Bonaparte, Louis

Bonaparte, Louis

(born Sept. 2, 1778, Ajaccio, Corsica—died July 25, 1846, Livorno, Italy) French nobleman and soldier. A brother of Napoleon, he accompanied Napoleon on the Italian campaign of 1796–97 and was his aide-de-camp in Egypt (1798–99). At Napoleon's insistence, he married Hortense de Beauharnais in 1802, but the union proved unhappy and did not last. Proclaimed king of Holland in 1806, he was criticized by Napoleon for being too easy on his subjects. His unwillingness to join the Continental System led him into conflict with Napoleon, and in 1810 he fled his kingdom and eventually settled in Italy. Napoleon III was his son.