Editing Napoleon III (section)

==Childhood and family==
===Early life===
[[File:Schloss Arenenberg mit Kapelle und Napoleonmuseum.jpg|thumb|The lakeside house at [[Arenenberg]], Switzerland, where Louis Napoleon spent much of his youth and exile]]
Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in [[Paris]] on the night of 19–20 April 1808. His father was [[Louis Bonaparte]], the younger brother of [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]], who made Louis the [[Kingdom of Holland|King of Holland]] from 1806 until 1810. His mother was [[Hortense de Beauharnais]], the only daughter of Napoleon's wife [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Josephine de Beauharnais]] by her first marriage to [[Alexandre de Beauharnais]]. He was the first Bonaparte prince born after the proclamation of the [[First French Empire]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=McMillan |first=James F. |title=Napoleon III |publisher=Longman |date=1991 |location=London |pages=8–33}}</ref>

As empress, Joséphine had proposed the marriage of Louis and Hortense as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile.{{Sfn|Bresler|1999|p=20}} Louis and Hortense had a difficult relationship and only lived together for brief periods. Their first son, [[Napoléon Charles Bonaparte]], died in 1807 and—though separated and parents of a healthy second son, [[Napoléon-Louis Bonaparte|Napoléon Louis]]—they decided to have a third child. They resumed their marriage for a brief time in [[Toulouse]] starting from 12 August 1807 and Louis Napoleon was born prematurely, (at least) three weeks short of nine months. Hortense was known to have lovers and Louis Napoleon's enemies, including [[Victor Hugo]], spread the gossip that he was the child of a different man, but most historians agree today that he was the legitimate son of Louis Bonaparte.{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|pp=21–24}}{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=15}}{{Sfn|Bresler|1999|p=37}}

Louis Napoleon was baptized at the [[Palace of Fontainebleau]] on 5 November 1810, with Emperor Napoleon serving as his godfather and [[Empress Marie-Louise]] as his godmother. His father stayed away, once again separated from Hortense. At the age of seven, Louis Napoleon visited his uncle at the [[Tuileries Palace]] in Paris. Napoleon held him up to the window to see the soldiers parading in the [[Place du Carrousel]] below. Louis Napoleon last saw his uncle with the family at the [[Château de Malmaison]], shortly before Napoleon departed for the [[Battle of Waterloo]].{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|p=26}}

All members of the [[Bonaparte dynasty]] were forced into exile after the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]] of monarchy in France. Hortense and Louis Napoleon moved from [[Aix-les-Bains|Aix]] to [[Bern]] to [[Baden-Baden|Baden]], and finally to a lakeside house at [[Arenenberg]] in the Swiss canton of [[Thurgau]]. He received some of his education in Germany at the [[gymnasium school]] at [[Augsburg]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]. As a result, for the rest of his life, his French had a slight but noticeable German accent. His tutor at home was [[Philippe Le Bas]], an ardent republican and the son of a revolutionary and close friend of [[Robespierre]]. Le Bas taught him French history and radical politics.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=39–42}}

===Romantic revolutionary (1823–1835)===
When Louis Napoleon was 15, his mother Hortense moved to [[Rome]], where the [[House of Bonaparte|Bonapartes]] had a villa. He passed his time learning [[Italian language|Italian]], exploring the ancient ruins and learning the arts of seduction and romantic affairs, which he used often in his later life. He became friends with the French Ambassador, [[François-René de Chateaubriand|François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand]], the father of [[Romanticism in France|romanticism in French literature]], with whom he remained in contact for many years. He was reunited with his older brother Napoléon-Louis; together they became involved with the [[Carbonari]], secret revolutionary societies fighting [[Austrian Empire|Austria]]'s domination of Northern Italy. In the spring of 1831, when Louis Napoleon was 23, the Austrian and [[Papal States|Papal]] governments launched an offensive against the [[Carbonari]]. The two brothers, wanted by the police, were forced to flee. During their flight, Napoléon-Louis contracted [[measles]]. He died in his brother's arms on 17 March 1831.{{Sfn|Bresler|1999|pp=94–95}} Hortense joined Louis Napoleon and together they evaded the police and [[Imperial Austrian Army (1806–1867)|Austrian Army]] and finally reached the [[France–Italy border|French border]].{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=58–72}}

Hortense and Louis Napoleon traveled incognito to [[Paris]], where the old regime of King [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] had just fallen after the [[July Revolution]] and been replaced by the more liberal regime of [[Louis Philippe I]], the sole monarch of the [[July Monarchy]]. They arrived in Paris on 23 April 1831, and took up residence under the name "Hamilton" in the Hotel du Holland on [[Place Vendôme]]. Hortense wrote an appeal to the King of the French, asking to stay in France, and Louis Napoleon offered to volunteer as an ordinary soldier in the [[French Army]]. The new king agreed to meet secretly with Hortense; Louis Napoleon had a fever and did not join them. The King finally agreed that Hortense and Louis Napoleon could stay in Paris as long as their stay was brief and incognito. Louis Napoleon was told that he could join the French Army if he would simply change his name, something he indignantly refused to do. Hortense and Louis Napoleon remained in Paris until 5 May, the tenth anniversary of the death of Napoleon. The presence of Hortense and Louis Napoleon in the hotel had become known, and a public demonstration of mourning for the Emperor took place on Place Vendôme in front of their hotel. The same day, Hortense and Louis Napoleon were ordered to leave Paris. During their brief stay in Paris Louis Napoleon had become convinced that [[Bonapartism|Bonapartist]] sentiment was still strong among the French people and the army.<ref name=":0" /> They went to Britain briefly, and then back into exile in Switzerland.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=72–77}}