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87-651: Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (French: le Désiré ), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 years in exile from France beginning in 1791, during the French Revolution and the First French Empire . Until his accession to

174-402: A Bourbon Restoration. The opinions expressed in the declaration were largely those of Antoine de Bésiade, Count of Avaray , Louis's closest advisor in exile. Louis XVIII was forced once again to leave Jelgava when Tsar Alexander informed him that his safety could not be guaranteed in continental Europe. In July 1807, Louis boarded a Swedish frigate bound for Stockholm , bringing with him only

261-558: A contemporary living there at the time, the Prussian local authorities, wishing to honour the arrivals, had music played, but trying to give this a national and patriotic character, unwittingly chose La Marseillaise , the hymn of the French Republic with unflattering allusions to both Louis XVI and Louis XVIII. They later apologised for their mistake. It was very soon after their arrival that Louis and Marie-Thérèse learned of

348-491: A correspondence with Napoleon Bonaparte (by then First Consul of France ), urging him to restore the Bourbons to their throne, but the future emperor was impervious to this idea and continued to consolidate his own position as ruler of France. Louis XVIII encouraged his niece to write her memoirs, as he wished them to be used as Bourbon propaganda. In 1796 and 1803, Louis also used the diaries of Louis XVI's final attendants in

435-673: A distant cousin who claimed descent from Louis XIII . The French Revolution of 1848 brought an end to the monarchy again, instituting a brief Second Republic that lasted four years, before its President declared himself Emperor Napoleon III , who was deposed and replaced by the Third Republic , and ending monarchic rule in France for good. The Bourbon Restoration came to an end with the July Revolution of 1830 which deposed Charles X and replaced him with Louis Philippe I ,

522-455: A distant cousin with more liberal politics. Charles X's son Louis signed a document renouncing his own right to the throne only after a 20-minute argument with his father. Because he was never crowned he is disputed as a genuine king of France. Louis's nephew Henry was likewise considered by some to be Henry V, but the new regime did not recognise his claim and he never ruled. Charles X named Louis Philippe as  Lieutenant général du royaume ,

609-436: A generous pension, though later discontinued payment. Marie-Thérèse finally joined Louis XVIII at Jelgava in 1799. In the winter of 1798–1799, Louis XVIII wrote a biography of Marie Antoinette titled Réflexions historiques sur Marie Antoinette . Moreover, being surrounded at Jelgava with many old courtiers, he attempted to recreate the court life of Versailles, re-establishing various of the former court ceremonies, including

696-420: A harmonious relationship and often quarrelled, as did their wives. Louis Stanislas did impregnate his wife in 1774, having conquered his aversion. However, the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. A second pregnancy in 1781 also miscarried, and the marriage remained childless. On 27 April 1774, Louis XV fell ill after contracting smallpox and died a few days later on 10 May, aged 64. Louis Stanislas' elder brother,

783-510: A hostile stance against this rejection, and Louis XVI had to implement a "bed of justice" ( Lit de justice ), which automatically registered an edict in the Parlement of Paris, to ratify the desired reforms. On 8 May, two of the leading members of the Parlement of Paris were arrested. There was rioting in Brittany , Provence, Burgundy and Béarn in reaction to their arrest. This unrest

870-536: A manifesto in response to Louis XVII's death. The manifesto, known as the " Declaration of Verona ", was Louis XVIII's attempt to introduce the French people to his politics. The Declaration of Verona beckoned France back into the arms of the monarchy, "which for fourteen centuries was the glory of France". Louis XVIII negotiated the release of Marie-Thérèse from her Paris prison in 1795. He desperately wanted her to marry her first cousin, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême ,

957-446: A new property tax, and new elected provincial assemblies which would have a say in local taxation. Calonne's proposition was rejected outright by the notables, and, as a result, Louis XVI dismissed him. The Archbishop of Toulouse, Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne , acquired Calonne's ministry. Brienne attempted to salvage Calonne's reforms, but ultimately failed to convince the notables to approve them. A frustrated Louis XVI dissolved

