Prince Louis Napoleon rather rashly returned to France as a young man where he was immediately arrested and deported to England. When Napoleon fell in 1815 and the Bourbon dynasty was restored to the French throne, all members of the Bonaparte family were exiled. His mother Hortense de Beauharnais was the only daughter of Emperor Napoleon’s first consort the Empress Josephine from a previous marriage. His father was Emperor Napoleon’s brother Louis Bonaparte. He holds the unique position as the first titular President of France and the nation’s last absolute monarch. Prince Louis Napoleon’s pedigree as Bonapartist heir was impeccable.
Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873) was the nephew and heir of the first Emperor Napoleon who fulfilled his dynastic ambitions in 1852 by ascending the French throne as Emperor Napoleon III on the 48th anniversary of his Uncle’s coronation.