François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville (14 August 1818 – 16 June 1900) was the third son of Louis Philippe, King of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily.

An admiral of the French Navy, François was famous for bringing the remains of Napoleon from Saint Helena to France, as well as a talented artist, with 35 known watercolours.

His first conspicuous service was at the Bombardment of San Juan de Ulúa, in November 1838, commanding the corvette Créole, when he headed a landing party and took the Mexican general Mariano Arista prisoner at Veracruz.

[1] The Prince was promoted to captain of the frigate La Belle Poule, and in 1840 was entrusted with bringing the remains of Napoleon from Saint Helena to France.

François received as dowry an area of over 580 km2 in the South of Brazil, in the state of Santa Catarina, until then called Colônia Dona Francisca after its owner, the newly-wed princess, sister to the emperor.

In the following year he published in the Revue des deux mondes an article on the deficiencies of the French Navy which attracted considerable attention.

[1] In 1848, François' father, King Louis Philippe, was deposed as the monarchy was abolished in France and the French Second Republic instaurated.

Having taken refuge with his family at Claremont, and with the Brazilian lands of Joinville as his only remaining property, François decided to make profits off those that were last remnants of his former principality.

With the assistance of Hamburg Senator Christian Mathias Schroeder, with whom the gains were split, parts of the lands were sold to German-speaking immigrants, who started arriving in the Brazilian Joinville on 9 March 1851 and built the first facilities in the area, including a small royal palace.

The titularity of the principality was negotiated with Heinrich Ferdinand Wiese, German-speaking noble-man from Schleswig-Holstein whose family was fleeing as the Danish troops invaded their territory during the First Schleswig War.

[6] The Prince de Joinville was the author of several essays and pamphlets on naval affairs and other matters of public interest, which were originally published for the most part either unsigned or pseudonymously, and subsequently republished under his own name after the fall of the Empire.

In a famous scene (depicted on right), François drew a woman atop some men handing her the Tricolor as they marched on 31 July 1830.