NAPOLEON’S PENIS — the uncensored version

Posted on July 19, 2011 by

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Ever wondered what happened to Napoleon’s penis?  I certainly did – which is one reason I wrote a book called Napoleon’s Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped.  It was a collection of stories about forgotten or secret aspects of sexual history, and the saga of the Emperor’s French loaf took on a certain symbolic quality…

According to legend, it was removed at Napoleon’s autopsy in 1821 on the island of St. Helena by a disgruntled Italian doctor, then smuggled to Corsica by a reprobate priest.  For years, it was passed around the auction houses of Europe, until it was finally snapped up in 1977 by the world’s leading urologist, Dr John Kingsley Lattimer of Columbia University.  Which is how it ended up in Englewood, New Jersey…

For the book, I went out to the wilds of NJ and interviewed the doctor several times in his mansion.  After he died, his daughter showed me the treasured relic – with the caveat that it never be photographed.  (Her father didn’t want the item becoming “an object of ridicule.”)  I agreed, although I did later make a drawing of the shriveled phallus.  I then had one of New York’s most accomplished artists create a replica…

Napoleon's sex life has fascinated historians for over 200 years.

For the original video, the publisher pulled the penis (so to speak) on grounds of taste – which left a gap in the narrative.  Now I’d like to share the uncensored version, which includes the artist’s reproduction of the Imperial baguette in all its glory…