I would like to think that the seat I occupied at the Nice Opera was once sat on by Napoleon the III himself.  The original 1776 wooden theatre was rebuilt in 1826 and Napoleon the III was known to have been a visitor, particularly when Johann Strauss led the orchestra during the 1860’s.  However, it is very unlikely that a ‘higher’ derriere than mine sat in my seat as that theatre was burnt to the ground during a performance of Donizetti’s Lucia de Lammermoor in 1881 – perhaps Lucia did get her revenge after all – and a new theatre was born in 1885.