Episode 17 - The Final Days and Return of Napoleon

On May 5, 1821, 205 years ago, at 5:49 pm on the remote island of Saint Helene, Napoleon Bonaparte took his last breath at the young age of 51. 

Between 1814 and his final day in 1821, Napoleon was exiled twice. Toss in Waterloo in the middle, and his last years didn't really play out as he had hoped. 

In this episode, we take a closer look at his final months, battling cancer and ending in his grand return to Paris and his final resting place at Les Invalides. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Bonjour, bonjour, and welcome everybody to episode 17 of Paris in Blue, Blanc, Rouge. Now, today it just lined up to be the perfect day to do this because a very significant event happened exactly 205 years ago today, and that is the death of Napoleon Bonaparte on May 5th. So how can I not uh how can I not talk about it when it falls on the exact date? So it's a few other things, you know, it's Cinco de Mayo, which is something we don't have really here in Paris, and I'd give anything for crunchy tacos and a delicious margarita, but that's for another day. There are there's a few more Mexican restaurants popping up in Paris, but I think the whole, you know, the whole reason of Cinco de Mayo is maybe why France doesn't really want to celebrate the uh Mexican culinary virtuoso that it is. So uh, but it is today the special anniversary because it's the 25th, the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon fell in, of course, uh 2021, and that was also COVID. So they had all of these huge events planned all over Paris and France, and even Corsica, and everything kind of just went away, uh, or they curtailed them or they changed. So um, this year it's not that you know you don't see a lot of stuff going on because the 205th, I think they're kind of like who cares? And it's also he's a little bit sometimes problematic. Uh, but I find the history about him fascinating, and I love researching uh anything that has to do with Napoleon, his whole family, his wives, everything. So I am excited to share this one with you today, and it's about the final days and the return of Napoleon. Because spoiler alert, he's here back, he's back in Paris. So on May 5th, as I said, 1821, 205 years ago today at 5:49 p.m. on the remote island of Saint Helene, Napoleon Bonaparte took his last breath at the young age of only 51 years old. Napoleon's grand return to power in 1815 didn't turn out as he had hoped. On June 18th at Waterloo in Belgium, the once great general was defeated, crashing all of his dreams. He thought he could hand over his title to his four-year-old son, the king of Rome, but that was quickly denied as he had fled France with his mother, Marie Louise, in 1814. Although France was also finished with the Bonaparte, at least for a few years. Napoleon's first exile resulted from the Treaty of Fontainebleau on April 11, 1814. The next day his wife Marie Louise and his son left his side. Napoleon had hoped they would later be reunited, but Marie Louise headed straight home to Austria and didn't look back. Overnight in his bedroom at Fontainebleau, the fallen emperor tried to kill himself by drinking a mixture of opium and water, but was found the next morning alive after vomiting all night. At noon on the 20th of April, after a heartfelt speech on the horseshoe steps of Fontable to his guard, he said goodbye and thanked them for their never-ending support. On May 4th, 1814, Napoleon arrived on the small island of Elba, just 10 kilometers off the coast of Italy and 50 kilometers from his Corsican birthplace. His mother, Madame Mare, and his sister Pauline stayed with him on the island. He ruled like a king. Still in tune with many of his loyal soldiers, he heard rumblings that the people were unhappy with Louis XVIII, and his time was ripe for a return. On February 26, 1815, the French ship Enconstant picked him up in the dark of night and headed to France. He arrived on March 1st to the Côte d'Azur and his men headed to Grenoble, arriving March 7th. In Paris on March 20th, he garnered enough troops to travel to Belgium and take on the British, Dutch, and German troops at Waterloo. On june eighteenth at 9 15 PM, Napoleon was defeated and rode back to Paris to find everyone had turned against him. His great love Josephine had died on May 29th, 1814 while he was on Elba, and the news left him devastated. On june twenty fifth, he visited the place she loved the most, the Chateau de Malmaison, one last time and stayed for a few days until he heard the Prussians had an order to find him dead or alive. Fleeing to Rochefort, Napoleon thought he would flee to America, but the British had blocked the port. There was nowhere to go. The man who once had