Louis XVIII

Louis XVIII, born Louis Stanislas Xavier on 17 November 1755 and known as "the Desired," reigned as King of France from 1814 until his death in 1824, with a brief break during Napoleon’s Hundred Days in 1815. Before taking the throne, he spent 23 years in exile starting in 1791, during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire. As the brother of King Louis XVI, he originally held the title Count of Provence. After the monarchy was abolished and Louis XVI executed, his young nephew Louis XVII died in prison in June 1795, prompting the Count of Provence to claim the crown as Louis XVIII. His rule, known as the Bourbon Restoration, established a constitutional monarchy, a shift from the absolutist Ancien Régime, and his powers were significantly limited by the Charter of 1814.

Born at the Palace of Versailles, Louis Stanislas was the younger son of Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin of France, and Maria Josepha of Saxony, and a grandson of King Louis XV. As a Fils de France, he was christened six months after birth, receiving the names Louis (typical for a French prince), Stanislas (after his great-grandfather King Stanislaus I of Poland), and Xavier (after Saint Francis Xavier, a patron saint of his mother’s family). At birth, he was fourth in line to the throne, behind his father and two elder brothers. The deaths of his brother the Duke of Burgundy in 1761 and his father in 1765 left him second in line, with his brother Louis Auguste becoming Dauphin. He was a favorite of his governess, Madame de Marsan, and at age seven his education was taken over by men, led by the Duke of La Vauguyon. Intelligent and strong in classics, he received a religious education from priests like Jean-Gilles du Coëtlosquet and the Abbé Nollet. His formal education ended in April 1771 at age 15, and he was given an extravagant household with 390 servants by 1773. That same month, his grandfather granted him titles including Duke of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Perche, and Count of Senoches, though he was often called Count of Provence. In December 1773, he became a Grand Master of the Order of St. Lazarus.

Louis Stanislas married Princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy by proxy on 16 April 1771, with the in-person ceremony on 14 May at Versailles. She was the daughter of Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. A grand ball followed on 20 May. He found his wife unattractive and tedious, and the marriage remained unconsummated for years. Biographers suggest reasons such as his alleged impotence or his unwillingness to sleep with her due to poor hygiene.

After the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis XVIII was restored to what he and French royalists saw as his rightful throne. But Napoleon escaped from Elba, and Louis fled. The Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon again, restoring Louis in 1815. His reign lasted just under a decade. His return sparked a second White Terror led by Ultra-royalists. The following year, he dissolved the unpopular parliament known as the Chambre introuvable, which led to the rise of the liberal Doctrinaires. His reign also saw the formation of the Quintuple Alliance and a military intervention in Spain. Louis XVIII had no children, so his brother Charles X succeeded him. He was the last French king or emperor to die while reigning; Charles X abdicated, and both Louis Philippe I and Napoleon III were deposed.