Louis Bonaparte (1864-1932)

File:Bonapart Louis-1864.jpg

Louis Bonaparte in 1902 as a colonel in the Russian Army

Napoleon Louis Josef Jérôme Bonaparte (16 July 1864 - 14 October 1932) was a member of the Bonaparte family, a lieutenant-general in the Russian Army and Governor of the province of Yerevan in 1905.

Life

Louis Bonaparte, as he was known, was born in Meudon and was the second son of Prince Napoléon Bonaparte, the son of Napoleons brother Jérôme Bonaparte, and of Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy, daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.

He had the same education as his elder brother Victor, Prince Napoléon. After that, he lived a lazy life in Paris, staying at the house of his aunt Mathilde Bonaparte. His father directed him towards a military career. As a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte, he wasn't allowed in the French Army and therefore became a lieutenant in the Italian Army at Verona, with the approval of his uncle King Umberto I of Italy.

Because of anti-French sentiments in the Italian Army, he decided in 1890 to leave Italy and enter in the service of the Russian Army. In 1895 he became colonel and in 1902 he was stationed in the Caucasus. When in 1905 riots broke out between Armenians and Azeris in Yerevan, he was named Governor of the province of Yerevan and ordered to restore the order.

In 1910, as lieutenant-general, he retired from the Russian Army and moved to the family domain at Prangins in Switserland. At the request of the Russian tsar, he became liaison officer for the Russian Army with the Third Italian Army, led by his cousin Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta.

In 1917, he returned to Prangins, from where he made several travels, including to Japan and the United States.
He died in 1932 from a stroke. He never married and had no children.

Ancestry

Family of Louis Bonaparte (1864-1932)

16. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte               8. Carlo Maria Buonaparte                       17. Maria Saveria Paravicini               4. Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia                             18. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino               9. Maria Letizia Ramolino, Madame Mère de l'Empereur                       19. Angela Maria Pietrasanta               2. Prince Napoleon                                   20. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg               10. Frederick I, King of Württemberg                       21. Fredericka Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt               5. Catherine of Württemberg                             22. Charles II William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel               11. Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel                       23. Augusta of Great Britain               1. Louis Bonaparte                                         24. Charles Emmanuel of Savoy (=30)               12. Charles Albert, King of Sardinia                       25. Maria Christina of Saxony (=31)               6. Victor Emmanuel II of Italy                             26. Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany               13. Maria Theresa of Tuscany                       27. Luisa of Naples and Sicily               3. Marie Clothilde of Savoy                                   28. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor               14. Rainer Joseph of Austria                       29. Maria Luisa of Spain               7. Maria Adelaide of Austria                             30. Charles Emmanuel of Savoy (= 24)               15. Elisabeth of Savoy-Carignano                       31. Maria Christina of Saxony (= 25)

Sources

• A Survival of a Nation by Christopher Walker (isbn=9780312049447)
• Dictionnaire du Second Empire (1995) by Jean Tulard
• Fire and sword in the Caucasus by Luigi Villari (page 216-228)