Editing Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial

{{Short description|19th-century French prince}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Louis-Napoléon
| title        = [[List of heirs to the French throne|Prince Imperial of France]]
| image        = Prince Impérial, 1878, Londres, BNF Gallica.jpg
| caption      = Louis-Napoléon in 1878
| alt          = Napoléon, Prince Imperial at age 22
| succession   = [[House of Bonaparte|Head of the House of Bonaparte]]
| reign-type   = Period
| reign        = {{start and end dates|1873|01|09|1879|06|01|df=y}}
| predecessor  = [[Napoleon III]]
| successor    = [[Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte|Napoléon-Jérôme]]<br> or <br />[[Victor, Prince Napoléon|Napoléon Victor]]
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1856|03|16|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Tuileries Palace]], [[Paris]], [[Second French Empire|French Empire]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1879|06|01|1856|03|16|df=y}}
| death_place  = Sobhuza's kraal near [[Ulundi]], [[Zulu Kingdom]]
| burial_place = {{nowr|[[St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough]]}}
| full name    = Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte
| house        = [[House of Bonaparte|Bonaparte]]
| father       = [[Napoleon III]]
| mother       = [[Eugénie de Montijo]]
| signature    = File:Signature of Napoléon IV, Prince Imperial (Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte).png
| religion     = [[Roman Catholicism]]
| module       = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes
  | allegiance    = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
  | branch        = [[British Army]]
  | serviceyears  = 1870–1879
  | rank          = [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|Lieutenant]] 
  | unit          = [[Royal Engineers]] <br/> [[Royal Artillery]]
  | battles       = [[Anglo-Zulu War]]{{KIA}}
  | awards        = }}
}}

'''Napoléon, Prince Imperial''' (Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte; 16 March 1856&nbsp;– 1 June 1879), also known as '''Louis-Napoléon''', was the only child of [[Napoleon III]], [[Emperor of the French]], and [[Empress Eugénie]]. After his father was dethroned in 1870, he moved to England with his family. On his father's death in January 1873, he was proclaimed by the [[Bonapartist]] faction as '''Napoléon IV'''.

In England, he trained as a [[British Army]] officer. Keen to see action, he persuaded the British to allow him to participate in the [[Anglo-Zulu War]]. In 1879, serving with British forces, he was killed in a skirmish with a group of Zulus. His early death caused an international sensation and sent shockwaves throughout Europe, as he was the last serious dynastic hope for the restoration of the [[House of Bonaparte]] to the throne of France.

==Biography==
[[File:Napoleon Eugene Louis Bonaparte.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Louis-Napoléon at age 14, 1870]]
Louis-Napoléon was born at the [[Tuileries Palace]] in Paris,<ref name="Mackinnon-Shadbolt">The Prince Imperial, Mackinnon, J. P., and S. H. Shadbolt. The South African Campaign, 1879 : a Memorial Volume Containing Sixty Permanent Cabinet Photographs of the Officers of the British Army and Navy Who Lost Their Lives in the Zulu War, Biographical Notices, Detailed Accounts of the Various Engagements, Maps of the Country Showing the Movements of the Various Regiments in the Field, and Separate Records of the Services of Every British Officer Who Was Engaged / Compiled by J.P. Mackinnon ... and Sydney Shadlbolt. Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1880. Pp. 35–39, State Library of New South Wales, [https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/19q252h/SLNSW_ALMA2192118940002626 TQ047678]</ref> and he was baptised on 14 June 1856 at [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame Cathedral]]. His godfather was Pope [[Pius IX]], whose representative, Cardinal [[Costantino Patrizi Naro|Patrizi]], officiated. His godmother was [[Eugène de Beauharnais]]'s daughter, [[Josephine of Leuchtenberg|Josephine]], the Queen of Sweden, who was represented by [[Stéphanie de Beauharnais|Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Baden]].{{sfn|Filon|1913|page=7}}

