<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The dictator of the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-june-12-what-happened-on-this-day/bb1becb4-5dcc-4b44-8581-7bbf76ada299" rel="" target="" title="Central African Republic Jean-Bédel Bokassa"><span>Central African Republic Jean-Bédel Bokassa</span></a><span> was crowned as emperor in a ceremony that cost a third of the country's annual budget on December 4, 1977.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The lavish coronation was an almost exact copy of the ceremony Napoleon Bonaparte had in 1804.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It cost an estimated $163 million in today's money, despite the country being one of the world's poorest.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/teen-falls-down-two-storeys-while-exploring-abandoned-mine-shaft/dfa2a910-496c-472c-bcb2-c16afbb78500"><strong><span>Girl, 17, remains in serious condition after falling two floors in infamous abandoned building</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bokassa commissioned a four-metre tall bronze throne which cost an estimated $20 million.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And the crowns, sceptres and swords used in the ceremony cost a further $40 million.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He also ordered 24,000 bottles of Moet and Chandon champagne.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-december-4-what-happened-on-this-day/f599afe7-52a9-46db-9e35-121c71dfd785" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>To pick up foreign dignitaries, he purchased 60 brand new Mercedes-Benz cars.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bokassa had come to power in a military coup 12 years earlier, dissolving the national assembly.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When in power, he said anyone aged between 18 and 55 who didn't have a job would be fined or imprisoned.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/one-shot-dead-two-injured-shooting-in-nsw-northeastman-remains-on-the-run/a5e45b85-75bf-4192-8531-e0a258148712"><strong><span>Manhunt after one shot dead, two injured in north-east NSW</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Begging was banned and people were only allowed to play tom-toms on nights and weekends.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He announced he would restore democracy once the communist threat had been eliminated and the economy stabilised.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But he later announced the Central African Republic would become a monarchy and his title would be hereditary. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The name of the country was changed to the Central African Empire.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bokassa argued that the lavish ceremony would attract foreign leaders as guests and elevate the nation in the eyes of the world.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-government-employee-has-been-charged-with-high-range-drink-driving/1f96f6d3-7f71-4372-adf9-be0abd9b35c3"><strong><span>NSW Police Minister's driver charged with high-range drink driving</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Instead he was widely mocked internationally, and no world leaders appeared.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Even other notorious African dictators like Idi Amin, Mobutu Sese Seko and Muammar Gaddafi did not appear.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At the dinner following the ceremony, Bokassa reportedly leaned over to a senior French politician and said: "You did not notice it, but you ate human meat".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bokassa was known to frequently practice cannibalism, with a walk-in freezer at the palace used to store human corpses.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His popularity in the country took a hit over the extraordinary expense of the coronation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Little more than a year later widespread protests broke out after he ordered all school students to wear uniforms made by the company of one of his wives.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>About 100 protesting students were rounded up, taken to a prison and beaten to death, purportedly by Bokassa himself, among others.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Later in 1979 he would be ousted in another coup, supported by the French military.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/melbourne-hospitals-alleged-illegal-recording-device-775-more-charges/8e5eea20-ea86-4a5a-a77e-855522ba27e0"><strong><span>Hundreds more charges over illegal recordings in hospital toilets</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Put on trial in 1987, he was sentenced to death for murder.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm not a saint," Bokassa said in his defence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm a man like everyone else.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment a few years later. Eventually he was freed after just five years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He died in 1996.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" target="" title="For more from our Today in History archive, click here."><strong><span>For more from our Today in History archive, click here</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank" title=""><strong><em><span>D</span></em></strong></a><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank" title=""><strong><em><span>OWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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