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1044-584: A period known as Direct Capetian rule. Afterwards, it passed to the House of Valois , a cadet branch that descended from Philip III . The Valois claim was disputed by Edward III , the Plantagenet king of England who claimed himself as the rightful king of France through his French mother Isabella . The two houses fought the Hundred Years' War over the issue, and with Henry VI of England being for

1131-629: A regent to the young Henry V, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the Chamber of Deputies , the lower house of the French Parliament at the time, the French equivalent at the time of the UK House of Commons. Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, and because the French parliamentarians were aware of his liberal policies and of his popularity at

1218-656: A second wave of White Terror headed by the Ultra-royalist faction. The following year, Louis dissolved the unpopular parliament (the Chambre introuvable ), giving rise to the liberal Doctrinaires . His reign was further marked by the formation of the Quintuple Alliance and a military intervention in Spain . Louis had no children, and upon his death the crown passed to his brother, Charles X . Louis XVIII

1305-555: A time partially recognized as King of France . The Valois line died out in the late 16th century, during the French Wars of Religion , to be replaced by the distantly related House of Bourbon , which descended through the Direct Capetian Louis IX . The Bourbons ruled France until deposed in the French Revolution , though they were restored to the throne after the fall of Napoleon. The last Capetian to rule

1392-550: The Ancien Régime . Accordingly, in 1805 he reformulated his public policies with a view to reclaiming his throne, issuing a declaration that was far more liberal than his earlier pronouncements. This repudiated his Declaration of Verona, promised to abolish conscription, retain the Napoleonic administrative and judicial system, reduce taxes, eliminate political prisons, and guarantee amnesty to everyone who did not oppose

1479-599: The lever and coucher (ceremonies that accompanied waking and bedding, respectively). On 9 June 1799, Marie-Thérèse married her cousin Louis-Antoine at the Jelgava Palace. Desperate to display to the world a united family, Louis XVIII ordered his wife Queen Marie Joséphine , who at the time was living apart from her husband in Schleswig-Holstein , to attend the wedding. Furthermore, she

1566-652: The Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The family consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary and becoming the real powers behind the Merovingian kings . The dynasty is named after one of these mayors of the palace, Charles Martel , whose son Pepin the Short dethroned the Merovingians in 751 and, with

1653-690: The Austrian Netherlands in conjunction with the royal family's failed Flight to Varennes in June 1791. When the Count of Provence arrived in the Low Countries , he proclaimed himself regent of France. He exploited a document that he and Louis XVI had written before the latter's failed escape to Varennes-en-Argonne . The document gave him the regency in the event of his brother's death or inability to perform his role as king. He would join

1740-492: The Comte de Blacas as his principal political advisor. Queen Marie Joséphine died on 13 November 1810. That same winter, Louis had a particularly severe attack of gout , which was a recurring problem for him at Hartwell, and he had to take to a wheelchair. In 1812, Napoleon I embarked on an invasion of Russia , initiating a war which would prove to be the turning point in his fortunes. The expedition failed miserably, and Napoleon

1827-594: The Duchy of Alençon in December 1774. The duchy was given to enhance Louis Stanislas's prestige. However, the appanage generated only 300,000 livres a year, an amount much lower than it had been at its peak in the fourteenth century. Louis Stanislas travelled about France more than other members of the Royal Family, who rarely left the Île-de-France . In 1774, he accompanied his sister Clotilde to Chambéry on

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1914-524: The Duchy of Brunswick after his departure from Verona. He lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment over a shop. Louis XVIII was forced to leave Blankenburg when King Frederick William II of Prussia died. In light of this, Marie-Thérèse decided to wait a while longer before reuniting with her uncle. In 1798, Tsar Paul I of Russia offered Louis the use of Jelgava Palace in Courland (now Latvia). The Tsar also guaranteed Louis' safety and bestowed on him

2001-518: The Hundred Years War to enforce their claims. The Valois were ultimately successful, and French historiography counts their leaders as rightful kings. One Plantagenet, Henry VI of England , enjoyed de jure control of the French throne following the Treaty of Troyes , which formed the basis for continued English claims to the throne of France until 1801. The Valois line ruled France until

