Michel Ney, Prince of the Moskva, Tries to Regain Napoleon's Favour

Marshal Ney, a brave man, a triumphant commander, a leading general and a favourite of France, was the very man who persuaded Bonaparte, his patron, to abdicate the throne, while he himself joined the military council of Louis XVIII.

When Napoleon returned from the island of Elba, Ney promised Louis to take Bonaparte alive or dead, but at the first opportunity he hastened to rejoin his former commander-in-chief and placed his troops at Napoleon's disposal.

After the "Hundred Days" Ney would be tried for all this and sentenced to be shot, with the firing squad to be commanded by none other than himself. Before his execution on 7 December 1815 he refused a blindfold and addressed the soldiers with the order: "Forward, soldiers, aim at my heart! Fire!"

The title of Prince of the Moskva survived until the second half of the twentieth century. From Marshal Ney it passed to his son Napoleon Joseph, from him to his son Edgar Napoléon Henri, and was then handed down for three more generations, before coming to an end in 1969 with the death of the last of the Ney line, the 6th Prince of the Moskva and 5th Duke of Elchingen, a title likewise created by Napoleon for Michel Ney.

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Michel Ney, Prince of the Moskva, Tries to Regain Napoleon's Favour

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