Son of Lucien (and nephew of Napoleon) Bonaparte. Born 4 January 1813 at Thorngrove, Worcestershire. He lived in England until 1848, when he returned to France. There, after the Revolution, he was made a deputy for Corsica (28 November). When that election was set aside he was elected in July 1849 deputy for the Seine. He sat on the benches of the Right in the Assembly but took no direct part in his cousin's coup d'état in December 1850. Although Napoleon III created him a senator and prince he displayed little interest in the politics of the Second Empire and, when the Third Republic was proclaimed in 1870, retired to England where he took up philology. His principal subject was Basque but he was also interested in other Celtic languages and published some of his studies on initial mutation; see particularly his Initial Mutations in the Living Celtic, Basque, Sardinian, and Italian Dialects, 1885.
He possessed the only surviving copy (as far as is known) of the book Athravaeth Gristnogavl, by Morys Clynnog , and Wales is indebted to him not only for drawing attention to its existence but also for transcribing it for the Cymmrodorion and for giving them permission to publish it in 1880.
He died 3 November 1891.
Published date: 1959
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