Line of succession to the French throne (Bonapartist)

The line of succession to the throne of the French Empire was a matter of discussion, among the descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

and his sympathisers until 1924. Today there is only one claimant left.

Origins of the French Empire

The French empire, commonly known as the French Empire or the Napoleonic Empire, consisted of two periods of French history, when the form of government

Form of government

A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government".-Empirical and conceptual problems:...

was an empire

Empire

The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....

and the head of state

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

a monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

, i.c. an emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

.

The First French Empire

First French Empire

The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...

, was the regime

Form of government

established by Napoleon I

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

in France. This empire lasted from 1804 to 1814, from the Consulate

French Consulate

The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...

of the First French Republic to the restoration of the Bourbon

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

monarchy

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

, and was briefly restored during the hundred days

Hundred Days

The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...

period in 1815.

The Second French Empire

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

was the regime

Form of government

established in France by Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second French Republic

French Second Republic

The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...

and the Third French Republic

French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...

. Napoleon III was the third son of Louis Bonaparte

Louis Bonaparte

Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...

, a younger brother of Napoleon I, and Hortense de Beauharnais

Hortense de Beauharnais

Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte , Queen Consort of Holland, was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoleon I, being the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. She later became the wife of the former's brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, and the mother of Napoleon III, Emperor of...

, the daughter of Napoleon I

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

's wife Josephine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...

by her first marriage. He was his nephew.

Bonapartism

Bonapartism

Bonapartism is often defined as a political expression in the vocabulary of Marxism and Leninism, deriving from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire...

had its followers from 1815 forward among those who never accepted the defeat at Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

or the Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

. Napoleon I's death in exile on Saint Helena

Saint Helena

Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...

in 1821 only transferred the allegiance of many of these persons to other members of the House of Bonaparte

Bonaparte

The House of Bonaparte is an imperial and royal European dynasty founded by Napoleon I of France in 1804, a French military leader who rose to notability out of the French Revolution and transformed the French Republic into the First French Empire within five years of his coup d'état...

.

The question of who is the legitimate heir of the French imperial throne is a matter of great discussion. After the death of Napoleon I's son, known to Bonapartists as Napoleon II

Napoleon II of France

Napoléon II , after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria...

, there were several different members of the family in which the Bonapartist hopes rested.

The disturbances of 1848 gave this group hope. Bonapartists were essential in the election of Napoleon I's nephew Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

of the Second French Republic

French Second Republic

, and gave him the political support necessary for his 1852 discarding of the constitution

Constitution

A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

and proclaiming the Second French Empire

Second French Empire

, and himself, as Napoleon III, emperor.

In 1870, Napoleon III led France to a disastrous defeat at the hands of kingdom of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

in the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

, and he subsequently abdicated.

Following the definite overthrow of the second Napoleonic empire, the third French republic was established. Bonapartism was slowly relegated to being the civic faith of a few romantics as more of a hobby than a practical political philosophy. The death knell for Bonapartism was probably sounded when Eugène Bonaparte, the only son of Napoleon III, was killed in action while serving as a British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

officer in Zululand

Zulu Kingdom

The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....

in 1879. Thereafter Bonapartism ceased to be a political force.

Until today, the descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte, and their political supporters, still claim the title of emperor and want to reestablish the monarchy, i.e., the empire, instead of the republic as a form of government, and the emperor instead of the president as the head of state.

First Napoleonic law of succession

The law of succession Napoleon I established on becoming Emperor in 1804 provided that the legitimate heir to the imperial throne should pass firstly to Napoleon I's own legitimate male descendants through the male line.

The law of succession provided that if Napoleon I's own direct line died out, the claim passed first to his older brother Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

and his legitimate male descendants through the male line, then to his younger brother Louis Bonaparte

Louis Bonaparte

Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...

and his legitimate male descendants through the male line. His other brothers, Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

and Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...

, and their descendants, were omitted from the succession, even though Lucien was older than Louis, because they had either politically opposed the emperor or made marriages of which he disapproved.

Upon extinction of the legitimate natural and adopted males, agnatic

Patrilineality

Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....

descendants of Napoleon I, and those of two of his brothers, Joseph

Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

and Louis

Louis Bonaparte

Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...

, the throne was to be awarded to a man selected by the non-dynastic princely and ducal dignitaries of the empire, as ratified by plebiscite

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

.

At the time the law of succession was decreted Napoleon I had no legitimate sons, and it seemed unlikely he would have any due to the age of his wife, Josephine of Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais

. His eventual response was the unacceptable one, in the eyes of catholic France, of engineering a dubious annulment, without papal approval, of his marriage to Josephine and undertaking a second marriage to the younger Mary Louise of Austria

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma

Marie Louise of Austria was the second wife of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and later Duchess of Parma...

, with whom he had one son, Napoleon, King of Rome

Napoleon II of France

Napoléon II , after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria...

, also as Napoleon II and the Duke of Reichstadt. He was not married and had no children, thus leaving no further direct descendants of Napoleon I.

