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Charles, Count Léon was the illegitimate son of Emperor
Napoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
and
Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la PlaigneEléonore Denuelle was a mistress of Emperor Napoleon I of France and the mother of his son Charles, Count Léon...
(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 IINapoléon II , after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria...
though he only ruled for two weeks) and Alexandre Joseph Colonna, Count Walewski, (1810–1868), Napoleon's son by
Marie, Countess WalewskiMaria Countess Walewska was a Polish noblewoman and a mistress of Emperor Napoleon. In her later years she married count Philippe Antoine d'Ornano, an influential Napoleonic officer....
(1789–1817).
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
ReimsReims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
. 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.