Alix, Princess Napoléon

Who is Alix, Princess Napoléon?

Alix, Princess Napoleon was the wife of Louis, Prince Napoléon, claimant to the Imperial throne of France of the House of Bonaparte from 1926 until his death. Bonapartists regarded her as "Empress of the French" in pretense for several decades in the 20th century.

She was the daughter of Albéric, comte de Foresta. Although she was the only consort of the surviving Imperial line not born a princess, her family had been nobles in Lombardy since the 13th century, becoming counts palatine in 1330, constables of Venice in 1425, then retainers of the powerful Doria family in Genoa. They settled in Provence, France early in the 16th century, where they acquired twenty-two manors and the title of marquis by 1651. Ironically, the Forestas distinguished themselves during the French Restoration as courtiers loyal to the House of Bourbon, and to Henri, comte de Chambord in particular. Long established as squires of large estates and rice paddies in the Camargue, the Forestas often welcomed Charles and his siblings there while they were growing up.

In 1961, about "200 girls from the United States and other countries" paraded "through the halls of the Palace of Versailles...to curtsey before Princess Alix Napoleon, wife of the great-grandnephew of Napoleon Bonaparte."