LOUIS XVI’S BROTHERS
When Louis XVI was beheaded during the French Revolution, his only surviving son and heir was in prison with his mother Marie-Antoinette and his sister. He was taken from them and kept in a separate part of the prison where he was poorly treated. He died there at the age of 10.
His uncles had fled France early during the Revolution.
When Louis XVI died at the guillotine, his young son had been recognised by royalists as Louis XVII. When he died, his uncle, who was living in Verona, declared himself to be Louis XVIII.
When Napoleon took over Italy, Louis XVIII was forced to leave and he relied on the hospitality of various European rulers opposed to Napoleon. He and his younger brother Charles had moved around Europe and were living in England when news came of Napoleon’s abdication. The Allies who defeated Napoleon had different ideas about who should rule France. Talleyrand succeeded in convincing them that Louis XVIII was the best option.
Louis XVIII returned to Paris and moved straight into the Tuileries Palace.*
Nine months later, Napoleon escaped exile from the Mediterranean Island of Elba and returned to France. Louis XVIII fled to the Netherlands.
Napoleon once again ruled for “the Hundred Days” until his final defeat at Waterloo.
When Louis XVIII returned to France, he once again returned to the Tuileries.
*The Tuileries Palace was destroyed by fire in 1871. All that remained was the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and thePavillon de Flore.
