Louis XVI was king of France from 1774 to 1789 and then king of the French until 1792; guillotined during the French Revolution, he was the last sovereign of the Ancien Régime. The grandson of Louis XV, the future Louis XVI, was married to Marie Antoinette of Austria. Aged only twenty, he ascended the throne of France in 1774. Surrounded by competent politicians, the young king nevertheless struggled, from the beginning of his reign, to impose the necessary reforms to restore the country’s finances, while the people frowned upon the expenses and extravagances of his wife.
Unable to set the kingdom on the path of true modernization, both economically, socially, and politically, Louis XVI hastened the outbreak of the French Revolution, during which he was deposed, sentenced to death, and executed to prevent a return of the monarchy.
The Birth of the Future Louis XVI
In 1754, Louis Ferdinand, 24 years old, the dauphin and son of Louis XV, awaited his fourth child. However, the year had started badly: on February 22, the six-month-old Duke of Aquitaine died of whooping cough. A new son was born on August 23, 1754. The child was immediately baptized at Notre Dame church in Versailles and returned to his mother. The king quickly returned from Choisy, discovered a baby “larger and taller than any of the children of Madame la Dauphine,” contemplated him, named him Louis Auguste, and granted him the title of Duke of Berry, third in line to the throne.
From that moment on, the newborn was entrusted to Madame de Marsan, governess of the children of France. The announcement was made to the sovereigns of Europe as well as to the pope, and a Te Deum was sung in the chapel of the castle, which welcomed Louis XV and Marie Leszczynska. After the bells had rung throughout Paris, the king lit a fireworks display with his own hand, using a common rocket.
His health was very fragile during the first few months, to the point that a change of nurse was necessary. Weaned at eighteen months, the doctor recommended fresh air treatment in Meudon and treatment for smallpox. To avoid being alone, his older brother was allowed to accompany him between May and September 1756. Madame de Marsan, responsible for teaching them reading, writing, and sacred history, did not offer him her affection; she preferred the younger Count of Provence and focused all her attention on the heir, the Duke of Burgundy.
The young Duke of Berry felt very lonely and neglected. His mother took care of teaching religious history, and his father supervised their games and taught them languages and morals. But here too, the parents showed more interest in the eldest, who was considered more intelligent and pious.
Early Youth of the Duke of Berry
At the age of seven, children fall under the jurisdiction of the Duke of La Vauguyon, aided by four deputies. Consequently, the Duke of Burgundy departs from his siblings in 1758 to undergo preparation for his future reign, leaving behind the young Duke of Berry, aged only four, who experiences profound distress due to their separation.
In the spring of 1760, following the fall of an elder brother from his horse, Louis Auguste, though not yet seven years old, is permitted to leave the company of women and join his bedridden sibling. He engages in the same studies overseen by Monsieur de La Vauguyon’s team. By November, his health deteriorates rapidly; the Duke of Burgundy succumbs to pulmonary and bone tuberculosis. He undergoes swift baptism, receives the last rites on March 16, 1761, and passes away during the night of March 20.
Thankfully, the young Duke of Berry does not witness his elder brother’s passing; he is confined to bed due to a severe fever, likely brought on by the anxiety and despair stemming from his brother’s grave illness. His trauma deepens upon learning of the death. Moreover, he is placed in the quarters formerly occupied by the deceased Duke of Burgundy. Bereft of parental affection, as they perceive him as taciturn and sullen, he seeks solace in the Count of Provence. Adding to his distress, a joint baptism ceremony for the Dukes of Berry and the Count of Artois takes place in October 1761.
In August 1765, Dauphin Louis Ferdinand fell seriously ill with a high fever and passed away in December. Prior to his mother’s death from tuberculosis in March 1767, Louis Auguste received his confirmation and first communion in December 1766, urgently prepared for by the circumstances. In less than six years, Louis Auguste, not yet twelve, loses his elder brother, father, and mother.