2088-663: The Storming of the Bastille two days later. On 16 July, the King's brother, Charles, Comte d'Artois , left France with his wife and children, along with many other courtiers. Artois and his family took up residence in Turin , the capital city of his father-in-law's ( Carlo Emanuele Ferdinando Maria IV ) Kingdom of Sardinia , with the family of Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé . The Count of Provence decided to remain at Versailles. When

2175-669: The Tuileries Palace . In March 1791, the National Assembly created a law outlining the regency of Louis Charles in case his father died while he was still too young to reign. This law awarded the regency to Louis Charles' nearest male relative in France (at that time the Count of Provence), and after him, the Duke of Orleans , thus bypassing the Count of Artois. If Orleans were unavailable, the regency would be submitted to election. The Count of Provence and his wife fled to

2262-510: The "dual representation" proposal. Louis Stanislas was the only notable to vote to increase the size of the Third Estate. Necker disregarded the notables' judgment, and convinced Louis XVI to grant the extra representation. The king duly obliged on 27 December. The Estates-General were convened in May 1789 to ratify financial reforms. The Count of Provence favoured a stalwart position against

2349-542: The Bourbons were forced to assume pseudonyms. With Louis XVIII using the title Comte d'Isle , named after his estate in Languedoc and at times spelt as Comte de Lille. After an arduous journey from Jelgava, he and his family took up residence in the years 1801–1804 at the Łazienki Palace in Warsaw , which after the partitions of Poland became part of the province of South Prussia . According to Wirydianna Fiszerowa ,

2436-759: The Dauphin Louis Joseph . Louis Stanislas and his brother, the Count of Artois , served as godfathers by proxy for Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor , the Queen's brother. When Marie Antoinette gave birth to her second son, Louis Charles , in March 1785, Louis Stanislas slid further down the line of succession. In 1780, Anne Nompar de Caumont , Countess of Balbi, entered the service of Marie Joséphine. Louis Stanislas soon fell in love with his wife's new lady-in-waiting and installed her as his mistress, which resulted in

2523-498: The Dauphin Louis Auguste, succeeded their grandfather as King Louis XVI. As eldest brother of the King, Louis Stanislas received the title Monsieur . Louis Stanislas longed for political influence. He attempted to gain admittance to the King's council in 1774, but failed. Louis Stanislas was left in a political limbo that he called "a gap of 12 years in my political life". Louis XVI granted Louis Stanislas revenues from

2610-518: The Dauphin's own premature death in 1765. The two deaths elevated Louis Stanislas to second in the line of succession, while his brother Louis Auguste acquired the title of Dauphin. Louis Stanislas found comfort in his governess, Madame de Marsan , Governess of the Children of France , as he was her favourite among his siblings. Louis Stanislas was taken away from his governess when he turned seven,

2697-1029: The Duke of Angoulême. This stay in Sweden was short-lived since in November 1807 he disembarked at Great Yarmouth , on the Eastern coast of England. He then took up residence in Gosfield Hall in Essex, leased to him by the Marquess of Buckingham . In 1808, Louis brought his wife and queen, Marie Joséphine, to join him in England. His stay at Gosfield Hall did not last long; he soon moved to Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire, where over one hundred courtiers were housed. The King paid £500 in rent each year to

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2784-706: The French . In July, Louis XVIII and his nephew departed for Sweden for a Bourbon family conference, where Louis XVIII, the Count of Artois, and the Duke of Angoulême issued a statement condemning Napoleon's move. When the King of Prussia decreed that Louis XVIII would have to leave Prussian territory, and hence Warsaw, Tsar Alexander I invited Louis XVIII to resume residence in Jelgava, which he did. However, having to live under less generous conditions than those enjoyed under Paul I, Louis XVIII decided to embark for England as soon as possible. As time went on, Louis XVIII realised that France would never accept an attempt to return to

2871-644: The French Empire, defeated Napoleon again, and again restored Louis XVIII to the French throne. Louis XVIII ruled as king for slightly less than a decade. His Bourbon Restoration government was a constitutional monarchy , unlike the absolutist Ancien Régime in France before the Revolution. As a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIII's royal prerogative was reduced substantially by the Charter of 1814 , France's new constitution. His return in 1815 led to