His education, after a false start under the academic historian [[Francis Monnier]], was from 1867 supervised by [[Charles Auguste Frossard|General Frossard]] as governor, assisted by [[Augustin Filon]] as a tutor. His English nurse, Miss Shaw, was recommended by [[Queen Victoria]] and taught the prince English from an early age. His valet Xavier Uhlmann{{sfn|Filon|1920|p=292}} and his inseparable friend [[Louis Conneau]]{{sfn|Filon|1920|pp=56–57, 84, 238, 272}} also figured prominently in his life. The young prince was known by the nickname "Loulou" in his family circle.{{sfn|Echard|1985|p=512}} In 1868, he visited [[Corsica]] and attended the centenary festival of the annexation of the island to France.<ref name ="Mackinnon-Shadbolt"/>

At the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War|Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871]], he accompanied his father as a sub-lieutenant to the front. The prince was present on the hills above [[Saarbrücken#19th century|Saarbrücken]] during the engagement at their base. Still, when the war began to go against the Imperial army, his father sent him to the border with [[Belgium]].<ref name ="Mackinnon-Shadbolt"/> In September, his father sent him a message to cross over into Belgium. He travelled from there to England, arriving on 6 September, where his parents joined him, the Second Empire having been abolished. The family settled in England at [[Camden Place]] in [[Chislehurst]], Kent. Upon his father's death in 1873, [[Bonapartists]] proclaimed him Napoleon IV. On his 18th birthday, a large crowd gathered to cheer him at Camden Place.{{sfn|Echard|1985|p=512}}

[[File:Prince Imperial South African Campaign 1879 slnsw.jpg|thumb|Studio portrait of the Prince Imperial, c. 1875]]
The prince attended elementary lectures in physics at [[King's College London]]. In 1872, he applied and was accepted to the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]. He finished seventh in his class of thirty-four and came top in riding and fencing.{{sfn|Echard|1985|p=513}} He then served for a time with the [[Royal Artillery]] at [[Aldershot]].{{sfn|Filon|1913|pages=135–138}}

During the 1870s, there was some talk of a marriage between him and Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, [[Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom|Princess Beatrice]].{{sfn|Markham|1975|p=210}} Queen Victoria also reportedly believed that it would be best for "the peace of Europe" if the prince became Emperor of France.{{sfn|Markham|1975|p=210}}  The prince remained a devout Catholic, and he retained hopes that the Bonapartist cause might eventually triumph if the secularising [[French Third Republic|Third Republic]] failed. He supported the tactics of [[Eugène Rouher]] over those of [[Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte|Prince Napoléon-Jérôme]], breaking with Napoléon-Jérôme in 1876.{{sfn|Echard|1985|p=513}}

[[File:Napoleon Eugene Louis Bonaparte 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Louis-Napoléon in South Africa]]
With the outbreak of the [[Zulu War]] in 1879, the prince, with the rank of lieutenant, forced the hand of the British military to allow him to take part in the conflict, despite the objections of Rouher and other Bonapartists.{{Citation needed|date=March 2015}} He was only allowed to go to Africa by the special pleading of his mother, Empress Eugénie, and by the intervention of Queen Victoria herself. He left England on 27 February 1879 with letters of introduction from the [[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge|Duke of Cambridge]], the British commander-in-chief, in the hope he might be allowed to follow the movements of the troops.<ref name ="Mackinnon-Shadbolt"/> Once he arrived at [[Durban]], he joined the General's Head-Quarters and met [[Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford]], the commander in South Africa, on 9 April and was nominally placed on his staff.<ref name ="Mackinnon-Shadbolt"/> The prince accompanied Chelmsford on his march into [[Zulu Kingdom|Zululand]].  Keen to see action and full of enthusiasm, he was warned by Lieutenant Arthur Brigge, a close friend, "not to do anything rash and to avoid running unnecessary risks.  I reminded him of the Empress at home and his party in France."{{sfn|Kurtz|1964|p=299}}

