Editing Napoleon III (section)

===Search for a wife===
[[File:Emperor Napoléon III and his family.jpg|thumb|Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie with their young son [[Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial]]]]
Soon after becoming emperor, Napoleon III began searching for a wife to give him an heir.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} He was still attached to his companion [[Harriet Howard]], who attended receptions at the [[Élysée Palace]] and traveled around France with him.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} He quietly sent a diplomatic delegation to approach the family of Princess [[Carola of Vasa]], the granddaughter of deposed King [[Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden]]. They declined because of his Catholic religion and the political uncertainty about his future, as did the family of [[Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]], a niece of [[Queen Victoria]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The Emperor fell in love with a 23-year-old Spaniard noblewoman, [[Eugénie de Montijo|Eugénie du Derje de Montijo]]. She received much of her education in Paris. Her beauty attracted Napoleon III, who, as was his custom, tried to seduce her, but Eugénie told him to wait for marriage. The civil ceremony took place at [[Tuileries Palace]] on 22 January 1853, and a much grander ceremony was held a few days later at the Cathedral of [[Notre-Dame de Paris]]. In 1856, Eugénie gave birth to a son and heir-apparent, [[Napoléon, Prince Imperial]].{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|pp=199–204}}

With an heir to the throne secured, Napoleon resumed his "''petites distractions''" with other women.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} Eugénie faithfully performed the duties of an empress, entertaining guests and accompanying the Emperor to balls, opera, and theatre. She traveled to [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]] to open the [[Suez Canal]] and officially represented him whenever he traveled outside France.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Though a fervent Catholic and conservative on many other issues, Eugénie strongly advocated equality for women. She pressured the [[Ministry of National Education (France)|Ministry of National Education]] to give the first [[Baccalauréat|baccalaureate]] diploma to a woman and tried unsuccessfully to induce the {{Lang|fr|[[Académie française]]|italic=no}} to elect the writer [[George Sand]] as its first female member.{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|pp=204–210}}