Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, only son of the Emperor Napoléon III and the Empress Eugénie, (the Countess of Teba and the Marchioness of Moya, Grandee of Spain of the 1st class), came out with the British re-inforcements after the battle of Isandlwana. As the Prince Imperial was the grandson of King Louis of Holland, Napoleon I's younger brother, he was the great-nephew of Napoleon I.
The Prince Imperial was educated to succeed as emperor of the French and since he bore a famous name, his entire upbringing was very closely associated with the military and the service and duty that he owed to his country as a Child of France. Like his parents, he was a particularly skilled equestrian. He was also an accomplished fencer. During the Franco Prussian War, as a boy of fourteen, he accompanied his father to the front. He left Paris for the war in uniform, bearing the rank of sub-lieutenant. After France's defeat by Prussia at the battle of Sedan, he was smuggled across the Belgian border to Hastings in England. His mother joined him there later, while his father was detained as a prisoner of war for six months at Wilhelmshöhe, in Prussia. After his release, the imperial family settled in Camden Place in Kent.
In the autumn of 1872 until January 1875, the Prince entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, as a Gentleman Cadet. He acquitted himself admirably, refusing any "princely" dispensations and passed out seventh overall.
After the disaster at Isandlwana, he obtained permission from Queen Victoria and the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief of the British army, to come out with the British reinforcements as a "special observer". He arrived in Cape Town on 26 March 1879, stayed for 2 days during which time he visited False Bay and Constantia and enjoyed a reception at Government House. He sailed on to Durban where he disembarked on 31 March 1879. He was attached to the staff of Lord Chelmsford as an extra
aide-de-camp
. He stayed in Durban for 19 days and then came up to Pietermaritzburg where he spent 6 days. He was a guest of the Governor in Government House, he attended mass in the French-missionary-built St Mary's chapel, and he visited a local hotel which was renamed in his honour after his visit. Then, with the other soldiers, he set off from Fort Napier on 26 April 1879, for Zululand, via Ladysmith and Dundee. During the British advance into Zululand the Prince was a member of Colonel Harrison RE Acting-Quarter-Master's forward column. A gifted reconnaissance scout, the Prince set out on the ill-fated 1 June, in a group comprising Lieutenant Carey, 6 Troopers of Bettington's Horse and a guide, to choose the camp for the army's march on Ulundi to engage with Cetshwayo, the Zulu king. Debate rages as to who was in charge on that day; the English officer, Brenton Jaheel Carey or the Prince Imperial who had no official military status?
Tragedy struck when the sorely-undermanned group off-saddled in the Jojosi valley, near to a supposed deserted kraal. The patrol was surprised by a horde of Zulu warriors. Two soldiers were killed, as well as the guide. The rest galloped off across the dongas. The Prince, unable to mount a bucking and rearing horse, grabbed the holster-strap in an effort to hoist himself up, but the strap broke and he fell. The horse trampled his right arm, his sword fell from his waist in the scramble and he was left to face his foes. His slayers said of him:
he fought like a lion, and we did not dare to close 'til he sank down facing us
. Thus, in a distant land, were shed the last drops of blood of the Bonaparte dynasty. The Prince's body was recovered the following day and brought down from Zululand via Pietermaritzburg to the coast, and hence back to England. He was initially buried in St Mary's church, Chislehurst, but in 1888, his remains together with those of his father, were re-interred in St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire.
A year later his mother, the Empress Eugénie, undertook the long voyage to South Africa to follow in her son's footsteps. She spent the night in vigil at the very spot where he died on the first anniversary of his death. When the Empress died in 1920, she was buried in the same Abbey, in the imperial family's crypt, behind the altar.
Glenn Flanagan: Project Initiator and Leader (1994):
French Presence in KwaZulu-Natal/La Route du Prince Imperial, Louis Napoleon
.
