3-011-959 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Review in the Champ de Mars at Paris in honour of the King Consort of Spain, 1864. '...the grand military spectacle...was beheld by an immense crowd of spectators...Unfortunately, rain...came down heavily...The troops on the ground consisted of fifty-one battalions of the National Guard, twenty-one of the Imperial Guard, thirty-seven of the line, thirty-six squadrons of cavalry, eighteen batteries of artillery, with 108 guns, the pupils of the School of St. Cyr, a party of the waggon train, and pontooners of the Guard - forming together an effective force of about 70,000 men. The National Guards and the infantry of the garrison of Paris were drawn up in lines on the left of the ground...and the cavalry on the opposite side. The artillery were at the end nearest the Pont d'lena...the Emperor and the King of Spain, both dressed as Generals in the respective services of the two countries, and the Prince Imperial in uniform...entered the ground... followed by...the Spanish Generals Leymery and Joaquin Fitor...The Prince Imperial, mounted on his pony, passed along the lines a short distance in advance of the Imperial cortege. Their Majesties and the Prince were greeted with loud cheering along the whole line'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.