NAPOLEON II

Beautiful portraits!!!! I love the one where Napoleon is carry little Reichstadt on a globe!!!! napoleon as a devoted father to Reichstadt, he was a far better parent than Marie louise who it must be said wa far more interested in her lover than in her child!!
I had never heard anything on Fanny could you tell us some more?

The "official" headline of the picture with Napoleon and his son at the globe was:

"It´s all yours!"

 

Napoleon went a bit too far

And Cerci: Please tell more about Fanny!

yes indeed Britt he went a little too far   I agree with Britt please tell us some more on Fanny!!!

Hello.  I don't really know very much about Fanny Elssler. I know only that she was a ballerina Franz met at a theatre one night in 1831. She called  for him  to her dressingroom after her performance. She was also a year older than he was.  
I did a search on her and all I found were sites about the play made about  the subject in 1931.  If the play was a fabrication and not supported by facts, then the story wasn't true that she had fallen in love and was banished. It was also said that Metternich used her as a spy so that Reichstadt wouldn't obtain the throne. But I'm not sure. Maybe it was based on facts. There is no historical information to prove it happened.  
There  were many rumors about  him back then, like who he was seeing at the time. He didn't have much of a private life. He was often accompanied by his tutor or Prokesch. They would make sure he didn't get into trouble, like with women. It must have been strange and  embarrassing for him to have people following him around watchng every move he made. No wonder he felt like a prisoner. I'm  not sure if he died lonely though.


Later,
Cerci

The last one I have never seen...I seems to have been painted after Reichstadts death! (Sic! 1853!)
Do you have in bigger???

Sorry, but no!

 personnaly never heard anythng on Fanny, I always thought he died a virdin, I think he once said to one of his friend, but most probably there were rumours, since some people said he was the real father of Maximilian! In any case I doubt this was the case, since as you mentioned it, Franz was always spied on! Was the intention of the Austrian Court to let him remain single??? Does any of you know if there was any marriage project while he was alive?

So do you think Reichstadt died without having slept with any woman??

I am not sure, but in my book on Napoleon and his family by Jean-Pierre Rioux (my favourite book since my schooldays!) there is written on page 316: "er hatte einige amoröse  Abenteue und verliebte sich dann in seine jugendliche Tante Sophie" That means in other words to me that he must have had some relations with women and it also sounds as if they have been sexually.. but I am not sure.
What do others think? Are there other sources or cases to mention?
Would be interesting

In January 1832 there were some rumours that Reichstadt is going to marry Archduchess Marie Therese, the elder daughter of Archduke Carl and future Queen of the Two Sicilies.
Metternich, who hated Napoléon, was against it. Archduchess Sophie, who was very close to Reichstadt, said: "They would be a beautiful couple." I don't know why, but suddenly nobody has talked about this marriage anymore... maybe because of Reichstadt's bad health in 1832.

I found some more really interesting information about Franziska "Fanny" Elßler. She was born on June 28th 1810 in Vienna and died on November 27th 1884 in Vienna.

From 1824 - 26 she worked in Naples and met Leopold di Salerno, Prince of the Two Sicilies. They had an intimate relationship and even a son called Franz who commited suicide in 1873. In 1833 she gave birth to her daughter Therese by her friend Anton Stuhlmüller. But Fanny has never married.

Her sister Therese (1808-1878) was married to Adalbert Prince of Prussia !!!




Fanny Elßler by Joseph Kriehuber, 1830

Hi.  Like I said before, I don't know very much about his friends or aquaintances, or where to find  information about them. I onlly know little about him. It has been a long time since I've read a book about him or his father.
For a  while, I've been interested in other things. In a period of  bordom during a search for somethiing, the thought of Napoleon and Franz caught my attention once again. But there isn't much on Franz on the net; maybe because he lived such a short life.
I didn't know that Franz was engaged to be married, or I just forgot. It's true that Metternich hated Napoleon and he could have made it impossible for Franz to socialize or get married, because he didn't want him to be King or Emperor. Franz was meant to be the Kinng of.....I forgot....but Metternich wouldn't allow it.
He wouldn't allow Franz to do anything outside the Palace. The places he did go to were the theatre or  battalon regiment practice, I thhink. Franz also went to balls where his tutor or Prokesch, or sometimes both, would often accompany him. Whenever he met someone, he would see or date them in secret.
If Metternich found out, he would try to stop the relationship. Franz must have hated him. I would have. In my opinion, Metternich was a prick....pardon my language.  

