St Helena 3, Napoleon

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Mon 15 Feb 2016 06:15
St Helen's main claim to fame hitherto has been as the place of imprisonment of Napoleon after his defeat at Waterloo until his death in 1821 after six years on the island. He had hoped for incarceration in the UK, but after the debacle of his escape from Elba and immediate collapse of the French monarchy it was imperative that he be imprisoned properly.
Here is his house, now owned by the French government:

JPEG image




And some of the VS crew, with friend, in the garden under a tree planted by Napoleon (which goes to put elapsed time into some perspective):

JPEG image




Napoleon was buried on the island in a very simple grave at a location he chose himself. His loyal retinue wanted the marker stone engraved simply 'Napoleon' but the British Governor insisted on adding Buonoparte - his original Corsican surname. The French refused and as a result his gravestone is bare - and his grave is empty because his body was removed back to Paris in the 1840's where he lies in considerable but undeserved honour at Les Invalides. Why on earth the UK government consented to his return is a mystery. Anyway, here is his original grave:

JPEG image



Sent from my iPad