History UsefulNotes / LouisXVI

Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791. Upon accepting the 1791 Constitution, he became "King of the French"[[note]]A title that would be revived in the July Monarchy[[/note]] until the 10 August 1792. He became King as a young man (20 years of age, which was still older than his three immediate predecessors, who became king at nine, five, and five) and his reign coincided with - UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, the IndustrialRevolution, UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.

* Creator/MikeDuncan has some nice things to say about Louis as a human being, but nearly none about him as a politician in hist Podcast/{{Revolutions}} podcast.

-> ''"It may be considered politically unwise, but it seems to me to be the general wish and I want to be loved."''
-->-- '''Louis XVI''', ''justifying his decision to open the parlements''

'''Louis XVI''' (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791. Upon accepting the 1791 Constitution, he became "King of the French"[[note]]A title that would be revived in the July Monarchy[[/note]] until the 10 August 1792. He became King as a young man (20 years of age, which was still older than his three immediate predecessors, who became king at nine, five, and five) and his reign coincided with - UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, the IndustrialRevolution, UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.

* ''La Révolution Française'', a two-part film (1989[[note]]The bicentennial of the Revolution[[/note]])

* ''Film/MarieAntoinette - Played by Jason Schwartzman.

His death by execution marked the end of Ancien Régime, absolute monarchy, feudalism and the Divine Right of Kings as a concept of sovereignty.

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'''Louis XVI''' (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791. Upon accepting the 1791 Constitution, he became "King of the French"[[note]]A title that would be revived in the July Monarchy[[/note]] until the 10 August 1792. He became King as a young man (20 years of age) and his reign coincided with - UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, the IndustrialRevolution, UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.

* ''Jefferson in Paris'' - Merchant-Ivory film which chronicles UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson's time as French Ambassador in the late 1780s. Michel Lonsdale plays the King.

Initally, Louis XVI was quite open to new ideas and embracing some of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment reforms. Where his precessor had brutally shut down the parliaments[[note]]Though parliaments proved shortly before the Estates Genetal to be [[ItsAllAboutMe only interested]] in keeping their [[{{Greed}} privileges]], not really any political reform, and even less social reforms[[/note]] and railed against any reforms whatsoever, the King wanted to be popular and lessen some of the malcontent against his rule. In 1787, He signed into place the Edict of Versailles, which ended 102 years of Catholic subjugations of Protestants and Jews under the noxious Edict of Fontainebleau, giving them legal rights and civil status, a primitive form of reform that paved the way for the more decisive initiatives of the Revolution. The King's financial advisors -- Malesherbes and Turgot -- however faced opposition when they tried to put new taxes on the nobles, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney who despite having the money did not want to pay]]. Indeed, it was for reasons of solving a growing economic crisis and issuing monetary reform that Louis XVI convoked the meeting of the Estates-General in 1789, the first time in 150 years. This decision gave political representation and brought on to the national stage a generation that was as young as the King and with comparatively little political experience. The corrupt nobility and clergy regarded the King's reforms with scorn and they urged him to sideline the Third Estate, this led to the Tennis Court Oath and the forming of the National Assembly. A decision to send troops to Paris triggered the Fall of the Bastille and the real beginning of Revolution.

--> ''Sieyès, who had voted for death, once told [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]] that [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Louis XVI was a tyrant]] and deserved to die: "M. l'abbé [Napoleon snapped], [[BrutalHonesty if he had been a tyrant I would not be here and you would still be saying mass]]."''

--> ''"It may be considered politically unwise, but it seems to me to be the general wish and I want to be loved."''