Le Prince Impérial, Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, fils unique de l'ancien empereur des Français, Napoléon 111 et sa femme Eugénie, vivant en exil en Anglettere, s'etait entrainé avec l'Artillerie Royal à "the Shop" (Woolwich). Quand la guerre contre les Zoulous éclata, on lui permit, avec mauvaise grace, d'aller en Afrique du Sud, comme observateur, sous le contrôle de Chelmsford qui était déjà surchargé de travail. Le peuple français n'approuvait pas du tout cette idée.
C'était un jeune homme très bien, plein d'esprit et de cran, avec un enthousiasme contagieux qui le rendait très attirant. Il était plein de joie de vivre et décidé à en découdre avec ceux d'en face.
Il embarqua sur le Danube le 28 février 1879 et fit escale à Madère et non pas à St. Hélène, à son amer désappointement. Il fut chaleureusement reçu à Durban et dans l'intérieur du pays.
Harrison fut député par Chelmsford auprès de lui comme Général Quartier-Maître suppléant. Le premier juin, il sortit avec une patrouille de six cavaliers de Bettingston et le lieutenant Carey pour trouver un nouveau lieu de campement pour la deuxième division. Les six hommes du contingent d'Edendale qui étaient sensés les accompagner ne les rejoignirent jamais. Son groupe était composé du lieutenant Carey, de Grubb, le Tocq, Abel, Rogers, Cochrane, Willis et d'un guide zoulou. Il montait un cheval impétueux, "Percy", acheté chez Meyrick-Bennett à Durban.
La patrouille s'arreta à midi près d'un kraal indigène pour faire du café. On ne prit pas la précaution de poster des gardes montés ni de faire une reconnaissance des environs, malgré la présence d'un fossé profond et de l'herbe haute et malgré les signes d'une occupation récente, tels que de la cendre chaude et des chiens.
Tout à coup, il y eut une salve de l'ennemi et, dans la débandade qui s'ensuivit, Rogers et Abel furent tués ainsi que le Prince. Son cheval s'était cabré violemment et commença à s'emballer. Il courut à côté essayant de monter, mais la courroie cassa et il tomba, le cheval piétinant son bras droit. Il perdit l'épée qui lui a été offerte par le duc d'Elchingen, et il essaya de tirer un coup de pistolet de sa main gauche. Finalement, il fut acculé par les Zoulous, finissant par s'effondrer avec dix-sept blessures, toutes sur le devant du corps.
La conduite de Carey ne fut pas héroique parce qu'il abondonna le Prince dans un moment de panique. Il fut jugé en cour martiale, mais la cour recommanda le pardon. Sa carrière était finie parce qu'il s'etait révélé être un lâche et un menteur.
Mille hommes furent envoyés pour retrouver le corps du Prince qui reçu un service funèbre célébré par le Chapelain catholique; Chelmsford conduisit le deuil. Au milieu de scènes de grande tristesse, sa dépouille embaumée fut conduite à Durban et embarquée sur le remorqueur
Adonis
jusqu'au HMS
Boadicea
au Cap, ensuite jusqu'au HMS
Orontes
et finalement sur le yacht
Enchanteress
à Woolwich. Il reçut des funérailles militaires après que son corps avait été exposé à Chislehurst. Sa mère, Eugénie, le coeur brisé, fit un pèlerinage en 1880 avec Wood et établit un monument imposant, don de la Reine Victoria, ici, à Ityotyosi. Ils interrogèrent les Zoulous qui lui avaient tendu une embuscade et ceux-ci dirent qu'il s'était battu comme un lion. Eugénie, après toute une nuit de veille, planta un saule et un lierre dans le fossé ou les espoirs des Bonapartistes étaient morts avec le jeune Prince.
Passage translated into French, at the request of Glenn Flanagan, Project Leader, and in participation with the Durban Institute of Technology, Pietermartizburg Campus' cultural tourism research development project, French Presence in KwaZulu-Natal, by: D. Knock, M. Lambert, E. Tushini
Under supervision of the late Professor, S.D. Ménager, HOD, French Department, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.