Napoleon’s letter of surrender and lock of his hair to go on display
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Version 0 of 1. Napoleon Bonaparte’s letter of surrender, in which he pleads for refuge in Britain, is to go on display to mark the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo. Addressed to the future George IV, the French emperor begs for the “hospitality of the British people” and calls on the prince regent as “the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies” for protection. The letter is one of the centrepieces of an exhibition at Windsor Castle alongside a previously unseen letter from the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Items seized from the battlefield – a lock of the emperor’s hair and a star of a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Légion d’Honneur worn by Napoleon – will also be on display along with other Napoleonic memorabilia, historic documents and contemporary prints and drawings. In his elegant entreaty, Napoleon likens himself to Themistocles, a Greek statesman who threw himself on the mercy of the Persian ruler Artaxerxes and was subsequently received with honour. On receiving the letter the prince declared: “Upon my word, a very proper letter: much more so, I must say, than any I received from Louis XVIII.” Nevertheless, he refused the request for protection, and Napoleon was exiled on St Helena where he remained until his death in 1821. In the letter sent by Wellington to the prince 14 days after the battle, in which he led allied armies to victory, the duke flatters the prince. “Your royal highness will again have saved the world,” he wrote, perpetuating the royal’s belief in his important role in the triumph despite having never seen active service. To celebrate the victory, the future king commissioned the Waterloo chamber at Windsor Castle, filled with portraits of the key political and military figures associated with the campaign. The exhibition curator, Kate Heard, of the Royal Collection Trust, said: “It is very exciting to be able to display both these letters as part of the Waterloo and Windsor exhibition. These vivid and important documents provide a fascinating insight into the minds of the duke and emperor almost directly after the battle of Waterloo.” The exhibition will run for a year from 31 January. The charity Waterloo 200 is working with the National Army Museum and Culture24 to coordinate the commemoration of the Waterloo bicentenary. |