! Tropes

* {{Acrofatic}}: Louis XVI was a highly active child and highly fit physically, quite fond of hunting, sport and physical activities. He tended to portliness but that did not mean he was lazy by any means.
* BrokenPedestal: During the Revolution's early years, pre-Flight, Louis XVI was loved by the people of France who called him TheGoodKing because he convened the Estates General and swore on the Constitution. The discovery that the King had been secretly plotting to escape from France and turn against the Revolution was a huge shock across France. Overnight, Louis XVI went from TheGoodKing to ZeroPercentApprovalRating.
* DesignatedVillain: A nice, thoughtful shy Prince, who genuinely cared for his subjects and wanted to be loved ended up being executed by the people because they saw him as too weak. As noted by Napoleon above, and several others, if Louis XVI had truly been the tyrant the propaganda had described, it was unlikely that there would have been a Revolution on the same scale. Alexis de Tocqueville noted that Louis XVI's attempt to improve France [[TragicHero hastened his downfall]], and from this he noted that obsolete governments will ultimately destroy themselves by "too little, too late" reforms rather than being a total irresponsible hedonist like UsefulNotes/LouisXV.
* TheDitherer: His most universally recognized flaw. His repeated flips-flops lost him the trust of the patriots, dooming him and the monarchy. All of his reign can be resumed through this sequence: Louis agrees with some reform or energic[[note]]i.e. despotic[[/note]] measure -> said reform faces fierce opposition or no longer suits him after some reflection -> he steps back on this reform/measure. Wash, rinse, repeat ''ad nauseam''.
** This even extended to his Flight of Varennes, the details of the planned escape to Montmedy on the Frontier between France and Austria was decided and planned by Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen but Louis kept delaying the moment of departure to the last minute, and by the time they did delay it, there were quite a few leaks about their intentions and increased activity on the frontier that made local citizens at Varennes suspicious and alert. The King came very close but was halted at the last moment because of their alertness.
* EmbarrassingNickname: He was labelled Monsieur Veto for abusing the Royal Veto given to him by the 1791 Constitution. They also called him Louis Capet or Citizen Capet (used in his trial).
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Perhaps the most famous example in the Revolution. He went to the scaffold with composure and great courage. He told the crowd that he forgave his accussers and hopes that his death prevents any further bloodshed. Six months later, the ReignOfTerror started.
--> ''"I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I Pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France."''
* TheGoodKing: Until the Flight to Varennes, he was seen as this by most Frenchman, even the Jacobins. The public blamed the King's advisors, his predecessors and of course, his wife, for his failure in reforming the system. The people liked the fact that Louis XVI seemed to want to bring people to government office and devolve his office to Constitutional checks-and-balances. Posterity tends to see him as a TragicHero who had it not been for the circumstances and situation he was in, might have had a kinder fate.
* HappilyMarried: He and Marie Antoinette, he created [[ValuesDissonance a scandal]] for being completely faithful and devoted to her. This was definitely a bourgeois (minus the hypocrisy) rather than an aristocratic trait.
* HiddenDepths: Louis XVI provided crucial support to UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and had his finance minister, Jacques Necker, provide funds for the war effort by raising loans from foreign banks. He also banned the use of torture, partially in 1781, completely in 1788. Revolutionaries respected this abrogation.

* IHaveTheHighGround: Like his grandfather UsefulNotes/LouisXV, Louis XVI liked to spent time walking on the (mostly flat) roofs of Versailles.
* {{Irony}}: Shortly after his coronation, Louis XVI paid a visit to Louis-le-Grand high school where the school's best student gave a speech in Latin celebrating his ascension. The name of that student, UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre, who would later become one of the main orators calling for his death, undoubtedly following on his oratory skills learned from the same school.
* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: The recall of the parlements in 1774. It made Louis XVI widely popular, but modern historians consider it to be a blunder which doomed the monarchy. Parlements were jurisdictions traditionally seen as a speaker for the people, as they frequently opposed kings. In reality, they were {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s mainly concerned with [[ItsAllAboutMe keeping their own privileges]] and UsefulNotes/LouisXV had them abolished in 1771. The comeback of the parlements effectively made any fiscal reform impossible, leading to Louis XVI calling for the Estates General.
* KingIncognito: Tried to pull this off during the Flight to Varennes, he dressed like a bourgeois advocate. Despite this, he was repeatedly recognized on the carriage trail through France, [[HighlyVisibleNinja because he kept leaning on the window]]. The reasons why his face was so recognizable? He [[HoistByHisOwnPetard was highly popular before the Flight]]. Every house in France had a portrait or image of him, the newly printed assignats had his face on the money, and by the time he arrived in Varennes, there were a few local deputies who had attended the widely attended "Fête de la Federation" and had seen him swear on the constitution, in addition to a local clerk who had seen the King at Versailles. He was woken up at night and despite being sleepy, he immediately dropped to a curtsey on seeing the King, at which point Louis gave up the game.
* {{Nerd}}: Intelligent, check; socially awkward, check; physically awkward, check[[note]]Louis XVI waddled and was highly mocked in the court because of it[[/note]]; no girls, check[[note]]He didn't seduce Marie Antoinette to marry her and didn't have mistresses. Even better, he ''wasn't interested'' in having one[[/note]], odd projects, check[[note]]locksmithing and scientific expeditions[[/note]]. The one thing that doesn't fit is physical fitness; like all Bourbons, Louis spent hours a day on horseback to hunt. As being a King is largely a work of representation, this trope proved ''disastrous''. UsefulNotes/LouisXV was shy, but at least he was handsome and had loads of mistresses.
* OffWithHisHead: He died by guillotine, operated by the former royal executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson.
* OneOfUs: Famously known for his geeky hobby of locksmithing. Apocryphal accounts of his execution mention that minutes before his death, he still asked if anyone had news of the scientific expedition of La Pérouse (which he financed and supervised)[[note]]La Pérouse hadn't send rapports for years. It was later discovered that the expedition shipwrecked somewhere in the Solomon Islands[[/note]].
* NiceGuy: Even pro-revolutionary historians, the ones who justify his execution, will admit that Louis XVI was personally very kind and quite a nice person.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: In 1787, Louis XVI famously said "''Yes, it is legal. It is legal because I want it!''" when he forced the ''parlement'' to validate one more public loan to manage the national debt. He was answering to the Duke of Orleans who had said "''This is illegal!''" (the Duke got exiled for his trouble).
* WouldntHitAGirl: During the Women's March to Versailles, he told his guards under no circumstances were they to fire at the protestors.

