For other uses, see Louis Napoleon (disambiguation) and Napoleon Bonaparte (disambiguation).
Louis II
Portrait by Félix Cottrau after Jean-Baptiste Wicar
King of Holland
Reign 1 – 13 July 1810
Predecessor Louis I
Successor William I as King of Netherlands
Grand Duke of Berg
Reign 3 March 1809 – 1 December 1813
Predecessor Joachim I
Regent Napoleon I
Born 11 October 1804
Paris, French Empire
Died 17 March 1831(1831-03-17) (aged 26)
Forlì, Papal States
Burial
Saint-Leu-la-Forêt
Spouse
Charlotte Bonaparte
​
(m.  1826)​
House Bonaparte
Father Louis Bonaparte
Mother Hortense de Beauharnais
Royal styles of
Louis II of Holland
Reference style His Majesty
Spoken style Your Majesty

Napoléon-Louis Bonaparte (11 October 1804 – 17 March 1831) was King of Holland for less than two weeks in July 1810 as Louis II (Dutch: Lodewijk II). He was a son of Louis Bonaparte (King Louis I) and Queen Hortense. His father was the younger brother of Napoleon I of France who ruled the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland from 1806 to 1810. His mother was the daughter of Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife. His younger brother, Louis-Napoléon, became Emperor of the French in 1852 as Napoleon III.

Biography

Napoléon Louis's brother, Napoléon Charles, died in 1807 at the age of four.[1] On his death, Napoléon Louis became Prince Royal of Holland.[2] It also made Napoléon Louis the second eldest nephew of Emperor Napoléon I, who at the time had no legitimate children, and he was regarded as his uncle's likely eventual successor.[3] He lost this presumptive status on 20 March 1811 when Napoléon I's second wife, Marie Louise, gave birth to a son, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, who was styled the King of Rome and later Duke of Reichstadt.[4]

In 1809, Napoléon I appointed him Grand Duke of Berg, a position he held until 1813.[5]

On 1 July 1810, Louis I of Holland abdicated his throne in favour of Napoléon Louis.[6] For the nine days between his father's abdication and the fall of Holland to the advancing French army in July 1810, Napoléon Louis reigned as Lodewijk II, King of Holland.[7]

When Napoléon I was deposed in 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo, the House of Bourbon was restored to the French throne.[8] Napoléon Louis fled into exile, although the Bonaparte family never abandoned hopes of restoring the Napoleonic Empire.[9]

On 23 July 1826 Napoléon Louis married his first cousin, Charlotte, the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoléon I.[10] He and his younger brother Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte settled in Italy, where they embraced liberal politics and became involved with the Carbonari, who opposed Austrian domination of northern Italy.[11]

On 17 March 1831, while fleeing Italy during a crackdown on revolutionary activity by Papal and Austrian forces, Napoléon Louis, who was suffering from measles, died in Forlì.[12] The French Empire was eventually restored by his younger brother Louis-Napoléon, who became Napoléon III in 1852.[13]

Napoléon Louis is buried at Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Île-de-France.[14]

  • Portrait by François Kinson, c. 1810
    Portrait by François Kinson, c. 1810
  • With family and Emperor Alexander I of Russia at Château de Malmaison
    With family and Emperor Alexander I of Russia at Château de Malmaison
  • Portrait with his father, Louis Bonaparte, by Jean-Baptiste Wicar
    Portrait with his father, Louis Bonaparte, by Jean-Baptiste Wicar
  • Posthumous portrait, 1858
    Posthumous portrait, 1858
  • Coat of arms of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg
    Coat of arms of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg
  • Coat of arms of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as King of Holland
    Coat of arms of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as King of Holland

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Napoléon Louis Bonaparte.
  1. ^ "Napoléon Charles Bonaparte". Napoleon.org. Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  2. ^ "Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland". Napoleon.org. Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  3. ^ "Dynastic Succession Under Napoleon I". Napoleon.org. Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Napoleon II (Duke of Reichstadt)". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Grand Duchy of Berg". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Louis Bonaparte Abdication, 1810". Napoleon Series. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  7. ^ "The Kingdom of Holland (1806–1810)". Holland.com. Netherlands Board of Tourism. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Restoration, France (1814–1830)". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  9. ^ "Bonapartist Movement". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  10. ^ "Charlotte Bonaparte". Napoleon.org. Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  11. ^ Grab, Alexander (2000). "The Politics of the Carbonari". Journal of Modern Italian Studies. 5 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1080/135457100363972.
  12. ^ "Napoléon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831)". Napoleon.org. Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  13. ^ "Napoleon III". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  14. ^ "Burial Sites of the Bonaparte Family". International Napoleonic Society. Retrieved 2 December 2025.