Chapter 21 Coronation Ceremony (Part 1)

Under the ominous gray sky, it was very cold and humid, and Paris, the capital of France, faced more wind, frost, rain and snow. It was originally planned to be held in the House of Honor, but it was changed to Notre Dame Cathedral because Napoleon invited Pope Pius VII to preside over the crowning.

The ladies of the court and the ladies of the empire made new clothes all night, designed and dressed up. According to Lorjuno, some ladies had their hair so high that they had to sit all night until dawn. At dawn on December 2, 84 senators wore blue velvet robes and black hats with white feathers. Under their chairman, Nevcharto, the merciless Nevsato, almost completely repeated the ceremony held at the Palace of Santa Cru on May 18, and set out to the Island of Sett and the Palace of Justice for the oath of allegiance to the Empire. At 7 o'clock, they were dressed in thousands of dresses.

The soldiers in uniform watched the Notre Dame Cathedral. At the same time, a delegation of 5,000 people composed of soldiers, sailors and National Guards came to Dovine. At 8 o'clock, the Legislative Yuan, Congress, the House of Guards, and the members of the Court took buses or walked from their respective locations under escorts from 28 cavalry and 100 infantry respectively. One hour later, under the escort of the army, diplomatic missions, including the Turkish ambassador and the princes of Germany (no one participated in the European powers, Great Britain, Russia and Austria, and the three countries did not recognize the status of Naples, nor did they recognize the French Empire, and were actively preparing to form the third anti-French alliance) also appeared.

Pope Pius VII set out from Carrousel under the escort of the Dragoon. The convoy behind the Pope was riding a cardinal, bishop and other clergy, with a total of more than 100 people. Monsiniosparoni rode a gray donkey with a lace tied in front of the Pope's guard of honor. "This is the Pope's donkey," shouted some rude Parisians, "You should kiss this donkey!"

The Pope did not pay attention to it. He was wearing a gold and silver cloak, and the carriage was filled with a gold-plated bronze trio of thousands of gems given by the emperor, worth 180,000 francs. It was a strange moment for the Pope - the city was anti-churched a few years ago, and the churches and temples were destroyed, and the pastors and nuns were humiliated, tortured and executed. Along the way, the Pope naturally felt a different feeling in his heart.

When the Pope learned that Napoleon wanted him to go to Paris to preside over the coronation ceremony, he was extremely frightened and angry, because the kings in Europe, who would personally go to Rome to ask the Pope to crown him when ascending the throne, so Pius VII did not accept Napoleon's invitation until September 15. Napoleon first persuaded him with kind words, and then threatened: If the Pope did not listen to the call, "I will demote him to an ordinary Roman bishop." At that time, no one suspected Napoleon at that time.

In the words of Lun, because the whole of Italy was under his control at the time, after several delays, considering that Napoleon made a promise to restore the French church (although he did not comply with most of these promises), Pope Pius VII barely set out to climb over the snowy Alps to the country that caused his former Pope Pius VI to die in prison not long ago, and also where he himself will one day return as a prisoner.

For Napoleon, asking the Pope to come to preside over the crown is of great significance, which is undoubtedly a statement to the entire civilized world: the Napoleonian dynasty was supported by the Vatican, and this influence is incomparable to any great military victory.

At 10 o'clock, the salutes roared, and Napoleon himself set out from the Palace of Duille, and the Royal Guard and the Drum Band were the heroic guards, and the guard of honor was no less than that of the Roman emperors of that year. The security measures were very strict, and there were three platoons of soldiers on both sides of the road. Marshal Mura, the chief of the Paris military, followed by his officials, four cavalry phalanxes and four infantry phalanxes, one regiment of Imperial Guard infantry regiments, and a squad of Mamluk soldiers dressed in Egyptian costumes; then the commanders riding tall horses led 11 important state officials (including Talleyrand, Berthier and Fouche, whatever

Let me introduce that Fouchey was the Minister of Police of the Empire. He was very talented, but also very insidious, cunning and fierce. He was always committed to replacing Napoleon's position. However, he was also very smart and was very responsible when he did not have absolute strength to defeat Napoleon. What is surprising is that Napoleon also fully understood Fouchey's thoughts, but still allowed him to hold a high position. Perhaps he was very confident.) carriage, followed by other high-ranking officials, followed by Caroline, Polina and Elisa, and finally the emperor's carriage. Xiao Jie sat in their carriage with his mother, located at the back of the entire team.

Napoleon was riding in a gorgeous carriage decorated with the imperial emblem and the crown of Chalemaine. Behind the carriage stood a military officer, the carriage driven by Napoleon's favorite coach Sezal (who saved Josephine's life in the Christmas Eve bombing of 1800) was led by eight white horse-coated horses, wearing bright red Moroccan leather harnesses and bronze horses, and under the escort of the tight imperial guards, the Notre Dame came slowly.

Emperor Napoleon was dressed in a Spanish red velvet robe with gems and a short golden buckle. Accompanying the emperor was the queen Josephine, dressed in a white satin dress decorated with gold and silver. According to Spanish customs, the only two brothers who were willing to participate in the crown of Napoleon, Joseph and Louis sat opposite them. (Because Lucien not only had no management ability, but also had a mess of personal life problems. When his wife was pregnant again, he was proud of his mistresses. In the end, he wanted to defeat Napoleon in the general election and ascend to the throne of the first rule. In the end, Napoleon could not bear it. On April 4, 1804, Lucien and his wife were exiled to Italy for life. But at the same time, it also caused Napoleon's mother's misunderstanding of Napoleon, which caused an irreparable crack in the first French family.)

On the way to the crowning, Josephine could not suppress his smile. Napoleon's expression was as cold as his brothers. It was undoubtedly a long-planned day. France was delivered to him in a golden plate, and he was about to pay the price until his last day. The entire Bonaparte family, especially Joseph and Louis, expressed strong hostility and jealousy towards Napoleon's emperor; as the carriage drove across New Bridge and Sete, their eyes were shining with anger.
Chapter completed!