Overview
Louis XVIII
(1755—1824)
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(1755–1824)
King of France (1795–1824). The brother of Louis XVI, he became titular regent after the death of the latter in 1793, and declared himself king on the death in prison of the ten‐year‐old Louis XVII. Known as the comte de Provence, he had fled to Koblenz, and then to England, where he led the counter‐revolutionary movement. His exile ended in 1814 and with the help of Talleyrand he returned to the throne of France and issued a constitutional charter. He appointed Marshal Soult (1769–1851) as his Minister of War, the latter going on to a long political career. Many of Napoleon's reforms in the law, administration, church, and education were retained, but after the assassination (1820) of his nephew the duc de Berry, he replaced moderate ministers by reactionary ones. Civil liberties were curbed, a trend which continued under his younger brother and successor, Charles X.
Subjects: History
