Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-21
BONAPARTE NAME
SOON EXTINCT
TEN MEMBERS SURVIVE OF
LINE OF NAPOLEON
No Male Heir in Significantly That
Once Ruled Thrones of Europe
Nears the End Of lite
Existence
special cable to The Herald.

passing-only ten of them remain. In
a generation, perhaps, Will have gone
| from existence the last Lf the line or
/ that mighty warrior who overturned
all Europe little more than a century
| ago and put his family On its thrones.
only a short time ago Princess Chris
tina died in Rome. She was Bona
parte by marriage only, but her hus-
band had the blood Of the emperor
from two sources. His name was
Prince Napoleon Charles Bonaparte.
His father was grandson of Lucien,
brother of the great emperor, and ms
mother was Princess Zenaide, grand
daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, whom
Napoleon made king Of Naples and
later king Of Spain.
Christmas death reduced the number
of Bonapartes to ten, which small total
would be less surprising werc it not
for the fact that there were perhaps
more than 100 of them a century ago.
Once a Large Family
1t was a big family that the head of
the line Charles Bonaparte brought
into existence. Besides Napoleon, aft
erward to be the tmpe or of the French,
was Joseph; Lucien, who had seven
children; Maria Anna; Louis, who mar
ried Hortense, daughter of Josephine
Beauharnais; Carlotta, Annvnciata and
Jerome.
The lines of this liberal family multi
piled.
Napoleon had one son. the unfor-
tunate Duke de Reichstadt, who never
reigned, and the family he gained by
his marriage to Josephine, who was q
widow.
The line of, Louis Bonaparte, king OF
Holland, produced three sons, the Sec
| ond of whom became Napoleon Ill,
mounted the throne of France, and
| gave Josephine the revenge of furnish
ing in her grandson king for France,
| som mething that was denied the descent
of Maria Louise of Austria, for Whom
Napoleon discarded Josephine.
From Jerome, youngest member OF
the family, came the Baltimore con-
nections of the Bonapartes, for 1T was
he who married Miss Elizabeth Patter-
son, whose grandson, Charles Bona
parte, is now member of President
Roosevelt's cabinet.
The line of Jerome, after he returned
to Europe at the orders Of the en-
peror, cast off his American bride and
married q daughter of the king OF
Wurtemburg, has furnished the pres
ent claimant to the Napoleonic sue
cession.
Eugenie the Surviving Head
OF those who survive, the head of
the family in point of interest is the
venerable Empress Eugenie, now so
years old, wife of Napoleon III.
One of the most pathetic figures of
the present day is she when is recalled
the glories of the second empire, when
the lovely young Eugene de Montijo
came to France as a queen only to
leave the country in flight when the
terrors of the commune placed her
regal head in danger.
The story of that flight is well re-
membered for she was saved only
by the timely arrival of the Austrian
and Italian ambassadors, who took
the frightened empress from the
Tuileries by stealth, while on the out
side a mob howled for her blood, to the
home of the American dentist, DIR.
Thomas Evans, who conveyed her to
the seacoast and then to England.
After the death of the emperor at
Chiselhurst and of her only son, the
prince imperial, at the hands of the
Zulus in Africa, Eugene retired to
Marlborough, an hour and a half from
London. 1t was long years before she
| again returned to that Paris of bitter
memories, but she has lately visited
the French capital several times and
made the journey for the funeral of
Princess Mathilde in the early days Of
January, 1904.
Princess Clotilde is of somewhat
more heroic mold than Eugene, for
when the horror of the commune fell,
instead of escaping by stealth Clotilde
called for her state carriage and drove
through the principal streets of Paris
with no effort at concealment. This
wonderful courage caused her to be
cheered by the same mob that only a
few minutes before had been hurling
threats of death.
cIotiIde Widely Known
Clotilde is a member of Italy's reign
ing family. She was only 16 years old
| when to seal the treaty of alliance be-
tween France and Italy her father,
King Victor Emmanuel bethrothed her
to the cousin of the Emperor Napoleon
III, Prince Napoleon, son of the
youngest brother of Napoleon 1. Jerome
Bonaparte. Their princely wedding was
celebrated at Turin in 1859.
When the downfall of the empire
drove her from France, Clotilde took
up her residence in the castle of Mon
caller near Turin, and here she has 50
devoted herself to deeds of kindness
and charity that she has won the af-
fectionate title of 1.-THE Angel of the
House of Savoy"
All the surviving Bonapartes except
the dethroned empress descend from
two lines.
First, there are the offspring Of
Lucien, who never accepted a throne
from his brother, and married twice ac-
cording to his own inclinations His
wives were both non-regal persons, and
Napoleon 1 never permitted the chill
dren of Lucien to call themselves inn
perial highnesses, they were merely
highnesses without the adjective.
The Bonapartes of royal pretensions
come through the line of Jerome.
Prince Roland Bonaparte, head OF the
Lucien descendants, is grandson OF
the brother of the great emperor ond a
son of Prince Pierre. Like his grand
father, Prince Roland Bonaparte has
several times refused thrones or the
chance of succession to them, and to-
day knows only the passion of study.
His faYorite research is geography. He
has travelled much and he has a won-
derful library.
Roland married the daughter OF
Blanc, the Monte Carlo concessionaire,
and his daughter is the richest heiress