Louis XVIII of France
King of France and of Navarre
Years: 1755 - 1824
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as "the Unavoidable" (l'Inévitable), is a Bourbon King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815.
Louis XVIII spends twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, during the French Revolution and the First French Empire, and again in 1815, for 111 days, upon the return of Napoleon I from Elba.
Until his accession to the throne of France, Louis holds the title of Count of Provence; he is the brother of King Louis XVI.
On the 21 September 1792, the National Convention abolishes the monarchy and deposes King Louis XVI, who is later executed by guillotine.
When the young Louis XVII, Louis XVI's son, dies in prison in June 1795, Louis XVIII succeeds his nephew as titular King, although the monarchy had been disestablished.
During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lives in exile in Prussia, the United Kingdom and Russia.
When the Sixth Coalition finally defeats Napoleon, Louis XVIII is restored to what he, and Royalists, consider his rightful place.
This period is marked by an Ultra-royalist reaction.
However, Napoleon escapes from his exile in Elba, marches on Paris and restores the French Empire.
Louis XVIII flees and a Seventh Coalition declares war on the French Empire, defeats Napoleon and restores, for a second time, Louis XVIII on the French throne.
In 1823, Louis XVIII sends an expeditionary corps, known as the "Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis", in Spain to restore the absolute monarchy of the King of Spain.
Louis XVIII rules as king for slightly less than a decade.
The Bourbon Restoration regime is a constitutional monarchy (unlike the Ancien Régime, which was absolute).
As a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIII's royal prerogative is reduced substantially by the Charter of 1814, France's new constitution.
Louis has no children; therefore, upon his death, the crown passes to his brother, Charles, Count of Artois.
Louis XVIII is the last French monarch to die while reigning.
