Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis (22 September 1788 3 May 1856) was a member of the Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard, leading him to be known in his lifetime as "Mamelouk Ali". He was most notable as a faithful servant to

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

during his two exiles on

Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...

and

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

Life

He was born in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

to Étienne Saint-Denis (a royal stableman) and Marie-Louise Notté (daughter of an officer in the royal kitchens). His parents gave him a good education, allowing him to become a notary clerk in Paris. His father knew Armand de Caulaincourt, who recommended Louis-Étienne for a post at the imperial court and thus on 1 May 1806 he became a stableman in Napoleon's household. Five years later, on 11 December 1811, Napoleon made him his second-valet-de-chambre - Napoleon also ordered him to change his name to "Mameluk Ali", after the man he was replacing in the role. He accompanied Napoleon to Russia and Elba, during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...

and finally to

. In the meantime he gained promotion to first mamluk in April 1814, after Roustam Raza fled following Napoleon's first abdication. On Saint Helena he did everything he could to ameliorate the emperor's conditions, such as preparing an

eau de Cologne Eau de Cologne (; German: ''Kölnisch Wasser'' ; meaning "Water from Cologne") or simply cologne is a perfume originating in Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a gene ...

for him from local ingredients and acting as his copyist and librarian. In 1819 he married Mary Hall, the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

-born governess to grand-marshal Henri Gatien Bertrand's children. Two years later his devotion was rewarded in Napoleon's will by a substantial sum and the task of taking part of the emperor's library to his son, the former

King of Rome The king of Rome () was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom, a legendary period of Roman history that functioned as an elective monarchy. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine H ...

. After his return to France in 1821, he raised a family and took a small job in a riding school, publishing his ''Souvenirs'' in 1826. He also joined the expedition to bring Napoleon's remains back to France in 1840.

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

made him a Chevalier of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1854 and he died two years later in

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...

in northern France, where he was also buried.

Depictions in popular culture

*''Napoleone a Sant'Elena'', Italian miniseries, 1973 - played by Varo Soleri *'' Monsieur N.'', Franco-British film, 2003 - played by Igor Skreblin

Works

* ''Souvenirs'', 1826. * ''Journal inédit du retour des Cendres'', 1840

Bibliography

* Jacques Jourquin, ''Journal inédit du Retour des cendres par le mameluck Ali (1840)'', déchiffrage, annotations et présentation des manuscrits, Tallandier, 2003 * Jacques Jourquin, ''Souvenirs du mameluck Ali en grande partie inédits sur la campagne de Russie en 1812'', déchiffrage, établissement, présentation et annotation des manuscrits, coll. de l'Institut Napoléon n° 7, éditions SPM, 2012 * Jacques Jourquin, ''Souvenirs en bonne partie inédits du mameluck Ali (1813-1815)'', déchiffrage, établissement, présentation et annotation des manuscrits, coll. de l'Institut Napoléon n° 13, SPM, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Denis, Louis-Etienne 1788 births 1856 deaths Military personnel from Versailles Knights of the Legion of Honour People of the First French Empire Court of Napoleon Mamluks French people of Arab descent 19th-century French memoirists