{{Infobox noble , name = Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne , title = Count Léon , image = Charles, comte Léon.jpg , caption = , alt = , CoA = , more = no , succession = , reign = , reign-type = , predecessor = , successor = , suc-type = , spouse = Françoise Fanny Jouet , spouse-type = , issue = , issue-link = , issue-pipe = , full name = , native_name = , styles = , other_titles = , noble family = House of Bonaparte , house-type = , father =

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, mother = Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne , birth_name = , birth_date = 13 December 1806 , birth_place = Paris, France , christening_date = , christening_place = , death_date = {{Death date and age, 1881, 04, 14, 1806, 12, 13, df=y , death_place =

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dép ...

, Paris, France , burial_date = , burial_place = , religion = , occupation = , memorials = , website = , module = Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne, Count Léon{{cite book , last1=Stacton , first1=David , title=Charles Léon , date=1966 , publisher=Simon and Schuster , location=France , isbn=9780671098605 , page=310 (13 December 1806 – 14 April 1881) was an illegitimate son of Emperor

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

of France and Napoleon's mistress Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne. Brought up in France, Léon began a military career in Saint-Denis where he was head of a battalion of the national guard. Admirative of his father, he tried to keep the memory of the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: * First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 * First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes u ...

alive by organizing several commemorations. After the fall of his cousin

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

and of the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

, Léon retired in Pontoise, France, and died in poverty.

Biography

Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne was born on 13 December 1806 at No. 29,

Rue de la Victoire The rue de la Victoire is a street in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The former name of the street was "rue Chantereine", which means "singing frogs", after the many frogs in the area as the quarter was swampy. The street took the name "rue de l ...

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as the neuvième (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is loc ...

, Paris, France, to Napoleon and Napoleon's sister

Caroline Murat Carolina Maria Annunziata Bonaparte Murat Macdonald ( French: ''Caroline Marie Annonciade Bonaparte''; 25 March 1782 – 18 May 1839), better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was an Imperial French princess; the seventh child and third daughter of Ca ...

's maid, Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne.{{cite book , last1=Glover , first1=Gareth , title=Napoleon in 100 Objects , date=2020 , publisher=Frontline Books , isbn=9781526731371{{cite book , last1=Bonaparte , first1=Queen Hortense Eugénie Cécile , title=The Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Volume 1 , date=2016 , publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing , isbn=9781786258380 Napoleon chose his second name of Léon.{{cite book , last1=Bedei , first1=Philippe , title=MINI DICTIONNAIRE DE L'HISTOIRE DE FRANCE: TOME 5 , date=2021 , publisher=BoD - Books on Demand , isbn=9782322219667 , page=131 He was Napoleon's first son, but was entrusted to a tutor and initially brought up in ignorance of his heritage. Napoleon had thought for a long time that he was sterile because his wife

Joséphine de Beauharnais Josephine may refer to: People * Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer Places *Josephine, Texas, United States *Mount Josephine (disambiguation) * Josephine Cou ...

, who already had two children from a previous marriage, failed to get pregnant. Léon's birth was of "undeniable political importance" since it showed it was not Napoleon who was sterile. Napoleon considered adopting Léon, but realized his other illegitimate children would have claim to the crown and therefore abandoned the idea.{{cite journal , title=The Three Sons of Napoleon , journal=The English Illustrated Magazine , date=April–September 1906 , volume=25 , issue=25 , page=127 Although he did not legitimize Léon, Napoleon acknowledged Léon as his son and gave him a pension of 3,000 pounds a year and rights to the profits on wood sold from Moselle.{{cite book , last1=Tsouras , first1=Peter G. , title=Napoleon Victorious!: An Alternative History of the Battle of Waterloo , date=2017 , publisher=Greenhill Books , isbn=9781784382117 , page=200{{cite book , last1=Vizetelly , first1=Ernest Alfred , title=The Court of the Tuileries, 1852-1870: Its Organization, Chief Personages, Splendour, Frivolity, and Downfall , date=1907 , publisher=Chatto & Windus , location=France , page=179 Léon – short for Napoleon – was raised away from the imperial court, but always under his father's protection. The Emperor made him an heir in his will, and gave him the title of count. In 1832, Léon shot an orderly of the Duke of Wellington's,

Charles Hesse Charles Hesse (c. 1791 – 24 February 1832) was a Prussian-born officer of the British Army, notable for his liaison with the young Princess Charlotte of Wales. Biography He was the son of a Prussian merchant who made a fortune from various ente ...

