Alexandre Colonna-Walewski
Alexandre Florian Joseph Colonna - Walewski Graf von ( born May 4, 1810 in Walewice near Warsaw, † October 27, 1868 in Strasbourg ) was a bastard son of Napoleon I and Countess Maria Walevska.
Life
Provided by his father with the title Comte de l'Empire and an annual pension of 160,000 gold francs, he lost his mother in 1817. His maternal grandfather, Earl Teodor Marcin Łączyński took him to the family estate at Kiernozia Lowitsch in Congress Poland and later sent him to a private school in Geneva.
At 14, he returned to Poland, where the Russian governor, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov, demanded that Alexander should come as his personal adjutant in the corps of. Alexander refused, went back to Geneva and returned only in 1830 returned to Poland to take part in the uprising of 1830.
In the same year, when the defeat of the uprising was visible, he was sent together with two Polish aristocrats, Zamoyski and Wielopolski to London to solicit the help of the British government. From there he witnessed the defeat of the uprising. After the fall of Warsaw he remained for two years in London, where he completed a marriage with the British aristocrat Caroline Montagu.
In 1833 he went to France and joined the Foreign Legion of the French army. Following the in December 1833 naturalization in France, he joined the regular army. He was transferred to Algeria. In 1837 he resigned and became a writer and journalist. In 1840 sent him to the King Louis Philippe to Egypt and then to François Guizot, he was sent to Buenos Aires in Argentina.
When his cousin Napoleon III. came to power, he became a diplomat. In 1855 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held until 1863. In 1866 he was raised to the Duke and appointed a member of the Académie des beaux -arts.
He died on 27 October 1868 in Strasbourg and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Awards
Marriages and children
1st marriage (1 December 1831) with Catherine Caroline Montagu ( 1808-1833 ), daughter of George John, Earl of Sandwich, and Louisa Mary Anne Harriet Corry:
- Louise Marie Colonna Walevska
- George Edward Auguste Colonna Walewski -
Both died in infancy.
2nd marriage (4 June 1846) with Anna Maria Ricci, daughter of Count Zanobi di Ricci and Isabelle née Princess Poniatowska:
- Isabelle Colonna Walevska
- Charles Colonna Walewski, ( murdered in 1916, was unmarried and left no children)
- Elise Colonna Walevska
- Eugenie Colonna Walevska ( according to some data Eugenie was a daughter of Napoléon III. )
From the relationship with Rachel Felix:
- Alexandre Antoine Colonna Walewski, (* 1844, recognized by the father in 1844 and adopted in 1860 ). From it there are many descendants, and through him, the line Napoleon I survived until today.