Louis XVI was the last king of France before the monarchy was overthrown by the French Revolution. He wore the style of Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before his execution by guillotine.
Louis XVI authorized French military support for the American colonies’ success in fighting the British, but the costs brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. He convened the General Assembly to settle his financial crisis, but in doing so he unwittingly sparked the French Revolution.
King Louis XVI was intellectually capable but lacking determination and authority, his regime was often classified as one of corruption, excess, and lack of concern for his subjects.
Who Is King Louis XVI?
Louis XVI, Louis Auguste born on 23 August 1754 was the last king of France before the monarchy was overthrown by the French Revolution. He wore the style of Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before his execution by guillotine.
He was the son of Louis, Prince of France, son and heir to the throne of Louis XV, and Mary Josepha of Saxony. When his father died in 1765, he became the newly Crowned Prince. After the death of his grandfather on May 10, 1774, he became King of France and Navarre, reigning until he received the title of King of France on September 4, 1791, and entered the monarchy on September 21, 1791.
The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform the French government in the spirit of the Enlightenment. These included the abolition of serfdom, the abolition of the taille (property tax) and the levy (labor tax), greater tolerance for non-Catholics, and the abolition of the death penalty for deserters. Louis implemented the deregulation of the grain market advocated by the business liberal minister Turgot, but the price of bread rose. In times of poor harvest, this led to food shortages, and during a particularly poor harvest in 1775, the populace rebelled.
Due to his indecision and conservatism, some of the French saw him as a symbol of the tyranny of the Ancient Regime, and his popularity waned. His failure to flee to Varennes in June 1791, four months before the constitutional monarchy was declared, suggested that the king would link his hopes of political relief to the possibility of foreign intervention. The king’s credibility was severely damaged, and the possibility of abolishing the monarchy and establishing a republic became more and more likely.
Louis XVI was suspended and arrested during the August 10, 1792 uprising. A month later, the monarchy was abolished and on September 21, 1792, the First French Republic was proclaimed. Louis was then tried by the National Convention (which itself was set up as a court on the occasion), was found guilty of high treason, and was named after its founder, Hugues Capet, on 21 January 1793.
Louis XVI was the only French king to be executed, and his death ended more than 1,000 years of the unbroken French monarchy. His two sons died in infancy before the Restoration of Bourbon. His only child who lived to adulthood, Marie-Thérèse, was given to the Austrians in exchange for French prisoners of war and eventually died childless in 1851.
How Old Was King Louis XVI
Born in 1754, King Louis XVI was 38 years before he died of execution.
