Louis Joseph Marchand

Who was Louis Joseph Marchand?

Louis-Joseph-Narcisse Marchand was Napoleon Bonaparte's valet and the nominated liquidator of his succession.

Born into a middle-class family from the Eure-et-Loir department, in 1811 he became an Imperial servant. He remained faithful to Napoleon after the first abdication and was selected to replace the Emperor's main valet who had fled. He followed the Emperor thereafter including to Saint Helena. 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. After the death of Napoleon I, Marchand returned to France where he married in 1823; he took part in the Retour des cendres in 1840. His memoirs have been helpful to historians, though the facts described were not written with impartiality and dispassion.