The frail Napoleon Bonaparte knew he was near his end as he penned his will and asked that his ashes be scattered along the Seine among the French people he loved.
This rare flash of emotion from the once-mighty leader is revealed in the only known copy of the document being auctioned in Paris on Wednesday, and gives an unusual insight into his final moments.
He wrote the letter on 16 April 1821, 19 days before his death. According to the auction notes, as the ailing 51-year-old was putting ink to paper, he said to a friend: "My son, it's time I go, I feel it."
The original letter is in France's national archives. The only copy, written by a close adviser, is expected to fetch €120,000 (£100,000) at the auction house Drouot.
"This document is very special in the great mass of documents produced in Napoleon's era," said Pierre Gheno, an expert on the French emperor. "Napoleon always writes in a factual way. But here we see emotion, saying that he wants his ashes to be scattered on the banks of the Seine among the beloved French. He knew he was dying."
Napoleon's ashes were not scattered along the river. They were interned at the Invalides monument in Paris in 1861, more than two decades after the remains were returned to France from Saint Helena, where he had lived his final years in exile.
Historians say the new king ignored the will's wishes and delayed bringing Napoleon's remains back to the capital out of fear his legacy was linked too strongly to the French revolution.
The will also calls for his remaining possessions to be distributed among his close friends in exile on the island. The document reveals how little Napoleon had during six years of captivity at the hands of the British following his defeat at Waterloo in 1815.
The once-feared general, who conquered half of Europe, had nothing more than a few jewels, sculptures, porcelain crockery and the odd painting at the time of his death. "He was very modestly housed. He hardly had anything," Gheno said.
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