[1][2] It was the only coronation in the history of the Empire—a short-lived one-party state and self-proclaimed monarchy—which was established in 1976 by Jean-Bédel Bokassa, military dictator and president for life of the Central African Republic.

[4][5] In the spring of 1976, during a visit by the French president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Bokassa told him about his plans to proclaim the Central African Republic an empire and celebrate the occasion.

According to Bokassa, the creation of a monarchy would help Central Africa improve its standing vis-à-vis the rest of the continent and increase its authority in the international arena.

[6] This forced Giscard d'Estaing to promise material assistance to the Central African President in exchange for cutting ties with Gaddafi.

To this end, having received permission from Bokassa, the committee members began to requisition apartments, houses, and hotels from the inhabitants of Bangui for the period of the celebrations, and repaired the rooms intended for guests.

Under its leadership, street cleaning, painting of buildings, as well as removal of urban beggars and vagrants outside the central areas of Bangui took place.

As early as November 1976, the representative of the Central African Embassy in France confidentially informed the sculptor Olivier Brice that President Bokassa would like to involve him in the work on the decoration of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Bangui.

Jolis arranged to process a low-grade, finely crystalline, black diamond, resembling the outlines of Africa on the map, and inserted it into a large ring.

The throne seat of red velvet, which occupied the cavity in the belly of the gilded eagle, was made by local draper Michel Cousin.

In addition, several dozen Norman gray horses were acquired for the Emperor's escort, whose members spent the entire summer of 1977 in Lisieux, where they were engaged in special riding courses.

The French company, Guiselin, which once performed similar work under Napoleon, took up the creation of a coronation suit for the Emperor, in association with Pierre Cardin.

In addition to wine, Bokassa ordered 24,000 bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne and his favorite Scotch whisky, Chivas Regal, as well as 10,000 items of silverware.

[3] When everything designed for the coronation ceremony was successfully purchased and delivered to Bangui, the total amount, including both foreign acquisitions and domestic costs, was about US$22,000,000.

[22] With a request to invite the head of the Catholic Church to the coronation, Bokassa turned to the Archbishop of Bangui, Monsignor Joachim N'Dayen, and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the Central African Empire, Oriano Quilici.

[citation needed] Resisting this idea, Quilici explained to Bokassa in June 1977 that the Pope was too old (he was 79 years old at the time) for such a long journey and would not be able to attend the ceremony.

Invitations were rejected by both Emperor Hirohito of Japan and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran – the first in the guest list compiled by Bokassa.

The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, and the President of Mauritania, Moktar Ould Daddah, responded to the invitation by sending their spouses to Bangui.

The French head of state was represented in Bangui by the Minister of Cooperation Robert Galley and presidential adviser on African affairs René Journiac.

Supporting Bokassa, Galley condemned high-ranking officials who refused to accept an invitation to Bangui, but who were willing to take part in the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

[23] The part of the stadium where the coronation was supposed to take place was, according to Brice's plan, decorated with banners and tapestries of national colors, and red curtains and carpeting.

"[24] By 09:00, the motorcade of Bokassa was still on the way, and the famous French Navy orchestra of 120 people,[24] present at the stadium, began to play an old drinking song, Chevaliers de la table ronde, to distract guests.

The first to enter the hall were two guardsmen in military uniforms of the Napoleonic era who carried the national flag and the imperial standard to the end of the carpet.

[26] Accompanied by the sounds of an imperial march, the Emperor appeared on the carpet, dressed in a white toga with a belt having five stripes of the colors of the national flag.

A wide ribbon was draped over Bokassa's shoulder, white antelope skin gloves covered his hands, and his head was decorated with a golden wreath, crafted in ancient Roman style.

[29] After the coronation, the Emperor, the Empress with ladies-in-waiting, the Crown Prince, and the rest of the children of Bokassa, went to the Mass at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, two kilometers from the stadium.

[29] The new Roman Pontifical promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as part of the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council did not contain (and, to this day, its revised editions do not contain) a Coronation Rite.

Since, by evening, the heat in the capital had gradually subsided, the event was held in the open air: the tables where guests were seated were located in a vast, picturesque garden, decorated with fountains and bone carvings, adjacent to the Palace.

By this time, he had exchanged his coronation clothes and regalia for a marshal's uniform with a cap featuring a cockade and ostrich feathers, and a black diamond ring glittered on the Emperor's finger.

Dishes on the tables corresponded to its contents: dinner was served on gold and porcelain plates, ordered specially from the famous Limoges master Berardo.

When it played the "Imperial Waltz," written in France specifically on the occasion of the coronation of Bokassa, the Emperor and Empress invited guests to the dance floor.