When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on Saint Helena in 1821, he left behind more than a military legacy and a political legend. In his will, he instructed that his hair be preserved and turned into a bracelet, with strands sent to members of his family, including his mother, siblings and son. That request reflected a wider 19th-century custom in which hair was kept as a personal memorial after death. Napoleon’s hair was cut before the autopsy, and the locks that survived became some of the most curious relics linked to him.
