Betsy Balcombe and Napoleon
Jonathan North introduces the story of the warm reception Bonaparte received from one St Helena resident, a story that will soon be the subject of a feature film.
Napoleon disembarked from HMS Northumberland on the evening of October 17th, 1815, and set foot on St Helena. Pushing through crowds of curious onlookers on the stone quay of James Town, he spent the night at the guesthouse of Mr Porteous. He had gambled and lost all at Waterloo and now, that miserable Monday, had arrived in his island prison, his world reduced to an Atlantic rock. It was the low point in the remarkable life of a remarkable man.
The following morning he rode out to view his new home – Longwood – but it was not ready and, instead, he accepted William Balcombe’s offer to stay at his bungalow, the Briars, not wishing to be gawped at (‘like a wild beast’ in his own words) in James Town.
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