Chelmsford, mindful of his duty, attached the prince to the staff of Colonel [[Richard Harrison (British Army officer)|Richard Harrison]] of the [[Royal Engineers]], where it was felt he could be active but safe.  Harrison was responsible for the column's transport and for reconnaissance of the forward route on the way to [[Ulundi]], the Zulu capital.  While he welcomed the presence of the prince, he was told by Chelmsford that the prince must be accompanied at all times by a strong escort.  Lieutenant [[Jahleel Brenton Carey]], a French speaker and British subject from [[Guernsey]], was given particular charge of him. The prince took part in several reconnaissance missions. However, his eagerness for action almost led him into an early ambush when he exceeded orders in a party led by Colonel [[Redvers Buller]].  Despite this, on the evening of 31 May 1879, Harrison agreed to allow the prince to scout in a forward party scheduled to leave in the morning, mistakenly believing that the path ahead was free of Zulu skirmishers.

===Death===
[[File:Mort du prince imperial (Cropped).jpg|thumb|''Death of the Prince Imperial'' by [[Paul Jamin]] (1882)]]
On the morning of 1 June 1879, the troop set out, earlier than intended and without the whole escort, largely owing to the prince's impatience.{{fact|date=May 2022}} Led by Carey, the scouts rode deeper into Zululand. Without Harrison or Buller present to restrain him, the prince took command from Carey, even though the latter had seniority. At noon, the prince halted the troop at a temporarily deserted [[kraal]]. The prince and Carey made some sketches of the terrain and used part of the thatch to make a fire. No lookout was posted. As they were preparing to leave, about 40 Zulus fired upon them and rushed towards them, screaming.<ref name ="Mackinnon-Shadbolt"/> The prince ran to mount his horse and was able to grab onto the holster on the saddle of his horse. The prince's horse then dashed off before he could mount. After about 100 yards, the strap the prince was clinging to broke and the horse kicked the prince in the belly, winding him. The prince fell beneath his horse, and his right arm was trampled. He leapt up, drawing his revolver with his left hand, and started to run, but the Zulus outpaced him.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=529}}

The prince fired three shots from his revolver at his assailants, but he missed each shot. The prince then fired two more shots, albeit slower in order to better aim. However, these, too, missed.<ref>Mwunzane's testimony in Ian Knight (ed) "Kill Me in the Shadows" in 'The Bowden Collection of Anglo-Zulu War Oral History' in Soldiers of the Queen 74 (September 1993) 17.</ref> One of the prince's assailants, a Zulu named Langalibalele, threw his spear at the prince, but missed.<ref>Langalibalele's testimony, 1 June 1880, in Wood Collection (National Archives Depot, Pietermaritzburg) II/1/2, quoted in John Laband ' "He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu accounts of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879' (Society for Army Historical Research, Autumn 1998) Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 76 (307) 194–201 [198–199], {{jstor|44230133}}</ref> Another spear, thrown by a Zulu named Zabanga, struck the prince's left shoulder.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=530}} The prince tried to fight on, wielding the spear thrown by Langalibalele in his right hand and his revolver in his left.<ref>Langalibalele's testimony, 1 June 1880, Nyadana's testimony, 27 May 1880, & Mphalazi's testimony, 28 May 1880,  in Wood Collection (National Archives Depot, Pietermaritzburg) II/1/2, quoted in John Laband ' "He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu accounts of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879' (Society for Army Historical Research, Autumn 1998) Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 76 (307) 194–201 [198–199], {{jstor|44230133}}</ref> However, weakened by his wounds, the prince sank to the ground and was overwhelmed. Zabanga stabbed the prince again with an [[assegai]], followed by Gwabakana; and then the prince suffered a final blow from Klabawathunga –who stabbed the prince in the right eye –  penetrating the prince's brain and killing him. When the prince's corpse was recovered the next day, it was found naked and an examination by surgeon-major F. B. Scott counted 18 wounds – all of which were stab wounds.<ref>Laband, John. ""He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu account of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879". ''Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research''. '''76''' (307): 194–201 [196–197], {{jstor|44230133}} citing a quote attributed to Surgeon-Major F B Scott in Charles L Norris-Newman, 'In Zululand with the British throughout the war of 1879' (London, 1880), appendix H, 301–302.</ref>

