Louis Constant Wairy

Louis Constant Wairy (1778–1845), known simply as Constant, was Napoleon's first valet de chambre from 1800 until the abdication at Fontainebleau in 1814, when he abandoned his master and was never forgiven. Born at Peruwelz in the Austrian Netherlands, he entered the service of Josephine's family and then of the First Consul, and he accompanied the emperor on every campaign from Marengo to the fall of Paris. Impoverished in later life, he lent his name and memories to the six-volume Memoires de Constant, published in 1830 and written up by professional hands, which remain a principal source for Napoleon's private habits.