RECEPTION OF QUEEN VICTORIA AT BOULOGNE

BARRE, Albert Desire: France, 1855, Silver, 61 mm
Obv: Napoleon III (r)    NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR
Rev: Queen at harbor leaning on pedestal which is inscribed:   18 ET 27 AOUT 1855   Around:  L'EMPEREUR DES FRANCAIS RECOIT A BOULOGNE LA REINE D'ANGLETERRE
Exergue:  LA VILLE DE BOULOGNE-SUR-MER EN MEMOIRE DES 18 ET 27 AOUT 1855
Signed:  ALBERT BARRE
Ref: Page-Divo 145/266; Essling 151/1731
Double set of medals in silver and bronze housed in original case of issue.

In 1855 Queen Victoria of England and Prince Albert repaid the visit which the Emperor Napoleon III had earlier made to them. They arrived at Boulogne before going to Paris where they visited the World's Fair. After their voyage in France, the English sovereigns traveled by train to Boulogne for a farewell dinner given in their honor.  The reception at Boulogne was the event commemorated by this medal.

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873) ( later Napoleon III) was the nephew of Emperor Napoleon I and the son of Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon I. He was the French president from 1849-1852 and emperor from 1852-1870. Napoleon III seized power in France from the short-lived Second Republic. He conducted a disastrous foreign policy, ultimately leading to the unification of Italy and more importantly to the emergence of the militarily oriented Prussians as the leading power in Germany. This resulted in the loss of Alsace-Loraine in the Franco-Prussian War and to the unification of Germany by Prussia.

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