Louis XVIII (Reign of Kings)

Louis XVIII was King of France from 26 February 1845 to May 1878. Louis was six days old when his grandfather Louis XVII died, and he acceded to the throne. He spent most of his childhood in Great Britain while France was ruled by regents, his regency was was a period marked by palace intrigues, back-stairs and antechamber influences, barracks conspiracies, and military pronunciamientos. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert shared with the boy king their liberal views and hopes that France should become a constitutional monarchy, based on the British model.

Louis, in spite of his conservative family background, had developed liberal tendencies as a result of his ties with Britain. Louis XVIII, taciturn and suspicious, relied heavily on his chief ministers, he was largely excluded from influence and political power, and most of his governmental power was entrusted to various advisers and counsel that reduced made the monarchy little more than a figurehead position. Louis died aged 30 in 1875, and was succeeded by his son, Louis XIX, who was born the following year.

Birth and regencies
Louis XVIII was the grandson of Louis XVII as the son of the Dauphin Louis Antoine, and his wife, Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. His father died two months before his birth. He was born in the Tuileries Palace on 15 February 1845. His godparents were Queen Victoria, Leopold II of Belgium, and his grandmother Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. When Louis XVIII died on 6 February, Louis, at the age of three, inherited the throne. As Louis was a three year old infant when he inherited the throne, France was ruled by regents until she became an adult.

His mother Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin became regent 18 February 1845 when her son was proclaimed sovereign on the death of the king. However many distrusted the Duchess's capacity to be regent, and was ousted from power by his grandmother Maria Amalia Teresa of Naples and Sicily, upon which Maria and Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult would share power as regents during his minority. de-Dieu Soult, a Progressive, remained regent for only two years.

His minority saw the abolition of slavery in France.

Jean-deDieu Soult was turned out in 1846 by a military and political pronunciamiento led by Generals Louis-Eugène Cavaignac and Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao. However two years later, he was overthrown in a counter coup, and Maria Amalia managed to remove and succeed him. They formed a cabinet, presided over by François Guizot.

Louis's reign was maintained only through the support of the army, along with the British. Making France a client state of Great Britain.

Life in Great Britain
Louis grew up during a tumultuous political period as the concept of liberalism in France, which evolved during the French Revolution, was gaining widespread and enthusiastic support. The liberals were constitutional monarchists who desired a constitution to ensure equal protection under the law, the protection of property, and the safeguarding of basic civil rights. Overall, the liberals desired a government ruled by popular representation, these emergent nationalistic and liberal sentiments sparked a series of political uprisings across France, for his safety he went to great britain to live with his godmother Queen Victoria, who was made his guardian. Although the uprisings ultimately brought about no lasting changes, liberal sentiments remained an influential force in France politics throughout Louis's life.

Five-year-old Louis was sent to Great Britain to spend the next thirteen years at the British court. The British fleet led Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy sailed with Louis from Roscoff to London, and lived in buckingham palace with Queen Victoria's children. Louis had a promising childhood. Eager to make the king the instrument of the liberalisation of France, Prince Albert took advantage of his stay to give the King the most comprehensive training possible, the future Edward VII, became a close friend of whom Louis "retained nostalgic memories in later life". His godparents were determined that Louis should have an education that would prepare him to be a model constitutional monarch. His time spent with the British, coupled with the influence of less conservative family members, were instrumental in his embrace of liberal beliefs.

Return to France
On 15 September 1850, as Louis approached his thirteenth birthday, the year of his majority, although Louis XVIII became of age at thirteen (1850), he did not return to france until 1853, when he was 16. Louis returned to France nine months later, arriving in Calais on 19 August 1851. On 25 October, Louis was crowned King at the Cathedral of Reims. Having lived in Great Britain since the age of five, Louis had little direct experience of the dangerous and complex political situation in France.

The uneasy alliance between Constitutional Feuillants and progressives was already cracking up by the time of the coming of age of the king. Despite the alleged parliamentary supremacy, in practice, the "double trust" led to Louis XVIII having a role in the making and toppling of governments, undermining the progressives. Despite this the new king was initially considered politically neutral; as he intervened less in politics than his grandfather. Frances's liberal elements hoped that he would usher in a new era of liberal policies.

Feuillant Rule
From May 1853 to January 1854, the Federal Parliament of the Kingdom convened for an unprecedented 171 days, this session was dominated by political infighting between and within the four parties: Constitutional Feuillants, Progressives, Republicains, and the Catholic Party; none were able to gain a majority. Debates heard on the floor of the houses concerned the popular demand for a new constitution and the passage of a free trade bill. The main issues of contention between the new monarch and the legislators were the retention of his cabinet ministers, since political division prevented Louis from appointing a balanced council and the 1814 Charter gave the legislature the power to vote for the dismissal of his cabinet.

Seven resolutions of want of confidence were introduced during this session, and four of his self-appointed cabinets. On January 13, 1854, after the Federal Parliament dismissed the Léon Faucher cabinet (which had political sympathies to the Progressives), he appointed on advice from the privy council, Émile Ollivier to form a new ministry. The council was dominated by the Party leaders from the Constitutional Feuillants, as his new cabinet ministers. Only four of his ministers were progressives and catholic conservatives.

Under the government of Émile Ollivier (whose ascension to premiership had been solely founded on the support from the networks of the royal court), the system was in a critical state by June 1854. On 28 June 1854 a military pronunciamiento intending to force the king to oust the government of the Émile Ollivier, featuring Jean-de-Dieu Soult, took place in Languedoc. The military coup (rather dominated by the moderates themselves) had a mixed result and proceeded then to seek for civilian support, promising new reforms not in the initial plans in order to appeal to progressives, bringing a "liberal regeneration", as proclaimed in the June Manifesto.

Days later, the situation was followed by a full-scale people's revolution, with revolutionary juntas organised on 17 July in Paris, and barricades erected in the streets. With the perspective of a civil war in the horizon, Louis was advised to appoint Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao (who enjoyed charisma and popular support) as prime minister.

Progressive biennium
Charles-Montauban entered the capital of france on 28 July, and proceeded to separate again Louis from the influence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. By virtue of a royal decree, allowing commerce between all ports in the empire, and took other measures to revive economic activity to the benefit of France, and dissolved the religious orders and confiscated their property (including that of the Jesuits).

A Liberal Constitution ("the Unborn One") was drafted in 1856, yet it was never enacted as the pro-British elements in France overthrew the Federal Government of Charles-Montauban. The overthrow was bolstered by the landing of British Royal Marines to protect British interests, which rendered the monarchy unable to protect itself, and Charles-Montauban seized power.

Marriage
On 24 November 1865, Louis XVIII married Marie Isabelle of Spain, daughter of Queen Maria Isabella. This marriage followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to the marriage of Louis VII of France and Constance of Castile. The marriage was only briefly happy, and the King's turbulent reign often kept them apart. The children of this marriage were:


 * Princess Amélie (1865–1951)
 * Princess Hélène (1871–1951)
 * Louis XIX (1876-1933)

Rule by Council
Following the death of Montauban. Louis determined that he would rule by council. In 1868 Louis refused to sanction a law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of 18 months. Upon the consequent resignation of Léon Faucher, he summoned Jules Armand Dufaure the Liberal leader, to form a new cabinet. Louis XVIII reduced to a mute witness in government councils following a stroke.

Death
In November 1875, Louis died, just short of his 31th birthday, at the Louvre Palace. He had been suffering from tuberculosis, but the immediate cause of his death was a recurrence of dysentery.