Louis XVIII (Reign of Three Monarchies)

Louis XVIII was King of France, also known as Le Pacificatrice or The Peacemaker was King of France reigning from 1853 to 1875. Shortly before his ninth birthday, Louis became King of France after Queen Jeanne IV died from childbirth. King Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz governed as regent during his minority, which ended officially in 1864.

Louis XVIII, taciturn and suspicious, relied heavily on his chief ministers, first Marshal Étienne Maurice Gérard and then Émile Ollivier, to govern the Kingdom of France. Under his reign the monarchy became more symbolic than political, as he became a nominal figurehead, and most of the governmental power in Paris was entrusted to various advisers and counsel under the control of Ollivier.

Early Life
Born at the Louvre Palace, Louis XVIII was the eldest child of Queen Jeanne IV. Officially, his father was her husband, King Francisco de Asís. Alfonso's biological paternity is uncertain. There is speculation that his biological father may have been Edmond Dantès ( the Captain of the Musketeers of the Guard). These rumours were used as political propaganda against Louis by the Legitimists.

His mother's accession created the second cause of instability, which was the Liberal Wars. The supporters of the Count of Artois as king of France rose to have him enthroned. As son of the queen, he was a Fils de France ("son of France"), and as the eldest son, Dauphin of France. Louis XVIII ascended the throne in 1854 after his mother died in Childbirth. His father acted as his Regent. Which ended when he was thirteen.

Constitutional Figurehead
Louis was a conscientious and hard-working monarch who, under the guidance of his father, sought radical modernisation of the French state and infrastructure. Under his reign, roads, telegraphs, and railways were constructed and improvements in public health advanced. His popularity increased when, during the cholera outbreak of 1853–1856, he visited hospitals handing out gifts and comforting the sick. His father maintained most of his wife's ministers, and he mainly relied on Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul for political advice.

Within a few days after Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul took power as Premier, the new king, proclaimed on 29 December 1856, was crowned at the Cathedral of Reims. Initially led by Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul as moderate prime minister, what was thought at one time as a coup aimed at placing the military in the political-administrative positions of power, in reality ushered in a civilian regime that lasted until Charles de Gaulle's Ascendancy during World War II.

Later Reign
Louis's domestic reign was a tedious and ineffective series of transitional governments called Rotativism formed at various times by the Liberal Party and the Conservative Catholic Party, Louis favored the liberals who secured their long term in office after 1863. In 1863 refused to sanction a law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of 18 months. Upon the consequent resignation of Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul, he summoned Émile Ollivier, the Liberal leader, to form a new cabinet. Émile Ollivier played a major role in Louis XVIII's reign until his death. Under Louis and Ollivier, the crown successfully intervened in the Crimean War.

The court moved with the King and Queen from palace to palace each year following a regular calendar. At the beginning of May, the King and court moved to the Château de Saint-Cloud for outdoor activities in the park. In June and July, they moved with selected guests to the Palace of Fontainebleau for walks in the forest and boating on the lake. In July, the court moved to thermal baths for a health cure, first to Plombières, then to Vichy, and then, after 1856, to the military camp and residence built at Châlons-sur-Marne (nowadays: Châlons-en-Champagne), where Louis could take the waters and review military parades and exercises.

In November, the court moved to the Château de Compiègne for forest excursions, dancing and more games. Famous scientists and artists, such as Louis Pasteur, Gustave Flaubert, Eugène Delacroix and Giuseppe Verdi, were invited to participate in the festivities at Compiègne. He commissioned the painters to decorate the Louvre Palace. At the end of the year the King and Court returned to the Royal Palace of Paris, the Tuileries Palace, and the Palace of Versailles and gave a series of formal receptions and three or four grand balls with six hundred guests early in the new year. Visiting dignitaries and monarchs were frequently invited. During Carnival, there was a series of very elaborate costume balls on the themes of different countries and different historical periods, for which guests sometimes spent small fortunes on their costumes.

Africa
to be added

Britain
Louis domestic reign saw France and Great Britain's relations improved. Lord Palmerston as Britain's Foreign Minister and Prime Minister had close personal ties with leading French statesmen, notably Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul himself. Palmerston's goal was to arrange peaceful relations with France in order to free Britain's diplomatic hand elsewhere in the world. Louis at first had a pro-British foreign policy and was eager not to displease the British government, whose friendship he saw as important to France. After a brief threat of an invasion of Britain in 1851, France and Britain cooperated in the 1850s with an alliance in the Crimean War and a major trade treaty in 1860.

From the start of his Reign, Louis XVIII sought an alliance with Britain. An opportunity soon presented itself: In early 1853, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia put pressure on the weak Ottoman government, demanding that the Ottoman Empire give Russia a protectorate over the Christian countries of the Balkans as well as control over Constantinople and the Dardanelles. The Ottoman Empire, backed by Britain and France, refused Russia's demands, and a joint British-French fleet was sent to support the Ottoman Empire. When Russia refused to leave the Romanian territories it had occupied, Britain Spain, and France declared war on 27 March 1854.