Severus and Felix arrived in the Fontainebleau district.
Besides the Fontainebleau Palace, which was well worth visiting, there was also a town here, one of France's largest satellite cities. One of Napoleon I's descendants was preparing here for the 2007 presidential election. That did not mean he himself intended to run for president like Napoleon III; rather, like all politicians, he attended various social events to win the favor of the local people.
The Fontainebleau district was famously conservative, while this descendant of Napoleon belonged to the Union for French Democracy, a faction more pro-American than the Gaullists to which the old Prince Napoleon belonged. In addition, he had divorced his first wife from the Bourbon royal family and married a Corsican commoner. When the old prince died in 1997, he passed the "throne" to his grandson, who was only eleven years old.
Because he had been stripped of his "right of succession" by his father, Napoleon VII's father and son argued over who should be the true head of the family. Their supporters launched heated debates, and gossip magazines rushed to cover it.
The surviving Napoleonic princes were all descendants of Jerome. They were tall and remarkably handsome, utterly unlike the Corsicans Severus had "seen."
Napoleon VI's original name was Louis Bonaparte. He had been born on the eve of World War I. During World War II, although he requested to serve, he was never given a real opportunity to fight. This was not only because the government would be questioned if he were accidentally killed while wearing a French uniform, but also because several of his famous ancestors had risen through the military. To avoid political trouble of any kind, Napoleon VI remained in the army without taking part in the war. It was not until May 6,