Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte by Gilbert Stuart (Public Domain)

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A story which always intrigued me growing up in Maryland was the story of Elizabeth Patterson, a young Baltimore lady who married one of Napoleon's brothers. The Pattersons were one of the wealthiest families in Maryland, second only to the Carrolls. Like many old families of Maryland and Virgina, the Pattersons certainly deemed one of their daughters worthy of a Bonaparte; whether an upstart Bonaparte would be worthy of a Patterson was another story.

In spite of being married by Bishop John Carroll, Jerome Bonaparte deserted Elizabeth. It was not entirely his fault; his brother Napoleon threatened him with poverty and exile. Jerome preferred his prestige as a Bonaparte prince to being with his beloved wife. At Napoleon's command, he married a fat German princess. Since the Bonaparte rule was short-lived, the sacrifice was for nothing. Elizabeth lived to be a feisty, rich old lady, full of stories of her naughty and handsome husband. She attempted to marry her son to a European princess, but Bo preferred a Maryland girl. 

 From The Baltimore Banner:

After life’s fitful fever, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s estranged family sleeps well in Baltimore. So says the epitaph etched on Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte’s tombstone in Green Mount Cemetery. The fever perhaps first flared when her notorious brother-in-law objected to her nuptials to Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon’s younger brother, on Christmas Eve in 1803. Though the marriage eventually ended in divorce, it ignited for Elizabeth what would become a decadeslong legal battle for diplomatic recognition and legitimacy for her son.

“Nature never intended me for obscurity,” the Baltimore Bonaparte once stated in a letter to her father. Long before Baltimore’s other famous divorcée Wallis Simpson fell in love with a European ruler, Patterson’s love story did not sit well with her new family in France. Thursday’s anticipated release of the biopic “Napoleon,” directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix, has renewed interest in Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and her tussle with the French emperor. (Read more.)

From Geri Walton:

Jerome found himself so fascinated by her wondrous beauty and charm that he forgot about France and his brother Napoleon. He then became intent on marrying the stunning beauty and the wedding was planned a few weeks later on 3 November. However, after Elizabeth’s father received an anonymous letter stating that Jerome had “ruined” other young ladies, he withdrew his support for the marriage. Elizabeth was just as much in love with Jerome as he was with her and being unwilling to give him up, she threatened to elope. Her father thus gave in and the pair were married on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1803. 

The Mayor of Baltimore performed the civil ceremony, and a religious one was sealed by John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States. To further seal the deal a marriage contract was drawn up by Alexander J. Dallas, afterward Secretary of the Treasury, and witnessed by M. Sotin (the French Consul at Baltimore), Alexander Le Camus (Jerome’s secretary), and other leading citizens.  (Read more.)

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