According to later testimonies from several of the Zulu men who had participated in the ambush of the prince's patrol, only 8 of the stab wounds were inflicted upon the prince while he was still alive - the remaining 10 stab wounds were done to the prince's corpse. This was due to the ambushers observing the customary Zulu ''hlomula'' ritual, which entailed stabbing the body of an already fallen adversary. The practice was related to the hunt, when all the participants of the hunt were expected to stab the carcass of a particularly formidable kill, like a lion or buffalo. To do the same to a human foe was to acknowledge that he had fought with the ferocity of a dangerous wild animal. Langalibalele confirmed that ''hlomula'' was performed on the prince's corpse because he had "fought like a lion".<ref>Laband, John. ""He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu account of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879". ''Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research''. '''76''' (307): 194–201 [200–201] {{jstor|44230133}} citing Langalibalele's testimony, 1 June 1880 in Wood Collection (Natal Archives Depot, Pietermaritzburg), II/1/2.</ref> It also transpired from the testimonies of the prince's Zulu assailants that the prince's corpse was found naked because Klabawathunga had ritually stripped the prince's body of all his apparel, except for a few medals and the locket around the prince's neck which contained a picture of his mother. After giving the prince's clothes to another Zulu man named Dabayane to hold onto, Klabawathunga explained that he personally performed a slight incision on the prince's naked abdomen in order to observe the customary Zulu ''qaqa'' ritual, which was customarily performed on the corpses of slain foes for the purposes of removing a perceived contagious ritual pollution that followed homicide, called ''umnyama'' in isiZulu (meaning 'dark contagion').<ref>Klabawathunga's testimony, 26 May 1880, in Wood Collection (National Archives Depot, Pietermaritzburg) II/1/2, quoted in John Laband ' "He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu accounts of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879' (Society for Army Historical Research, Autumn 1998) Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 76 (307) 194–201 [200], {{jstor|44230133}}.</ref> It was believed that the swelling that occurred in corpses was due to the homicide victim's soul trying but failing to escape the decaying body, and therefore the killer had a duty to make a hole in their victim to allow the soul to escape lest the killer's own body swell like a corpse.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Provan |first=Josh |date=2016-05-30 |title=Isandlwana, The Zulu Victory. Part 4. |url=https://adventuresinhistoryland.com/2016/05/30/isandlwana-the-zulu-victory-part-4/ |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=Adventures In Historyland |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Laband, John. ""He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu account of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879". ''Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research''. '''76''' (307): 194–201 [200–201], {{jstor|44230133}}.</ref> This was the traditional Zulu explanation for the observable swelling of the body which occurs in corpses due to the fermentation of [[butyric acid]] in the gut.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of BUTYRIC FERMENTATION |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/butyric+fermentation |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> The prince's bloodstained clothes had meanwhile been removed in order  for Klabawathunga to observe the customary Zulu ritual of ''zila'', where a killer was required to wear their victim's clothes (polluted by the harmful influences of his blood) while observing customary ritual abstentions in order to cleanse themself of the crime of homicide.<ref>Klabawathunga's testimony, 26 May 1880, in Wood Collection (National Archives Depot, Pietermaritzburg) II/1/2, quoted in John Laband ' "He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu accounts of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879' (Society for Army Historical Research, Autumn 1998) Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 76 (307) 194–201 [200], {{jstor|44230133}}.</ref> The Zulus had not looted the prince's jewellery because it was seen as a dishonourable thing to do to a warrior, and because it was believed the prince's spirit would haunt them if they stole the jewellery,<ref>Testimonies of all nine of the Zulus interviewed on 27 May 1880, in Wood Collection (National Archives Depot, Pietermaritzburg) II/1/2, quoted in John Laband ' "He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu accounts of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879' (Society for Army Historical Research, Autumn 1998) Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 76 (307) 194–201 [200–201], {{jstor|44230133}}</ref> which was misconstrued for a magical talisman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.military-history.org/feature/battle-royal-louis-prince-imperial.htm |title=Battle Royal – Louis, Prince Imperial |date=8 November 2018 |publisher=Military History |accessdate=2022-05-13}}</ref>

