Boobytrap: The American Bonaparte

The beautiful American heiress Elizabeth Patterson (1785-1879) was considered a "catch" as her Maryland-family was affluent and of good standing with many influential people of their own class. Her father, William Patterson, was an Irish immigrant who had done well in his new country of America, as he was the second richest man in Maryland. His son, Robert, got married to the daughter, namely Marianne Caton, of the richest man in Maryland, Charles Carroll. The Caroll-family could boast an arch bishop, and the 24th of December, 1803, he married a young couple, 18 and 20 years old. The young bride, Elizabeth Patterson, wore what was considered a "risque" gown, but that wasn't the reason why the First Consul from 1799 to 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was enraged by this wedding. And yup, this was that enraged Bonaparte:

Napoleon Bonaparte who was to become Emperor Napoleon I on the 2nd of December 1804

Napoleon's enormous ambitions were not only for himself, but for his entire family, and he had other plans for the young man who married Elizabeth Patterson, namely his youngest brother, Jerome (1784-1860). There was no way Napoleon would accept this young, American woman as his sister-in-law, heiress and beauty or not.

Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte

Before the wedding, Elizabeth's father, William Patterson, had received several more or less anonymous letters, some of them telling him that Jerome was a Casanova, out to seduce and then leave his daughter. All these letters were aimed at putting a stop to the wedding, but that didn't happen: Married they were, and then the threats from France changed into demands for an annulment. Obviously, there was no way, that the by now French emperor, Napoleon I, would accept the American marriage of his youngest brother. When the young couple set off to France to reason with him, he ushered a prohibition of her as much as setting foot on any country, that he ruled. It didn't exactly help the situation that she by now was pregnant: He still demanded an annulment of the otherwise fully legal marriage.

Jerome went to France, but Elizabeth chose to give birth to their son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte (1805-1870) in England. At the same time, Napoleon I did his best to make the then Pope annul the marriage of his brother and "that unfit American girl". When he didn't succeed, he simply annulled it himself in his capacity of Emperor, just as he himself, and not the pope, had crowned himself. As to the young father, Jerome Bonaparte, then he didn't put up much of a fight for his American wife. A fact that most likely stems from his "wild life" when a bachelor: He didn't have any money, but was landed with a substantial debt. Napoleon I, being so very ambitious for his family, made his brother marry the German princess Catharina of Wurttemberg. Also he was made a prince of Montfort and the king of Westphalen.

Jerome and his new wife, Catharina

Well, Napoleon I met his Waterloo in 1815, and his power over the royal houses of Europe which he had used for marrying his siblings off, was evaporating into thin air. His brother, Jerome, only kept his kingdom of Westphalen for six years, but in his marriage to Catharina he had two more sons and one daughter. When Catharina died in 1835, he married a very wealthy Italian noblewoman, Giustina Pecori-Suárez, in 1840, but whom he, for reasons unknown, kept secret for a long time. However, legally she was his wife, but he ended up divorcing her for an alleged adultery with one of his own illegitimate sons.

Giustina Pecori-Suárez

At the same time, he tried to get some kind of reconciliation with Elizabeth who never remarried. He wanted her to send their son to him, but she refused: Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte stayed with her, becoming a successful American.

Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte

Even though Jerome studied law, he never practiced, but turned into what may be called a "gentleman-farmer". In his marriage to the heiress, Susan May Williams, he became the father of two sons, one of them was Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851–1921), who also became a lawyer. He was a well-known liberal, fighting for humane laws, e.g. for blacks. When Theodore Roosevelt was the president, he was one of his men, and as such he started "The Bureau of Investigation", which became the FBI of today.

Charles Joseph Bonaparte

Wonder what Napoleon I would have said had he known that his intricate web of royal houses of Europe would crumble, but the American one, which he had refused to accept, would thrive and even grow stronger. That might have been a mental Waterloo for the once so mighty Emperor of France.