'Unworthy' France pursues Napoleon III
France will today request the return to French soil of the remains of its last emperor and first president, Napoleon III.
After lying ignored in a crypt in an English abbey for 120 years, the exiled emperor's ashes are suddenly the subject of a French ministerial delegation intent on repatriating them to the republic he helped bring about....
After a number of foreign adventures, his forces were roundly defeated in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, prompting him to flee with his wife, Empress Eugenie, to Chislehurst, Kent, where he remained in exile until his death in 1873.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
After lying ignored in a crypt in an English abbey for 120 years, the exiled emperor's ashes are suddenly the subject of a French ministerial delegation intent on repatriating them to the republic he helped bring about....
After a number of foreign adventures, his forces were roundly defeated in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, prompting him to flee with his wife, Empress Eugenie, to Chislehurst, Kent, where he remained in exile until his death in 1873.
Despite the ignominy of his later years - especially the crushing defeat by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan - France owes much to Napoleon III.
He had a huge hand in turning Paris into the elegant city so loved by tourists today - he replaced its unhygienic medieval streets with wide boulevards, created sewage systems and built parks and impressive apartment blocks for the masses.