Jérôme Bonaparte - Later Years

Later Years

Although Catharina was aware of Jérôme's constant affairs, she remained true to her husband. They had a son, Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (1822–1891), also known as "Prince Napoleon" or "Plon-Plon." Their second child, a daughter, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, was a prominent hostess during and after the Second French Empire. After the dissolution of his kingdom, Jérôme was given the title Prince of Montfort by the King of Württemberg, his father in-law. The king later forced Jérôme and his wife to leave the country in 1814, during which they visited the United States. Jérôme returned to France and joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days.

Later, Jérôme moved to Italy where he married Giustina Pecori-Suárez, the widow of an Italian nobleman.

When his nephew, Prince Louis Napoleon, became President of the French Republic in 1848, Jérôme was made governor of Les Invalides, Paris, the burial place of Napoleon I. When Louis Napoleon became emperor as Napoleon III, Jérôme was recognized as the heir presumptive to the throne until the birth of the Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial. Jérôme went on to be named a Marshal of France, served as president of the Senate, and received the title Prince Français.

Jérôme Bonaparte died on 24 June, 1860, at Villegenis, France (today Massy in Essonne). He is buried in Les Invalides, Paris.

His grandson, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, served as United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Attorney General. He founded the precursor of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1908.

Baroness Jenny von Gustedt, born as Jeromée Catharina Rabe von Pappenheim (1811–1890), one of Jérôme Bonaparte's illegitimate children, was the grandmother of the German Socialist and Feminist writer Lily Braun.