Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain
Joseph Bonaparte (7 January 1768-28 July 1844), born Giuseppe-Napoleon Buonaparte, was King of Naples and Sicily from 1806 to 1808 (succeeding Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and preceding Joachim Murat) and King of Spain from 1808 to 1813 (succeeding Carlos IV of Spain and preceding Fernando VII of Spain). The younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, he was Count of Survilliers from 1815 until his death in 1844.
Biography[]
Carlos of Spain
Joseph Bonaparte was born on Corte on the island of Corsica, then part of the Corsican Republic, on 7 January 1768. He was the first son of Carlo Buonaparte and the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, but he played less of a role in politics than his brother did. In 1795 he became a member of the Council of Ancients, and aided Napoleon's accession to power in 1799. Under his brother, he was given the Chateau de Villandry, and in 1806 was made the puppet king of Naples & Sicily, and in 1808 he was installed in a more-important title: King of Spain.
Joseph became "Jose I of Spain" after taking the title, and his wife Marie Julie Clary became Queen Maria Julia. Bonaparte had a mistress and a private secretary, and was a tactician; he spent most of Spain's money on the armed forces. During his rule France, led by his brother Emperor Napoleon, waged war on Spanish rebels, who allied with Great Britain and Portugal. The French army lost many battles to Britain and the Spanish rebels, and Joseph Bonaparte's command of his army at the 1813 Battle of Vitoria was a failure, leading to Joseph abdicating. He became Count of Survilliers living at Philadelphia with his American wife. In 1815 after Napoleon's downfall, and from 1817 to 1832 he lived in Bordentown, New Jersey in the United States. He was offered the throne of the Mexican Empire in 1820 but refused; he was also said to have met the Jersey Devil while hunting. Later, he returned to Europe and died in Florence, Italy, he is survived today by his great great grandson Prince Frederick Joseph.
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