Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland 1806-1810
“On July 1st [1810 Louis] went to Haarlem, and for two days was secluded in his study, writing with his rheumatic hand his abdication messages to the Council of State and to the nation. These would be his justification to the world and to the historians of the future. Louis went on record as protesting the unlawful and violent acts of the Emperor [Napoleon], and what he now described as the forced signing of the treaty of March 16th. [His wife] Hortense was mentioned, but only because, according to the constitution, she would be regent for the six-year old King [Louis II (1804-1831), whose reign lasted for less than two weeks in July 1810]. In both of his messages Louis wrote that, “I abdicate in favor of my well-beloved son, Napoléon Louis, and in default of him his brother, Charles Louis Napoléon [the future Emperor Napoleon III (1808-1873)].” The “his brother” cast a subtle doubt, malicious in intent, on the paternity of the little boy who had been left in France. … On the evening of July 3rd, Louis received his ministers and handed over to them his documents. The proclamation to the people was to be posted on the walls of Amsterdam, before the French troops came tramping in on the morrow.” (C. Wright, Daughter to Napoleon. A biography of Hortense, Queen of Holland [New York, 1961], p. 196)