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Cardinal Joseph Fesch Prince of France

Born on January 3, 1763, Passed away on May 13, 1839

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He was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte (half-brother of Napoleon's mother Laetitia). In the wake of his nephew, he became Archbishop of Lyon and Cardinal. He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period, remembered for having established the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio, which remains one of the most important Napoleonic collections of art.

Born in Corsica, he was the son of Swiss-born Franz Faesch and Angela Maria Pietrasanta and belonged on his father's side to the Faesch family, one of the most prominent patrician families of Basel. He rose to great prominence in France following Napoleon's coup d'état of 1799. Fesch became Archbishop of Lyon in 1802, a Cardinal in 1803, Ambassador to the Holy See in 1804, a French senator and count in 1805, Grand Almoner of France in 1805, a sovereign prince in 1806, Prince of France in 1807 (a dignity he shared only with Napoleon's siblings, brother-in-law Joachim Murat, and adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais), and Peer of France in 1815, and was named a Prince of the Papal States by the Pope. He was a member of the Imperial House and was included in the order of succession to the French imperial throne in accordance with the French constitution of 1804 (Title III, Article 9, "The Imperial Family").



He was Napoleon's most important diplomat in regard to Pope Pius VII, but Napoleon's relationship with his uncle deteriorated as his relationship with the Pope soured. Nevertheless, Napoleon remained loyal to his uncle. Fesch wed his nephew to Joséphine de Beauharnais in Paris in 1804, the day before Bonaparte was crowned as Emperor of the French, in 1810 he wed Napoleon to Marie Louise of Austria, and in 1811 baptized the Emperor's son Napoleon II. After the end of the French Empire in 1815, he was banished from France in 1815, like the rest of the Imperial House. He relocated to Rome with his half-sister Laetitia, and took up residence at the Palazzo Falconieri, dedicating himself to art and to beneficence.

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