on July 25, 1846 and is buried at Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Île-de-France. Louis did not live to see his son, Louis-Napoleon, proclaimed emperor of the French in 1852.