Napoleon II II and his brief reign. Napoleon was born on 20 March 1811 at the Tuileries Palace, son of Napoleon I and Empress Marie Louise. On the same day he underwent "ondoyé" (a traditional French ceremony which is considered a preliminary, brief baptism) by Joseph Fesch with his full name of "Napoleon François Charles Joseph". The baptism, inspired by the baptismal ceremony of Louis, Grand Dauphin of France, was held on 9 June 1811 in Notre Dame de Paris. Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, Austrian ambassador to France, wrote of the baptism: He was put in the care of Louise Charlotte
Napoleon II and was popularized by the Edmond Rostand play, "L'Aiglon". When Napoleon I tried to abdicate on 4 April 1814, he said that his son would rule as Emperor. However, the coalition victors refused to acknowledge his son as successor, and Napoleon I was forced to abdicate unconditionally some days later. Although Napoleon II never actually ruled France, he was briefly the titular Emperor of the French in 1815 after the second fall of his father. When his cousin Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte became the next emperor by founding the Second French Empire in 1852, he called himself Napoleon III to acknowledge Napoleon