Portrait of Napoleon II

Birthday profile

Napoleon II

Napoleon II, French emperor (died 1832)

Born
March 20, 1811
Died
July 22, 1832
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1811

About Napoleon II

Napoleon II (Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte; 20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832) was the disputed Emperor of the French for 2 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. He was also the maternal great-great-grandson of Empress Maria Theresa, Empress of Habsburg Dominions and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and great-grandson of Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily. In 1818, he was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt by his maternal grandfather, Emperor Francis.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Napoleon II timeline

  1. In 1818, he was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt by his maternal grandfather, Emperor Francis.
  2. His cousin, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, founded the Second French Empire in 1852 and ruled as Emperor Napoleon III.

The world when Napoleon II was born

Napoleon II was born in 1811. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineLuddite riots against industrial machinery
  • Technology milestoneFirst steamboat on the Mississippi River
  • World population~955M

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJames Madison
  • U.S. population7.5M

1811 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Napoleon II's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18112026
Population7.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.