Louis XVIII

Full name
	French: Louis Stanislas Xavier de France See more

Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII
	Portrait by François Gérard
King of France
	6 April 1814 – 20 March 1815
Predecessor	Napoleon I as Emperor
Successor	Napoleon I
	8 July 1815 – 16 September 1824
Predecessor	Napoleon I
Successor	Charles X
Prime Ministers	See list
Born	17 November 1755; Palace of Versailles, Kingdom of France
Died	16 September 1824 (aged 68); Louvre Palace, Paris, Kingdom of France
Burial	24 September 1824; Basilica of Saint Denis, France
Spouse	Marie Joséphine of Savoy
Full name
Full name
	French: Louis Stanislas Xavier de France See more
House	Bourbon
Father	Louis, Dauphin of France
Mother	Maria Josepha of Saxony
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Louis XVIII (17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824) was King of France from April 1814 to March 1815 and again from July 1815 to September 1824.

He became king with the Bourbon Restoration of the monarchy after the overthrow of Napoleon I. He ruled a constitutional monarchy, meaning he was not the main leader of his government. However, unlike some constitutional monarchs, he did have some influence in politics.

Born in Versailles, he was the brother of Louis XVI of France and in early life was known as the Comte de Provence. He remained in Paris after the French Revolution began in 1789 but escaped to Belgium two years later. After Louis XVI's execution in 1793 and the death of Louis XVI's son in 1795, he called himself Louis XVIII. He lived as an exile in various European countries until he became king after Napoleon's first abdication in 1814. On Napoleon's return to power in 1815, however, Louis again fled to Belgium; later the same year he was restored to the throne after Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo. He remained on the throne until his death in 1824.

Louis XVIII Media

The Count of Provence and his brother Louis Auguste, Duke of Berry (later Louis XVI), depicted in 1757 by François-Hubert Drouais
Marie Joséphine of Savoy
Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, during the reign of Louis XVI of France
Marie Joséphine, Countess of Provence, Louis Stanislas' wife, by Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty, 1775
Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, comte de Provence by Joseph Boze
Jelgava Palace, Louis XVIII's residence from 1798 to 1801, and from 1804 to 1807
Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, Louis XVIII's court-in-exile from 1808 until the Restoration
Allegory of the Return of the Bourbons on 24 April 1814: Louis XVIII Lifting France from Its Ruins by Louis-Philippe Crépin
King Louis XVIII of France in 1814
The Battle of Waterloo put a definite end to Napoleon Bonaparte's attempt to return to France and thus secured the Bourbon restoration.