Louis-Joseph-Narcisse Marchand (born

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, March 28, 1791, died Trouville, June 19, 1876) was

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's valet and the nominated liquidator of his succession. Born into a middle-class family from the

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

. He remained faithful to Napoleon so much so that on the Emperor's deathbed, the title of count was decreed to him - a title which was confirmed to him in 1869 by

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

. After the death of Napoleon I, Marchand returned to France where he married in 1823; he took part in the

Retour des cendres The ''retour des cendres'' (literally "return of the ashes", though "ashes" is used here as meaning his mortal remains, as he was not cremated) was the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon I of France from the island of Saint Helena to Fran ...

(Return of the apoleon'sashes) in 1840. His memoirs have been helpful to historians, though the facts described were not written with impartiality and dispassion. A new edition of his memoirs was published by Greenhill Books in 2018.

References

1791 births 1876 deaths First French Empire French memoirists {{France-bio-stub