Louis XVIII of France

Louis XVIII (Versailles 17 November 1755 – Paris 16 September 1824), Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, was a King of France and Navarre. The brother of Louis XVI, and uncle of Louis XVII, he ruled the kingdom from 1814 (although he dated his reign from the death of his nephew in 1795) until his death in 1824, with a brief break in 1815 due to his flight from Napoleon I during the Hundred Days.

King of France and Navarre Louis Stanislas Xavier was born on 17 November 1755 in the Palace of Versailles in France, the fourth son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and his wife, Marie-Josèphe of Saxony. His paternal grandparents were King Louis XV of France and his consort, Queen Maria Leszczyńska. As the grandson of the king, he was a Petit-Fils de France.

His maternal grandparents were King Augustus III of Poland, also the Elector of Saxony, and his wife, the Archduchess Maria Josepha, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I.

At birth, he received the title of Count of Provence, but after the death of his two elder brothers and the accession of his remaining elder brother as Louis XVI of France in 1774, he became heir presumptive and was generally known as Monsieur, the traditional title of the eldest of the younger brothers of the King. He was later pushed down to third in line to the throne of France by the birth of two sons to Louis XVI.

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