Being Geneva: those unfamiliar with the custom of having a human embodiment of the State present on ceremonial occasions are astonished to see Geneva's top officials accompanied by a person wearing a cape and Napoleon-style hat. Swiss News talks to Paul-Henri Perrin about the ins and outs of personifying Geneva.

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Being Geneva: those unfamiliar with the custom of having a human embodiment of the State present on ceremonial occasions are astonished to see Geneva's top officials accompanied by a person wearing a cape and Napoleon-style hat. Swiss News talks to Paul-Henri Perrin about the ins and outs of personifying Geneva.

None of the dictionary options--usher, monitor, beadle, or bailiff--adequately conveys what 'huissierchef Paul-Henri Perrin does.

Some 200 times a year, he or one of his fellow 'huissiers' don a voluminous cape in the Geneva colours--red and yellow--with an impressive pewter crest and tasselled ties that look like drapery pulls, and a black 'bicorne' hat elaborately trimmed with a red and yellow rosette and braid, to become the living symbol of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.

The dramatic effect is eve...

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