<Tr> <Th> Residence </Th> <Td> Tuileries Palace, Paris </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Pretender (s) </Th> <Td> Jean - Christophe Napoléon </Td> </Tr> <P> Emperor of the French (French: Empereur des Français) was the title used by the House of Bonaparte starting when Napoleon Bonaparte was given the title of Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the French Senate and was crowned emperor of the French on 2 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre - Dame de Paris, in Paris, with the Crown of Napoleon . </P> <P> The title emphasized that the emperor ruled over "the French people" (the nation) and not over France (the republic). The old formula of "King of France" indicated that the king owned France as a personal possession . The new term indicated a constitutional monarchy . The title was purposely created to preserve the appearance of the French Republic and to show that after the French Revolution, the feudal system was abandoned and a nation state was created, with equal citizens as the subjects of their emperor . (After 1 January 1809, the state was officially referred to as the French Empire .) </P>

Who was crowned as the french emperor in 1804