Elisa Bonaparte spouse Felice Pasquale Baciocchi
Early life
Élisa was born in Ajaccio, Corsica. She was christened Maria-Anna, but later officially adopted the nickname "Élisa" (her brother Lucien, to whom she was very close in childhood, nicknamed her Elisa). In June 1784, a bursary allowed her to attend the Maison royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr, where she was frequently visited by her brother Napoleon. Following the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly decreed the Maison's closure on 16 August 1792 as it shut down institutions associated with the aristocracy. Élisa left on 1 September with Napoleon to return to Ajaccio.
Around 1795, the Bonaparte family relocated to Marseille. There Élisa got to know Felice Pasquale Baciocchi (who later adopted the surname Levoy). A Corsican nobleman and formerly a captain in the Royal Corse, he had been dismissed from his rank with the outbreak of the French Revolution.Marriage and family
Élisa married Levoy in a civil ceremony in Marseille on 1 May 1797, followed by a religious ceremony in Mombello, where Napoleon had a villa. He had moved there with his family in June 1797. Concerned about Baciocchi's reputation as a poor captain, Napoleon had some initial reservations about his sister's choice of spouse. Their religious ceremony was held on the same day as her sister Pauline's marriage to general Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc.
In July, Baciocchi was promoted to chef de bataillon, with the command of the citadel at Ajaccio. In 1799, the extended Bonaparte family moved to Paris. Élisa set up home at 125 rue de Miromesnil, in the Quartier du Roule, where she held receptions and put on plays.
During the rise of the Consulate, she and her brother Lucien held an artistic and literary salon at the Hôtel de Brissac, at which she met the journalist Louis de Fontanes, with whom she had a deep friendship for several years. On 14 May 1800, on the death of Lucien's first wife, Christine Boyer, Élisa took Lucien's two daughters under her protection. She placed Charlotte, the eldest, in Madame Campan's boarding school for young women at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
At the start of November 1800, Lucien was reassigned from his job as Minister of the Interior to Madrid as French ambassador to the court of the King of Spain. He took Élisa's husband, Félix Baciocchi, as his secretary. Élisa remained in Paris, but maintained a regular correspondence with her brother.
On 18 May 1804, the French Senate voted in favour of setting up the First French Empire, and Élisa and Napoleon's other sisters were established as members of the Imperial family, both taking the style "Imperial Highness" ("Altesse impériale"). Felice Baciocchi was promoted to brigade general and later made a senator.Marriage and issue
She married Felice Pasquale Baciocchi Levoy, a member of Corsican nobility, on 1 May 1797, created Prince Français, Duke of Lucca and Prince of Piombino and Prince of Massa-Carrara and La Garfagnana. They were parents of five children:
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