The turn towards monarchy in postindependence Haiti has irritated both contemporary observers and historians. The new wave of monarchism starting with Napoleonic rule in France and catalysed by the crisis and downfall of the Napoleonic Empire in the 1810s, however, increased Haitian hopes for international recognition as a post-slavery state within the “Atlantic restoration”. This chapter explores the political institutions, political symbols, and monarchical agency legitimating the reign of Henry I of Haiti and underpinning postrevolutionary Haitian nation building. The choice of a phoenix for his coat of arms is indicative of Henry’s ambition to establish the Haitian monarchy within both a postrevolutionary Atlantic world and a historical trajectory of colonialism and decolonisation. Aiming at defending independent Haiti’s unique status vis-à-vis not only the United States and the European powers but also Latin America, the Haitian court fabricated an ideal of monarchy that was to be integral to the political reconfigurations of the Atlantic restoration. At the same time, however, it also sparked sharp criticism from the kingdom’s republican rival in the south and could not prevent the regime’s ultimate demise in 1820.