Napoleon, originally known as Napoleone, was the second eldest of Carlo and Letizia Buonaparte’s eight surviving children. All the children were born in Corsica and. like Napoleon used the Italian surname of his father whose family descended from Tuscan nobility. (The name did not officially change to the French “Bonaparte” until 1796 when Napoleon married Josephine.)
Carlo died of cancer at the age of 38, three months after the birth of his youngest son. Napoleon was 15 and attending the École Militaire in Paris at the time.
Letizia, known as “Madame Mère” outlived Napoleon, dying in Rome at the age of 85.
Eight of their twelve children survived to adulthood.
Napoleon’s Brother and Sisters
Joseph
Napoleon made Joseph King of Naples and then King of Spain. During the Revolution Joseph had married Julie Clary, daughter of a wealthy merchant from Marseille. Napoleon had become engaged to her sister Désirée. He
had broken off the engagement to marry Josephine.
Napoleon
Napoleon was born the year after Joseph.
Napoleon was 5 years old when his next surviving brother was born. In the meantime his mother had given birth too three children who were either stillborn or died shortly after birth.
Lucien
Lucien was politically active before Napoleon and played an important part in initially bringing Napoleon to power. However Napoleon did not approve of Lucien’s wife.
Lucien refused to give her up. He moved to Rome and then England. During the Hundred Days he returned to France where Napoleon finally made him a Prince.
Elisa
During Napoleon’s initial campaign in Italy, Elisa married a nobleman from Corsica. At that stage Napoleon was just a general, so his initial reticence about her choice was based
on her husband’s doubtful reputation as an army captain. As Emperor Napoleon made Elisa the Princess of Piombino and Lucca in Italy. Four years later she also became the Grand Duchess of Tuscany.
Louis
Louis married Josephine’s daughter Hortense. Napoleon made Louis King of Holland for a period of four years. When he died in 1846, his only surviving son was in prison for his political activity. Louis had no idea he would became President of France two years later and then Emperor
Napoleon III in 1852.
Pauline
Pauline was Napoleon’s favourite sister. She
married one of his Generals who died of yellow
fever five years later. Within less than a year she
remarried. Her new husband was an Italian
Prince—Camillo Borghese, making her a Princess.
The following year Napoleon made her a Princess
of the Empire as well.
Caroline
Caroline married Joachim Murat, one of Napoleon’s generals. Napoleon made them King and Queen of Naples after he moved his eldest brother Joseph from Naples to Spain. During Napoleon’s exile on Elba, Murat initially formed
an alliance with the Austrians to keep the throne.
He rallied again to Napoleon during the Hundred Days which resulted in his execution. Caroline then called herself the “Countess of Lipona” (anagram of Napoli).
Jerome
At 19 Jerome had run off to America where he married the daughter of a wealthy businessman.
Napoleon did not approve and annulled the marriage. Jerome then married a German Princess and Napoleon made him King of Westphalia—a combined region in Germany.
Jerome later became a prominent figure in the government of his nephew Napoleon III.
