The Bonapartes


Bonaparte, Joseph (1768-1844) King of Naples and Sicily (1806-08) and King of Spain (1808-13) the eldest surviving son of Charles Bonaparte and brother of Napoleon. He married in 1794 Marie-Julie Clary (1771-1845), elder sister of Desirée Bernadotte (née Clary). He served Napoleon on diplomatic missions and was a humane sovereign in southern Italy, but faced continuous rebellion as a nominated ruler in Spain, where his army was decisively defeated by Wellington at Vitoria (June 1813). After Waterloo, Joseph Bonaparte spent many years in exile in America, in New Jersey, but settled in Florence, Italy for the last years of his life, while his family remained in Europe.

Charlotte (1802-1839) and Zénaide (1801-1854) Bonaparte are daughters of Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) and Marie-Julie Clary (1771-1845). The portrait by Jacques-Louis David shows the girls with a letter from their father sent from Philadelphia.
Zénaide, the one who holds the letter in the portrait, married her cousin Charles Lucien, son of Lucien Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon, in 1822.
Charlotte married her cousin Napoleon Louis, son of Louis Bonaparte, another brother of Napoleon, in 1826.
See: Jacques-Louis David. Portrait of Charlotte and Zénaide Bonaparte.
François-Pascal-Simon Gérard. Marie-Julie Bonaparte, Queen of Spain, with Her Two Daughters Charlotte and Zénaide Bonaparte.
Bibliography:
Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers. 1996.
Napoleon's Family. by Desmond Seward Publisher: Viking Press. 1986.
 

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