Line of succession to the French throne (Bonapartist) sons, and it seemed unlikely that he would have any due to the age of his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. His eventual response was to have his marriage to Josephine annulled and to undertake a second marriage with Roman Catholic rites to Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Their only child was Napoleon, King of Rome, known in exile as "Napoleon II" and as the Duke of Reichstadt. He died unmarried, thereby extinguishing the legitimate descent of Napoleon I. Meanwhile, Napoleon I's older brother, Joseph Bonaparte, recognized upon establishment of the First Empire as first in
Theodora (wife of Romanos I) and in effect became the senior of the two associate emperors. Theodora was crowned as "Augusta" in January 921. She remained in the position until her death a year later. She is the only wife of Romanos I mentioned in primary sources and is traditionally considered the mother of all his legitimate children. However, there has been some question if she was only his second wife. Symeon the Metaphrast identifies a certain magister Niketas as father-in-law of Romanos I. This would presumably make him father to Theodora. However, Niketas is known from other chronicles to be the father of Sophia,