Paris Between Empires 1814-1852
Pamela Pilbeam reviews a new study of the French capital between 1814 and 1852.
Paris Between Empires 1814-1852 by Philip Mansel
John Murray, 559pp. ISBN: 0-71955-5627 9
Did you ever wonder how royals and aristocrats saw themselves and their lovers, friends and enemies? Mansel puts a sympathetic microscope to the Paris of salons and courts, displayed exquisitely through the memoirs and diaries of the rich. He reveals the close connections between the French, British and other European elites; their friendships, marriages and affairs – a real international jet set, more than a century before Concorde.