Farewell at Fontainebleau — 20 avril 1814

In the Cour du Cheval-Blanc, before the grenadiers of the Old Guard, the Emperor took his leave: 'Continue to serve France… I want to write the great things we have done together.' He embraced General Petit and the standard of the 1st Grenadiers before stepping into the carriage for exile. The scene, at once engraved and painted, founded by itself the legend of the return.

The courtyard of the White Horse

On 20 April 1814 the carriage stood harnessed in the courtyard of the White Horse, at the foot of the great horseshoe staircase. The commissioners of the four powers waited to escort the convoy to the sea. In the courtyard, a square of grenadiers of the Old Guard, commanded by General Petit.

These were the men who had made Italy, Egypt, Austerlitz, Russia. Many would not see the Emperor again; a few hundred would follow him to Elba.

The words

The speech, a short one, was taken down by several witnesses. Napoleon dismissed his soldiers, asking them to serve France rather than follow him, said he could have prolonged civil war but had preferred to sacrifice himself, and announced that he would write what they had done together.

Then he embraced General Petit and kissed the colours of the 1st Regiment of Foot Grenadiers. The scene, engraved and painted at once, entered the imagery of the regime before the regime was even cold.

The road south

The convoy set off for Lyon, then the Rhône valley. The further south it went, the more hostile the reception: in Provence, a royalist country drained by conscription, he was insulted; at Orgon he had to disguise himself as an Austrian courier to get through.

He embarked at Saint-Raphaël on 28 April aboard an English frigate and landed at Portoferraio on 4 May. Eleven months later, almost to the day, he would land at Golfe-Juan a few leagues away, and the Old Guard would take up its eagles again.