2958-720: The French Revolution and during the Napoleonic era , Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia , Great Britain , and Russia . When the Sixth Coalition first defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis XVIII was placed in what he, and the French royalists, considered his rightful position. However, Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled, and a Seventh Coalition declared war on

3045-476: The French throne. The Valois claimed the right to the succession by male-only primogeniture through the ancient Salic Law , having the closest all-male line of descent from a recent French king. They were descended from the third son of Philip III , Charles, Count of Valois. The Plantagenets based their claim on being closer to a more recent French king, Edward III of England being a grandson of Philip IV through his mother, Isabella . The two houses fought

3132-691: The Kingdom until his brother's arrival in Paris on 3 May. Upon his return, the King displayed himself to his subjects by staging a procession through the city. He took up residence in the Tuileries Palace the same day. His niece, the Duchess of Angoulême, fainted at the sight of the Tuileries, where she had been imprisoned during the time of the French Revolution. King of France France

3219-671: The Legislative Assembly declared that all of the émigrés were traitors to France. Their property and titles were confiscated. The monarchy of France was abolished by the National Convention on 21 September 1792. Louis XVI was executed in January 1793 . This left his young son, Louis Charles, as the titular King. The princes-in-exile proclaimed Louis Charles "King Louis XVII ". The Count of Provence now unilaterally declared himself regent for his nephew, who

3306-439: The Queen gave birth to a daughter, who was named Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France and given the honorific title Madame Royale . That the baby was a girl came as a relief to the Count of Provence, who kept his position as heir to Louis XVI, since Salic Law excluded women from acceding to the throne of France. However, Louis Stanislas did not remain heir to the throne much longer. On 22 October 1781, Marie Antoinette gave birth to

3393-599: The Revolution) would be compensated for their losses. Allied troops entered Paris on 31 March 1814. Louis, unable to walk, had sent the Count of Artois to France in January 1814 and issued letters patent appointing Artois Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom in the event of his being restored as king. On 11 April, five days after the French Senate had invited Louis to resume the throne of France, Napoleon I abdicated. The Count of Artois ruled as Lieutenant-General of

3480-527: The Royal Family plotted to abscond from Versailles to Metz , Provence advised the King not to leave, a suggestion he accepted. The Royal Family was forced to leave the palace at Versailles on the day after the Women's March on Versailles , 5 October 1789. They were taken to Paris. There, the Count of Provence and his wife lodged in the Luxembourg Palace , while the rest of the Royal Family stayed in

3567-577: The Swiss magnate Jacques Necker . In November 1788, a second Assembly of Notables was convened by Jacques Necker, to consider the makeup of the next Estates-General. The Parlement of Paris recommended that the Estates should be the same as they were at the last assembly, in 1614 (this would mean that the clergy and nobility would have more representation than the Third Estate ). The notables rejected

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3654-408: The Third Estate and its demands for tax reform. On 17 June, the Third Estate declared itself a National Assembly , an Assembly not of the Estates, but of the people. The Count of Provence urged the King to act strongly against the declaration, while the King's popular minister Jacques Necker aimed at reaching a compromise with the new assembly. Louis XVI was characteristically indecisive. On 9 July,

3741-409: The age at which the education of boys of royal blood and of the nobility was turned over to men. Antoine de Quélen de Stuer de Caussade, Duke of La Vauguyon  [ fr ] , a friend of his father, was named as his governor. Louis Stanislas was an intelligent boy, excelling in the classics. His education was of the same quality and consistency as that of his older brother, Louis Auguste, despite

3828-538: The assembly declared itself a National Constituent Assembly that would give France a Constitution. On 11 July, Louis XVI dismissed Necker, which led to widespread rioting across Paris. On 12 July, the sabre charge of the Régiment Royal–Allemand Cavalerie (Royal German Cavalry Regiment) of Charles-Eugène de Lorraine, Prince de Lambesc , against a crowd gathered at the Tuileries gardens , sparked