Two troopers of the [[Natal Native Contingent|Natal Native Horse]], Abel and Rogers, as well the Zulu guide accompanying them, died with the prince during the Zulu ambush.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Laband |first=John |title="He fought like a lion": An assessment of Zulu account of the death of the Prince Imperial of France during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44230133 |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |year=1998 |volume=76 |issue=307 |pages=194–196 |jstor=44230133 }}</ref> Carey and the four surviving men came together about {{convert|50|yd|-1}} from where the prince made his final stand but did not fire at the Zulus. Carey led his men back to camp. The prince's body was recovered the next day. After a court of inquiry, a court-martial, and intervention by Empress Eugénie and Queen Victoria, Carey returned to his regiment. Carey died in Bombay on 22&nbsp;February 1883.{{citation needed|date=April 2022|reason=this is in line with what I've read, but there still should be a citation here}}

Louis-Napoléon's death caused an international sensation. Rumours spread in France that the prince had been intentionally "disposed of" by the British.{{sfn|Markham|1975|p=210}} Alternatively, the French republicans or the Freemasons were blamed.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=537}} In one account, Queen Victoria was accused of arranging the whole thing, a theory that was later dramatised by [[Maurice Rostand]] in his play ''Napoleon&nbsp;IV''.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=537}} The Zulus later claimed that they would not have killed him if they had known who he was. Langalabalele, his chief assailant, was killed in July at the [[Battle of Ulundi]].{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=537}} Eugénie later made a pilgrimage to Sobuza's kraal, where her son had died, and where the [[Prince Imperial Memorial]], paid for by Queen Victoria, had been erected. The prince, who had begged to be allowed to go to war and who had worried his commanders by his dash and daring, was described by [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley]], as "a plucky young man, and he died a soldier's death. What on earth could he have done better?"{{sfn|Wolseley|1922|p=44}}

His remains were brought back to [[Spithead]] on board the British troopship {{HMS|Orontes|1862|6}}, and thence transferred onto HMS ''Enchantress'' for sailing on to [[Royal Arsenal|Woolwich Arsenal]];<ref>{{cite news |title=Funeral of the Late Prince Louis Napoleon: The Arrival of the Remains at Woolwich |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41013260/prince_louis_napoleon_debarkation_of/ |date=19 July 1879 |newspaper=[[The Graphic]] |via=[[Ancestry.com#Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]] |access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref> overnight, he lay in state in the western octagonal guardhouse by the riverfront. The funeral procession, including Queen Victoria, went from there to [[Chislehurst]], where he was buried in [[St Mary's Church, Chislehurst|St Mary's Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chislehurst - St Mary |url=https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/chiselhurst-st-mary/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=Taking Stock |language=en-GB}}</ref> On 9&nbsp;January 1888, his body was transferred to a special mausoleum constructed by his mother as the [[Imperial Crypt (Saint Michael's)|Imperial Crypt]] at [[St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough]], next to his father.

The Prince Imperial had appointed Prince [[Napoléon Victor Bonaparte]] as his heir, thus skipping the genealogically senior heir, Victor's father, [[Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte|Prince Napoléon]].

==Legacy==
[[File:Eugène-Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France (1856-79).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Louis-Napoléon]]
In 1880, the inhabitants of [[Chislehurst]] erected a monument to the Prince Imperial on [[Chislehurst Common]] near [[Camden Place]], which is now Grade II listed.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=The Prince Imperial Monument|num= 1186798|accessdate=23 March 2022}}</ref> In the 1950s, the road which passes the monument, previously called Station Road, was renamed Prince Imperial Road in his memory. The STD telephone dialing code for Chislehurst is 467 which spells out IMP, short for imperial on the old letter + number telephone dial.

