Commemorating the birthday of the Eaglet, Napoleon’s only legitimate son
As reported on March 21, 1811, in the Paris journal Le Monitor, Napoleon Bonaparte’s son, the King of Rome (nicknamed the Eaglet), was born on March 20, 1811:
“Today, 20 March, at twenty minutes past nine in the morning, the hopes of France were realized: Her Majesty [Marie Louise] the empress gave birth to a prince. The Roi de Rome and his august mother remain in perfect health.
On 19 [March], between eight and nine o’clock at night, Her Majesty began to experience the first pains of labour. The princes and princesses of the family, as well as the grand dignitaries, ministers, grand-officers of the crown, grand-officers of the Empire and the ladies and officers of the household, informed of this by the lady-in-waiting, assembled at the Tuileries Palace.
Between nine o’clock until 6 o’clock in the morning, the pains came and went intermittently; at six o’clock, [the labour pains] began to slow. But at eight o’clock, they returned and continued, this time without interruption, and with greater intensity, before culminating in the most joyful of deliveries.
At this most happy of moments, the emperor [Napoleon Bonaparte], who for the entire episode had lavished the most touching attention upon the empress, expressed the most intense satisfaction and, knowing with what great impatience the French people had been awaiting the opportunity to share in his joy, His Majesty gave the order to fire off salvos of one hundred-and-one cannon shots, which would announce this great event to the whole of France.”
(This contemporaneous report of the birth of Napoleon Bonaparte’s son, as reported in the French newspaper Le Moniteur, is from Napoleon.org,The History Website of the Fondation Napoleon, where the translation of the entire article may be found.)