3915-557: The assembly. Brienne's reforms were then submitted to the Parlement of Paris in the hopes that they would be approved. (A parlement was responsible for ratifying the King's edicts; each province had its own parlement , but the Parlement of Paris was the most significant of all.) The Parlement of Paris refused to accept Brienne's proposals and declared that any new taxation would have to be approved by an Estates-General (the nominal parliament of France). Louis XVI and Brienne took

4002-861: The consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, was crowned King of the Franks . Under Charles the Great (r. 768–814), better known as " Charlemagne ", the Frankish kingdom expanded deep into Central Europe , conquering Italy and most of modern Germany . He was also crowned " Emperor of the Romans " by the Pope, a title that was eventually carried on by the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire . Charlemagne

4089-491: The couple's already limited affection for each other cooling entirely. Louis Stanislas commissioned a pavilion for his mistress on a parcel of land at Versailles which became known as the Parc Balbi . Louis Stanislas lived a quiet and sedentary lifestyle at this point, not having a great deal to do since his self-proclaimed political exclusion in 1774. He kept himself occupied with his vast library of over 11,000 books at Balbi's pavilion, reading for several hours each morning. In

4176-493: The death of Tsar Paul I. Louis hoped that Paul's successor, Alexander I , would repudiate his father's banishment of the Bourbons, which he later did. Louis then intended to set off to the Kingdom of Naples . The Count of Artois asked Louis to send his son, Louis-Antoine, and daughter-in-law, Marie-Thérèse, to him in Edinburgh , but the King did not do so at that time. Artois had an allowance from King George III of Great Britain and he sent some money to Louis, whose court-in-exile

4263-520: The early 1780s, he also incurred huge debts totalling 10 million livres, which his brother Louis XVI paid. An Assembly of Notables (the members consisted of magistrates, mayors, nobles and clergy) was convened in February 1787 to ratify the financial reforms sought by the Controller-General of Finance Charles Alexandre de Calonne . This provided the Count of Provence, who abhorred the radical reforms proposed by Calonne, his long-awaiting opportunity to establish himself in politics. The reforms proposed

4350-414: The eastern and western parts of the land had already developed different languages and cultures. The Capetian dynasty is named for Hugh Capet, a Robertian who served as Duke of the Franks and was elected King in 987. Except for the Bonaparte-led Empires, every monarch of France was a male-line descendant of Hugh Capet. The kingship passed through patrilineally from father to son until the 14th century,

4437-513: The fact that Louis Auguste was heir and Louis Stanislas was not. Louis Stanislas's education was quite religious in nature; several of his teachers were priests, such as Jean-Gilles du Coëtlosquet , Bishop of Limoges; the Abbé Jean-Antoine Nollet ; and the Jesuit Guillaume-François Berthier . La Vauguyon drilled into young Louis Stanislas and his brothers the way he thought princes should "know how to withdraw themselves, to like to work," and "to know how to reason correctly". In April 1771, when he

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4524-538: The fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century. The kings used the title "King of the Franks" ( Latin : Rex Francorum ) until the late twelfth century; the first to adopt the title of "King of France" ( Latin : Rex Franciae ; French : roi de France ) was Philip II in 1190 (r. 1180–1223), after which the title "King of the Franks" gradually lost ground. However, Francorum Rex continued to be sometimes used, for example by Louis XII in 1499, by Francis I in 1515, and by Henry II in about 1550; it

4611-460: The journey to meet her bridegroom Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont , heir to the throne of Sardinia . In 1775, he visited Lyon and also his spinster aunts Adélaïde and Victoire while they were taking the waters at Vichy . The four provincial tours that Louis Stanislas took before the year 1791 amounted to a total of three months. On 5 May 1778, Dr. Lassonne, Marie Antoinette's private physician, confirmed her pregnancy. On 19 December 1778,

4698-412: The last monarch to rule France. Various pretenders descended from the preceding monarchs have claimed to be the legitimate monarch of France, rejecting the claims of the president of France and of one another. These groups are: Louis, Duke of Burgundy (1751%E2%80%931761) Louis Joseph Xavier, styled duke of Burgundy from birth, was born at the Palace of Versailles on September 13 1751. He

