The marriage request
“Sire! I come in the name of the Emperor, my master, to ask for the hand of the archduchess Marie-Louise, Your illustrious daughter. This princess’s exceptional qualities make her worthy of a great throne.” Such was the marriage request that Berthier made to the Emperor of Austria. After consent had been given, he handed Marie-Louise a letter from Napoleon as well as the French Emperor’s portrait, painted by Isabey.
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The formal delivery at Braunau
After the marriage by proxy on 9 March and the religious ceremony at the Augustinerkirche on 11 March, on 13 March, Marie-Louise left Vienna. She arrived in Braunau on 16 March, where the delivery ceremony was to take place. The moment of Marie-Louise’s separation from her Austrian escort is particularly moving.
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Marie-Louise meets Napoleon
Impatient, Napoleon hurries to meet Marie-Louise enroute to Compiègne and, with the procession halted at a coaching inn, he leaps into her carriage to make his introduction.
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The more conventional version of this scene, Isabey’s The arrival of Marie-Louise in Compiègne, is held in the Fondation Napoléon’s collections.
The marriage ceremony (civil)
On 1 April, 1810, at the Palais de Saint-Cloud, the civil marriage between Napoleon and Marie-Louise took place. The ceremony was conducted by the Prince Arch chancellor, in the presence of the court and the imperial family. The ceremony was followed by an artillery gun salute, fired by the canon at Les Invalides.
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The marriage procession
On 2 April, 1810, the imperial procession left Saint-Cloud for the Palais des Tuileries, arriving into Paris via the Arc de Triomphe, where it stopped briefly. To reach the marriage chapel which had been erected in the Louvre, the procession had to pass through the Grande Galerie, where some 10,000 guests had assembled for the ceremony.
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The marriage ceremony (religious)
The religious marriage ceremony took place in the Salon Carré of the Louvre, which had been transformed into a chapel by two French architects, Percier and Fontaine.
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Georges Rouget’s painting of the religious marriage of Napoleon I and Marie-Louise can be found here.
The banquet in the Palais des Tuileries
The transformed Salle de Spectacle, in the Palais des Tuileries, was to be the scene for the marriage banquet. The half-circle table was set up on a five-step platform opposite the entrance. Napoleon was seated at the centre, Marie-Louise to his left, and the princes and princesses of the court seated around them. The court and high-ranking civil servants were also present for the banquet, but were obliged to remain standing.
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Accolades and congratulations
The morning after the ceremony, a reception was organised in the throne room. The Emperor and the Empress, surrounded by princes and princesses of the court, were presented with accolades and congratulations from the Senate and the Corps Législatif. Speeches were delivered by the Senate president, a deputation from the Italian Senate, the Comte de Fermon on behalf of the Conseil d’Etat and the President of the Corps Législatif.
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More images
Furthermore, a large number of illustrations from the “Napoléon et Marie-Louise” collection are available online through the Agence photographique de la RMN website (external link in French).