What title did Napoleon hold from 1804 to 1814?

From 1804 to 1814, Napoleon held the title Emperor of the French. The title was formally granted by the French Senate on May 18, 1804, after Napoleon had risen from revolutionary general to First Consul.

Napoleon was crowned at Notre-Dame de Paris on December 2, 1804, in a ceremony attended by Pope Pius VII. The wording mattered: Emperor of the French suggested that Napoleon ruled in the name of the French people, rather than owning France as a hereditary monarch might own a kingdom. It also preserved a symbolic connection to the republican idea of national sovereignty.

Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 after Allied forces entered France, and the Bourbon monarchy was restored under Louis XVIII. He briefly returned to power during the Hundred Days in 1815, again ruling as emperor before his defeat at Waterloo. Napoleon also held other titles, including King of Italy, but those titles did not replace his principal French imperial title.