the dream to conquer Europe was now surrendering to the British Real Admiral Frederick Metlin. For his next isle, this time by the British, they weren't messing around. They found one of the most remote locations in the world, and he wasn't going to escape under their watch. The island of Saint Helene sits in the middle of the Atlantic, over 1,000 miles off the coast of Angola, and three times as far to Buenos Aires. The journey took nine weeks and docked on October 15, 1815. Upon arrival, he moved into a small building on the Briars estate owned by William Balcombe, where he would stay for seven weeks. On December 10th, the much larger Longwood house was ready, or at least somewhat. Complete with 40 rooms, but in a state of decline, they were drafty, damp, and infested with all kinds of island critters. All that would have an adverse effect on the emperor, but maybe that was their plan. On the island, Napoleon wanted to still carry out his day-to-day life as he did at Fontainebleau or even on Elba, but the British governor Lowe was not going to play along. Napoleon became depressed and despondent, spending most of his time indoors, only leaving for walks to the Valley of the Draniums. Napoleon's health began to fail in the summer of 1817, and it was diagnosed that he suffered from chronic hepatitis. Refusing to see the British appoint a doctor, he stayed in his room away from anyone but a trusted few. On march eighteenth, 1818, Napoleon wrote to his uncle Cardinal Fesch and his mother, hoping they could send him a chaplain and a doctor to the island. It would take a year and a half, but on September twenty first, eighteen nineteen, the Abbe Antonio Buonavita and Angelo Viennali arrived. Just days before September eighteenth, doctor Francesco Antamoraci arrived and would be with Napoleon until the end. Napoleon's health and mood slightly improved, but the decline in the end of his life was coming. He spent more time in his room reading each day when walking became more difficult. Watching everywhere he went, even for a short walk to the edge of the yard, left him annoyed and he preferred to stay inside with his books. After his five years of captivity, Napoleon's movement and days were documented by many of the men on the island who had access to him. One of his most loyal friends, the Grand Marshal Henri Gabin Bertrand, and his wife Elizabeth, known as Fanny, and their children were close with the emperor, and the children would spend time reading with him every day. Napoleon was not an ideal patient. He refused to take medication or followed the doctor's plea to exercise or even get fresh air. On April 4, 1821, suffering a high fever, he finally agreed to take pills and a chaser of quinine. Weeks would go by with the same concoction and quite a few enemas. When up to it he wrote his will in his last words, in between lashing out at the Bertrands and anybody near him. On April 17th, Napoleon asked Dr. Archibald Arnaud to give him a stronger medication, which was refused as his health wouldn't be able to handle it. Napoleon said, I am so weak that it's not a cannibal that would be needed to kill me, just a single grain of sand would be enough. Napoleon's greatest fear is that he would die the same thing that took his father in 1785 at just 38 years old, stomach cancer. On April 22nd, the last Easter of the Emperor, he dictated his wishes on where he would be buried on the island, although he wished to return to France. Have me buried in the shade of the willow trees where I used to rest on the way to see you at a hut's gate, near the fountain where they go to fetch my water every day. By the end of April, he could no longer hold down food. His memory suffered, and his dreams, the few times he slept, were filled with visions of his former marshals and soldiers and Josephine. On May third, his breath became shallow and a round the clock vigil began, with Abbey Vignali, Marshal Charles Tristan de Montoron, Bretrant, and his valet Louis Marchon at his side. The Abbey gave him this last rites, but he wasn't strong enough to take communion. On May 5th at 6 AM they knew the end was near. Becoming more still, Napoleon sighed and groaned and closed his eyes. Sixteen people surrounded him in the last hours of his life. Just before 5 30 PM he spoke his last words France, Larmay, Tet de Larmay, and lastly Josephine. At five forty nine PM, Napoleon was gone. On May sixth, doctor Francesco Antamraci performed the autopsy at 2 PM in the billiards room at the Longwood House. The room was filled with British and French doctors and witnesses, many of whom later would write down their observations. The cause of death was infect stomach cancer, just like his father. Years later, any surviving accounts and autopsy records