A Studious and Gifted Student
The Duke of La Vauguyon enlisted an additional assistant to teach morality and public law. Father Berthier urged Louis Auguste to engage in independent thinking by promoting the method of free examination. He tasked Louis with composing eighteen moral and political maxims inspired by Fénelon’s “The Adventures of Telemachus.” The young boy emphasized concepts such as free trade, the reward of citizens, and the moral example that the king should uphold. La Vauguyon was highly pleased, allowing the young duke to publish the work and providing him with a press and resources to produce twenty-five copies.
Despite Louis’s anticipation of praise, his grandfather’s response fell short. The king tersely remarked, “Monsieur le Dauphin, your work is finished; break the plate.” It is worth noting that the maxims primarily revolved around morality and virtue.
Despite the lukewarm reception, Louis Auguste embarked on a second endeavor, “Reflections on My Conversations with Monsieur le Duc de La Vauguyon,” articulating his liberal view of monarchy by asserting that “kings are accountable for all injustices they fail to prevent.”
Perceived as insignificant, dreamy, awkward, and easily influenced, the dauphin proved to be a talented and conscientious student with a fervor for geography, mathematics, physics, rhetoric, and astronomy. He excelled in writing, grammar, logic, public law, history, dance, and fencing. He acquired proficiency in Latin, German, Italian, and English. Subsequently, he pursued equestrian training and developed a passion for mechanical arts such as clockmaking and locksmithing.
Despite his proficiency in these disciplines, he remained reserved and lacked assertiveness, though he felt at ease when hosting historians and philosophers at court, occasionally displaying a sense of humor. His grandfather, nearing 60, began to take some interest in the dauphin, despite his disinterest in politics or warfare due to insufficient knowledge in these domains.
End of Apprenticeship
The Abbé Soldini, the priest by the king’s bedside during the attack by Damien and in charge of the religious instruction of the dauphin, insists on avoiding “bad readings” and advises him to remain good, frank, punctual, open, and faithful to his future wife. This abbé will indeed become his confessor when he becomes Louis XVI.
Around 1770, the king realizes that Louis Auguste, dauphin in the title since the death of his elder brother in 1761, will be able to succeed him without a regency and then considers marrying him. To perpetuate the alliance with the Habsburgs, the French court chooses Marie Antoinette of Austria, daughter of Emperor Francis I, and Empress Maria Theresa.
The Dauphin is nearly sixteen now; he has grown tall and muscular. He remains shy, displaying a somber look and not daring to look his interlocutors in the eye. Solitary, he has no favorites; he speaks in a “high-pitched” voice, unpleasantly impressing his interlocutors. Despite his flaws, the Court considers him perfectly capable of leading his life as a prince without any other rules of conduct than those he follows. Obedient to his instructors, in four years he will be able to ascend the throne, animated by the desire to put into practice the precepts instilled by his masters.
When Louis XV died on May 10, 1774, the dauphin, his grandson, was a young man of nineteen. While the death of Louis XV elicited profound relief in the population, the accession of the young king gave rise to great hopes. Reputed to be good and generous, the new king was also of impeccable morality, guaranteeing that ruinous favorites would no longer reign at the Court as at the end of the previous reign.
But young Louis XVI would soon have to undertake several major projects in his kingdom and soon face an economic and financial crisis that would shake the entire French society.
The First Steps in the Reign of Louis XVI
When he ascends the throne, Louis XVI inherits a crisis that has been brewing for decades: the parliamentary crisis. The parliaments, these tribunals of the Ancien Régime, have indeed considered themselves since the beginning of the 18th century as defenders of the populations of the provinces against the abuses of monarchical power. In reality, the social position of the parliamentarians and the method of acquiring their offices, which are venal and hereditary, mean that they have no common interest with the majority of the French population.
