At the feet of the sculpture in the cella of Napoleon in his coronation robes (by Simart) is the grave of his son Napoleon II (1811-1832 ). He is often referred to as “The Eaglet” (L’Aiglon) but that name only became popular from a play written seven decades after his death.
Napoleon II was the son of Napoleon Bonaparte and Marie Louise of Austria. At birth, he was proclaimed King of Rome, a title he notionally kept. Napolean abdicated in favor of his son in both 1814 and after his final Waterloo defeat in 1815 but the toddler was never seriously considered a legitimate ruler of France.
