Carlo Buonaparte

Carlo Maria Buonaparte was born in Corsica on 27 March 1746, into a minor noble family on an island that had not yet decided its fate. He began as a supporter of Corsican independence, serving briefly as an aide to Pasquale Paoli and fighting against Genoa, then resisting when France invaded. After France annexed Corsica, he made the practical pivot: he aligned with the new regime and by 1777 had secured a post as the island's representative at the court of Louis XVI. He died on 24 February 1785, a provincial attorney with eight children and debts. Twenty years later his second surviving son became Emperor of the French and draped the rest of the family in crowns and titles, turning a forgotten Corsican lawyer into the grandfather of two emperors.