# Napoleonic Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-questions/258224 "2004-08-04T00:35:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-questions/258224/1 "2004-08-04T00:35:14Z")
Did Napoleon have any illegitmate children? Are there any decendents of Napoleon’s brothers & sisters? The Louisiana Purchase bought huge tracts of land (ha-ha) for the US from Napoleon’s France. After Naploeon was kicked out, did we finish making the payments, or did we just quietly pocket half a continent? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-questions/258224/2 "2004-08-04T06:29:39Z")
Re: the Louisiana Purchase, [this site](http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/Circa1804/Heritage/LouisianaPurchase/LouisianaPurchase.htm) says > [@](#): > > By April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire 828,000 square mile Louisiana territory for 60 million Francs (approximately $15 million). Part of this sum was used to forgive debts owed by France to the United States. The payment was made in United States bonds, which Napoleon sold at face value to the Dutch firm of Hope and Company, and the British banking house of Baring, at a discount of 87 1/2 per each $100 unit. As a result, Napoleon received only $8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana. Dutiful banker Alexander Baring conferred with Marbois in Paris, shuttled to the United States to pick up the bonds, took them to Britain, and returned to France with the money - and Napoleon used these funds to wage war against Baring’s own country! ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-questions/258224/3 "2004-08-04T07:07:22Z")
Napoleon I had only one legitimate child, a son, by his second wife Marie Louise of Austria. This son was known as Napoleon II or the King of Rome. He died, unmarried, in Vienna in 1832. Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon I, also had only one legitimate child, a son, by his wife the Empress Eugénie. This son was known as the Prince Imperial. He died, unmarried, in Africa in 1879. [This site](http://www.napoleonseries.com/genealogy/) appears to give details of the illegitimate offspring of both Napoleon I and his siblings. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-questions/258224/4 "2004-08-04T07:37:59Z")
Napoleon I had one legitimate child (Napoleon II, King of Rome and later Duke of Reichstadt) and two illegitimate children (Charles and Alexandre, by different mothers). Napoleon II died unamrried and childless at the age of 21, so there are no living legitimate descendants of Napoleon I. There are many living descendants through Alexandre, and possibly also through Charles. There are both legitimate and illegitimate descendants of the brothers and sisters of Napoleon I. **dtilque** has already addressed the question about the Lousiana purchase. The deal was bewteen the United States and France, not the United States and Napoleon. If the US had welched on the deal France would have had the same remedies open to it regardless of whether Napoleon was head of state at the time or not. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleonic-questions/258224/5 "2004-08-04T12:42:11Z")
[This news story from last week](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1271190,00.html) - essentially an advance puff piece for next year’s big Trafalger exhibition at Greenwich - involved a father and son descended from him via a mistress.