Nevertheless, they used their right to remonstrate on royal edicts as a weapon of protest and repeatedly refused to register the king’s legislative acts. To break this opposition, the king can convene a lit de justice or, in the most extreme cases, exile the parliament from its city. Louis XV had resorted to this measure several times, and at the accession of Louis XVI, the Parliament of Paris had been exiled since it opposed the reforms of Chancellor Maupeou in 1771. One of Louis XVI’s first political acts was to recall the parliament in the autumn of 1774.
Indeed, Louis XVI contributed to reconstituting a conservative force that had always clung to its privileges and had constantly rejected the necessary reforms proposed by the sovereign. Louis XVI is a king deeply imbued with the importance of respecting the fundamental laws of the kingdom of France and therefore does not wish to go against this traditional institution.
For the moment, Louis XVI was appointed Minister of Finance by the man who wrote the economic articles of the Encyclopedia, Turgot. This minister will immediately launch a series of extremely audacious reforms, such as freedom of trade in grains or the abolition of royal corvée, guilds, and corporations.
However, Turgot did not have time to carry out all his reforms, as he was forced to resign in 1776. His ambitious project of a “uniform territorial subsidy,” that is, a tax paid by all, including the clergy and the nobility, had aroused the strongest opposition from the privileged through the voice of the parliaments.
Louis XVI and the Economic and Financial Crisis
In two years, Turgot had established a tax collection system, enabling France to maintain sound finances without resorting to borrowing. However, France’s involvement in the American War of Independence (American Revolutionary War), starting in 1776, would completely disrupt this system. Benjamin Franklin‘s diplomatic negotiations in Paris, on behalf of the insurgents, ultimately drew France into the conflict against Great Britain.
Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, sought to avenge France’s perceived insult at the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763. While the war yielded military success for the Franco-Americans, it substantially exacerbated the kingdom’s financial deficit.
Necker, a Geneva banker appointed as Minister of Finance, endeavored to address the deficit by agreeing to a loan. However, he recognized that without fundamental fiscal reform, the loan would prove futile. His reform efforts faced staunch opposition from the parliaments, and unable to surmount this resistance, he publicly disclosed the state of the kingdom’s finances in a Report to the King.
However, the report was misleading as it omitted military expenses, the true contributors to the deficit. Despite earning public sympathy by exposing the true cost of the privileged orders, Necker incurred the ire of the nobility, leading to his dismissal in 1781.
Not until 1783 did another Minister of Finance confront the deficit issue. By then, it had become the primary concern of the state. Calonne, the new minister, resorted to borrowing once more and launched a comprehensive communication campaign to restore confidence in France’s financial stability. However, without addressing the core flaws in the tax system, such measures could not yield lasting effects. Consequently, the deficit persisted, compelling Calonne to present the king with a more drastic austerity plan.
During this period, France’s economic situation significantly worsened. The free trade agreement with Great Britain, signed in 1786, exacerbated the problem by flooding France with cheap industrial goods, leading to widespread unemployment in French manufacturing cities. The growing impoverished population deeply concerned royal authorities, who feared potential uprisings sparked by economic distress.
Queen and Palace Discredited
To comprehend the oscillations of Louis XVI’s policy during the initial years of his reign, one must grasp the role of the Court, particularly that of the queen alongside the king. The king’s lack of willpower, firmness, indecisiveness, and susceptibility to courtiers and his wife have frequently been criticized.
Louis XVI was raised within the devout faction of the Court of Versailles, which poorly equipped him to readily embrace the modernization proposals put forth by his ministers. He acquiesced to the demands of the privileged, who insisted on the dismissal of Turgot in 1776. Consequently, the most significant reforms during his reign either remained unrealized or resulted in only partial measures due to the ministers consistently lacking the king’s support in the face of opposition from the nobility or the parliaments.
The queen, Marie Antoinette of Austria, also wielded considerable influence during this era. Married to the dauphin in 1770, she symbolized the alliance between France and Austria. However, her foreign status bred deep-seated mistrust, fostering numerous rumors about her. Louis XVI’s apparent disinterest in her was derided, leading to allegations of multiple lovers and a relationship with the Countess de Polignac.
