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HOME   -   PEOPLE IN HISTORY A-Z   -   LOUIS XVI

 
   


Royal Double Chin - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Royal Double Chin - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre

 

Louis XVI  1754-1793

Image Above

Detail of Antoine François Callet's oil on canvas, 1775

Versailles


Louis XVI, also called Louis-Auguste or Duc de Berry, was king of France from 1774 until 1792.

 

Royal Arm - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Royal Arm - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Detail of Antoine François Callet's oil on canvas, 1775
Versailles


 

The Family of Louis XVI

In 1770, Louis married Marie-Antoinette, who, after 8 years of marriage, gave birth to a girl, later all in all four children:
 

Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France
born December 19, 1778, died October 19, 1851

Or Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de Bourbon. Her title was Madame Royale. Her mother nicknames her Mousseline la sérieuse, or Serious Mousseline.

She is the only child that survived the French Revolution. In 1799, she married her cousin Louis Antoine d'Artois, and thus became the Duchesse d’Angoulême.

 

 

Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François
born October 22, 1781, died June 4, 1789

 

 

Louis-Charles de France
born March 27, 1785, died June 8, 1795

His mother nicknamed him Chou d'amour, or Little Darling.

For royalists, however, he was Louis XVII. Wee Louis died in his prison cell aged 10.

 

 

 

Sophie-Beatrice
born July 9, 1786, died June 19, 1787


 

His grandfather, Louis XV, died on May 10, 1774, thus vacating the throne.


On June 6, 1774, Louis appointed
Vergennes as his Foreign Minister.

In August 1774, Louis XVI retired Chancellor Maupeou and repealed Maupeou's reforms that kept the parlements in check.


Here is a
list of the men who acted as Controller General under Louis XVI.

 

Royal Insignia - Louis' Hand of Justice and Crown
Royal Insignia - Louis' Hand of Justice and Crown
Detail of Antoine François Callet's oil on canvas, 1775
Versailles

In French history, the Main de Justice (Hand of Justice) goes back to 1226.
The thumb symbolizes the king, the index finger symbolizes reason,
the middle finger stands for charity,
and the ring and little finger stand for the Catholic faith.

 

 

Louis decided to flee the country but was caught on June 21, 1791, at Varennes.

On August 10, 1792, the Tuileries palace was stormed by the mob and the French were done with the monarchy. Louis, Antoinette, their children, and then some, were locked up, on August 13, 1792, in the Temple prison.

 

Royal Hat and Sword - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Royal Hat and Sword - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Detail of Antoine François Callet's oil on canvas, 1775
Versailles

 

 

Louis signed his last will on December 25, 1792.

Here you can read The Last Will of Louis XVI.

A victim of the French Revolution, he was executed on January 21, 1793.

 


Royal Feet - Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Detail of Antoine François Callet's oil on canvas, 1775
Versailles

 

 

Here is more about Louis' family, the House of Bourbon.

See also Governments of France.

 

Regarding Louis' finances, see also Taxation in Pre-Revolutionary France and a list of all controller generals of finance.

 

Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
Full portrait by Antoine François Callet's oil on canvas, 1775
Versailles

 

 

 

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