What was Napoleon's imperial title when he crowned himself emperor in 1804?

What was Napoleon’s imperial title when he crowned himself emperor in 1804? The answer is Emperor of the French.

The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804. He then held an elaborate coronation at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 2 December, where he famously took the crown and placed it on his own head before crowning Joséphine as empress.

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

Napoleon had previously been First Consul, the leading office of the French Consulate. He later became King of Italy as a separate title in 1805, but neither title replaced Emperor of the French. The imperial title was used by Napoleon I and, later, by his nephew Napoleon III during the Second French Empire.