Napoleon III in London: A Bittersweet Walking Tour

Join critically acclaimed historian Dr Edward Shawcross on a vivid, life-affirming tour of the London exile of Napoleon III, Europe’s first populist emperor — and role model for Trump, Meloni and Farage — revealing how the smokey salons, conspiratorial taverns, clubs, jelly houses, and flagellation brothels of the grimy soot-smirched metropolis inspired his dream of becoming ‘The People’s Emperor’ across the water, and lament the catastrophic fall of this flamboyant, sex-mad reverist as he relapsed to these same venues in his banishment from France, a fallen emperor aswirl in bittersweet memories of the past, ruefully sipping wine.

• Special, one-off tour to celebrate the publication of The People’s Emperor: the Unlikely Rise and Spectacular Fall of Napoleon III (Faber), described as ‘one of history’s most colourful rides’ by Simon Seabag Montefiore, ‘gripping and fascinating’.
• Opportunity to buy a signed copy after the tour.
• Napoleon III was the nephew of the more famous Napoleon Bonaparte. He ruled France from 1848 to 1870, having been elected by 5.5 million Frenchmen. He was its last reigning sovereign.

The Greatest Emperor you’ve Never Heard of

At the start of 1848, a soon-to-be mighty emperor languished in London, dreaming, conspiring against the impuissant French government, and sleeping with notorious courtesans. Within four years, this man, Napoleon III, had transformed himself into Europe’s first populist politician, a trailblazer who wrote the playbook for the likes of Modi, Trump and Farage. For a time, the nephew of Britain’s nemesis, Napoleon Bonaparte, soared more brilliantly than his uncle, but when the crash came it was spectacular. Overthrown in 1870, Napoleon III returned to rainy London, living out his days lost in reminiscence in smoky private-members clubs.

What to Expect

Discover how, in the soot-smirched metropolis of London, the soon-to-be Napoleon III forged his populist politics and conspired against the French government; walk past the taverns where he hatched his crooked plans.

Three times an exile in London, learn how a young Napoleon III revelled in the debauchery of the capital’s industrial-pleasure complex, picking up notorious mistresses while daydreaming about becoming The People’s Emperor.

Dr Matthew Green will be on hand to evoke — in startling, vivid detail — the social history of the world this imperial pretender inhabited, straddling the isogloss between Georgian exuberance and Victorian conformity, bringing to life the gambling dens, taverns and coffeehouses where Louis-Napoléon planned his unlikely rise.

When emperor, Napoleon III returned to London in triumph in 1855 on a state visit, charmed Queen Victoria and revelled in the popular Bonapartemania that broke out on the streets.

After, the fall, the elegiac epilogue: this once powerful emperor mouldered away in the finest London clubs, never to return to France, before dying a broken man in 1873.

The Emperor’s Progress

We will begin outside Napoleon III’s sumptuous, creamy-stuccoed mansion, 17 Carlton Terrace, by The Mall, then amble to the Guards Crimean War Memorial in the heart of royal St James’s.

Along the way, we’ll learn how a seemingly-quixotic pretender became president and then emperor of France, a firm ally of Britain.

Afterwards, we continue to the bucolic splendour of St James’s Square where the official despatch announcing British victory over Napoleon’s Uncle at Waterloo arrived in 1815.

Around the corner, we find the oldest surviving blue plaque in London, over 150 years, announcing where London’s most famous exile, Napoleon III, lived immediately before he was catapulted into power in a blaze of proto-democracy which was highly unusual for the 19th century.

Further along is the notorious St James’s Theatre where Napoleon III watched French plays, and, more closely, the women who starred in them. We will consider how Napoleon’s life was, in its purest sense, tragicomic theatre.

Beckoning us on, around the corner, is Britain’s oldest wine Marchant, Berry Brothers & Rudd, in a magnificently evocative building from the 1720s. Here, amidst flickering candles, mahogany benches and the famous celebrity-weighing scales, he conspired.

We pass Crockford’s – a gambling den where great fortunes were lost – and then onto Burlington Arcade, where the would-be emperor came, with his dog, to read the French papers, and plot his route to power.

We end in the Golden Lion, the emperor’s local, where as a young man he dreamt of power and, in his dotage, mourned his lack of it, his castles now just thin air.

What you will experience

Immerse yourself in the picaresque life of Europe’s first populist and his years exiled in London.

Laugh at Louis-Napoléon’s farcical first attempt to seize power before being astonished at how he eventually managed to become the people’s champion, decrying a corrupt elite conspiracy.

See where he lived during two exiles in London. First, 17 Carlton House Terrace in 1839, designed by Britain’s most sought-after architect, John Nash, and towering over The Mall, these newly built mansions oozed wealth, power and chutzpah. Then gaze in shock as you discover the name emblazoned upon the oldest surviving blue plaque in London on King Street.

Listen to the trailblazing ideas he invented and discussed on the London social circuit that defined today’s politics.

Relive the debauched, dying embers of Georgian London, awash with sex, scandal and intrigue. Meet Louis-Napoléon’s best friend, Alfred Count d’Orsay, a man who thought that six gloves the minimum needed to get through the day, London celebrity, and 1830s influencer who married his lover’s stepdaughter (naturally). Hear about Napoleon’s other louche friends.

Hear the remarkable story of the emperor’s mistress whom he raised from the streets of London to become the unofficial first lady of France.

Learn how Queen Victoria was left smitten by the French emperor. “The Emperor is extremely short, but with a head and bust, which ought to belong to a much taller man”, recorded an underwhelmed Queen. But she was soon charmed, “there is something fascinating, melancholy, and engaging, which draws you to him."

Feel the Duke of Wellington’s disgust at how Britain’s national enemy, France, became its firmest ally during the Crimean War as British forces fighting alongside the French under a Bonapartist Empire.

Revel at the decadent social history of the period, its seedy theatres, corrupt gambling dens, vice-ridden streets.

Marvel at how the last France’s first elected president and last reigning monarch came to die in a corner of England, and why he is still buried in this country.

Tickets

Ticket & signed copy of book: £30

Ticket for tour only: £20

More about Your Historian

Dr Edward Shawcross is a writer and historian. His book, The People’s Emperor: The Unlikely Rise and Spectacular Fall of Napoleon III, published by Faber, received a 5-star review in The Telegraph by global bestselling author Simon Sebag Montefiore, who described it as “gripping and fascinating…awash with flamboyance, dramatic reversals and wild sex.” His previous book, The Last Emperor of Mexico, was a Sunday Times history book of the year. 'Hilarious, heartbreaking and utterly extraordinary’ said Dominic Sandbrook; “splendid . . . baroque, page-turning and often grimly funny, it is the work of an author in complete control of his material” said god of the history podcast, Tom Holland. Edward lives in London and was a founder member of Unreal City Audio