HISTORY
Napoleon’s exile: The two islands where the French emperor was exiled
The French Emperor spent almost seven years in exile - factors which contributed to his declining health and death.
French Emperor Napoleon Boneparte spent the final seven years of his life living in exile. It was a sad and lonely end for a man who had previously conquered and controlled much of Europe and part of the Middle East. While he tried to keep himself busy, physical inactivity led to health issues while days, months and years of solitude ended up having a negative effect on his mental state.
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The Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed in Paris on 11 April 1814, brought Napoleon’s rule as emperor of the French to an end. He was exiled to Elba, a small, 86-square-mile island, technically part of France, located in the Mediterranean Sea off the Tuscan coast. He was taken there by the British Navy, disembarking from HMS Undaunted on 30 May 1814. However the Allies had other plans for him which he is believed to have got wind of...
Napoleon exiled on Elba
Fearing exile to a remote part of the Atlantic, Napoleon hatched an escape plan - not that his life was entirely uncomfortable on the island, where he had the luxury of a villa and separate summer house. Within months he has built up a small, local army - the Imperial Guard and a navy fleet of ships.
On February 26 1815, he brazenly set sail - heading back to France where he was given a hero’s welcome in the capital on his arrival on 20 March. It marked the start of what is now known as the Hundred Days (War of the Seventh Coalition) - actually 110 days, up until King Louis XVIII was reinstated on 8 July.
The final voyage
By the time Coalition forces had reached Paris in late June, Napoleon had already fled south. He surrendered to the British Navy on 15 July and then ferried to Britain on HMS Bellerophon, docking at Plymouth. There, it was decided that Napoleon would be exiled again - this time, far away on the remote island of St Helena - a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, 2,000 km west of the south west Africa coast.
He arrived after 10 weeks at sea, on 15 October 1815. The small island would harbor Napoleon for the next six years, until his death. He initially stayed at Briars Pavilion before setting up permanent residence at Longwood House, where he died on 5 May 1821. Longwood House still exists today as a museum, owned by the French government since 1858. It has been painstakingly restored to how it would have looked when the emperor lived there, complete with drawing room, billiard room, private suite and the bedroom where he passed away, aged 51. His tomb also remains on the island although Napoleon’s body was exhumed and repatriated to France in 1840.