Later

Hello, thanks for your interesting infos, I have never read a whole book about Franz. But there are some details in the book by Jean Pierre Rioux about the Bonaparte family as such (Napoleon I. II and III)

Here is the pictures of his grave

It looks very fascinating ...as if the father would watch over  his son

Hi.  Like I said before, I don't know very much about his friends or aquaintances, or where to find  information about them. I onlly know little about him. It has been a long time since I've read a book about him or his father.
For a  while, I've been interested in other things. In a period of  bordom during a search for somethiing, the thought of Napoleon and Franz caught my attention once again. But there isn't much on Franz on the net; maybe because he lived such a short life.
I didn't know that Franz was engaged to be married, or I just forgot. It's true that Metternich hated Napoleon and he could have made it impossible for Franz to socialize or get married, because he didn't want him to be King or Emperor. Franz was meant to be the Kinng of.....I forgot....but Metternich wouldn't allow it.
He wouldn't allow Franz to do anything outside the Palace. The places he did go to were the theatre or  battalon regiment practice, I thhink. Franz also went to balls where his tutor or Prokesch, or sometimes both, would often accompany him. Whenever he met someone, he would see or date them in secret.
If Metternich found out, he would try to stop the relationship. Franz must have hated him. I would have. In my opinion, Metternich was a prick....pardon my language.  
Later

Franz was the King of Rome ... and I don't think that he and Archduchess Marie Therese were engaged. There were only some rumours about a possible marriage.

I don't know if we have already mentioned that Franz was actually buried in the Kaisergruft in Vienna like all the members of the Imperial family of Austria.

Reichstadt's tomb was located next to the tomb of his grandfather Franz II. he loved so much.



On December 15th 1940 Hitler gave the order to bring Reichstadt's tomb to Paris. Hitler thought this would be a nice present for the French minister Philippe Petain...

The inscription of Franz von Reichstadt's tomb is the following:

AETERNAE MEMORIAE IOS CAR FRANCISCI DUCIS REICHSTADIENSIS NAPOLEONIS GALL IMPERATORIS ET MAR LUDOVICAE ARCH AUSTR FILII NATI PARISIIS XX MART MDCCCXI IN CVNABVLIS REGIS ROMAE NOMINE SALVATI AETATE OMNIBVS INGENII CORPORISQUE DOBTIBVS FLORENTATEM PROCERA STATVRA VVLTV IVVENILITER DECORO SINGVLARI SERMONIS COMITATE MILITARIBVS STVDIIS ET LABORIBVS MIRE INTENTVM PHTISIS TENTAVIT TRISTISSIMA MORS RAPVIT SVBVRBANO AVGVSTORVM AD PVLCHRVM FONTEM PROPE VINDOBONAM XXII IVLII MDCCCXXXII

I only have the German translation:

Zum ewigen Andenken an Joseph Karl Franz, Herzog von Reichstadt, den Sohn Napoleons, des Kaisers der Franzosen und der Erzherzogin Maria Ludovica von Österreich, geboren zu Paris, den 20. März 1811, in der Wiege als König von Rom begrüßt. Ihm, der durch sein Alter und alle Gesites und Körpergaben, die schlanke Gestalt, das jugendliche Antlitz, die einzigartige Freundlichkeit der Rege hervorragte und mit allem Eifer dem Militärwesen ergeben war, befiel die Auszehrung, und ein überaus trauriger Tod raffte ihn, nahe der Stadt, im kaiserlichen Schloß Schönbrunn bei Wien, am 22. Juli 1832 hinweg.