Charles-Tristan de Montholon
General and Companion in Exile · 1783–1853
Who is Charles-Tristan de Montholon?
Charles-Tristan, Comte de Montholon, was a French general and courtier who became one of the small circle of loyal companions who voluntarily followed Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Saint Helena in 1815, arriving with his wife Albine and their children to share Longwood House with the fallen emperor. Over the following six years he acted as a close aide, dining companion, and confidant to Napoleon, and was present at his death in 1821. Napoleon's will named Montholon a principal legatee, leaving him a substantial personal bequest, a fact that later fueled historical speculation, never conclusively proven, that Montholon may have poisoned Napoleon with arsenic. After leaving the island, Montholon published a multi-volume account of the captivity, "Récits de la captivité de l'empereur Napoléon," later translated as "History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena" (1846-47), which became an influential firsthand record of daily life at Longwood and the household's running conflict with the island's governor, Sir Hudson Lowe. In 1840 Montholon took part in Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte's failed Boulogne coup attempt and was imprisoned in France for several years as a result. He died in Paris in 1853.
Sources: Charles-Tristan de Montholon, History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena (1846-47) · Julia Blackburn, The Emperor's Last Island (1991)