Jerome Bonaparte, when he was King of Westphalia
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Jerome Bonaparte, 1784 
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte
BONAPARTE, JEROME
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort (15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of
Napoleon, who made him king of
Westphalia (1807–1813). After 1848, when his nephew
Louis Napoleon became
President of the French Republic, he served in several official roles.
Early life
Jérôme was born
Girolamo Buonaparte in
Ajaccio,
Corsica as the eighth and last surviving child, fifth surviving son, of
Carlo Buonaparte and
Letizia Ramolino. He was a younger brother of
Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte,
Lucien Bonaparte,
Elisa Bonaparte,
Louis Bonaparte,
Pauline Bonaparte and
Caroline Bonaparte.
He studied at the Catholic
college of Juilly, and then served with the
French navy before going to the United States. On 24 December 1803, Jérôme married
Elizabeth Patterson(1785–1879), daughter of
Baltimore merchant William Patterson and his wife Dorcas Spear. Napoleon was unable to convince
Pope Pius VII to annul their marriage, so he annulled their marriage himself. Elizabeth was pregnant at the time with a son, and on her way to Europe with Jérôme. When they landed in neutral Portugal, Jerome set off overland to Italy to attempt to convince his brother to recognize the marriage. Elizabeth then attempted to land in Amsterdam, but Napoleon had issued orders barring the ship from entering the harbour. Being with child Elizabeth went on to England where
Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 95 Camberwell Grove,
Camberwell, London, England. Jérôme never saw Elizabeth again {she was divorced by a Special decree of the Maryland Assembly in 1815}.
King of Westphalia
Made king of Westphalia, the short-lived realm created by Napoleon from the states of northwestern Germany (1807–1813), with its capital in
Kassel (then: Cassel), Jérôme married
Catharina of Württemberg, the daughter of the King of Württemberg in a marriage arranged by Napoleon. The connection to a German princess was intended to strengthen the reputation of the young French king. In order to emphasize his rank as a ruler, Jérôme commissioned grandiose state portraits of himself and his spouse. Other paintings celebrated his military exploits. France's most prominent painters were in his service.
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