Didn't Napoleon escape from Ste Helene, his place being taken by a French sailor with a remarkable resemblance (once dressed up, washed, &c) to Le Petit Caporal, and once arrived in Paris he was sheltered by the family of a former colonel who by then was running a fruit and vegetable shop? He ended up marrying one of the family, having discovered the charms of a simple, retired existence.

More certainly, his sojourn on Elba was not an "exile"; he had abdicated, and chose Elba as his place of retreat - together with a thousand men of La Garde Imperiale - during the proceedings of the Congress of Vienna. For real conspiracy theorists, there's the idea that the some among the Coalition actually wished him to escape....