Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Joseph Fesch" in English language version.
[I]t is still a matter of doubt whether Napoleon and Josephine were ever married at the altar. There is not a scrap of evidence to prove it. The official account relates that on the eve of the coronation the Pope refused to officiate unless the Emperor made Josephine his wife, the Church not recognising the[ir] civil marriage. To avoid a scandal Napoleon consented, and the religious ceremony was secretly performed at the Tuileries by Cardinal Fesch, with the consent of the Pope, and in the presence of Duroc, Berthier, and Talleyrand, on the night of the 1st December, 1804.
