Napoléon, Prince Imperial

Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte was the only child of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie and heir to the Bonapartist claim after the fall of the Second French Empire. Educated in Britain after his family’s exile, he trained at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and sought active military experience during the Anglo-Zulu War.

Attached unofficially to British forces in Zululand, the Prince Imperial was killed on 1 June 1879 when a reconnaissance party was surprised by Zulu warriors. His death had political consequences in France and caused intense controversy in Britain over the arrangements that allowed him into danger. Ian Knight’s With His Face to the Foe is a full biography centred on his life, dynastic significance and death in the campaign.