The Bourbon Louis Stanislas Xavier, Count of Provence, is the brother of Louis XVI. When the latter tries to flee the Tuileries and the horrors of the Revolution, the one who is called "Monsieur" goes into exile in Brussels and then on the banks of the Rhine. On the death of his brother, he proclaimed himself Regent. But it was not until the end of the First Empire, when Napoleon abdicated in 1814, that he claimed the throne and named himself Louis XVIII le Désiré. Sovereign after the Revolution and the Empire, he grants freedoms to the people, necessary for their maintenance on the throne. He thus opts for a constitutional charter which revokes the absolute monarchy. It proclaims equality, individual freedom, freedom of expression and above all freedom of the press. But Napoleon returns from exile and overthrows the monarchy during “Hundred Days”. Louis XVIII fled. If Napoleon is defeated, the Désiré is no longer. At the end of his reign, he oscillated between ultra-royalists and liberals. He led an expedition to Spain (1823) to restore Ferdinand VII, bringing France out of international isolation. He dies without an heir.
November 17, 1755 - September 16, 1824
Status
King of France