16. Lucien Bonaparte and Alexandrine de Bleschamp
Lucien, a younger brother of Napoleon, married Christine Boyer, an illiterate sister of an innkeeper in France, in 1794. Neither his brother nor his mother approved of the match. Christine died in childbirth in 1800. Lucien later met and married Alexandrine, a daughter of the French aristocracy and a widow with one child. Napoleon disapproved of that marriage as well. Along with other disagreements between the brothers, including Lucien’s opposition to Napoleon declaring himself Emperor, the marriage led to Lucien entering a self-imposed exile in Frascati. Napoleon continued to pressure him, and local authorities, to return to France, abandon his wife, and accept marriage to a Spanish princess and a royal title.
Napoleon demanded all of his siblings marry members of the royal houses of Europe, in order to legitimize his own upstart dynasty. Desperate to thwart his brother’s intentions, Lucien boarded a ship bound for America, where he intended to start a new life with Alexandrine and their children. The ship was captured by a British cruiser, and Lucien taken to England. There he accepted exile among the British, with Napoleon regarding his brother as a traitor. Following the Emperor’s abdication in 1814, Lucien returned to France and rejoined Napoleon during the subsequent 100 Days. In return, the Emperor recognized his marriage and included the children in the House of Bonaparte. When the Bourbons returned to the throne they refused to acknowledge Lucien’s standing. He remained married to Alexandrine until his death in 1840. Together, they had ten children.
