It wouldn’t seem much of a disincentive to try to take over the world… send you to an idyllic island away from the sound and the fury, Happy Exile on Saint Helena.
Forward fast 200 odd years and all I wanted was an all-inclusive trip to the world’s second remotest inhabitable island.
Only for Covid to intervene.
Napoleon’s getaways
Of course, back in 1814 when Napoleon Bonaparte was trying to rule the world.
And he fled from the holiday resort that was Elba, off Italy.
Not easily pleased that one…
Nor indeed was he enamoured by the alternative accommodation provided for him,.
Saint Helena, off the coast of South Africa.
With him getting his Irish doctor Barry O’Meara to write back to England.
To complain of his English captors’ treatment of the former Emperor.
And even suggesting that they were trying to poison him through arsenic in his wallpaper.
Chapter and verse
Now if you want to get up close and personal to Boney then Saint Helena will give you chapter and verse.
All of which is an entry point to what else the island has to offer which they also do through their newslettering.
Such as the return of direct flights from Cape Town from December, running until March 2025.
They also showcase the Festival of Walking which started in November and runs through next month with prizes to win too.
Of course, the best and biggest prize of them all is the chance to win the trip of a lifetime.
Win a holiday
They have invited us to enter the St Helena Tourism social media competition for a trip to their island.
The package includes a return flight from South Africa or the UK and as well as a variety of on-island activities.
Now maybe it was the long sea journey which did for Napoleon and coloured his views.
But for the rest of us this sounds pretty special.
And I, for one, know I’d love to have a Happy Exile on Saint Helena.