Maria Letizia Bonaparte was one of three children born to Prince Napoléon and his wife Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy. In 1888, she married Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, the former king of Spain and her uncle. Following her marriage, Maria Letizia became Duchess of Aosta. Their marriage was instrumental in almost reviving French hopes of reinstating the Bonaparte dynasty into a position of power, as seen in the days of Napoleon III.

Prince Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, usually called Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte or Jérôme Bonaparte, was the second son of Jérôme, King of Westphalia, youngest brother of Napoleon I, and his second wife Catharina of Württemberg. Following the death of his nephew Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial in 1879, he claimed headship of the House of Bonaparte until his death in 1891. An outspoken liberal however, he was passed over as heir in his cousin's final will, instead choosing his elder son Victor, who was favored by most Bonapartists. From the 1880s he was one of the stronger supporters of General Georges Boulanger, together with other monarchist forces.