In the mean time, Napoleon I's older brother Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

and first in line to succeed him, died on 28 July 1844 without ever having had a legitimate son, only daughters. The succession passed to Napoleon I's younger brother Louis Bonaparte

Louis Bonaparte

Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...

. When the Empire was restored to power in France in 1852, the emperor was Napoleon III, Louis Bonaparte's only living legitimate son.

Second Napoleonic law of succession

In 1852, Napoleon III, having restored the Bonapartes to power in France, enacted a new decree on the succession. The claim first went to his own male legitimate descendants in the male line.

If his own direct line died out, the new decree allowed the claim to pass to Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...

, Napoleon I's youngest brother who had previously been excluded, and his male descendants by Princess Catharina of Württemberg

Catharina of Württemberg

Princess Catharina Frederica of Württemberg was the second wife of Jérôme Bonaparte.-Family:Catharina was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia to the later King Frederick I of Württemberg and Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel...

in the male line. His descendants by his original marriage to the American commoner

Commoner

In British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the Sovereign nor a peer. Therefore, any member of the Royal Family who is not a peer, such as Prince Harry of Wales or Anne, Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy title,...

Elizabeth Patterson

Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte , known as "Betsy", was the daughter of a Baltimore, Maryland merchant, and was the first wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, and sister-in-law of Emperor Napoleon I of France.-Ancestry:Elizabeth's father, William Patterson, had been born in Ireland and came to North America...

, of which Napoleon I had greatly disapproved, were excluded.

The emperor, hitherto a bachelor, began quickly to look for a wife to produce a legitimate heir. Most of the royal families of Europe were unwilling to marry into the parvenu House of Bonaparte

Bonaparte

, and after several rebuffs, from Princess Carola of Sweden

Carola of Vasa

Carola of Vasa was a titular princess of Sweden, and the queen consort of Saxony...

and from Princess Adelaide von Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was a niece of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. She was the second daughter of Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Feodora of Leiningen, older half-sister of the British queen...

, Napoleon III decided to lower his sights somewhat and marry for love instead, choosing the young, beautiful countess of Teba, Eugénie de Montijo

Eugénie de Montijo

Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo , was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of...

, a Spanish noblewoman with some Scottish ancestry who had been brought up in Paris.

In 1856, Eugénie gave birth to a legitimate son and heir, Napoleon Eugene Louis, the Prince Imperial, who succeeded his father as claimant in 1873 as Napoleon IV. He died in 1879. Following the second law of succession, the throne passed to Jérôme Bonaparte and his descendants, although Eugene's will excluded Jerome himself from the succession in favour of Jerome's own son Napoleon Victor, called Napoleon V, leading to fierce disputes among the increasingly irrelevant Bonapartist circle.

In every case, the only remaining Bonapartist claimants since 1879, and today, have been descendants of Jérôme Bonaparte and Catherina of Württemberg in the male line.

Prince Napoleon line of succession (from 1879 until today)

This branch of succession was established by Napoleon Joseph Charles Bonaparte
Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte
Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Prince Français, Count of Meudon, Count of Moncalieri ad personam, titular 3rd Prince of Montfort was the second son of Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, by his wife Catherine, princess of Württemberg...

, nicknamed Plon-plon. He was the only legitimate male descendant of Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...

. He died in 1891. His son, son Napoleon Victor Jerome Frederic Bonaparte was claimant under the name of Napoleon V. He died 1926.

He was succeeded by his son, Louis Jérôme Bonaparte and was called Napoleon VI. He died in 1997. He was succeeded by his son, Charles Mary Jerome Victor Napoleon Bonaparte, the actual pretender. He married Beatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in a civil procedure, not a religious one. His heir apparent

Heir apparent

An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....

is his son, Jean-Christophe Napoléon.

There are no remaining descendants in male line from any other of Napoleon's brothers, and no serious political movement that aims to restore any of these men to the imperial throne of France.

This branch of the House of Bonaparte has support from the majority of Bonapartists.

Princes of Canino line of succession (1846-1924)

The Prince Canino Line

Prince Canino Line

The Princes of Canino and Musignano formed the genealogically senior line of the Bonaparte family following the death of Joseph Bonaparte in 1844, founded by one of Emperor Napoleon I's younger brothers, Lucien Bonaparte. It became extinct in the male line in 1924...

was the senior line of the Bonaparte

Bonaparte

family following the death of Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

in 1846, founded by one of Napoleon I's younger brothers, Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

. It became extinct in the male line in 1924.

On 24 September 1806, Napoleon I youngest brother, Jerome Napoleon

Jérôme Napoléon

Prince Jérôme Xavier Marie Joseph Victor Napoléon is currently second in the line of succession for the Imperial throne of France. He is the son of Prince Louis Napoléon and the younger brother of the current head of the Bonaparte family Prince Charles Napoléon . He is a librarian and is...

was made a French prince, along with the future issue of his second marriage to Catherine of Wurttemberg, and he and his heirs were added into the succession.

On 22 March 1815, during the hundred days restoration

Hundred Days

, Napoleon I also recognized his brother Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

and his sons as imperial French princes. At no time, however, were Lucien and his issue recognized during the First Empire as eligible by law to inherit the French throne, or any other throne.

