#Elenore Denuelle

[napoleondidthat]

Did Napoleon have an illegitimate children? I remember reading somewhere that he had an illegitimate son that had children. Is this true?

Oh yes he did.

Here’s a brief summery of them:

1. Count Leon--He is the son of Elenore Denuelle who is mentioned being a person in the household of Caroline, Napoleon’s sister. Caroline played match-maker in order to try to prove Napoleon was able to father children and to get Josephine out of the way. This wasn’t some grand love affair, more like an experiment to see if she could get pregnant.. She did. There has been some speculation that the child could have been Murat’s as apparently he was also “seeing” her. However, Napoleon accepted the child as his own, made him a count and it’s said that as he grew he resembled Napoleon. He turned out to be a bit of a scoundrel, had a huge gambling problem and would pester his cousin, Napoleon III, for payment of his debts and other things. 

2. Alexandre Walewski--He is the son of Napoleon’s love affair with Marie Walewska, nicknamed Napoleon’s “Polish Wife”. They met during Napoleon’s campaign through Poland, she started out as a patriot who had a bit of hero worship of Napoleon and was begging him to help free Poland. Napoleon made promises to that he never followed through on. He immediately wanted her for his mistress, she balked because she was already married to Count Walweski who was several decades older than her (she was 18 and he was maybe in his 60s pushing 70s). They also had a son together AND she was also Catholic. However, Napoleon pursued her, conquered her, and she seemed to fall genuinely in love with him. She followed him around and was eventually installed in Napoleon’s and Josephine’s first home in Paris. Count Walweski accepted the son as his own, he knew of the affair and seems to have even given it his blessing. Alexandre grew up in Poland in the Walewski family. Marie married a distant cousin of the Bonapartes, a man named Ornano and died before Napoleon after giving birth to her third son from kidney failure. Alexandre would join Napoleon III’s cabinet as a minister of foreign affairs and later minister of state. Ironically, he was friendly with Wellington and walked in his funeral representing France. He did resemble his father, was said to have Napoleon’s voice and never really seemed to care about his father’s “greatness”. A famous anecdote says that one woman stopped him at a reception and said “I knew your father, he was a great man!” And Alexandre replied “Oh, I did not know that you were acquainted with the late Count Walewski.” He had several different orders and was created a duke.  He married twice, first to the daughter of the English Earl of Sandwich who died, later to Mlle. Ricci who also apparently was a mistress to Napoleon III.

3. Madame Pellapra (?) This woman claimed to be the daughter of Napoleon and there are historians who both acknowledge that she is and other’s that don’t seem to think the claim is legit.

4. Napoleone Montholon: There is some strong evidence that Napoleon took Montholon’s wife, Albine, as mistress on Saint Helena. She did become pregnant on the island and had a daughter whom she named Napoleone.

There of course could be others that went unrecorded.

Here is a link to a post I did on the Walewski branch of Napoleon’s decendants.

https://napoleondidthat.tumblr.com/post/176541583836/napoleons-descendants-walewski-family

[napoleondidthat]

Hello am the facts anon About his private life, you know ? I've been looking for new infos about him, but I've found nothing 😭

Hello :)Well, there’s tons of facts about Napoleon’s personal life (some of the more colorful ones I’ve listed in the other post). Here’s a few more:

Napoleon didn’t have a musical voice, therefore wasn’t much of a singer.

Napoleon was not short, but considered average height for his time. 5′6″ is the most agreed upon number for his height. The “short” narrative comes from the differences in how the French and English measurement was recorded and mostly due to the political cartoons the English produced that showed Napoleon as itty-bitty.

Napoleon was not a good dancer.

Napoleon was very vain about his hands and feet (he had small feet).

Napoleon had numerous affairs in his lifetime, some probably went unrecorded. The two most notable is Elenore Denuelle (due to the birth of their son–therefore proving Napoleon was able to father children. Sidenote: Some historians do wonder if Murat may have had something to do with the fathering of Leon.) And of course, Marie Walewska who was coined Napoleon’s “polish wife”. These two did seem to have a genuine love affair.

Napoleon’s first flirtation was with a woman named Caroline Colombier They picked cherries together.

Napoleon was first engaged to Eugenie Clary, better known as Desiree Clary, who later went on to marry Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte (and also went on to be Queen of Sweden). Her older sister, Julie, married Napoleon’s older brother Joseph.

Napoleon had a thing for licorice.

Napoleon was a somewhat snuff user. He got more snuff on his clothing than his nose it seems though.

Napoleon cheated at games, namely chess and Whist.

Napoleon spoke French badly and always with a Corsican accent. He was known to switch letters, and therefore pronunciation of words. Think “pasghetti” for “spaghetti”.

Napoleon of course also spoke Italian. He would converse with his manservant Cipriani, a fellow Corsican he had known since his youth, in Italian.

For the most part, Napoleon liked children and they seemed to have no issues with him.

Napoleon liked fried potatoes.

Napoleon drank very little wine, and when he did, he had it watered down.

Napoleon had chestnut colored hair. Not black, as some artists depict him. He also had blue-grey eyes, not brown, as sometimes depicted.

Napoleon was left-handed.