Napoleon: the Emperor at Work
Few who met Napoleon Bonaparte failed to find him fascinating as well as formidable. Felix Markham portrays the Emperor as his Marshals, Ministers, servants and family saw him at the height of his power.
With the help of court officials of the ancien régime, much of the etiquette of the Bourbon monarchy was revived. The public ceremonial of the Imperial Court outshone in magnificence (and boredom) the court of Louis XVI. Napoleon held that “sovereigns must always be on show,” “Kingship is an actor’s part.” But as a foreign visitor, Princess Dolgorouki, had the impression that here was “a power, but not a court.”
At the same time, Napoleon was on guard against a revival of the Versailles system which, by its isolation, artificiality and petticoat influence, had sapped the Bourbon monarchy. He told Mme. de Rémusat that “he would have no women ruling at his court: they had injured Henry IV and Louis XIV.” Neither Josephine, still less Marie-Louise, nor any of his mistresses were allowed any political influence.
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