Slippers belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte's sister unearthed in Aberdeen
A pair of tiny silk and leather slippers have lain unnoticed in the vast collections of the University of Aberdeen for more than 140 years
Their colourful history was unearthed by Louise Wilkie, who joined the museum team last June and was working on one of her first major assignments. She was tasked with cleaning and sorting through a collection belonging to the Banff-born medical graduate and extensive traveller Robert Wilson (1787 – 1871). The decorative shoes, which are equivalent to a UK children’s size two and incredibly narrow, measuring just 40mm across the toes, took Louise’s attention. They were contained within a chest of clothes and were simply marked on the sole ‘Pauline Rome’ so she decided to investigate further.
Pauline was a colourful character - the youngest sister of Napoleon who became Princess Pauline when she married Prince Camillo Borghese in 1803. This marriage was not a happy one, due to Pauline’s infidelity and much of her life was riddled with scandal. She met Wilson, who graduated in Medicine from Marischal College and served as a ship’s surgeon with the East India Company, in the 1820s.
Princess Pauline’s slippers and the ring she gifted to Wilson are now on display for the first time in the University of Aberdeen’s King’s Museum
Author: Neil Curtis
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