put on plays. During the rise of the Consulate, she and her brother Lucien held an artistic and literary salon at the Hôtel de Brissac, at which she met the journalist Louis de Fontanes, with whom she had a deep friendship for several years. On 14 May 1800, on the death of Lucien's first wife, Christine Boyer, Élisa took Lucien's two daughters under her protection. She placed Charlotte, the eldest, in Madame Campan's boarding school for young women at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. At the start of November 1800, Lucien was reassigned from his job as Minister of the Interior to Madrid as French ambassador to the court of the King of Spain. He took Élisa's husband, Félix Baciocchi, as his secretary. Élisa remained in Paris, but maintained a regular correspondence with her brother. On 18 May 1804, the French Senate voted in favour of setting up the First French Empire, and Élisa and Napoleon's other sisters were established as members of the Imperial family, both taking the style "Imperial Highness" ("Altesse impériale"). Felice Baciocchi was promoted to brigade general and later made a senator. Princess of Piombino and Lucca Her separation from her husband in 1805 was seen favorably by Napoleon (though he soon rejoined her after her promotion to Lucca). On 19 March 1805, Napoleon awarded her the Principality of Piombino, which had been French property for some years and was of major strategic interest to Napoleon due to its proximity to Elba and Corsica. Felice and Élisa took the titles "Prince and Princess of Piombino". In June 1805, the oligarchic Republic of Lucca, which had been occupied by France since late 1799, was made a principality and added to Felice and Élisa's domain, their entry into Lucca and investiture ceremony following on 14 July 1805. Napoleon had contemptuously called Lucca the "dwarf republic", due to its small size in terms of territory, but despite this it was a bulwark of political, religious, and commercial independence. Most of the power over Lucca and Piombino was exercised by Élisa, with Félix taking only a minor role and contenting himself with making military decisions. The inhabitants of Lucca, under French occupation and begrudging the loss of their independence, knew Élisa ironically as "la Madame" and had little sympathy for Napoleon, Élisa, or their attempts to "Frenchify" the republic. Very active and concerned with administering the area, Élisa was surrounded at Lucca by ministers