were examined by a team of doctors who found that he died of an advanced stage of sporadic gastric carcinoma with a large tumor that had essentially destroyed his stomach, but had not spread throughout his body. It was likely caused by an infection, gallstones, and ulcers, and not from genetics. The news of Napoleon's death took months to reach France and the rest of the world. On May 6, 1821, Captain William Andre departed Saint Helene for England with the news. Arriving in England on July 4th, the London Star evening edition was the first to mention with only a byline. It would be weeks before the news really spread with the details of his death, funeral, and even an engraving of Bonaparte on his deathbed. On May 7th, two days after his passing, a death mask was finally created. Due to the isolation of the island, the items needed to create a death mask were hard to obtain and were not on hand at the time of his death. Dr. Anto Marchie quickly traveled to the nearby town of Jameson and purchased more than 100 small plaster figurines, smashing and grinding to powder and water to create a paste to apply to the sunken face of the former emperor. The crushed powder wouldn't set and his face continued to show the damage of the heat and humidity. The second option was to find raw gypsum used in plaster. British officers were sent to the beach to find sedimentary rocks, the natural source of gypsum. Returning victoriously, they were able to successfully create a death mask, but the drama wasn't over yet. The mask was created in three separate pieces and needed days to dry once placed on the decomposing face of Napoleon. In the last decade of his life, Marshal Bertrand was at his side from Elba to Waterloo and the final exile in St. Helene. Bertrand and his family were always there. Bertrand's wife, the Countess Elizabeth, was a cousin of Josephine and very loyal to the fallen emperor. Fanny sat next to Bonaparte's body is a plaster drive, but in the dark of night decided to remove the front piece covering his nose, eyes, and mouth and flee with or without the help of the doctor. Later the doctor made hundreds of copies from the mold and sold them across Europe and North America. Today many can be found in museums across Europe, including the Chateau de Malmaison and the Musee de l'Arme in Paris. After the autopsy, Napoleon was dressed in the uniform of the Chasseur de la Garde. Jericho captures the same uniform in an 1812 painting hanging in the Louvre next to the iconic painting of Napoleon by Gros. After the bloody linens were cut up and given to those close to him. Napoleon's final wish might have been to line the banks of the Seine, but that would have to wait in a closer location on the island was needed. When more active, he would take walks to the nearby Seine Valley, which he affectionately called the Valley of the Geraniums. A grave was dug, then lined with bricks and a stone slab at the bottom, in the center of a small meadow with the shade of a willow tree. On May 9th, Bonaparte and his two silver vases holding his heart and his stomach was first placed in a tin coffin constructed by Abraham Millington of the East India Company, upholstered by Andrew Darling and sealed, then placed inside a mahogany coffin and screwed shut, then into a lead coffin soldered shut, and finally into another mahogany coffin. A tall tale of the island claims that Captain James Bennett offered his mahogany dining room table, which was cut up to make the two mahogany caskets. It is just that, a tall tale, but it's a pretty fun one. At nine AM a full mass was led by Abbe Vignali, with British officials and those close to Bonaparte in attendance. Given full military honors of a noncommissioned general, the funeral procession began at eleven AM from the Longwood House to the burial place less than two miles away. The procession brought out the entire island as they said goodbye to their famous or infamous neighbor. The final moments were documented by Bertrand. He said, The body was lowered into the tomb with police. The burial chamber was covered over with a large stone. The stone that covered the body was bricked in, and afterwards everything was covered with a layer of cement. The top opening, which was about seven by four feet, was closed off and protected with a wooden base over which we secured with black drapery. After the ceremony, attendees drank from the nearby spring and silver cups, something Napoleon loved. His coffin was covered with a stone slab, three feet of dirt, another stone slab, cement, and the next day a grave marker. Although the French and the British officials couldn't agree on what it should say, it was left blank. For the next nineteen years the tomb sat undisturbed. There's a few conspiracy