In 1975 Mrs Wilhelmina Elsabe Taets van Amerongen-Rutgers from Rozenburg (1904-1982) donated an empire-line court train in lavender-coloured moire-silk from her family in Utrecht to the Centraal Museum. The curator of applied arts at the time, baron Jan Joost Carel Taets van Amerongen (1932-2009) was able to persuade his aunt to make this generous gesture. No written information about this train, which was almost certainly never worn, has survived. The width of the border might identify its royal origin. Research reveals that the train possibly belonged to the wife of Lodewijk Napoleon (1778-1846), queen Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837). The Ceremonial de l'Empire Francais of 1805 states that all ladies admitted to court must dress in the style of the empress, and that if they choose to have an embroidered border, this must be no wider than one decimetre. Malmaison Castle near Paris has a velvet train which belonged to Hortense which is also about 3 metres long. The 'Utrecht' train is up until now the only example of a court train from this period which has been kept in the Netherlands. Even though there is no evidence as to anyone else having worn the train, we still can't be certain that Hortense was the owner. This does not make this Manteau de Cour any less rare; it is one of the treasures of Europe.