No man made a more reluctant king than Louis XVI, a humble, pious, rather slow man who had the misfortune of being the absolute head of a state on the brink of revolution. Louis XVI, far from being the ruthless tyrant of Revolutionay oratory, was a peaceful and weak man. The irony of the situation remains that had Louis been more forceful at this critical juncture, he and his family may have not lost their lives and their dominion.
Louis XVI
Louis was humble, shy, modest and hated the court life. His favorite actitivities included hunting, eating and working with his hands...though not necesarily in that order. He loved fixing clocks and often wished he could have been born a clockmaker. (There is a very apocryphal anecdote that Dr. Louis, the inventor the guillotine, showed him the first model which had a straight horizontal blade. Louis, being mechanically oriented, told him to make the blade diagonal for a better cut) He was interested in many thing, except politics, and read and spoke English with fluency. Louis XVI could never appear regal. He made even the most fashionable clothes look frumpy in a matter of moments, a fact not helped by his corpulent build and plain features. Nevertheless Louis proved to be a brave man, enduring the via dolorosa of his prison sentence with a great deal of fortitude and impatience.
His Story
Louis XVI was the grandson of Louis XV and was to suffer the consequences of his grandfather's "apres nous, le deluge" attitude. Louis was married at 15 to Marie Antoinette. On Louis' wedding night, Louis XV advised him not to eat too much. The Dauphin answered, "Why? I always sleep better on a full stomach?" At first the royal family was childless. The populace blamed this on L'Austrienne but it was in fact due to the fact that Louis' foreskin was too tight. An operation in 1775 allowed them to have children. In 1774, Louis succeeded to the throne and his coronation was celebrated throughout the country. He was the first king since Saint Louis IX to be faithful to his wife and have no mistresses. Many people hoped that the well-meaning young monarch would correct some of the more prominent abuses of the court. He did try. But one of his first actions, meant to allow the people greater liberty, in fact only stirred up unnecessary resentment. He called back the parlements which Louis XIV had disbanded. They, in turn, opposed every single progressive tax minister of Louis' many finance minister. Completely dominated by his wife in this as in other matters, he would fire ministers who suggested that the court cliques she favored should be taxed.
Louis wasn't particularly observant. His journal entry for July 14, 1789 was "nothing." Actually, this meant that nothing had happened on the hunt...which was the only thing he kept the journal for. When news of the Bastille's importance finally reached Louis, he asked "It is a revolt?" The count who had given him the info answered, "No Sire, it is a revolution." Despite his feeble attempts to counteract the flow of the Revolution, Louis and his family soon became prisoners. Louis maintained courage despite the immense trials he faced. It was said then when he was coming back from the flight to Varennes, he was eating a piece of bread. One of the soldiers, meaning to anger him, knocked the bread from his hand and onto the dirt. Louis said calmly, "Citizen, it is a shame to waste bread when so many people are hungry. Louis was very forgiving. In a letter, he instructed his young son---who he taught during their imprisonment in the Temple---to forgive all those who had done such injuries to their family. His final wish was that his death "would cement some happiness for the French people."
Fictional Representations
Films
Marie Antoinette(1938)
Louis is portrayed as a shy, stuttering, mechanically-minded slow man who adores his wife and therefore tolerates the fact that she will always love Fersen more than himself. In the end, his sensitive love for her provokes protective feelings from his much steelier wife.
La Revolution Francaise(1989)
While the Revolution itself is portrayed as a magnificent event, that does not stop this film from portraying the king as a mild and well-meaning man who simply is not powerful enough to deal with the situation he faces. Taking advice of more reactionary minds such as those of the Comte d'Artois and Marie Antoinette, he makes some unwise choices. However, his courage is even paid tribute by the most radical of his opponents. The Jacobin Camille Desmoulins is made to say, "I admire his courage" before he sentences the King to death.
Jefferson in Paris(1994)
The King is portrayed as a simple-minded fool completely dependent on his wife and resistant to any change merely because it is change.
Novels
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
Louis is mainly seen dealing with the attacks of the revolutionaries. He does not prove himself as dull as many novels and histories have assumed, making some savvy character judgments on Dumoriez and Robespierre.