theories saying that it was opened after his burial and the body was replaced with that of his loyal valet. Quickly after the news of his death spread through France, there was calls to bring him back to Paris or even Corsica. While many of the French looked at his memory a bit more fondly than others, there's one thing the French love, their heritage. The British turned down every request. They wanted to keep him in exile the rest of his life. In his will he noted that his final desire was, If it is my wish that my ashes, body, may repose on the banks of the Seine in the midst of the French people whom I have loved so well. When Louis Philippe came to power in eighteen thirty, he vowed to return all the glories of France. While the Bourbon kings Louis XVIII and Charles X erased Napoleon from the Paris Bridges, Facade of the Louvre, and the street signs, Louis Philippe set his eyes on the ultimate prize, Napoleon himself. Ten years later, the French requested the return of the emperor from the British government. On July 7, 1840, the frigate ship Bellepoules left for the south of France with former officials, including many who had spent time on Saint Helene with Napoleon during his exile. The ship had been transformed to include a chapel covered in black velvet embroidered with silver bees. Once it was finally approved in the dark of night on October 14, 1840, the work began to unearth Napoleon from his slumber. At 9 30 AM on October 15th, his coffin was open in front of British and French officials. The emperor dressed in his general uniform and his sash of the Legion of Honor across him and his hat lying at his legs was once again a part of the world, if only for a brief moment. He was in fairly good shape after 19 years. Former servants and those who knew him stood by weeping at the sight of the man they knew. After the quick viewing, the four layers of the coffin were closed and resealed and then lowered into an ebony sarcophagus. Before he was to leave the island, he was placed in a large oak coffin for protection and transport back to France. Covered in a velvet fabric embroidered with gold bees and eagles, Napoleon was taken in a funeral procession to the Belle Pool and once again followed by the Saint Helene residents now wishing him a fond farewell. The long return finally arrived in France in the harbor of Cherbourg on December 9, 1840. He was transferred to a smaller boat, La Dorade, for its travel down the Seine to Paris. All of Paris was waiting to catch a glimpse. In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte was fresh off his victory at Austerlitz and wanted to erect a monument, as he said, Men are only as great as the monuments they leave behind. Don't tell some people that. He had promised his soldiers on December 2nd, 1805, you will return home under triumphal arches. Upon his return to Paris, he instructed a grand arc to be built. Originally planned for the site where the Bastille prison was torn down, but later decided to be built on the muddy hill of Chayot, just outside of Paris. Looking down the Champs Elysees towards the Palais des Tuileries, Napoleon would die before the arch was even built. On December 15th, after much fanfare, Le Retour de Cendres was underway. It means the return of the ashes, but it he was never cremated. So there's a big confusion about that. A funeral carriage draped in fabric pulled by sixteen black horses carrying a mausoleum designed by Henri La Brouste, complete with fourteen caryotides, one for each of his victories, held up a coffin that was topped with an imperial mantle, complete with crown, sword, and scepter, and weighed fourteen tons and stood more than thirty two feet high. It would travel under the finished and glorious Arc de Triomphe that had been his greatest wish to see finished. Napoleon's wishes of being laid to rest on the banks of the Seine came with some challenges. The Baselie Saint Denis north of Paris is the final resting place of many former kings and queens of France, but it was too far. How about it at the Vendome column, topped with a statue of the Emperor himself, the one and only one in Paris at the time, or even the Madeleine Church. Finding a place for him was caught up in political minefields. The Hotel Les Anvalides was built in 1671 by Louis XIV for injured soldiers and took over 30 years to finish. His architect Louvois placed special emphasis on the royal chapel where the king and the royal family could attend mass. In June 14th, it was a winning location and transformed for the creation of Napoleon's tomb. While the journey from Saint Helena took two months, the final resting place would take much longer and wasn't ready when Napoleon arrived. He was placed in the chapel of Saint Jerome where he