Napoleon II
Napoleon II entered the world on the 20th of March 1811 inside the Tuileries Palace in Paris. His father was Emperor Napoleon I and his mother was Empress Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. The infant received a simple baptism called an ondoiement by Joseph Fesch on that same day. He carried the full name Napoleon François Charles Joseph from birth. A traditional ceremony held on the 9th of June 1811 took place inside Notre Dame de Paris to establish his identity as King of Rome. Louise Charlotte Françoise de Montesquiou became his governess shortly after the event. She assembled a collection of books to ground him in religion, philosophy, and military matters.
Emperor Napoleon I abdicated in favor of his three-year-old son on the 4th of April 1814 following the Six Days Campaign. Coalition victors refused to acknowledge the child as successor to the French throne. Napoleon I fully renounced all rights for himself and his descendants on the 6th of April 1814. The Treaty of Fontainebleau granted the boy the title of Prince of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla instead. Marie Louise left the Tuileries Palace with her entourage on the 23rd of April 1814 under escort of an Austrian regiment. They traveled through Rambouillet and Blois before entering Austria forever. The young emperor never set foot on French soil again after this departure.
From spring 1814 onward the boy lived in Austria under the name Franz. Emperor Francis awarded him the title Duke of Reichstadt in 1818. He received education from military tutors who noted his intelligence and focus by age eight. His official army career began at age twelve in 1823 when he became a cadet in the Austrian Army. By seventeen he had grown nearly 1.8 meters tall while learning German, Italian, and mathematics. Political restrictions imposed by Metternich prevented him from joining any campaign to Italy or taking command of a battalion until 1831. He grew distant from his mother after she bore two illegitimate children to Adam Albert von Neipperg.
Franz died on the 22nd of July 1832 at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna from tuberculosis. He caught pneumonia in 1832 and remained bedridden for several months before his health failed completely. His final illness occurred shortly after receiving command of an Austrian battalion in 1831. He never served in any meaningful capacity due to poor health. His last words were My story is my birth and death. Between my cradle and my grave there is a big zero. He was twenty-one years old when he passed away without children. The Napoleonic claim to the French throne then passed to his uncle Joseph Bonaparte and later to cousin Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte.
Adolf Hitler ordered remains
transferred from the Imperial Crypt in Vienna to Les Invalides in Paris on the 15th of December 1940. French wags countered this propaganda by saying Hitler stole France's coal but returned their ashes. His heart remains in Urn 42 of the Herzgruft while viscera stay in Urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt in Vienna. Edmond Rostand wrote a play titled L'Aiglon about his life in 1900. Serbian composer Petar Stojanović premiered an operetta named Napoleon II: Herzog von Reichstadt in Vienna during the 1920s. Victor Tourjansky directed a French-language film called L'Aiglon in 1931 alongside a German version. Arthur Honegger and Jacques Ibert collaborated on an opera with the
same title that premiered in 1937.
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Common questions
When and where was Napoleon II born?
Napoleon II entered the world on the 20th of March 1811 inside the Tuileries Palace in Paris. His father was Emperor Napoleon I and his mother was Empress Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria.
Why did Napoleon II never rule France after being declared emperor?
Coalition victors refused to acknowledge the child as successor to the French throne following the abdication of Napoleon I on the 4th of April 1814. The Treaty of Fontainebleau granted the boy the title of Prince of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla instead while he lived in Austria under the name Franz from spring 1814 onward.
What happened to Napoleon II during his life in Austria?
Emperor Francis awarded him the title Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and he received education from military tutors who noted his intelligence by age eight. Political restrictions imposed by Metternich prevented him from joining any campaign to Italy or taking command of a battalion until 1831 before he died from tuberculosis on the 22nd of July 1832 at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
How old was Napoleon II when he died and what were his final words?
He was twenty-one years old when he passed away without children after catching pneumonia in 1832 and remaining bedridden for several months. His last words were My story is my birth and death. Between my cradle and my grave there is a big zero.
Where are the remains of Napoleon II located today?
Adolf Hitler ordered remains transferred from the Imperial Crypt in Vienna to Les Invalides in Paris on the 15th of December 1940. His heart remains in Urn 42 of the Herzgruft while viscera stay in Urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt in Vienna.