What happened to Napoleon’s sword?
January 22, 2017 - The Chairman in News & Blog Posts, Chairman's Blog
On 1 June 1879 in a remote part of South Africa, Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, the son of Napoleon III, was killed by Zulus whilst on a badly planned excursion. But that is another story: however at the time he was carrying his great uncle’s sword, which was carried by Napoleon The Great at Austerlitz. But what happened to the sword?
Death of the Prince impérial during the Anglo-Zulu War, detail of a painting by Paul Jamin. Collection of Château de Compiègne; Musée du Second Empire, Compiègne, France.
There is no mention of it in Donald Morris’s master work, The Washing of The Spears, yet in the Getty Image collection there is a print of Lt Lysons (later VC) handing the sword to Lord Chelmsford. Even a specific work on the Prince Imperial’s death, Captain Carey’s Blunder by Donald Featherstone makes no mention.
The sword would be a wonderful image for our 200 Objects Collection (now 219 items – we add one a month). Anybody know of its whereabouts?
