The Rh Negative Blog

Do you have famous ancestors?

Has 23andme or any of the other ancestry service revealed notable individuals in your family line?

Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer in Conquest
Greta Garbo as Countess Marie Walewska
Charles Boyer as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

Walewski was widely rumoured to be the (unacknowledged) illegitimate son of Napoleon I by his mistress, Countess Marie Walewska, although her husband (Athanasius, Count Walewski) legally acknowledged him as his own son. In 2013, published scholarship comparing DNA haplotype evidence taken from Emperor Napoleon, from his brother King Jérôme Bonaparte’s descendant Charles, Prince Napoléon and from Colonna-Walewski’s descendant indicated Alexandre’s membership in the genetic male-line of the imperial House of Bonaparte.

He had seven children, two from his first marriage, four from his second marriage, and one illegitimate.

By Maria Anna di Ricci (1823–1912):
Isabel Colonna-Walewski (born Buenos Aires in 1847; she died an infant and is buried in La Recoleta Cemetery).
Comte Charles Walewski (1848–1916), married Félice Douay (died 1952); no children.
Elise Colonna-Walewski (died 1927) married Félix, Comte de Bourqueney; leaving issue.
Eugénie Colonna-Walewski (died 1884), married Comte Frédéric Mathéus; leaving issue.