How Napoleon's Playboy Bro Spawned the FBI

A sizzling Bonaparte love affair led to the world's most infamous bureau.

If the FBI had existed in 1803, Napoleon’s troublemaking little brother, Jerome Bonaparte, certainly would have rated a thick file — especially after he began wooing Baltimore belle Elizabeth Patterson, one of the richest girls in the United States.

By then, there was already a bulging portfolio on Jerome back in France — filled with his debts.

Portrait of Jerome Bonaparte on the Bridge of a Ship. Circa 1805-1806.

A Spendthrift in the Royal Palace
After Napoleon Bonaparte grabbed the French leadership reins in his 1799 coup d’etat, he and his wife Josephine promptly moved into the Tuileries, the vast Parisian palace long inhabited by French kings. He invited his youngest brother, Jerome, then 15, to come along and live with them amidst its splendor.

Napoleon quickly had reason to regret his hospitality.

The Tuileries served as the Paris digs for French monarchs since it was built for Catherine de Medici in 1564, directly in front of the Louvre. The palace was destroyed during fighting in 1871. Painting circa 1757. Source.

Frequently away from Paris on military campaigns, Napoleon kept returning home to discover that foppish Jerome, already a hopeless fashionista, had run up bills all over town. Jerome bought the most fashionable boots and most stylish jackets and dined at the priciest restaurants in Paris, drinking the finest wines. What’s more, he’d racked up jaw-dropping debts for shaving sets made of gold, even though Jerome didn’t yet shave, as well as antique tobacco jars once belonging to King Louis XIV, even though Jerome didn’t smoke. And on top of that were his massive gambling debts.

In the Navy
Hoping to instill discipline in his vice-prone prodigal brother, Napoleon enlisted Jerome in the French Navy. While he liked the threads, Jerome kept getting bored, cutting short his assignments, and borrowing money from the commanding officer, making his way back to Paris to have tailors make him yet more personally stylized uniforms — billed to Napoleon — and to wine and dine his many lady friends.

Napoleon sent Jerome to what is today’s Haiti, where he arrived in 1802. His little brother was to take part in a secret operation that Napoleon was planning — to invade North America, take control of the Mississippi River, and send French settlers into what is now America’s Midwest. That mission failed, however, when mosquitoes carrying yellow fever killed over half of the 30,000 French troops sent to Saint Domingue. Oddly, Napoleon's brother was not counted among the living or the dead.

Love American Style
Months before, Jerome had gone AWOL from the French Navy — hopping a U.S. frigate to Virginia in July. Promptly making his way to the French embassy in Washington, DC, he borrowed what today would be over $500,000 from the French ambassador — and then set out to see the sights.

In Baltimore, Jerome made the acquaintance of Elizabeth Patterson, the beautiful daughter of shipping magnate William Patterson, who was then the second-wealthiest man in the country. Handily, Elizabeth spoke French, being an ardent Francophile, even though she hadn’t yet visited Europe. She was easily charmed by Jerome’s swagger and buttery accent, falling head-over-heels for the bodacious Bonaparte who wooed her and soon asked for her hand in marriage.

Triple Portrait of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1804 shortly after she wed Jerome. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Source.

Elizabeth’s father did not approve of his daughter marrying a Frenchman, a Bonaparte at that — and the French ambassador wasn’t happy about the dreamy romance either. Elizabeth was smitten, however, telling her parents that she’d rather be married to Jerome for a mere hour than to another man for a lifetime. When the French ambassador wrote to Napoleon about the steamy courtship, Napoleon forbid Jerome from marrying her.

The Forbidden Wedding Takes Place Anyway
On December 24, 1803, the young couple — both 18 years old — were united in holy matrimony in Baltimore. Their outfits alone struck awe in all who attended: Jerome looked dashing in his suit made of the finest purple silk, his gleaming belt made of diamonds. The lovely bride was clad in a simple dress of muslin with pearls, the dress so sheer, noted shocked attendees, that one could see her undies.

In February 1804, when Napoleon, who’d just sent an emissary to the United States to retrieve his wayward brother and yank him back to France, learned that Jerome and Elizabeth had already wed, he was furious. He had planned for Jerome to marry into one of Europe’s royal families and strengthen French political alliances.

Napoleon ordered that the pope — and President Thomas Jefferson — annul the marriage. Both ignored his demand.

After Theodosia Burr Alston, the daughter of former vice president Aaron Burr, insisted that the newlyweds see it, the new Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte explored Niagara Falls in early 1804, making it a honeymoon hot spot. Painting by Frederic Edwin Church. Circa 1844. Source.

Jerome and Elizabeth honeymooned for weeks along the Eastern seaboard, including taking in Niagara Falls. Learning that Napoleon had proclaimed himself emperor of France in May, the couple decided to set sail for France to partake in the lavish imperial coronation scheduled for December.

And that’s when the problems began.

Sinking Ships
The first ship the couple boarded was turned back by the British. The second vessel had barely set off when it ran into a violent storm and sank — taking all their gold, art, fine clothes, and wedding presents with it. Elizabeth and Jerome made it back to shore in a lifeboat. Another ship ran aground. A fourth didn’t make it either.

When Jerome didn’t show up for his imperial coronation, that once-in-a-lifetime spectacular show, Napoleon was incensed: he erased Jerome from the rulers-to-be list he was drawing up of his siblings.

When Jerome didn’t attend the 1804 coronation of Emperor Napoleon, captured here in a painting by Jacques-Louis David, his brother was livid. Source.

Even though Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte had missed Napoleon’s lavish ceremony, Elizabeth — now five months pregnant — longed to see France for the first time. Finally, in March 1805, her father sent them on one of his ships bound for Portugal.

