Editing Napoleon III (section)

===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}}