Bilingual edition: French/English
French title: “Dans l’ombre d’Eugénie. La dernière impératrice en exil”
Etienne Chilot follows in the footsteps of the “Farnboro’ boy” as Eugenie called him, Lucien Daudet, a frequent guest of the former Empress of France, who published his recollections of her after her death. Scouring the archives of those close to the Empress, notably those of the private secretary of the Imperial family, Jean-Baptiste Franceschini-Pietri, Chilot reveals numerous photographs, documents and testimonies, many of which have never been published. They offer a glimpse into the life led by the widow of Napoleon III, who as an exile, made it her honour to live discreetly, and thus left no memoirs of her 50 years wanderings after her fall from grace.
Étienne Chilot is the author of Un jardin pour Eugénie. La dernière Impératrice au cap Martin (winner of the Fondation Napoléon 2014 Second Empire History Prize) et La dernière visite. L’impératrice Eugénie à Fontainebleau, été 1914.