Napoleon II

Napoleon II
King of Rome Duke of Reichstadt
Portrait by Leopold Bucher, 1832
Emperor of the French (more...) (disputed)
Reign	22 June – 7 July 1815
Predecessor	Napoleon I
Successor	Napoleon III (1852, as Emperor) Louis XVIII (as King of France)
Regent	Joseph Fouché
Head of the House of Bonaparte
Tenure	5 May 1821 – 22 July 1832
Predecessor	Napoleon I
Successor	Joseph Bonaparte
Born	(1811-03-20)20 March 1811 Tuileries Palace, Paris, French Empire
Died	22 July 1832(1832-07-22) (aged 21) Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austrian Empire
Burial	Napoleon's tomb, Les Invalides
Names French: Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte
House	Bonaparte
Father	Napoleon I, Emperor of the French
Mother	Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Napoleon II (Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte; 20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832) was the disputed Emperor of the French for a few weeks in 1815. He was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Napoleon II had been Prince Imperial of France and King of Rome since birth. After the fall of his father, he lived the rest of his life in Vienna and was known in the Austrian court as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt for his adult life (from the German version of his second given name, along with a title his grandfather granted him in 1818). He was posthumously given the nickname L'Aiglon ("the Eaglet").

When Napoleon I tried to abdicate on 4 April 1814, he said that his son would rule as emperor. However, the coalition victors refused to acknowledge his son as successor, and Napoleon I was forced to abdicate unconditionally some days later. Although Napoleon II never actually ruled France, he was briefly the titular Emperor of the French after the second fall of his father. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.

His cousin, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, founded the Second French Empire in 1852 and ruled as Emperor Napoleon III.