Napoleon was the colonel of his own Imperial Guard. The Garde Impériale had been founded in 1804 from the older Consular Guard as the Emperor's personal household troops, and Napoleon held the honorary colonelcy of the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Garde — his preferred service regiment — for the rest of his reign. The Guard was organized in three echelons: the Vieille Garde of veterans from the Italian and Egyptian campaigns; the Moyenne Garde of experienced soldiers; the Jeune Garde of newer recruits drawn from the annual conscription classes. The Old Guard rarely committed to combat, held back as the Emperor's last reserve at every major battle — and the rare occasions when Napoleon was forced to commit them (the Plateau de Pratzen at Austerlitz, the breakthrough at Friedland, the failed final attack at Waterloo) marked the most desperate moments of his career. "La Garde meurt mais ne se rend pas" — the Guard dies but does not surrender — was the apocryphal motto attributed to General Cambronne when the Old Guard squares broke at Waterloo, and whether or not he actually said it, the phrase caught the Guard's identity perfectly. They were Napoleon's, and he was theirs.

This King & Country figure captures Napoleon in his most familiar field dress — the grey wool redingote greatcoat over the dark blue coat of the Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde white waistcoat with red piping showing at the chest, white breeches, black tall riding boots, and the small black bicorne worn athwartships in his personal manner (most contemporary officers wore the bicorne fore-and-aft; Napoleon's sideways wear became his trademark). The hand thrust inside the coat is the pose that has come down through David's paintings, Houdon's busts, and a thousand later interpretations — practical in cold weather, but adopted as personal habit so consistently that it became the visual shorthand for Napoleon himself. The sword at the left hip is the dress hanger of a senior officer. He commands the field accompanied by his actual aide-de-camp General Gourgaud carrying his orders, the Imperial Guard cavalry under General Jean-Baptiste Bessières, and the Mameluk Roustam at his back as personal bodyguard.

Model: NA512 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set