They bought Arenenberg on the 11th of January Abbot Bertrand became the preceptor of Louis-Napoleon, and remained so until Wint er.
Sojourn in Rome. September : The law banishing the Bonaparte family from France was abolished. Louis-Napoleon and Hortense returned to Rome. Louis-Napoleon rejoined his brother Napoleon-Louis and the revolutionary forces in Florence, before joining those in Bologna. August : Return to Arenenberg. As of this point, he signed his name Napoleon-Louis. He visited as much the factories of Birmingham as he did Londonian high society! August : Louis-Napoleon went to Strasbourg to assess possible support for a march on Paris.
The princess Mathilde broke with her cousin. Waiting in vain for a passport for France, he obtained false papers under the name of Robinson. In order to avoid crossing French territory, he followed the Rhine to Mannheim and rejoined Arenenberg by road. Louis-Napoleon left Arenenberg and moved into the Gottlieben palace, a few kilometres to the south of Lake Constance. He visited factories in Lancashire and in the Midlands.
The landing was a disaster. Louis-Napoleon and his companions were arrested and imprisoned in the Conciergerie in Paris, pending a trial. For the Bonapartists, Louis-Napoleon was henceforth the head of the Bonaparte family and pretender to the Imperial throne.
Convicted of treason because of his escape, Louis-Napoleon could not be present for the ceremony. Louis-Philippe abdicated on the 24th in favour of his grandson the count of Paris. In vain, as the July Monarchy was overthrown, and the Second Republic proclaimed. A provisional government was set up to organise parliamentary elections for the Constitutive Assembly. The provisional government refused his offer and asked him to leave France. He retained nonetheless the importance of his popularity, which had allowed him to be elected without canvassing.