4785-452: The line became extinct in 1589, in the backdrop of the French Wars of Religion . As Navarre did not have a tradition of male-only primogeniture, the Navarrese monarchy became distinct from the French with Joan II , a daughter of Louis X. The Valois line looked strong on the death of Henry II , who left four male heirs. His first son, Francis II , died in his minority. His second son, Charles IX , had no legitimate sons to inherit. Following

4872-494: The other princes-in-exile at Coblenz soon after his escape. It was there that he, the Count of Artois, and the Condé princes proclaimed that their objective was to invade France. Louis XVI was greatly annoyed by his brothers' behaviour. Provence sent emissaries to various European courts asking for financial aid, soldiers, and munition. Artois secured a castle for the court in exile in the Electorate of Trier (or "Treves"), where their maternal uncle, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony ,

4959-491: The owner of the estate, Sir George Lee. The Prince of Wales (the future George IV of the United Kingdom) was very charitable to the exiled Bourbons. As Prince Regent, he granted them permanent right of asylum and extremely generous allowances. The Count of Artois did not join the court-in-exile in Hartwell, preferring to continue his frivolous life in London. Louis's friend the Count of Avaray left Hartwell for Madeira in 1809, and died there in 1811. Louis replaced Avaray with

5046-415: The possession of the territory of France. With the House of Bonaparte , the title " Emperor of the French " ( Empereur des Français ) was used in 19th-century France , during the first and second French Empires, between 1804 and 1814, again in 1815, and between 1852 and 1870. From the 14th century down to 1801, the English (and later British) monarch claimed the throne of France , though such claim

5133-457: The premature death of his fourth son Hercule François and the assassination of his third son, the childless Henry III , France was plunged into a succession crisis over which distant cousin of the king would inherit the throne. The best claimant, King Henry III of Navarre , was a Protestant, and thus unacceptable to much of the French nobility. Ultimately, after winning numerous battles in defence of his claim, Henry converted to Catholicism and

5220-446: The same way. In January 1801, Tsar Paul told Louis XVIII that he could no longer live in Russia. The court at Jelgava was so low on funds that it had to auction some of its possessions to afford the journey out of Russia. Marie-Thérèse even sold a diamond necklace that the Emperor Paul had given her as a wedding gift. Marie-Thérèse persuaded Queen Louise of Prussia to give her family refuge on Prussian territory. Though Louise consented,

5307-652: The son of the Count of Artois. Louis XVIII deceived his niece by telling her that her parents' last wishes were for her to marry Louis-Antoine, and she duly agreed to Louis XVIII's wishes. Louis XVIII was forced to abandon Verona when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Republic of Venice in 1796. Louis XVIII had been vying for the custody of his niece Marie-Thérèse since her release from the Temple Tower in December 1795. He succeeded when Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor , agreed to relinquish his custody of her in 1796. She had been staying in Vienna with her Habsburg relatives since January 1796. Louis XVIII moved to Blankenburg in

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5394-401: The throne of France, he held the title of Count of Provence as brother of King Louis XVI , the last king of the Ancien Régime . On 21 September 1792, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and deposed Louis XVI, who was later executed by guillotine . When his young nephew Louis XVII died in prison in June 1795, the Count of Provence claimed the throne as Louis XVIII. Following

5481-559: The time of his marriage, Louis Stanislas was obese and waddled instead of walked. He never exercised and continued to eat enormous amounts of food. Despite the fact that Louis Stanislas was not infatuated with his wife, he boasted that the two enjoyed vigorous conjugal relations – but such declarations were held in low esteem by courtiers at Versailles. He also proclaimed his wife to be pregnant merely to spite Louis Auguste and his wife Marie Antoinette , who had not yet consummated their marriage. The Dauphin and Louis Stanislas did not enjoy

5568-428: The time with the French population, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. The French Second Republic lasted from 1848 to 1852, when its president, Charles-Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte , was declared Emperor of the French under the regnal name of Napoleon III . He would later be overthrown during the events of the Franco-Prussian War , becoming

