Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona

Camillo Borghese was born in Rome, the son of the pro-Napoleon Marcantonio Borghese, 5th Prince of Sulmona, and brother of Francesco (1776–1839), Prince Aldobrandini. He entered France's service in 1796. He became the second husband of Napoleon's sister Pauline Bonaparte in 1803 (after the death of her first husband, Charles Leclerc).

He was made a prince of the French Empire in 1804, a troop-come in the Imperial Guard in 1805, and soon afterwards oberst (and later division general). He became the duke of Guastalla in 1806, and commander of 27th and 28th Division of the French Army in 1809.

Initially passionate (he commissioned a nude statue of her from Canova), the marriage later foundered due to her taking a series of lovers and showing eccentricities such as being carried to her baths by her African slaves and using her ladies-in-waiting for footstools. They led separate lives but did not divorce, and Pauline convinced her brother to give Camillo the governorship of Piedmont in 1808 (with the words "Camillo is an imbecile, no one knows that better than I do. But what does that matter, when we're talking about governing a territory?") and guardianship of Napoleon's prisoner Pope Pius VII.

Napoleon also forced him to sell 344 pieces from the family art collection to the French state, which Camillo made up with new pieces from excavations on his estates. Camillo also took an interest in the family villa at Porta Pinciana, rearranging the display of the collection within it and giving it a new monumental entrance at Piazza del Popolo.

After Napoleon's fall, Camillo's alliance with him proved awkward and he moved to Florence to distance himself from it and her, managing to avoid any of his lands being sequestered by the popes (a usual punishment for pro-Bonaparte tendencies). Camillo also was forced to leave the office of “Governor of Piedmont” in 1814 after the Kingdom of Piedmont was re established, he was also forced to give up the title of prince of the French Empire in the same year.

After 10 years there with a long-term mistress, he was reluctantly convinced by the pope into receiving Pauline back, only 3 months before she died of cancer. He then continued in secret and futile Bonapartist plots until his own death, which occurred at Florence in 1832. He was succeeded in his non-Napoleonic titles by his brother Francesco.

While a barely remembered figure of the Napoleonic Wars, he was an important figure, with direct ties to the Emperor of the French, being the Duke of Guastalla, a Prince of the French Empire, and also being the Governor of Piedmont from 1808 until the fall of Napoleon.

He is the reason why most remember the House of Borghese, as he is the most remembered member of this house, which is slowly being forgotten.

• Majanlahti, Anthony (2005). The Families Who Made Rome. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 205 and 180–181. ISBN 0-7011-7687-3.