It’s back to Napoleon’s brother Louis, and his step-daughter Hortense…

… again as they begin the line that continues to make today’s final connections of royalty in the world.

Hortense was Empress Josephine’s daughter by a first marriage.  Josephine was Napoleon I’s first wife.  Louis was one of Napoleon’s middle brothers.

(portrait: Hortense de Beauharnais who would marry Louis Bonaparte; shown with the son that would become Napoleon III, heir to the French Empire AND President of the French Republic)