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Grandparents Letizia Ramolino, Carlo Buonaparte Aunts Caroline Bonaparte, Pauline Bonaparte, Elisa Bonaparte, Maria Anna Buonaparte Uncles Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte, Jérôme Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte, Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte Similar Napoleon, Alexandre Colonna‑Walewski, Napoleon III, Letizia Ramolino, Carlo Buonaparte Born 1806 (age 75) Died 1881 (aged 75) | ||
Charles, Count Léon (1806–1881) was the only acknowledged illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon I of France and Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne (1787–1868). He was the half brother of Napoleon's legitimate son by Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles Bonaparte (1811–1832), King of Rome (also known as Napoleon II though he only reigned for two weeks) .
Léon had a daughter, Charlotte Mesnard, who was interviewed in 1921 when she was 55 years old. She said her son had a striking resemblance to Napoleon but had been killed in World War I near Reims. According to the article, late in life Count Léon married a woman of humble birth and had three sons as well as Charlotte. At the time of the interview (done in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of Napoleon's death) Charlotte reported that two of her brothers had also died during the war.