would remain until his crypt was completed twenty one years later. It took many years to complete the crypt, including opening the center of the floor so light could flood the sarcophagus and visitors could gaze down at the vast tomb. The architect Louis Visconti, who would go on to design the Louvre of Napoleon III and the amazing fountain in front of Saint Supise, among many other things. The dome of the Eglise Saint Louis was also part of the church that the king and his family used. It was Napoleon himself who had turned the dome into a tomb in 1808. Visconti would cut the hole in the floor under the dome, adding to the dome's impressive size. You will never forget the first time you see it. As you enter the crypt below, a huge gate greets you at the entrance, with two bronze statues by Joseph Doray representing justice on the left, holding a crown and sword, and on the right imperial power with a sword and sphere topped with a crown, an emblem of the world. Above it is inscribed in French his final wishes on the banks of the Seine in the midst of the French people who I love so much. On April 2nd, 1861, Napoleon was finally placed in the large sarcophagus now in front of his nephew, Emperor Napoleon III. It was imagined by Visconti before his death in 1853. Using the burials of the great Roman emperors as inspiration, Visconti chose red stone, which it proved harder to find. It was in northwest Russia near Lake Oniga that he found one of the oldest stones on earth. Standing over 16 feet high, the impressive tomb holds the emperor's body resting on green Vosges marble. Napoleon's final resting place is guarded by the twelve allegorical figures representing his many victories, sculpted by James Prodier and standing tall. Along the outer walls are ten bas reliefs by Francois Giffroy and Auguste Dumont that depict his many achievements, including civil peace, the civil code, and the Legion of Honor. Complete with scrolls listing all the things he implemented in France. Dumont and Geoffroy were very kind when they designed the body of Napoleon. Not sure he ever looked quite that mascular, but who wouldn't want a little alteration to their physique? As you make your way back up the stairs, you can stand in the center and look back down at his tube. It really is an amazing place. What many people don't know is the original piece of stone that once covered his grave at San Helena that is blank is actually held in the courtyard of Les Anvalides with a small fence around it. You can't go right up to it, but you can see it from outside when the door is open or from the window. Les Invalides is still a hospital and retirement home for veterans, but includes the Musee de l'Armée and the Musee des Plans Relief. It is an incredible museum that spans from the 13th century with armor worn by Francois Primier to the tent used by Napoleon and even his horse, which is now stuffed and on display. It's my favorite thing to find. Everything is done chronologically, including a wing dedicated to World War I and World War II. This isn't your typical museum dedicated to fighting forces. It features amazing art, multimedia displays, memorabilia, and even vehicles. Every trip my grandfather made to Paris included a few days at this vast museum. I always suggest a visit to my clients who want to dig in a little deeper into French history. Another great place is the Legion of Honor Museum that's opposite. The musée d'Orsay that holds paintings and the emblems he created. And I encourage everyone to visit the beautiful Chateau de Malmaison. The attic has many items that belong to Napoleon at the end of his life, including the tools used for his autopsy. And of course, a Louvre where you could find many of the large paintings dedicated to the retelling of his story. If you want to know even more about Napoleon, there's so many books out there, and people ask me all the time which are the best ones. And I can't really suggest there's just there's so many. But if you want to find anything about Napoleon, and I use this anytime I need to find anything out as a resource, is the Napoleon.org, Napoleon.org website, because it it has everything. I mean, I will put a link on my website to it, but they even had his last will and testament, like every single thing, because he kept adding all these addendums to it. Every single thing, like who got what, uh, everything. Um, I also found the base the Bertrand's basically day-by-day description of the end of his life. And boy, back then, I think it was, you know, back in the old days when they thought leeches would cure everything. I think there was a point of time that they thought enemas would cure everything because he was given a lot of them. And there's some things noted in there which, you