The Australian Rules football club [[Western Bulldogs|Footscray]], inspired by the story of the prince's death, renamed their club to the Prince Imperial Football Club in the early 1880s, but they reverted to Footscray a mere two years later.<ref>{{cite web |title=1880s |url=https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/history/timeline/1880s |website=[[Western Bulldogs]] |access-date=11 April 2022}}</ref>

The [[asteroid moon]] [[Petit-Prince (moon)|Petit-Prince]] was named after the Prince Imperial in 1998, because it orbits an [[asteroid]] named after his mother ([[45 Eugenia]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Asteroids&Display=Moons |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040803201121/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Asteroids&Display=Moons |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 August 2004 |title=Solar System Exploration: Asteroids – Moons |year=2011 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |access-date=18 September 2011 }}</ref>

==In literature==
The death is presented in some detail in [[G. A. Henty]]'s ''The Young Colonists: A Tale of The Zulu and Boer Wars'' (1885).<ref name=Arnold>{{ cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Guy |title=Held Fast for England: G. A. Henty, Imperialist Boys Writer |chapter=Preface |date=1980 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |location=London }}</ref>

In the [[R. F. Delderfield]] novel ''Long Summer Day'' (the first of the ''[[A Horseman Riding By]]'' trilogy), [[Boer War]] veteran Paul Craddock buys a farm in 1900 or 1901. The middle-aged estate manager, Rudd, is somewhat embittered at having been one of the soldiers who had failed to rescue the Prince Imperial in 1879. Craddock is aware of the events because, by coincidence, he had been born that very day.

[[Emma Lazarus]] wrote sonnets, under the common title of "Destiny", commemorating the prince's birth and death.

The contemporary Italian poet [[Giosuè Carducci]] composed a poem in [[Alcaic stanzas]] in his memory in 1879 (later in his ''Odi Barbare''), in which he described the Prince's death as follows (vv. 1 - 4) "Questo la inconscia zagaglia barbara / prostrò, spegnendo li occhi di fulgida / vita sorrisi da i fantasmi / fluttuanti ne l'azzurro immenso". ("The unconscious barbarous [[assegai]] / prostrated him and extinguished his eyes / of radiant life, at which smiled the ghosts / floating in the immense blue").

In the play ''Napoleon IV'' by [[Maurice Rostand]], the prince is killed in a carefully planned ambush arranged with the connivance of Queen Victoria.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=French Theater |url=http://www.glbtq.com/literature/french_theater,3.html |date=2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206023241/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/french_theater,3.html |archive-date=6 February 2015 |encyclopedia=[[glbtq.com]] |access-date=11 April 2022}}</ref>

In a 1943 ''Southern Daily Echo'' article, former Sapper George Harding (2nd Company [[Royal Engineers]]) recalled being ordered to take a horse ambulance and find the prince's body and bring it back to the column. The Prince Imperial had been out on [[reconnaissance mission]] with a party of the [[17th Lancers]]. Describing the mission, he said
<blockquote>We advanced to a dried-up river bed and had to cut away the banks to get the ambulance across. Eventually, we reached a [[kraal]] beside a large mealie field where we found the bodies of the Prince and some of his party. They had been surprised by Zulus as they rested in the kraal. The Zulus broke out of the [[mealie]] field and killed them before they could remount their horses. The Prince had been stabbed 16 times with [[assegais]]. We made a rough coffin and put his body in the ambulance. After burying the other bodies where they were found, we went back to the column. The Prince's body was taken back to England for burial.<ref>{{cite news |title=Southampton Survivor of the Zulu War: Vivid Story of Final Battle At Ulundi |newspaper=Southern Daily Echo |date=30 December 1943 |location=Southampton, UK}}</ref></blockquote>

The Prince Imperial is a minor character in [[Donald Serrell Thomas]]'s [[Sherlock Holmes]] [[pastiche]] novel ''Death on a Pale Horse'' (2013).<ref>''Death on a Pale Horse: Sherlock Holmes on Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (Pegasus, March 2013) {{ISBN|1-60598-394-2}}</ref>

==Titles, styles, honours and arms==
{{Infobox Royal styles
| name        = Napoléon, Prince Imperial
| image       = [[File:Coat of Arms Second French Empire (1852–1870)-2.svg|100px]]
| reference   = [[Imperial Highness|His Imperial Highness]]
| spoken      = Your Imperial Highness
}}
He was styled Prince Imperial of France from birth.