Shocking News
The good news: that ship actually made it. The bad news: when the vessel dropped anchor in Lisbon, customs agents notified the couple that Napoleon had annulled their marriage. Jerome was summoned to meet his brother, but Elizabeth was not allowed to disembark. Vowing that he would do everything that needed to be done to fix the problem, Jerome galloped off.

The ship carrying Elizabeth headed to Holland, but there, too, she was prevented from disembarking. Finally, in May, she was allowed off the vessel — in London — requiring government escorts because so many had gathered to see the new bride of Napoleon’s brother. While still awaiting word from her hubby, she gave birth to their son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, in early July 1805.

Daguerreotype of Jerome “Bo” Napoleon Patterson-Bonaparte (1805-1870). Circa 1850. Source. He didn’t meet his pa until he was 21.

That fall, still blocked from entering France, Elizabeth returned to Baltimore with her baby — sporadically receiving letters from Jerome filled with vague promises of unending love. In 1807, Elizabeth learned that a notice of divorce had been filed in Paris and in May her husband had married Princess Catharina of Wurttemberg, daughter of King Frederick.

As a symbol of their revived fraternal bond, Napoleon had made Jerome a king of the newly conquered German territory called Westphalia.

Jerome, as King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813, adored the costumes that came with the job. After Napoleon fell, Jerome didn’t do much and did not dress as well. Source.

Jerome had not forgotten his first love, however: he invited Elizabeth to move to Westphalia with their son, promising to make her princess of a nearby township. Elizabeth declined. Napoleon, however, began sending her an annual pension, which she used to buy real estate, ultimately making a fortune.

Finally Setting Foot on the Continent
In 1815, when Napoleon was finally defeated and exiled to St. Helena, Elizabeth and her 10-year-old son, “Bo,” promptly set sail for Europe. This time the first Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte was allowed to disembark and she soon made a name for herself across European high society, becoming a star at the Parisian balls.

Eventually traveling to Italy, where Napoleon’s siblings lived since they’d been banished from France, she even befriended Jerome’s family, though Elizabeth never once met up with Jerome.

Jerome’s unexpected departure in Lisbon was the last time Elizabeth set eyes on her husband. However, Jerome set eyes on Elizabeth — in Florence. One afternoon at the Pitti Palace, where Jerome, who lived nearby, was strolling with his second wife, he caught sight of Elizabeth. “There’s my American wife!” he said to Catharina — and they hightailed it out.

Elizabeth lived for many years in Europe, and Bo traveled back and forth since his grandfather wanted him back in the States. At age 21, Bo finally met his father, Jerome — even staying with him for a summer in Italy. Bo wrote to his grandfather that while Jerome and his second family were kind, their lifestyle seemed empty, meaningless, and idle.

Elizabeth and the clan concocted a plan for Bo to marry his French cousin Charlotte — the daughter of Napoleon’s brother, Joseph — but Bo bowed out and sailed back to Baltimore. Elizabeth was furious when he opted to marry a wealthy American woman whose family had started the country’s first railroad, B&O.

Fearing her reaction, Bo didn’t even invite his mother to his wedding, and — like Napoleon decades before learning of her nuptials with his brother — Elizabeth found out about her son’s marriage after the fact.

Jerome Napoleon Patterson Bonaparte wed Susan May William in 1929. The bride’s dowry was hefty and Bo’s grandfather threw in a mansion as a wedding present. Their union resulted in two boys. The eldest, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, graduated from West Point in 1852 — and went to fight for France.

Baltimore-born Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II (1830–1893). The son of Bo and thus the grandson of Napoleon’s youngest brother Jerome, he was never recognized as a bona fide Bonaparte, despite fighting in the many wars of his second cousin, Emperor Napoleon III. Circa 1861. Source.

The Empire Returns
In 1852, Louis-Napoleon — the son of Napoleon’s brother, Louis — shocked all his kin by claiming the French imperial throne and starting the Second French Empire (1852-1870). Even though he’d trashed Louis-Napoleon and his imperial dreams for decades, Jerome, the only surviving sibling of Napoleon, was happy to partake in the new rule of his nephew, who appointed himself Emperor Napoleon III.

Needing legitimacy, the emperor showered Jerome with money and titles including Marshal of France, President of the Senate, and Governor of Les Invalides. He also put Jerome’s two children from his second marriage — Mathilde and Plon-Plon — on the civil list, making them powerful personalities in the Second Empire.

Faux Bonapartes, True Americans

Jerome’s youngest grandson, Charles Bonaparte (1851-1921), created the FBI in 1908. Source.

Elizabeth began hovering around Paris, pushing for official recognition — and for her son and grandson to get into the official dynasty succession line. However, Napoleon III decided not to recognize Bo, or Bo’s sons, as bona fide Bonaparte heirs. The American branch instead officially became known as the Patterson-Bonapartes.

When Jerome died in 1860, none of the Patterson-Bonapartes, including his first wife, were mentioned in the will. Nevertheless, Jerome’s grandson continued to fight as an officer in the emperor’s army for over 16 years, leaving only after the Second Empire crashed in 1870. He returned to live in the U.S., where Elizabeth had set up her final residence in Baltimore, living there until her death in 1879.

Meanwhile, Charles Bonaparte — Jerome’s other grandson from his first marriage — began climbing the ranks in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt. First made Secretary of the Navy in 1905, he became U.S. Attorney General the next year, earning a reputation as a trust-buster.

As attorney general, Charles Bonaparte in 1908 created the Bureau of Information, which became known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation — the agency that certainly would have had his sweet-talking Bonaparte grandfather in its sights, had it been around back when bad boy Jerome showed up in Baltimore in 1803 and began wooing the richest girl in town.

A similar version of this post appears on the M.S. Rau Antiques website.