The eagle in splendour: inside the court of Napoleon

The grandeur and extravagance of the court of Napoleon I once surpassed even that of that Louis XIV, the Sun King. His palaces at Saint-Cloud and the Tuileries shimmered with walls of Lyons silk and exotic treasures gleaned from distant campaigns; it echoed with the rustle of jewel-encrusted gowns, the drums of military marches and the whispers of his courtiers’ intrigues. This was the center of Napoleon’s magnetic power, a dazzling reflection of the greatest empire in European history. Napoleon’s military conquests changed the world, but it was through the splendor of his court that he strengthened his ambitions for empire and retained his control over it. Mansel brings to life in exquisite detail the heady world of this court: the power and ambition, visual magnificence and rigid hierarchy; stories of mistresses, fortune-seekers, servants and courtiers. Ultimately, the life of the court illuminates the life of Napoleon and the great force of a man who conquered half the world yet, in the end, was “devoured by ambition.”