In truth, her spontaneity and disregard for the rigid Versailles etiquette provoked disapproval from a populace deeply committed to upholding monarchical values and protocols.
The Court, and particularly the Queen, suffered a significant blow to their prestige with the affair over the necklace in 1785. This elaborate scam perpetrated at the expense of Cardinal de Rohan further solidified Marie Antoinette’s reputation for moral laxity in public opinion, despite her having no actual involvement in the affair.
Breaking the Deadlock: The Estates General
As the year 1787 commenced, Calonne found himself with no means to address the deficit. The new loans raised served only to pay the interest on previous loans. The possibility of convening the Estates-General, an ancient monarchical institution whose theoretical function is to consent to new taxes levied by the king, was then evoked. To avoid this recourse, Calonne created an assembly of notables that would fulfill this role. Placing all hopes of improving the country’s financial situation in an assembly, even one composed of privileged individuals, already constituted a revolution.
The critical state of the royal Treasury, compounded by noble opposition to absolutism and social and economic unrest, led Louis XVI to recall Necker and convene the Estates-General (May 1789).
Despite his agreement to double the representation of the Third Estate in the Estates-General, secured in December 1788, the king’s silence on the question of voting by order (advocated by the Parliament of Paris) or by the head during the opening session of the Estates-General on May 1, 1789, in Versailles, caused immense disillusionment among the bourgeoisie. The king did not intend, in fact, to ruin by this decision the foundation of the social structure upon which his kingdom was built.
The members of the Third Estate, finally united, refused to leave unless the monarch accepted reforms. Constituted as the National Assembly, they were joined by deputies from the clergy and the nobility. On June 20, through the Tennis Court Oath, they committed to giving France a constitution. Louis XVI, reluctant, could no longer pretend to ignore them. The absolute monarchy would gradually give way to the constitutional monarchy.
Louis XVI in the Turmoil of the French Revolution
For fear of an aristocratic plot, the people of Paris rose, marking the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Louis XVI returns to Paris on the 17th, while the first aristocrats depart for exile. The National Assembly votes for the abolition of privileges on the night of August 4 and proclaims the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
Reluctantly, Louis XVI acknowledges these changes, and the Parisian population retrieves him from Versailles on October 6, 1789, bringing him back to the Tuileries. The lawmakers continued their work, and at the Federation Feast on July 14, 1790, the king and the people united in an appearance of harmony. Always hostile to reforms that contradict his convictions as a monarch, the king attempted to leave Paris on June 20, 1791, but was arrested in Varennes and returned to Paris. The Constitution was promulgated on September 14, 1791, transferring executive power to the king of the French.
However, the flight to Varennes definitively marks the rupture between the people and the king. The hesitant and contradictory attitude of the monarch from the beginning of the French Revolution, the influence of his wife and brothers (the Count of Provence and the Count of Artois), the secret support given to emigrants, the suspensive vetoes under the Legislative Assembly, intended to slow down the Revolution, and the secret negotiations with the enemy after the declaration of war against Austria (April 1792) have already greatly undermined the royal prestige.
The Brunswick Manifesto, threatening to raze Paris if the royal family was not respected, provoked popular indignation and the Insurrection of August 10 1792. The Tuileries are stormed, and the king and his family must seek refuge in the National Assembly.
As a prisoner of the insurrectional commune, the king is suspended from his functions and imprisoned in the Temple prison. The trial of Louis XVI opened on December 11, 1792, in a tumultuous atmosphere. “Louis Capet” is judged and declared guilty of “conspiracy against the freedom of the nation.” His three defenders fail to save him. Sentenced to death without appeal to the people or reprieve, despite the moderate attitude of the Girondins, he was executed on January 21, 1793, at 10 a.m. on the Place de la Révolution (now Place de la Concorde).
He declares before his death, “I die innocent of all the crimes that are imputed to me; I forgive the authors of my death; I pray to God that the blood you shed will not fall on France.”
