Emperor Bokassa I

On December 5, 1977, Jean-Bedel Bokassa crowned himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.

At 10:10 a.m., trumpets and drums announced the approach of His Majesty.

The beginning of the parade had eight of Bokassa’s 29 official children proceed down the royal carpet to their seats.

They were followed by the heir to the throne, Jean Bedel Bokassa II — dressed in a white admiral’s uniform with gold braid. He was seated on a red pillow to the left of the throne.

Bokassa I’s favourite wife, Catherine, one of nine of his wives, paraded next to her throne wearing a £50,000 gown that was hand sewn with pearls.

Bokass I then arrived in an imperial coach decorated with golden eagles. His coach was drawn by six matched Anglo-Norman horses.

The Central African Empire Marine Band struck up the hymn “The Sacred March of His Majesty,” a song written especially for the event. Emperor Bokassa I strutted proudly to his thrown. He was bedecked in a 32 pound robe decorated with 785,000 strewn pearls and embroidered in gold.

The emperor wore white gloves and pearl slippers on his feet. On his head, he wore a gold crown of laurel-wreaths, similar to those worn by Roman consuls of old and a symbol that he was favoured by the gods.

As the “Sacred March” ended, Bokassa I seated himself on his £2 million eagle throne.

He took his gold laurel wreath off and placed a crown on his own head that contained a seventy-carat diamond in the shape of Africa. The lavish coronation ceremony cost somewhere around £150 million and all but ruined the country’s economy.