(an alliance between Neo Destour, the Tunisian General Labour Union, the National Union of Tunisian Farmers and the Tunisian Union of Craftsmen and Merchants) which won all 98 seats. Following the election, Muhammad VIII dismissed Prime Minister Tahar Ben Ammar and appointed Bourguiba as new head of government. The Constituent Assembly held its formal opening ceremony on 8 April 1956. It was a sign of the changing times that the King presided over the session dressed in the uniform of a marshal of the Ottoman Empire, whose subject he had been when he was born, but which had ceased to exist in 1922. He expected to be present during the debates leading to the election of a speaker of the Assembly, and Tahar Ben Ammar had to intervene to persuade him to leave. The King withdrew with ill grace. On 31 May a decree from the Constituent Assembly abolished all privileges, exemptions and immunities which had previously been accorded to the ruling family. They were now simply ordinary citizens. Although this abruptly ended the civil list payments to members of his family and placed the crown estate under government control, the King signed the decree without protest. Another decree on 21 June modified the national emblems and removed any reference to the Husainid dynasty; another still, on 31 August, removed the King's prerogative to pass regulations, transferring this to the Prime Minister. Further decrees followed, compelling the King to turn over various properties to the state, against the backdrop of a hostile press campaign highlighting the questionable, and perhaps even criminal, circumstances under which they had been acquired. These measures served to greatly reduce the remaining prestige of the King. Nonetheless King Muhammad VIII was the first person to be honoured, on 19 December 1956, with the decoration of the new Order of Independence. He reciprocated on the same day by awarding Bourguiba the Nichan Iftikhar (for the second time). Bourguiba clearly had little remaining respect for the ruling family however. On 19 July, at Eid al-Fitr he made a protocol visit with his ministers to the King's wife, but refused to approach the throne. 'I have not come here as I did before, but as head of the government. You should step forward to meet me and not remain seated in your throne,' he declared. On 15 July 1957 the Tunisian army replaced the Royal Guard around the palace,