! Appearances.

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* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: The recall of the parlements in 1774. It made Louis XVI widely popular, but modern historians consider it to be a blunder which doomed the monarchy. Parlements were jurisdictions traditionally seen as a speaker for the people, as they frequently opposed kings. In reality, they were ObstructiveBureaucrat{{s}} mainly concerned with [[ItsAllAboutMe keeping their own privileges]] and UsefulNotes/LouisXV had them abolished in 1771. The comeback of the parlements effectively made any fiscal reform impossible, leading to Louis XVI calling for the Estates General.
* KingIncognito: Tried to pull this off during the Flight to Varennes, he dressed like a bourgeois advocate. Despite this, he was repeatedly recognized on the carriage trail through France, [[HighlyVisibleNinja because he kept leaning on the window]]. The reasons why his face was so recognizable? He [[HoistByHisOwnPetard was highly popular before the Flight]]. Every house in France had a portrait or image of him, the newly printed assignats had his face on the money, and by the time he arrived in Varennes, there were a few local deputies who had attended the widely attended "Fete de la Federation" and had seen him swear on the constitution, in addition to a local clerk who had seen the King at Versailles. He was woken up at night and despite being sleepy, he immediately dropped to a curtsey on seeing the King, at which point Louis gave up the game.

* KingIcognito: Tried to pull this off during the Flight to Varennes, he dressed like a bourgeois advocate. Despite this, he was repeatedly recognized on the carriage trail through France, [[HighlyVisibleNinja because he kept leaning on the window]]. The reasons why his face was so recognizable? He [[HoistByHisOwnPetard was highly popular before the Flight]]. Every house in France had a portrait or image of him, the newly printed assignats had his face on the money, and by the time he arrived in Varennes, there were a few local deputies who had attended the widely attended "Fete de la Federation" and had seen him swear on the constitution, in addition to a local clerk who had seen the King at Versailles. He was woken up at night and despite being sleepy, he immediately dropped to a curtsey on seeing the King, at which point Louis gave up the game.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Inverted. Louis is often portrayed as short and squat, but while he did have a pronounced belly, his actual height was six (French) feet three inches or 193 centimeters, very tall for the time.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Louis is often portrayed as short and squat, but while he did have a pronounced belly, his actual height was six (French) feet three inches or 193 centimeters.

--> ''Sieyes, who had voted for death, once told [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]] that [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Louis XVI was a tyrant]] and deserved to die: "M. l'abbe [Napoleon snapped], [[BrutalHonesty if he had been a tyrant I would not be here and you would still be saying mass]]."''

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[[caption-width-right:350:Louis XVI in 1777 by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis]]

* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: The recall of the parlements in 1774. Parlements were jurisdictions traditionally seen as speaker of the people, as they frequently opposed kings. In reality, they were ObstructiveBureaucrat{{s}} mainly concerned with [[ItsAllAboutMe keeping their own privileges]]. The comeback of the parlements, while making the King widely popular, effectively made any fiscal reform impossible, leading to Louis XVI calling for the Estates General. Modern historians consider the recall of the parlements to be a blunder which doomed the monarchy.

* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: The recall of the parlements. Parlements were jurisdictions traditionally seen as speaker of the people, as they frequently opposed kings. In reality, they were ObstructiveBureaucrat{{s}} mainly concerned with [[ItsAllAboutMe keeping their own privileges]]. The comeback of the parlements effectively made any fiscal reform impossible, leading to Louis XVI calling for the Estates General.

* ''La Révolution Française'' (1989[[note]]The bicentennial of the Revolution[[/note]])