Louis XVIII, king of France

Louis XVIII, 1755–1824, king of France (1814–24), brother of King Louis XVI Louis XVI, 1754–93, king of France (1774–92), third son of the dauphin (Louis) and Marie Josèphe of Saxony, grandson and successor of King Louis XV. In 1770 he married the Austrian archduchess Marie Antoinette .
..... Click the link for more information. . Known as the comte de Provence, he fled (1791) to Koblenz from the French Revolution and intrigued to bring about foreign intervention against the revolutionaries. He was recognized as king by the émigrés after the death (1795) of Louis XVII. He passed his exile on the Continent and in England. With the assistance of Charles de Talleyrand Talleyrand or Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles Maurice de
..... Click the link for more information. , he was restored (1814) to the French throne by the allies after their entry into Paris. He adopted a conciliatory policy toward the former revolutionists and granted a constitutional charter. Forced to flee once more on the news of the return of Napoleon I, he returned with the allies (1815) after the defeat at Waterloo had ended Napoleon's rule of a Hundred Days Hundred Days, name given to the period after the return of the deposed French emperor, Napoleon I , from Elba. The Hundred Days are counted from Mar. 20, 1815, when Napoleon arrived in Paris, to June 28, 1815, when Louis XVIII was restored for the second time as
..... Click the link for more information. . His chief ministers were at first moderates—Armand Emmanuel, duc de Richelieu Richelieu, Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, duc de
..... Click the link for more information. , and Élie Decazes Decazes, Élie (ālē` dəkäz`)
..... Click the link for more information. —but the ultraroyalists, led by Louis's brother, the comte d'Artois (later Charles X Charles X, 1757–1836, king of France (1824–30); brother of King Louis XVI and of King Louis XVIII, whom he succeeded. As comte d'Artois he headed the reactionary faction at the court of Louis XVI.
..... Click the link for more information. ), triumphed after the assassination (1820) of the count's son, Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry. Louis, then old and suffering from gout, allowed the ultraroyalists to take control. The new ministry headed by the comte de Villèle Villèle, Jean Baptiste Séraphin Joseph, comte de
..... Click the link for more information. was thoroughly reactionary. Electoral laws were revised to increase the influence of the wealthy classes, and civil liberties were curbed. This trend continued and was intensified during the reign (1824–30) of his successor, Charles X. See Restoration Restoration, in French history, the period from 1814 to 1830. It began with the first abdication of Emperor Napoleon I and the return of the Bourbon king, Louis XVIII, but was interrupted (1815) by Napoleon's return (the Hundred Days ).
..... Click the link for more information. , in French history.

Louis XVIII

orig. Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, count de Provence

(born Nov. 17, 1755, Versailles, France—died Sept. 16, 1824, Paris) King of France by title from 1795 and in fact from 1814 to 1824. He fled the country in 1791, during the French Revolution, and issued counterrevolutionary manifestos and organized émigré-nobility associations. He became regent for his nephew Louis XVII after the 1793 execution of Louis XVI, and at the dauphin's death in 1795 he proclaimed himself king. When the allied armies entered Paris in 1814, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand negotiated the Bourbon Restoration and Louis was received with jubilation. He promised a constitutional monarchy, and the Charter of 1814 was adopted; after the interruption of the Hundred Days, when Napoleon returned from Elba, he resumed his constitutional monarchy. The legislature included a strong right-wing majority, and though Louis opposed the extremism of the ultras, they exercised increasing control and thwarted his attempts to heal the wounds left by the Revolution. He was succeeded at his death by his brother, Charles X.