On 22 August 1807, Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860) married Catherine of Württemberg (1783-1835), at the Royal Palace of Fontainbleau, to become King and Queen of Westphalia, which is located in present-day Germany. The two would reign over their kingdom for a short five years between 1807 and 1813. After Jérôme was deposed as King of Westphalia in 1813, his father-in-law, King Frederick of Württemberg, imposed the title of 'Prince of Montfort' on Jérôme and his family. The couple would have three children: Jérôme Napoléon Charles Bonaparte, Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte, and Mathilde Bonaparte.
However, what is little known is that Jérôme Bonaparte was already married. He had wed Elisabeth 'Betsy' Patterson on Christmas Eve, 24 December1803, in Baltimore, Maryland. Officiating at the religious service was John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States. The witnesses included the mayor of Baltimore in addition to a U.S. Senator, amongst other distinguished guests. The bride was nearly 19 while Jérôme, without providing evidence, claimed to be 21. Jérôme, in fact, on 15 November 1803, had just turned 19. Given that the legal age, at that time, to marry in the U.S. was 21, prior parental consent should have been secured. This was also the case under the newly introduced French civil code of February, 1802, that prohibited anyone to marry under the age of 25 without parental consent.
On hearing the news of his youngest brother's marriage in the U.S., Napoleon Bonaparte exploded in anger and ordered Jérôme to leave Baltimore, without delay, and to join him in Milan where he was based at the time. He was not to bring his 'wife' with him. Disobeying these instructions, Jérôme and Betsy journeyed together from the U.S. to Europe arriving after three weeks at sea in Lisbon on 21 March 1805. Betsy was six months pregnant at the time. This meant that Jérôme had no choice but leave Betsy behind while he made the arduous journey to Milan. However, in place of meeting Jérôme in person in Milan, Napoleon instructed his assistant to hand him a letter. The letter ordered Jérôme to write to his wife to say that the marriage was null in the eyes of the Church and State. Futhermore, 'Miss Patterson' was to return to America immediately. Under intense pressure from his older brother, Jérôme agreed to write the letter, although it failed to reach Betsy. Napoleon then wrote to the Pope in Rome with a request to formally confirm this position. On 27 June 1805, Pope Pius VII wrote back to refuse the request. In the eyes of the Church, the marriage was fully recognised.
On the morning of 7 July 1805, in London, Betsy gave birth to a boy who, to underscore his credentials, was named Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte. He would be known as 'Bo'. On 14 November, Betsy, not having received any news from Jérôme, returned to the U.S. while Jérôme returned to pursuing his career in the Navy. He was stationed in the Mediterranean where he directly engaged to deliver a series of victories against the British along the coast of North Africa. This time, on being recalled to see Napoleon, he was rewarded with promotion to 'Rear Admiral' and elevated to 'Prince of the Realm'. Jérôme was now ready to play a role in shaping Napoleonic Europe so granted his own proper kingdom of Westphalia.
Betsy, on the other hand, by this time had settled with her young son in the U.S. and formally completed the process of divorce from Jérôme in January, 1813. However, there was no escaping that Bo had family ties with his Bonaparte relations in Europe whom he had yet to meet. In late 1819, Betsy and Bo traveled to Paris where they were feted by members of the aristocracy as well as by members of the Russian community that included Nikolai Demidoff. Betsy and Bo then traveled to Rome where Bo was introduced to his Bonaparte relations. The 14 year-old boy made a positive impression on his many cousins who called him Jérôme. This was also the time when Betsy rekindled her friendship with Nikolai Demidoff, who was now established in Rome at Palazzo Ruspoli. In correspondence maintained at the Maryland Historical Society Library, Betsy recounts how much she enjoyed taking part in the various plays staged by a French theatre group who regularly performed for Demidoff at Palazzo Ruspoli.
In 1825, Betsy once again returned to Europe, this time to settle in Florence, where she would live for nine years. In May, 1826, Bo, now twenty-one years old, journeyed to Europe, and stayed in Florence near his mother. It was during this time that Bo met Nikolai Demidoff and his young son, Anatole Demidoff, who was thirteen years old at the time. In much later correspondence from 3 October 1840, Bo writes to Anatole Demidoff, in connection to his forthcoming marriage to Mathilde, to say that "I have the great pleasure of recollecting our original meeting and would be delighted, when circumstances allow, for our friendship to be rekindled. I have always conserved a strong positive memory of the time spent at the residence of your cherished father and from touring the hospital that he always presented to me in person." Bo's meeting with Nikolai Demidoff, and his son, Anatole, would have taken place at Palazzo Serristori in Florence since Villa di San Donato had yet to be constructed in 1826. The hospital that Bo mentions is the one constructed by Nikolai Demidoff aournd 1825 in nearby Lucca. Its purpose was to provide healthcare service to those in need in the local community who could not afford the cost of thermal treatments.
It was also in 1826 when Bo finally met his father, step-mother, and half brothers and sister, Jérôme Napoléon Charles Bonaparte, Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte, and Mathilde Bonaparte. The elder Jérôme organised for the family reunion to took place at the imposing 13th Century, Castello di Lanciano, located in the Italian municipality of Castelraimondo. Bo mentions that his step-mother, Catherine, especially made him feel welcomed. A warm, lasting and longstanding friendship also was forged with Mathilde and her brother, Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte. Bo would visit Mathilde and her family at other occasions, including in 1839, when they were living at Villa di Quarto. There is correspondence from Villa di Quatro dated 25 October 1839 from Mathilde to her friends from Florence, who were visiting Versaille and Paris. Mathilde writes that, "Bo, who is from America, leaves today for Paris, and it is with him whom I have entrusted to carry this letter to you...".
The archives of the Maryland Historical Society Library also hold warm correspondence between Anatole and Mathilde to Bo. In a letter to Bo from Anatole and Mathilde that is dated 18 May 1842, Mathilde adds at the end, "My dear Jérôme, ... Lastly, please extend my best wishes to my sister-in-law [Bo's wife, Susan May] and give a thousand kisses to my little nephew [Bo's son, also Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte]. I embrace you with all my heart and will be, for the rest of my life, your most tender sister, Mathilde".
On the sudden passing of Nikolai Demidoff on 4 May 1828, Betsy expresses the loss of a close friend in a letter to her father dated 30 May 1828, "We have lost poor Demidoff, who died suddenly. He was a great friend of mine. I spent three evenings in the week at his house, and took everyone there that I chose... He was a person of great natural sense, and the most good-natured creature possible". It is clear based on this correspondence, and others found at the Maryland Historical Society Library, that a warm, close and longstanding friendship had been established between Betsy and Nikolai Demidoff as well as by Bo with Mathilde and Anatole Demidoff.
Lastly it is interesting to note that there are living descendants today in Europe from both Jérôme Bonaparte and Elisabeth 'Betsy' Patterson and from Jérôme Bonaparte and Catherine of Württemberg. These family descendants will be placed on copy of this NewsLetter in the hopes of organising, sometime in the foreseeable future, an extended family reunion, possibly in Paris, to reminisce over this wonderful story that involves so many fascinating and important historical personalities.
