Joseph Bonaparte was famously the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, and he was also King of Naples and King of Spain for a time in the 19th Century.

Joseph was born on Jan. 7, 1768, in Corte, Corsica. He was oldest child of Charles and Letizia Bonaparte. Not two years later, his brother Napoleon was born.

In the year that Joseph was born, France had invaded Corsica. French rule of the island was complete the following year, although some resistance remained. At this time, Charles Bonaparte was lending his influence to Pasquale Paoli, the leader of the Corsican resistance. Eventually, France forced Paoli to flee. He went to England and lived in London for two decades. The opportunistic Carlo Buonaparte threw in his lot with the French; and his sons, who numbered two at that time, would eventually be able to attend the College d'Autun, a French school.

It had been decided that Joseph would study to enter the priesthood, and so he studied the classics. However, what he really wanted was to join the military. His father, the author of the priesthood proscription, exacted another promise from Joseph: that he would take over the family duties if required. Carlos died in 1785, and Joseph did what he had promised–for a time. Two years later, however, he moved to Italy, to attend the University of Pisa. He earned a law degree and then won election to the municipal council of Ajaccio, back in Corsica.

Resistance to French rule was still active, and a civil war began in April 1793. Joseph and his brother, Napoleon, had originally supported Paoli and the resistance but had since joined the Corsican Jacobins, who stood in opposition to Paoli and his drive to declare independence. Paoli declared the Buonaparte family enemies of the state. They moved to the mainland and changed the family name to Bonaparte.

Joseph settled in Marseilles, where he met Marie Julie Clary, whose father had a lot of money from his merchant business. They liked each other, and their parents liked the match, and so the couple were married on Aug. 1, 1794.

Joseph enjoyed his brother's meteoric rise to power and, as a member of the Council of 500, helped him overthrow the Directory and declare the Consulate. Also, Joseph looked after Napoleon's interests while the latter was away on campaign, in Austria and Italy during the War of the First Coalition and the the War of the Second Coalition.

On the home front, Joseph and Marie Julie had three children, two of whom survived into adulthood. Their first daughter, Julie, lived just a year. Their second and third daughters were Zénaïde (born in 1801) and Charlotte (born in 1802). The family lived in a château several miles outside Paris.

Next page > Naples and Spain > Page 1, 2, 3