, in a duel over losing 16,000

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

to Hesse in a card game.{{cite book , last1=Roberts , first1=Andrew , title=Napoleon: A Life , date=2014 , publisher=Penguin , isbn=9780698176287 Writer Gareth Glover stated Léon was "completely unmanageable" in adulthood and became a "hardened gambler", having to go to

debtor's prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histori ...

twice. Biographer Andrew Roberts wrote he was an "argumentative drunken wastrel". He married Françoise Fanny Jouet, with whom he had four children live past infancy (sons Charles, Gaston and Fernand; and daughter Charlotte).{{cite news , last1=Hennebicq , first1=Maurice , title=Le petit-fils de l'Empereur , url=https://www.sudouest.fr/2011/11/02/le-petit-fils-de-l-empereur-542672-3415.php?nic , access-date=September 23, 2021 , publisher=Sud Ouest , date=February 11, 2011 , archive-date=September 24, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924165551/https://www.sudouest.fr/2011/11/02/le-petit-fils-de-l-empereur-542672-3415.php?nic , url-status=live He died "poverty-stricken" on 14 April 1881. He is buried in a mass grave in Pontoise, Paris, France.{{cite web , title=Le fils de Napoléon enterré à Pontoise , url=https://www.ville-pontoise.fr/histoire/fils-napoleon-enterre-a-pontoise , website=Pontoise , access-date=September 23, 2021 , archive-date=September 24, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924165552/https://www.ville-pontoise.fr/histoire/fils-napoleon-enterre-a-pontoise , url-status=live Léon’s daughter Charlotte Mesnard, who was interviewed in 1921 at the age of 55, said her father had a striking resemblance to Napoleon. She also said that two of Léon's sons and her own son were killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.{{Cite web , url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/23/109803978.pdf , title=Archived copy , access-date=June 12, 2018 , archive-date=January 3, 2020, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103181630/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/23/109803978.pdf , url-status=live Comte Charles Léon, Léon's great-grandson, died in 1994.{{cite book , last1=Weider , first1=Ben , last2=Forshufvud , first2=Sten , title=Assassination at St. Helena Revisited , date=1995 , publisher=Wiley , isbn=9780471126775 , page=471

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel , collapsed=yes , align=center , boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; , boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; , boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; , boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; , boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; , 1= 1. Charles Léon Denuelle de La Plaigne, Comte Léon , 2= 2.

, 3= 3.

Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne Eléonore Denuelle (13 September 1787 – 30 January 1868) was a mistress of Emperor Napoleon I of France and the mother of his son Charles, Count Léon. She was born Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne into a middle-class ...

, 4= 4. Carlo Maria Buonaparte , 5= 5.

Maria Letizia Ramolino Maria-Letizia Buonaparte ( née Ramolino; 24 August 1750 (or 1749) – 2 February 1836), known as Letizia Bonaparte, was a Corsican noblewoman, mother of Napoleon I of France. She became known as “” after the proclamation of the Empire. ...

, 6= 6. Dominique Denuelle de La Plaigne , 7= 7. Françoise Charlotte Eléonore Couprie , 8= 8.

Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte '' Nobile'' Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte or Giuseppe Maria di Buonaparte (31 May 1713 – 13 December 1763) was a Corsican politician, better known as the paternal grandfather of Napoleon I of France. Early life He was the son of Sebastiano Nico ...

, 9= 9. Maria Saveria Paravicini , 10= 10. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino , 11= 11. Angela Maria Pietrasanta , 16= 16. Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte , 17= 17. Maria Anna Tusoli , 18= 18. Giuseppe Maria Paravicini , 19= 19. Maria Angela Salineri , 20= 20. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino , 21= 21. Angela Maria Peri , 22= 22. Giuseppe Pietrasanta , 23= 23. Maria Giuseppa Malerba

References

{{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Charles 1806 births 1881 deaths Charles Leon Illegitimate children of Napoleon Sons of emperors Sons of kings {{France-noble-stub

Biography

Ancestry

Further reading

References