know, you really don't need to know about anybody. But it is fascinating and really interesting. They also have a lot of uh pictures, etchings that I will put some of them on my website. But if you want to know anything about Napoleon or Napoleon III, Napoleon.org is great. They also have a library here in Paris that I am going to definitely check. The Chateau de Malmaison is another place that you should definitely check out. Um, I love the attic and it has all of this great stuff that had belonged to him, as I said. But also the Château de Fontainebleau has a Napoleon museum, and in there they have all sorts of amazing things, like a piece, one of the leaves from his laurel wreath uh crown that he was wearing on uh the day that he was coronated on December 2nd, 1804. Um, that whole story is amazing. They took these leaves off because it was too heavy, but one of them is there's only I think three or four in existence. Um, and one of them is at uh Fontainebleau. But it also has like just so many great things. His sword, uh, but I just I love it. And so those um the Army Museum, Malmaison, and Fontainebleau. If you are a Napoleon aficionado, those are three places you have to go. You can also go to Saint Helene, it would take forever. I actually looked up to see how long it would take to get there, and it's like a day, at least a day. It now has a small airport on it. But I mean, this place is in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic. And uh you could go, I went to Google Earth and looked up uh to see how close things were to each other. And uh you could really see the remoteness of this. There was no way this guy was gonna escape from there. But um, I can't, I can imagine living out in the middle of nowhere like that. Like, you know, did Amazon deliver there? But uh they it's amazing, and also there's some information, it's it's pretty basic. Um, and they really love going into the tales, like the mahogany table cut up. Um, but you can find information there, and then Elba, of course, and then Corsica. Oh, I think I need to go to all the three of these places. Um, may maybe not maybe I won't get down to St. Helena, but I really want to go see all these places and see the where he was. You know, then there's all the places in Italy. It just goes on and on. But he's a fascinating figure. He, of course, did some things that weren't so fantastic, but some of the things he did do, like the the Napoleonic Code is still the base of French law. He believed there should have been a one monetary fund or unit that was used to class Europe, and that took long after he died to have the Euro. But there was a lot of things that he did um that are still basically used today. So, you know, he 205 years ago for me in France, it's like yeah that is new history. Um, you know, anything that's basically the 19th century is like, well, that's just like yesterday because the history here is so deep and uh long. Um, but it he's a fascinating figure, and I definitely recommend going to the Army Museum. Um, and they're doing a ceremony there this afternoon, and I'm gonna get over there the next few days. Um, because I always seem to go without planning on it right around the day of his death. Um, but they always have um all these wreaths and everything around uh the tomb. But if you haven't seen this tomb, I mean if you haven't been there, um, if you've never been to Paris, I'll put some pictures on my website, but definitely it's just I'll never forget the first time I saw it. And then I I could understand why my grandpa spent so much time there because it is a huge place. Do not try to visit everything in this museum and one visit because it is huge, but it's so great, even if you think like, oh, I don't want to see anything about like, you know, guns and war and stuff like that. It's not that. It's it's the way they tell the story of everything, it's fascinating. Um, it's a great place uh to take uh kids, um, and they have a lot of stuff that's geared towards kids and about history and everything. And because it has World War I and World War II, even I've even had some of my American friends. I've taken I took my little buddy uh Mac there, and because he was really into the weapons, and there's lots of swords and uh rifles, but they're beautifully uh engraved into the silver handles and everything. It's just a fantastic place to go. I love going there. Um, and it's open seven days a week, so it's you don't have to figure out which day you know you could go on a Monday when everything else is closed. So, anyway, thank you guys so much. And next week is going to fall on another past ruler of France that died, but this one I affectionately called Hot Legs Henry, and I'll share his whole story next week.