The Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus of Henri Conneau (1803-1877) - friend, confidant, fellow fighter, escape helper and personal physician to Napoleon III - pioneer of the unification of Italy

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On 4 November 1861, Henri Conneau, personal physician to the French Emperor Napoleon III, was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus (Italian: Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro) for his services to the unification of Italy. This was auctioned off last year with some of his honours from the estate of his granddaughter's nephew. Among his numerous other orders and decorations, which were awarded to him according to his position in the commander/commander class, this is his only Grand Cross and probably the only one he received for actual merit.

 

He was the one who organised a meeting with the Sardinian prime minister Cavour on 25 May 1858. It was obviously his own idea to inform him that Napoleon was planning to spend a month in Plombière "near the border of Piedmont" in July. Despite the geographical impracticalities, Cavour had taken the hint very well. For his part, he let him know that he was planning a holiday in Switzerland and that this could provide an opportunity for a meeting.

 

Count Cavour left Turin on 11 July 1858 and announced that he was travelling to Switzerland. In fact, however, he planned to go to Plombières, where he arrived on the evening of 20 July 1858. The following day, the famous meeting with Napoleon III took place; both sat unaccompanied in a small horse-drawn carriage that travelled slowly through the small town. They concluded a secret treaty without consulting their ministers. Firstly, a military alliance was agreed between France and Sardinia to expel the Austrians from Italian territory. In addition, a future political organisation of Italy was agreed: The Pope was to preside over this reunited Italy, which would consist of four states: Northern Italy, Central Italy, the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In return, France was to receive Savoy and the city of Nice. In addition, the alliance was sealed by the marriage of the daughter of the future Italian King Victor Emmanuel to Prince Napoleon.

 

In 1859, the Savoys attacked Austria with the support of France in northern Italy (Sardinian War). Napoleon III himself assumed supreme command of the 130,000-strong French army. The Austrians were defeated in the battles of Magenta and Solferino, and Lombardy fell to Savoy in the preliminary peace of Villafranca. At the same time, there were uprisings in Tuscany, Modena and other areas. Conneau accompanied the Emperor to Italy and was thus able to witness the triumphant entry of the Franco-Sardinian troops into his home town of Milan. Subsequently, Parma-Piacenza, Tuscany, Modena and parts of the Papal States joined Sardinia-Piedmont in 1860. Volunteer units led by Giuseppe Garibaldi brought the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under their control in 1860. Cavour sent an army to the south, which also occupied other parts of the Papal States (Umbria and Marche). Plebiscites there and in both Sicilies sealed the annexation to Sardinia-Piedmont. On 17 March 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of Italy.

 

It is fair to say that Conneau's contribution was of some significance.

 

After the Battle of Sedan and the fall of the Empire on 4 September 1870, Conneau accompanied the emperor into into exile in Chislehurst in England. On 3 and 6 January 1873, Napoleon had an operation to remove his bladder stones. The chloroform administered, combined with the emperor's weakening from the disease, which had probably progressed to kidney failure, led to heart failure. He died an hour before the third operation scheduled for 9 January 1873. His last words were to his long-time companion and friend: "Henri, were you at Sedan"? - "Yes, Sire". - "We were no cowards at Sedan?". After this final effort, the Emperor fell into unconsciousness, from which he never awoke. 

 

Conneau returned to France after the emperor's death, where he himself died on 16 August 1877. This is the judgement Napoleon made of his friend at the end of his first exile in England:

 

"Conneau is one of those rare and inestimable souls, modelled on the greatest of antiquity; he is full of courage in danger and constancy in challenges; his selflessness is boundless, and he crowns all these qualities with the noblest of all: loyalty in misfortune."