JOSEPH BONAPARTE

The extraordinary life of Napoleon's older brother, King of Naples, King of Spain and expatriate in the United States during 25 years.

Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) played a key role during the Revolution, then under the rule of his younger brother, Napoleon. A quick overview of his functions in that quarter-century is enough to measure his importance: president of the Ajaccio district, war commissioner, ambassador, parliamentarian, state counselor, senator, grand elector of the Empire, king of Naples, king of Spain, the Emperor's lieutenant general in 1814, president of the Council of Ministers during the Hundred Days. His active political role was thus crucial, and characterized by a very close relationship to Napoleon. He was perhaps the Emperor's only friend.
Nor did he have a lesser role after 1815, despite leaving Europe for the United States. During his exile that lasted nearly 25 years, he became an influential personality. Increasingly inflexible in his old age, he clashed with his nephew Louis-Napoleon, future Napoleon III. Buried in Florence where he died in 1844, he would eventually rejoin his brother in his tomb under the dome of the Invalides in Paris in 1862.
Joseph Bonaparte has yet to be the subject of such an extensive biography. In Napoleonic historiography, he has suffered from the failure of his Spanish reign and from Napoleon's criticism of him in his letters from Saint Helena.
Thierry Lentz brings to this work his extensive knowledge of the facts and the atmosphere of the times as well as research based on previously unpublished archives in France and abroad, as well as an impressive bibliography. By reevaluating and sometimes going against the accepted narrative, the author reestablishes Joseph Bonaparte as brother, man and ruler.