===French honours===
* Knight Grand Cross of the [[Legion of Honour]]

=== Foreign honours ===
* {{flag|Austrian Empire}}: Grand Cross of the [[Order of St. Stephen of Hungary|Order of St. Stephen]], ''1865''<ref>[http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm "A Szent István Rend tagjai"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222022855/http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm|date=22 December 2010}}</ref>
* {{flagcountry|Denmark}}: Knight of the [[Order of the Elephant]], ''11 March 1865''<ref>{{cite book|author=Jørgen Pedersen|title=Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glw-AQAAIAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Syddansk Universitetsforlag|language=da|isbn=978-87-7674-434-2|page=273}}</ref>
* {{flagicon image|Imperial Standard of Mexico (1864-1867).svg}} [[Second Mexican Empire|Mexican Empire]]:<ref>{{citation|title=Almanaque imperial para el año 1866|year=1866|lang=es|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOAxAQAAMAAJ|chapter=Seccion IV: Ordenes del Imperio|pages=243–244|access-date=29 April 2020}}</ref>
** Grand Cross of the [[Order of Guadalupe]], ''1864''
** Grand Cross of the [[Mexican Imperial Orders#Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle|Order of the Mexican Eagle]], ''1865''
* {{flag|Kingdom of Portugal}}:<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.acd-faleristica.com/archives/2120 | title = Condecorações de Napoleão III | trans-title = Decorations of Napoleon III | date = 3 February 2011 | website = Academia Falerística de Portugal | language = pt | access-date = 28 November 2019 | archive-date = 13 October 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141013202007/http://www.acd-faleristica.com/archives/2120 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
** Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Tower and Sword]], ''1861''
** Grand Cross of the [[Sash of the Two Orders]], ''1865''
* {{flag|Russian Empire}}: Knight of the [[Order of St. Andrew|Order of St. Andrew the First-called]], ''30 May 1865.''
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Italy (1861–1946).svg}} [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]]: Knight of the [[Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation|Order of the Annunciation]], ''20 February 1859''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata. Sunto degli statuti, catalogo dei cavalieri |trans-title=History of the Most Noble Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation. Summary of the statutes, catalog of knights |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2aP6enNFoYC&q=Ordine%20supremo%20della%20Santissima%20Annunziata&pg=PA116|publisher=Eredi Botta|date=1869|access-date=4 March 2019|lang=it|first=Luigi|surname=Cibrario|page=116}}</ref>
* {{flag|Kingdom of Saxony}}: Knight of the [[Order of the Rue Crown]], ''1857''<ref>''Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen (1867)'' (in German), "Königliche Ritter-Orden", p. 4</ref>
* {{flag|Spain|1785}}: Knight of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]], ''30 March 1856''<ref>{{citation |url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0000878746&search=&lang=es|title=Caballeros de la insigne orden del toisón de oro |date=1875|journal=Guóa Oficial de España|access-date=4 March 2019|page=102|language=es}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|Sweden|1844}} {{flagicon|Norway|1844}} [[Sweden-Norway]]: Knight of the [[Royal Order of the Seraphim]], ''14 June 1856''<ref>{{cite book|title=Sveriges och Norges statskalender|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9JhaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA468|year=1874|publisher=Liberförlag|page=468}}</ref>

