Thus he postponed the Corpus Christi to the following Sunday.

On Sunday, the 15th of July 1804, the Emperor appeared for the first time
before the Parisians surrounded by all the pomp of royalty. The members
of the Legion of Honour, then in Paris, took the oath prescribed by the
new Constitution, and on this occasion the Emperor and Empress appeared
attended for the first time by a separate and numerous retinue.

The carriages in the train of the Empress crossed the garden of the
Tuileries, hitherto exclusively appropriated to the public; then followed
the cavalcade of the Emperor, who appeared on horseback, surrounded by
his principal generals, whom he had created Marshals of the Empire.
M. de Segur, who held the office of Grand Master of Ceremonies, had the
direction of the ceremonial to be observed on this occasion, and with,
the Governor received the Emperor on the threshold of the Hotel des
Invalides. They conducted the Empress to a tribune prepared for her
reception, opposite the Imperial throne which Napoleon alone occupied, to
the right of the altar. I was present at this ceremony, notwithstanding
the repugnance I have to such brilliant exhibitions; but as Duroc had two
days before presented me with tickets, I deemed it prudent to attend on
the occasion, lest the keen eye of Bonaparte should have remarked my
absence if Duroc had acted by his order.

I spent about an hour contemplating the proud and sometimes almost
ludicrous demeanour of the new grandees of the Empire; I marked the
manoeuvring of the clergy, who, with Cardinal Belloy at their head,
proceeded to receive the Emperor on his entrance into the church. What a
singular train of ideas was called up to my mind when I beheld my former
comrade at the school of Brienne seated upon an elevated throne,
surrounded by his brilliant staff, the great dignitaries of his Empire--