After a short stint to get to Malmaison where he saw his mother for the last time, he arrived on 3 July at Rochefort where he planned to set sail for the United States.
Instead it was Louis XVIII (the brother of Louis XVI who was guillotined during the French Revolution) who would become King of France.
The latter, who had been in hiding in Austria since May 1814 with his mother the Empress Marie-Louise would never become Emperor. Back in Paris, on 22 June he abdicated in favour of his only son aged four. On 18 June 1815 Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in Belgium by the British and Prussian Allied armies.
To discover three paintings telling the story of Napoleon’s second and final exile click here.
