Library - Chateau de Malmaison, Paris, France
The desk of the emperor Napoleon I at the home of his 1st wife, the Empress Josephine.
During the 1800–1804 Consulate, Napoleon would drive out at weekends, though by all accounts his presence was hardly guaranteed to make the party go with a bang. Twenty minutes was all the time allowed for meals, and when called upon to sing in party games, the great man always gave a rendition of "Malbrouck s'en va-t'en guerre" (Malbrouck Goes to War), out of tune. A slightly odd choice, too, when you remember that it was Malbrouck, the Duke of Marlborough, who had given the French armies a couple of drubbings a hundred years earlier. According to his secretary, Malmaison was "the only place next to the battlefield where he was truly himself". After their divorce, Josephine stayed on here, building up her superb rose garden and occasionally receiving visits from the emperor until her death in 1814.
Library - Chateau de Malmaison, Paris, France
The desk of the emperor Napoleon I at the home of his 1st wife, the Empress Josephine.
During the 1800–1804 Consulate, Napoleon would drive out at weekends, though by all accounts his presence was hardly guaranteed to make the party go with a bang. Twenty minutes was all the time allowed for meals, and when called upon to sing in party games, the great man always gave a rendition of "Malbrouck s'en va-t'en guerre" (Malbrouck Goes to War), out of tune. A slightly odd choice, too, when you remember that it was Malbrouck, the Duke of Marlborough, who had given the French armies a couple of drubbings a hundred years earlier. According to his secretary, Malmaison was "the only place next to the battlefield where he was truly himself". After their divorce, Josephine stayed on here, building up her superb rose garden and occasionally receiving visits from the emperor until her death in 1814.