Belated Anniversary…A Historic Date

It was a cold, snowy day in Paris on the second of December 1804. Dressed in his “long white satin tunic embroidered in gold thread,” “a white velvet vest with gold embroidery and diamond buttons, a crimson velvet tunic and a short crimson coat with satin lining,” as well as an eighty pound “coronation mantle, made from crimson velvet and lined with ermine,” it is doubtful the man from Corsica noticed the weather. He was at the pinnacle, not only of his powers, but his achievements. On a smaller throne is his beloved wife, Josephine, the woman who will be his Empress. He has wielded enough strength to convince Pius VII, the Pope himself, to leave Rome and come to France for the event.

And what an event it was!

This was the three-hour coronation of the man christened Napoleone di Buonaparte, who later took the more Frenchified name Napoléon Bonaparte.

Napoleon On His Imperial Throne

A coronation combining elements of the ancient and the modern, it was Napoleon’s way of showing the world he was going to be a new type of monarch. There were religious rites and the blessing of the Pope. But when it came time for the rite of placing the crown on the head of the new Emperor, it was not the Vicar of Christ who did the honors. He, like everyone else, was a mere bystander to the splendor. Instead, Napoleon placed the Crown upon his own head…before placing Josephine’s upon hers. Contrary to the later spread lies, he never snatched the Crown from the Pope’s hands. According to another apocryphal story, Napoleon’s nasty, jealous sisters hated Josephine so much, they tugged on her robe (which they bore) in the hopes of making her trip as she ascended the stairs to be crowned. Whether they did or not, Josephine – like her husband – performed flawlessly.