Louis Bonaparte
![Portrait by [[Charles Howard Hodges]], 1809](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/LouisBonaparte_Holland.jpg)
Louis was the fifth surviving child and fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, out of eight children who lived past infancy. He and his siblings were all born in Corsica, which had been conquered by France less than a decade before his birth. Louis followed his older brothers into the French Army, where he benefited from Napoleon's patronage. In 1802, he married his step-niece Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of Empress Joséphine (Napoleon's wife).
In 1806, Napoleon established the Kingdom of Holland in place of the Batavian Republic, appointing Louis as the new king. Napoleon had intended for Holland to be little more than a puppet state, but Louis was determined to be as independent as possible and became quite popular amongst his new people. Growing tired of his brother's wilfulness, Napoleon annexed Holland into the French Empire in 1810, and Louis went into exile.
His youngest son, Louis-Napoléon, established the Second French Empire in 1852, proclaiming himself Napoleon III. Provided by Wikipedia
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