Lucien was given the noble title of Principe di Canino e Musignano (princes of Canino and Musignano). It was a papal

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

title of nobility given to Lucien and his heirs male but was never legally recognized neither incorporated in France.

Therefore, upon the death without issue in 1832 of the Napoleon II, titular emperor, the claim to the Bonaparte crown of France devolved upon Joseph Napoleon. Following his death without sons in 1844, the imperial claim bypassed Lucien's sons and devolved upon Louis Napoleon, even though Louis had been younger than Lucien. His third son became Emperor Napoleon III

Napoleon III of France

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...

in 1852.

The Second Empire

Second French Empire

's constitution recognized the dynasticity

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

of all of Napoleon I's brothers and their issue, but allowed the emperor to choose the order in which they would inherit the throne in the event he died without male issue.

On 18 December 1852 the emperor appointed his only remaining uncle, Jerome Napoleon

Jérôme Napoléon

, as heir presumptive

Heir Presumptive

An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...

, again bypassing the male line of Lucien.

Thus, despite being the senior Bonapartist line since 1846, at no time have the descendants of Lucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

, prince of Canino, or his issue been the heirs to the imperial throne of France under any law of either Empire. They claim their right upon the rules of succession in the kingdom of France, where the direct blood relatives always come before indirect blood relatives.

The descendants in this line were as follows:

Lucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

(died 1840)
Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano was a French naturalist and ornithologist.-Biography:...

(1840–1857)
Joseph Lucien Bonaparte
Joseph Lucien Bonaparte
Joseph Lucien Charles Napoléon Bonaparte, 3rd Prince of Canino and Musignano was born in Philadelphia the son of Charles Lucien Bonaparte and his cousin Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte....

(1857–1865)
Lucien Cardinal Bonaparte
Lucien-Louis-Joseph-Napoleon Cardinal Bonaparte
Lucien Louis Joseph Napoleon Cardinal Bonaparte, 4th Prince of Canino and Musignano was a French cardinal.He was born in Rome, the son of Charles Lucien Bonaparte and his wife Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte....

(1865–1895)
Napoleon Bonaparte-Canino
Prince Napoléon Bonaparte of Canino
Napoléon Charles Grégoire Jacques Philippe Bonaparte, 5th Prince of Canino and Musignano was born in Rome the son of Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte and Princess Zénaïde Bonaparte, but his real mother was Maria Testaferrata, Charles' mistress.Prince Napoléon Charles served in the French Army and...

(1895–1899)
Roland Bonaparte (1899–1924)

At this point, the male line ended as there were no more male descendants.

This branch of the House of Bonaparte had support from the minority of Bonapartists.

List of claimants

Each claimant is son of the previous claimant, except where otherwise noted.

Napoléon I (Napoléon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

) 1814-1815, 1815-1821 (from 1804 to 1814, and again in 1815, Napoléon Bonaparte was Emperor of the French
Emperor of the French
The Emperor of the French was the title used by the Bonaparte Dynasty starting when Napoleon Bonaparte was given the title Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the French Senate and was crowned emperor of the French on 02 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, in Paris with the Crown of...

in fact)
Napoléon II (Napoléon François, Duke of Reichstadt
Napoleon II of France
Napoléon II , after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria...

) 1821-1832
Joseph I (Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

) 1832-1844, brother of Napoléon Bonaparte
Louis I (Louis Bonaparte
Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...

) 1844-1846, brother of Napoléon Bonaparte
Napoléon III (Louis Napoléon Bonaparte
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...

) 1846-1852, 1870-1873 (from 1852 until 1870, Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was Emperor of the French
Emperor of the French
The Emperor of the French was the title used by the Bonaparte Dynasty starting when Napoleon Bonaparte was given the title Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the French Senate and was crowned emperor of the French on 02 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, in Paris with the Crown of...

(as Napoléon III) in fact)
Napoléon IV Eugène (Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial
Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial
Napoléon, Prince Imperial, , Prince Imperial, Fils de France, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo...

) 1873-1879, son of Napoléon III
Napoléon V Victor (Prince Napoléon Victor Bonaparte) 1879-1926, grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte
Napoléon VI Louis (Prince Louis Napoléon) 1926-1997, great-grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte

After this point, the succession is disputed between father and son, son and grandson respectively of Napoléon VI Louis.

Napoléon VII Charles (Prince Charles Napoléon) 1997–Present
Napoléon VIII Jean-Christophe (Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon) 1997–present

Current line of succession

Line of succession from Prince Charles Napoléon (Napoléon VII Charles)

HIH Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon (Born 1986), Charles' son (Napoléon VII Jean-Christophe)
HIH Prince Jerome Xavier Bonaparte (Born 1957), Charles' brother

Origins of the French Empire

First Napoleonic law of succession

Second Napoleonic law of succession

Prince Napoleon line of succession (from 1879 until today)

Princes of Canino line of succession (1846-1924)

List of claimants

Current line of succession

See also