5655-505: The wedding on 20 May. Louis Stanislas found his wife repulsive; she was considered ugly, tedious, and ignorant of the customs of the court of Versailles. The marriage remained unconsummated for years. Biographers disagree about the reason. The most common theories propose Louis Stanislas' alleged impotence (according to biographer Antonia Fraser ) or his unwillingness to sleep with his wife due to her poor personal hygiene. She never brushed her teeth, plucked her eyebrows, or used any perfumes. At

5742-405: Was Louis Philippe I , king of the July Monarchy (1830–1848), a member of the cadet House of Bourbon-Orléans . The House of Capet are also commonly known as the "Direct Capetians". The death of Charles IV started the Hundred Years' War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet , whose claim was taken up by the cadet branch known as the House of Lancaster , over control of

5829-425: Was 15, Louis Stanislas's education was formally concluded, and his own independent household was established, which astounded contemporaries with its extravagance: in 1773, the number of his servants reached 390 In the same month his household was founded, Louis was granted several titles by his grandfather, Louis XV: Duke of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Perche, and Count of Senoches. During this period of his life he

5916-453: Was a tumultuous time in French politics. The period is generally considered to have begun with the French Revolution , which deposed and then executed Louis XVI . Royalists continued to recognize his son, the putative king Louis XVII , as ruler of France. Louis was under arrest by the government of the Revolution and died in captivity having never ruled. The republican government went through several changes in form and constitution until France

6003-429: Was also used on coins up to the eighteenth century. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect (1791–1792) and after the July Revolution in 1830, the style " King of the French " ( roi des Français ) was used instead of " King of France (and Navarre )". It was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarch's title to the French people rather than to

6090-410: Was cared for by Madame de Marsan , the Governess of the Children of France . Later, the Duke of Vauguyon was named his governor. He was much loved by those who were close to him, especially his older sister Marie Zéphyrine , who died at the age of five in 1755. It is unknown if the Duke, who was not even four years old yet, was affected by this. Around 1760, the young Duke developed a limp and it

6177-504: Was chosen to honour his great-grandfather King Stanislaus I of Poland who was still alive at the time; and Xavier was chosen for Saint Francis Xavier , whom his mother's family held as one of their patron saints. At the time of his birth, Louis Stanislas was fourth in line to the throne of France, behind his father and his two elder brothers: Louis Joseph Xavier, Duke of Burgundy , and Louis Auguste, Duke of Berry . The former died in 1761, leaving Louis Auguste as heir to their father until

6264-546: Was crowned as King Henry IV, founding the House of Bourbon. This marked the second time the thrones of Navarre and France were united under one monarch, as different inheritance laws had caused them to become separated during the events of the Hundred Years Wars. The House of Bourbon was overthrown during the French Revolution and replaced by a short-lived republic . The period known as the "long nineteenth century"

6351-703: Was declared an empire, following the ascension of the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor Napoleon I. Napoleon was overthrown twice following military defeats during the Napoleonic Wars . After the Napoleonic period followed two different royal governments, the Bourbon Restoration , which was ruled successively by two younger brothers of Louis XVI, and the July Monarchy , ruled by Louis Philippe I ,

6438-625: Was engineered by local magistrates and nobles, who enticed the people to revolt against the Lit de Justice , which was quite unfavourable to the nobles and magistrates. The clergy also joined the provincial cause, and condemned Brienne's tax reforms. Brienne conceded defeat in July and agreed to a convocation of the Estates-General to meet in 1789. He resigned from his post in August and was replaced by

6525-469: Was forced to retreat with an army in tatters. In 1813, Louis XVIII issued another declaration from Hartwell. The Declaration of Hartwell was even more liberal than his Declaration of 1805, asserting that those who had served Napoleon or the Republic would not suffer repercussions for their acts, and that the original owners of the biens nationaux (lands confiscated from the nobility and clergy during

6612-495: Was not only being spied on by Napoleonic agents but was also being forced to make significant economies, financed as it was mainly from interest owed by the Emperor Francis II on valuables his aunt, Marie Antoinette, had removed from France. In 1803, Napoleon tried to force Louis XVIII to renounce his right to the throne of France, but Louis refused. In May the following year, 1804, Napoleon declared himself Emperor of

