Henri I (Napoleonic Age)

Henri I (10 May 1860 – 3 October 1931), also known as Henri Bonaparte of France in various contemporary English-language publications, was Emperor of the French from 1909 to 1931, a reign of close to twenty-three years. Succeeding his elder brother Napoléon IV following his death during the great French Flu of 1908-09 (and with Crown Prince Henri having died several days earlier), Henri took it upon himself to outshine his elder brother in his majesty and power by increasing French prestige and strength worldwide. He was noted for several blunders, political and diplomatic, which cost him some renown in various countries around the world; however, later in his reign, he gained a sense of humility, and became a national rallying point during the Five Months' War of ????. He died at the age of seventy-one in 1931, the longest-lived Emperor of the French since his great-grandfather, Napoléon I. His legacy has been mixed, with scholars split on his handling of French foreign policy in particular. He was the third Emperor in a row – and the last – to not be the son of the previous Emperor.