RECEPTION OF NAPOLEON III AND EMPRESS EUGENIE AT THE GUILDHALL

WYON, Benjamin: France, 1855, Bronze, 76 mm
Obv: Conjoined busts of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie    NAPOLEON III ET EUGENIA GALLORUM IMPERATOR ET IMPERATRIX (Napoleon III and Eugenie, Emperor and Empress of France)
Rev: Britannia introduces Gallia (France) to Londinia (City of London).    CONCORDES SERVAT AMICITIA (Friendship keeps them on good terms)
Exergue: LONDINI RECEPTI 19. APR. 1855
Signed: B. WYON
Mintage: 350
In original case of issue (see Appendix)
Ref: Welch 7; BHM 194/2561; Eimer 178/1496; Page-Divo 134/233

Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte (1808-1873), Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, was the third son of Louis Buonaparte, ex-king of Holland. His mother was Hortense, the daughter of the Empress Josephine by her first marriage. Napoleon III married Eugenie Marie de Guzman, comtesse de Teba in 1853.  Eugenie was a cousin of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer who was responsible for the construction of the Suez Canal.  The Emperor and Empress visited the British Court in 1855 at which time the Queen invested his Imperial Majesty with the insignia of a Knight of the Garter. Their reception and entertainment took place at the Guildhall.

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