6699-694: Was often known by the title Count of Provence. On 17 December 1773, he was inaugurated as a Grand Master of the Order of St. Lazarus . On 16 April 1771, Louis Stanislas was married by proxy to Princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy . The in-person ceremony was conducted on 14 May at the Palace of Versailles . Marie Joséphine (as she was known in France) was a daughter of Victor Amadeus , Duke of Savoy (later King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia), and his wife Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain . A luxurious ball followed

6786-617: Was presumed that he fell, but he refused to reveal how. He later confessed that he was pushed by one of his playmates but did not tell anyone to prevent his friend from getting into any trouble. After the incident, an abscess emerged and the Duke's health began to deteriorate quickly. He underwent painful surgery but his condition did not improve. Knowing that he would die, the Dauphin had him baptised on 29 November 1760 as Louis Xavier Charles Prince of France, with Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska , his grandparents, as his godparents. Until that moment, he had been known just as "Burgundy". By 1761,

6873-495: Was purely nominal excepting a short period during the Hundred Years' War when Henry VI of England had control over most of Northern France, including Paris. By 1453, the English had been mostly expelled from France and Henry's claim has since been considered illegitimate; French historiography commonly does not recognize Henry VI of England among the kings of France. The Carolingians were a Frankish noble family with origins in

6960-495: Was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I , king of the Franks ( r.  507–511 ), as the first king of France. However, historians today consider that such a kingdom did not begin until the establishment of West Francia , after

7047-491: Was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), who eventually divided the kingdom between his sons. His death, however, was followed by a three-year-long civil war that ended with the Treaty of Verdun , which divided Francia into three kingdoms, one of which ( Middle Francia ) was short-lived. Modern France developed from West Francia , while East Francia became the Holy Roman Empire and later Germany . By this time,

7134-576: Was the Archbishop-Elector . The activities of the émigrés bore fruit when the rulers of Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire gathered at Dresden . They released the Declaration of Pillnitz in August 1791, which urged Europe to intervene in France if Louis XVI or his family were threatened. Provence's endorsement of the declaration was not well received in France, either by the ordinary citizens or by Louis XVI himself. In January 1792,

7221-475: Was the grandson of the reigning King Louis XV . As a son of the Dauphin, he was a Fils de France . He was christened Louis Stanislas Xavier six months after his birth, in accordance with Bourbon family tradition, being nameless before his baptism . By this act, he also became a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit . The name of Louis was bestowed because it was typical of a prince of France; Stanislas

7308-456: Was the last king or emperor of France to die a reigning monarch: his successor, Charles X ( r.   1824–1830) abdicated; and both Louis Philippe I ( r.   1830–1848) and Napoleon III ( r.   1852–1870) were deposed. Louis Stanislas Xavier , styled Count of Provence from birth, was born on 17 November 1755 in the Palace of Versailles , a younger son of Louis, Dauphin of France , and his wife Maria Josepha of Saxony . He

7395-497: Was the second surviving child and eldest son of Louis, Dauphin of France and Maria Josepha of Saxony , and was thus the oldest brother to the future kings Louis XVI , Louis XVIII and Charles X . A Te Deum was performed in Notre-Dame to celebrate his birth. Regarded as the most capable of his brothers, the Duke was the favorite child of his parents. He was said to be handsome and bright. Like his siblings, he

7482-448: Was to come without her long-time friend (and rumoured lover) Marguerite de Gourbillon . The Queen refused to leave her friend behind, creating an unpleasant situation that rivalled the wedding in notoriety. Louis XVIII knew that his nephew Louis-Antoine was not compatible with Marie-Thérèse. Despite this, he still pressed for the marriage, which proved to be quite unhappy and produced no children. In 1800, Louis XVIII attempted to strike up

7569-442: Was too young to be head of the House of Bourbon. Louis XVII, still a minor, died in prison in June 1795. His only surviving sibling was his sister Marie-Thérèse , who was not considered a candidate for the throne because of France's traditional adherence to Salic law . Thus on 16 June, the princes-in-exile declared the Count of Provence "King Louis XVIII". The new king accepted their declaration soon after and busied himself drafting

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