===Arms===
<gallery class="center">
File:Blason Roi de Rome.svg|{{center|Coat of arms of the Prince Imperial}}
File:Imperial Standard of Napoléon Eugène Bonaparte.svg|{{center|Imperial Standard}}
File:Imperial Monogram of Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France.svg|{{center|Monogram of the Prince Imperial}}
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Railway of the Prince Imperial]]
* [[L'Empereur, sa femme et le petit prince]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Balansó, Juan (mayo de 1999). "Capítulo VI. Las hijas de Isabel", Las perlas de la corona, 2ª edición, Plaza Janés, p.&nbsp;126. {{ISBN|84-01-54071-2}}.
* David, Saul ''Zulu''. Penguin/Viking, 2004, pp. 311–336.
* {{cite book |last=Echard |first=William |title=Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire, 1852–1870|date=1985|publisher=Greenwood Press |location=London }}
* {{cite book |last=Filon |first=Augustin |author-link=Augustin Filon |title=Memoirs of the Prince imperial (1856–1879) from the French of Augustin Filon |date=1913 |location=London |publisher= W. Heinemann |hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t4fn15x3g }}
* {{cite book |last=Filon |first=Augustin |title=Recollections of the Empress Eugénie |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.176656 |access-date=21 April 2013 |date=1920|publisher=Cassell and Company, Ltd. |location=London }}
* {{cite book |last=Kurtz|first=Harold |title=The Empress Eugénie, 1826–1920 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awYgAAAAMAAJ|date=1964|publisher=H. Hamilton |location=London }}
* {{cite book |last=Markham|first=Felix |title=The Bonapartes |date=1975|publisher=Taplinger Publishing Company|location=London }}
* Morris, Donald R. ''The Washing of the Spears''. [[Simon & Schuster]], 1965, pp. 511–545.
* {{cite book |last=Morris |first=Donald R.|title=The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879|date=1994|publisher=Random House|location=London }}
* {{cite book |last=Wolseley |first=Garnet |author-link=Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley |title=The Letters of Lord and Lady Wolseley, 1870–1911| url=https://archive.org/details/lettersoflordlad00wolsrich|date=1922|publisher=Doubleday, Page, & Co. |location=London }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Ellen Barlee, ''Life of Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France'', (London, 1889)
* M. d'Hérrison, ''Le prince impérial'', (Paris, 1890)
* André Martinet, ''Le prince impérial'', (Paris, 1895)
* R. Minon, ''Les derniers jours du prince impérial sur le continent'', (Paris, 1900)
* Ernest Barthez, ''Empress Eugenie and her Circle'', (New York, 1913)
* Digby Hague-Holmes ''Napoleon the Fourth'', (Farnborough, St. Michael's Abbey Press, 2016)

== External links ==
{{Commons category|2=Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte}}
* {{OL subject|person:louis_napoléon_prince_impérial_of_the_french_(1856-1879)|Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte}}
* {{Internet Archive author|dname=Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|name=Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France|[[House of Bonaparte]]|16 March|1856|1 June|1879}}
{{s-pre}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Napoleon III]]}}
{{s-tul|title=[[Emperor of the French]]|line=[[Bonapartist claimants|Bonapartist claimant]]|years=9 January 1873 – 1 June 1879|reason=[[French Third Republic|Empire abolished in 1870]]}}
{{s-aft|after=  [[Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte|Napoléon V Jérôme]]<br>or<br />[[Victor, Prince Napoléon|Napoléon V Victor]]}}
{{s-brk}}
{{s-roy|fr}}
{{s-brk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Jérôme Bonaparte]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Heir to the French throne]]|years=16 March 1856 – 4 September 1870}}
{{s-non|reason=Empire abolished}}
{{s-end}}

{{Bonaparte family}}
{{Pretenders to the French throne}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1856 births]]
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[[Category:1879 in South Africa]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
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[[Category:British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War]]
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[[Category:French people of Scottish descent]]
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[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]]
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[[Category:French heirs apparent who never acceded]]
[[Category:House of Bonaparte]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain]]
[[Category:Napoleon III]]
[[Category:Nobility from Paris]]
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