REICHSTADT, NAPOLEON FRANCIS JOSEPH CHARLES, DUKE OF (1811-1832), known by the Bonapartists as Napoleon II., was the son of the Emperor Napoleon I. and Marie Louise, archduchess of Austria. He was born on March 20, 18Ii, in Paris at the Tuileries palace. He was at first named the king of Rome, after the analogy of the heirs of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. By his birth the Napoleonic dynasty seemed to be finally established; but in three years it crumbled in the dust. At the time of the downfall of the empire (April 1814) Marie Louise and the king of Rome were at Blois with Joseph and Jerome Bonaparte, who wished to keep them as hos tages. This design, however, was frustrated. Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son; but events prevented the reign of Napoleon II. from being more than titular. While Napoleon repaired to Elba, his consort and child went to Vienna; and they remained in Austria during the Hundred Days (1815), despite efforts made by the Bonapartists to carry off the prince to his father at Paris. In the settlements of 1814 and 1815 (see MARIE LouIsE)—the powers opposed all participation of the prince in the affairs of his mother's duchy of Parma. He therefore remained at Vienna. From this time onward he became, as it were, a pawn in the complex game of European politics, his claims being put forward sometimes by Metternich, sometimes by the unionists of Italy, while occasionally malcontents in France used his name to dis credit the French Bourbons. In November 1816 the court of Vienna informed Marie Louise that her son could not succeed to the duchies. This decision was confirmed by the treaty of Paris of June io, 1817. The title of "duke of Reichstadt" was con
ferred on him on July 22, 1818 by way of compensation. Thus Napoleon I., who once averred that he would prefer that his son should be strangled rather than brought up as an Austrian prince, lived to see his son reduced to a rank inferior to that of the Austrian archdukes.
His education was confided chiefly to Count Dietrichstein, who found him precocious, volatile, passionate and fond of military affairs. His nature was sensitive, as appeared on his receiving the news of the death of his father in 1821. The upheaval in France in 183o and the disturbances which ensued led many Frenchmen to turn their thoughts to Napoleon II. ; but though Metternich dallied for a time with the French Bonapartists, he had no intention of inaugurating a Napoleonic revival. The duke's indulgence in physical exercise far beyond his powers aggravated a natural weakness of the chest, and he died on July 22, 1832.
See A. M. Barthelemy and J. P. A. Wry, Le Fils de l'homme (Paris, 1829) ; Baron G. I. Comte de Montbel, Le Duc de Reichstadt (Paris, 1832) ; J. de Saint-Felix, Histoire de Napoleon //. (Paris, 1853) ; Guy de 1'Ilerault, Histoire de Napoleon II. (Paris, 1853) Count Anton von Prokesch-Osten, Mein Verheiltniss zum Herzog von Reichstadt (Stuttgart, 1878) ; H. Welschinger, Le Roi de Rome (Paris, 1897) ; E. de Wertheimer, The Duke of Reichstadt (Eng. ed., 1905) ; C. Tschudi, Napoleon's Son (Eng. trs., 1912) ; H. Fleisch mann, Le Roi de Rome et des femmes (two) ; M. Rostand's L'Aiglon; Marie Louise, consort of Napoleon I., Private Diaries (1922).