Baltimore's Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and her brief but legendary marriage to European royalty
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (1785 - 1879)
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte is buried in Green Mount Cemetery. She lived into her 90s on her own terms after Napoleon cast her out as an unsuitable wife for his brother Jerome.
In his will, Baltimore merchant William Patterson mostly excluded his eldest child, Elizabeth, and divided his considerable estate among her 12 siblings. He defended his decision: “The conduct of my daughter Betsey has . . . caused me more anxiety and trouble than all my other children put together, and her folly and misconduct have occasioned me a train of expense that first and last has cost me much money.”
Few would have quibbled with him. Though Elizabeth Patterson was beautiful, educated and charming, she rejected expectations put upon young society women of the age. It’s fair to say she lived a life unlike any other.
“Nature never intended me for obscurity.”
Triple portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1804. Public domain
Perhaps it was all of these traits (and her impeccable French) that captivated Napoléon Bonaparte’s 19-year-old brother Jerome when he met 18-year-old Elizabeth in the fall of 1803. It is said they were at the home of Samuel Chase, one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence. By December 24, 1803 they were married.
Reconstructed image of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and young Jerome Bonaparte, accessed from Internet 12/12/21.
Napoléon was appalled by his brother’s marriage to this Baltimore commoner. He withdrew Jerome’s allowance and sought mightily to annul the union.
Undaunted, the couple embarked on a year of travel and parties in the US. Now married to European royalty, Elizabeth took to the part, including her preference for European fashion styles that included thin, revealing gowns, a look still frowned upon in the States. There was talk, of course, though Elizabeth was unfazed. Few women of the time garnered as much popular fascination.
Believing that Elizabeth’s charms would change his brother’s mind, the couple left for France in early 1805. Elizabeth was pregnant. However, Napoléon refused to allow her entry to the country. Jerome continued on to persuade his brother to change his mind. Elizabeth sailed to England, where she gave birth to Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte (“Bo”) at Camberwell, near London on July 7th.
It is believed that she never saw Jerome again. With Napoléon’s influence, their marriage was declared invalid in French courts. To assure Jerome’s place in nobility, an arranged marriage to Princess Frederika Catherine Sophia Dorthea of Württemberg took place only 10 months later. At the same time, Napoléon declared his brother king of Westphalia. History suggests that Jerome continued to love his vibrant and intriguing first wife.
For the next seven decades, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte refused to give up her aura of nobility. She referred to herself as Madame Bonaparte. She travelled, dressed, socialized and shopped with a European flair, parlaying a temporary small pension paid by Napoléon into remarkable wealth.
She purchased and managed rental properties, though often living herself in boarding houses. At the same time, she collected silver, jewelry, attention-catching gowns and fine household items, keeping meticulous records of it all. She never remarried and alluded to the fact that she never wanted to risk her son's entitlement to his title and lineage.
Elizabeth visited Europe for long periods of time, socializing intensely. For the times, this level of independence for a woman was extraordinary. She often left her son in the care of her father and in US schools. Though he occasionally was enrolled in European schools, Bo grew up attached to American life, much to Elizabeth’s dismay.
Elizabeth fought hard and unsuccessfully to see that her son would benefit from his royal connection. Later in life, when Bo married American railway heiress Susan May Williams, Elizabeth cruelly disparaged her.
Throughout the parties, travel and shopping, Elizabeth maintained a bitterness about the course her life had taken. Her letters and many journal notes show this:
“I certainly did expect both honor and profit from the marriage and (have) been cruelly disappointed, having obtained neither.”
“To run through one’s own solitary cycle and work out one’s own weary problem alone – I have found it a sad thing to do.”
“Once I had everything but money,” she remarked. “Now I have nothing but money.”
As she aged, Elizabeth lived alone in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood in Mrs. Gwinn’s boarding house. Neighbors often spotted her walking among her properties to collect rent. At her death in 1879, Elizabeth was worth about $1.5 million. She outlived her son, who died in 1870.
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte is buried in Green Mount Cemetery. The tombstone inscription reads: “After life’s fitful fever, she sleeps well.”
Baltimorean Charles J. Bonaparte was Elizabeth’s grandson. He was a lawyer and political activist for progressive and liberal causes. He served President Theodore Roosevelt as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy and later the U.S. Attorney General. He is buried in Loudon Park Cemetery.
It is because of Elizabeth’s grandson Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851 – 1921), that we are able to view many of Elizabeth’s treasured possessions at the Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC). Elizabeth entrusted oil paintings, silver, china, miniature portraits, clothing and personal effects to him. In turn Charles, a respected Baltimore attorney and civic leader who downplayed his noble roots in public, maintained a “Bonaparte Room” in his Park Avenue townhouse with his grandmother’s possessions. After his death, Charles Bonaparte’s wife Ellen approached the then-Maryland Historical Society to donate the collection.
You can see an extensive permanent exhibit that showcases the possessions and life of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte at the MCHC. A tabletop illustrated book,A Woman of Two Worlds by Alexandra Deutsch, a former MCHC Vice President of Collections and Interpretation and current John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections at Winterthur, provides a highly readable, in-depth look at a memorable woman.