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Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (Baltimore, Maryland, 6 February 1785 - Baltimore, Maryland, 4 April1879), known as "Betsy", was the daughter of a Baltimore, Maryland merchant, and was the first wife of Jerome Bonaparte, and sister-in-law of Emperor Napoleon I of France. Elizabeth's father, William Patterson, had been born in Ireland and came to North America prior to the American Revolutionary War. He was a Catholic, and the wealthiest man in Maryland after Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

They were married on December 24, 1803, at a ceremony presided over by the Archbishop of Baltimore.

Jerome's brother Napoleon ordered his brother back to France and had the marriage annulled. Jerome returned to France with Betsy but she was denied landing in continental Europe. She gave birth to a son in 1805, in London. Jerome gave in to his brother, returned to the French Navy and married the German princess Catharina of Württemberg.

Betsy returned to Baltimore with her son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte and lived with her father. After the battle of Waterloo she returned to Europe where she was well received in the most exclusive circles and much admired for her beauty and wit. In 1815, by special Act of the Legislature of Maryland, she secured a divorce. Her last years were spent in Baltimore in the management of her estate, the value of which she increased to $1,500,000. She is buried in the Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.

An irony: Betsy's brother's widow married Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley older brother of the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

The story of Elizabeth and Jerome's marriage and anullment is the basis for the 1928 film Glorious Betsy and the play by the same name.

Literature

• F. B. Goodrich, The Court of Napoleon III (Philadelphia, 1864)
• E. L. Didier, Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte (New York, 1879)

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