Napoleon III in Chislehurst
Written by Pam Preedy.
The name, “Napoleon!” was enough to strike terror in teh hearts of children and adults alike in Britain in the nineteenth century.
After a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba. He returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. Defeated at Waterloo (1815), he abdicated and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena where he died aged 51. While in power he liked to raise members of his family to power. From his marriage with Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, their don, Napoleon, became Napoleon II, King of Rome (1811 – 1831). For a few weeks in 1815, Napoleon II was the disputed leader of France. After his abdication, he lived the rest of his life in Vienna. He was known in the Austrian court as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt. He died of TB at the age of 21.
The connection of the Napoleons with Chislehurst was Louis Napoleon II. While he was in exile in London (1836-1840), he often visited Emily Rowles whose father owned Camden Place at the time. He also paid attention to another English girl, Elizabeth Howard. Her father settled property on her to support her son via a trust whose trustee was Nathaniel Strode. Strode bought Camden Place in 1860 and spent large sums of money transforming it into a French chateau.
Meanwhile, Napoleon III pursued his political ambitions. After a second coup on 20th December 1848, he was elected President of France in a landslide victory. He was popular with French people, who hoped he would emulate his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte’s glory. Finally, in 1852, he crowned himself Napoleon III Emperor of France and the Second French Republic was born. He was a popular monarch and he could count a number of achievements; modernised the French economy; filled Paris with new boulevards and parks; expanded the French colonial empire; the French merchant navy became the largest in the world and he engaged in two wars: the 2nd Italian War of Independence and the Franco-Prussian war.
The latter was disastrous and saw Napoleon captured by the Germans under Otto von Bismark. Two days later the forces of the Third Republic deposed his government in Paris. He was held in a German prison for 195 days. Finally, he was released into exile in March 1871, and joined his wife Princess Eugenie and con in Camden Place.
By that time Camden Place had been upgraded to a French chateau by Nathaniel Strode, perhaps seeing ahead to a time when Napoleon III would need a haven in England. England became a place of retreat for political refugees. They were welcomed to the country and allowed freedom of movement and speech.
The imperial family had a close friendship with Queen Victoria. It was also close to France. Chislehurst became the centre of the French Court flying the French flag. Politicians came from across Europe including Czar Alexander. In Camden Place plans to regain the French throne were debated. It is interesting that Republican spies were posted up a windmill on the edge of the property to report on visitors, Napoleon also had spies watching the spies.
Napoleon lived the life of a gentleman, walking to church and watching cricket, He spent time writing and designing a more energy-efficient stove. In the summer of 1872, his health worsened. Doctors recommended surgery to remove his gallstones, After two operations, he became very seriously ill. His final defeat in Dedan (1870) would haunt him to the end. His last words were “Isn’t it true that we weren’t cowards at Sedan?“
He died on 9th January 1873 and was buried with great pomp and crowds of mourners, in the St Mary’s Catholic Church in Chislehurst. After he died, in 1879, his son died fighting against the Zulus in South Africa. Princess Eugenie moved the remains of her husband and son to the Imperial Crypt as St Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire in 1888.
Originally published in Life in Bromley magazine (Issue 32, October 2024)