Born in 1950, Prince Charles Napoléon is the eldest male member of the descendants of

Emperor Napoléon I’s youngest brother, Jerome, King of Westphalia, whose progeny now represent the only remaining branch of the Bonapartes. An economist by training, Charles Napoléon is a graduate of

Paris-Dauphine’s university of management. He also holds a doctorate in economics from the Sorbonne.

A former banker and government expert, Charles Napoléon has worked in Europe, Africa and America.

He has run successfully in local elections in Corsica and the Parisian region.

Charles Napoléon is married and has four children: a daughter Caroline and a son Jean-Christophe

by his first wife Princess Beatrice of the Two-Sicilies, and two daughters, Sophie and Anh,

by his second wife Jeanne-Françoise Valliccioni.

This is your fourth book and the third which you devote to members of your family. In what way is it different from the others?

In the first book inspired by the story of my family I was presenting the cultural roots of Napoléon Bonaparte, the story of his family, of his island and the multiple difficulties he met with in order to become part of the French society of his time. He was born a Corsican, which then meant being a Genoese and therefore part of the Italian world. His island had just been purchased by King Louis XV of France when his father Carlo Bonaparte fought the French troops under the command of Pasquale Paoli, the hero of Corsican freedom. In fact, until he was nine, Napoléon Bonaparte, the future French Emperor, couldn’t speak one word of French. French was a second language to him.

My second book was an historical essay about the moral heritage I received from my family. My approach was to present a gallery of portraits of the most significant men and women in the Bonaparte tradition since the 18th century: Napoléon’s father, Carlo, Napoléon’s youngest brother Lucien, Marie Bonaparte, Dr Freud’s disciple and benefactor, etc.

My last book is a portrait of Napoléon through his correspondence. Like most of people born in the Age of Enlightenment, Napoléon wrote thousands of letters. Most of them are related to government or military subjects. But behind the official discourse, appear very personal and significant remarks, which are at the heart of my book.

Two centuries after his downfall, Napoléon remains a controversial figure, particularly in the countries that he conquered and occupied. What do you have to say to those who describe him as a tyrant?

He was a man of the transition between the age of the tyrants, the age of absolute monarchy, and the age of freedom and democracy. As an emperor, his government was inspired by Charlemagne, who was not the most liberal of European rulers, but his Constitutions were submitted to the people’s approval, and he laid the so-called ‘granite groundwork’ the modern institutions of France which became adopted throughout Europe as a result of his military conquests. His character and actions have many different and paradoxical aspects which is why people have so many contrasting attitudes to him.

You have always taken an interest in politics, to the point of running several times in local and national elections. Aren’t people sometimes suspicious of your motives, given the fact that you are the head of a family which has occupied a throne on several occasions. In other words, might you not be suspected of looking for some sort of Bonapartist restoration ? After all, Napoléon III himself was first elected president of the Republic before he toppled it, wasn’t he?

My personal engagement in public life has nothing to do with Bonapartism and even less with any dynastic restoration. As a member of Napoléon Bonaparte’s family, I try to maintain his historical legacy in an useful way for our contemporaries. But my personal political options are more inspired by Jacques Delors, Bill Clinton or Tony Blair rather than by the constitutions of the First or the Second Empire! The problems which confront us nowadays have nothing in common with the problems my ancestors were faced with. We have to find new solutions, new institutions for a different age. The only remaining lesson is that they reformed deeply the political life of their times. And that we can also do in our own day and age! Progress and change are History’s main lesson!

You have a keen interest in Corsica where your family has its roots. Your wife herself is Corsican. And you’ve been Deputy Mayor of Ajaccio. How do you see the future of the island?

Part of the future of Corsica is related to the European construction. Corsica is a region distant from Paris, a place for holidaying in the summer period when city-dwellers enjoy our beaches and our natural environment. Like the regions in the south of Italy or Spain, like Malta and the other islands of the Mediterranean sea, Corsica is an integral part of Southern Europe. The European Union finances a large part of the public investments in Corsica and understands the necessity of institutional adjustment due to our situation as an island. We must develop a new relationship with Paris and Brussels, our two capitals, and at the same time implement new development actions directed towards sustainable development and the protection of nature which are, in my opinion, our island’s most valuable assets.

You are a convinced partisan of Europe. What sort of Europe do you favour? Would you like it to limit itself to an economic union or would prefer a more politically-integrated entity? Would you go so far as saying that Europe should be a federation like the USA, complete with a President and a federal government?

I am deeply convinced that what we have to build in the long term, i.e. the historically long term, is a new nation with new common institutions, what one might describe as a federation of European countries. But this will take time, because it has to be built in freedom and peace. The main question is how to achieve it. In my opinion, our approach should be inspired by what was done in the early stages of the European construction. A group of EU member states interested in further integration should set up a new organization within the Union and engage in a new process of integration. If you take the case of the common currency or the Schengen area, they do not gather every member state but only those interested. That is the way we should proceed to build a common security and defence policy, by merging the French and German armies. Such an action would give a very strong impetus to the European defense pillar and offer an alternative to reinforcing NATO.

You have set up a very active federation of cities that have a link with the Napoléonic saga. It now groups a large number of towns across Europe, including in countries like the UK, which were among Napoléon’s worst enemies. Do you feel that this sort of approach to the continent’s past conflicts can foster the sense of a shared history amongst the inhabitants of Europe, particularly the younger generations?

We have no interest in reenacting Napoléon’s battles. Nevertheless, the memory of the conflicts remains important for the citizens of the European countries. That is how they can measure how much progress we have made in making for ourselves a secure and a peaceful continent and, at the same time, strengthen their roots in the knowledge and understanding of the past. The many drastic changes of the present day have often upset long-held traditional views and habits, causing disappointment and a loss of confidence among the less privileged. The new European identity should be based on history and on the real life rather than on technocratic decisions. As an expert in public decision-making, I support the Europe of the people rather than the Europe of the technicians. I plead for more politics and less bureaucracy, for more culture and fewer rules. Europe will be achieved when the European people are able to write their common history in a single book!

Could you tell us more about the workings of this network of cities? And what are the benefits that the member cities can expect from it?

We are a network of cities and of locally-elected people, not an historical society. We promote projects for our cities like for instance rotating exhibitions, touristic tours linking the most significant places of the Napoléonic saga, the upgrading of cultural or historical monuments, youth exchanges between our cities… Because we are an association of forty cities belonging to seven different EU countries, we are eligible for European grants an individual city would not be able apply for. We can also promote certain projects which an isolated city could not support on its own.

Are there any prospects of Valletta joining your federation?

We have asked the French Maltese Society Le Cercle Vassalli to contact the city of Valletta where Napoléon Bonaparte and his troops, on their way to Egypt, disembarked in the year 1798. These historical days had very important consequences for the future of your country. It follows that the city of Valletta is naturally welcome to join our federation. A specific opportunity could present itself in the Autumn of 2010, when a maritime cruise supported by our federation, with the participation of various different Mediterranean member cities, will be berthing in Grand Harbour.

Napoléon par Napoléon: Pensées, Maximes et Citations (Paris 2009, Le Cherche-Midi ed. 281 p. ISBN 9-782749-112039, 13 euros).

Acknowledgement:

Text revised by Helen caruana galizia and joe camilleri