Shannon guest blogs about Napoleon & the Prince Regent

It’s a pleasure to be featured as a guest blogger on All Things Georgian, talking about Napoleon and the Prince Regent.

There has recently been publicity about the letter Napoleon Bonaparte wrote to King George IV (then the Prince Regent) requesting asylum in England after his 1815 abdication from the throne of France. The letter, which is on display at Windsor Castle as part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, reads:

Royal Highness, Prey to the factions which divide my country, and to the enmity of the greatest powers of Europe, I have terminated my political career, and I come, like Themistocles, to seat myself at the hearth of the British people. I put myself under the protection of their laws, which I claim from your Royal Highness, as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies. Rochefort, 13 July 1815. Napoleon. (1)

Before writing this, Napoleon said to his advisors,

I am not acquainted with the Prince Regent; but from all I have heard of him I cannot avoid placing reliance on his noble character. (2)

To read the full post, click here. All Things Georgian is the blog of Georgian-era “history detectives” Sarah and Joanne. It’s full of delightful posts for anyone interested in the long 18th century.

1. Emmanuel Auguste Dieudonné Las Cases, Journal of the Private Life and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon at Saint Helena, Vol. 1 (London, 1824), pp. 30-31.
2. Anne Jean Marie René Savary, Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo Illustrative of the History of the Emperor Napoleon, Vol. IV (London, 1828), p. 161.