What title did Napoleon take in 1804?

What title did Napoleon take in 1804? He became Emperor of the French. The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon emperor on 18 May 1804, transforming the French Consulate into the First French Empire. He was formally crowned at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 2 December 1804.

The wording mattered. “Emperor of the French” suggested that Napoleon ruled the French people as a nation, rather than owning France as a traditional king might be said to own a kingdom. It also preserved a connection to the revolutionary idea that political authority came from the nation.

Napoleon crowned himself before Pope Pius VII, a dramatic gesture showing that his authority did not depend entirely on the Church. He later became King of Italy in 1805, but that was a separate title. He was not King of France, and “First Consul” described his earlier position, which ended with the creation of the Empire.