Josephine did not dare come to the Tuileries Palace. Even though the palace was bustling with activity and there were many matters requiring her, the mistress of the house, to make decisions—such as what to wear on the day of the ceremony.
The wife of Monsieur Rémusat, Napoleon's clothing adviser, had once been Marie Antoinette's chief lady-in-waiting. Napoleon owned only a few outfits besides his uniforms, and even counting Georgiana's wardrobe, there was not much to manage. His post was practically a sinecure. His wife, however, was the most important person at Josephine's side after Madame Rémusat. From servants to courtiers, she taught them all the etiquette. She was even teaching Pierre Bénézech, the master of ceremonies, who could see the First Consul and who need not.
When the First Consul and his wife first moved into the Tuileries, they quietly removed the liberty caps from the palace statues to avoid provoking public protests, and used the bronze ware stored in the warehouses. Overall, the Tuileries' decor remained dignified and plain, not excessively extravagant. Duroc was mainly responsible for procurement, while Pierre Bénézech was the true steward of the Tuileries Palace and also had to serve as master of ceremonies. When they had first moved in, there had not been enough staff, so Pierre Bénézech had recruited inn servants and doormen to do odd jobs. He had even made the First Consul's aides serve as palace guards.
In the eyes of Marie Antoinette's former chief lady-in-waiting, those commoners were no match for her at all. She wanted the newly elevated celebrities to wear stockings again, but Georgiana fiercely refused. Even if they looked like a pack of uncultured savages, she believed, that was better than becoming the "stocking aristocrats" in the eyes of the Sans-culottes.
She did not care whether