Table of contents:
- Refuge of the French monarch in Mitava
- First expulsion of Louis XVIII from Russia
- Return to Mitava under Alexander I
- What happened to the king after another departure from Russia
Video: For which the French king was expelled from Russia twice: Wanderer Louis XVIII
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In 1791, at the height of the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, along with his family, made an unsuccessful attempt to escape, and in 1793 he was executed. Together with the rest of the deposed Bourbon dynasty, the brother of the king Louis-Stanislas-Xavier (Louis XVIII) fled, who nevertheless managed to leave the country. He will return to France in 1814 and take the throne exactly 10 centuries after the Frankish emperor Louis I, from which the numbering of his French namesakes began.
Refuge of the French monarch in Mitava
After his escape, Louis-Stanislas-Xavier tried to find refuge in Brussels, Verona, Blankenburg and other European cities. In 1795, it became known that the 10-year-old heir to the crown, Louis-Charles Capet, had died in the Temple prison. As the eldest in the Bourbon dynasty, Louis-Stanislas-Xavier proclaimed himself monarch of France under the name Louis XVIII.
In Europe, the title of an exile was recognized, but they could not leave it for a long time, since the French Republic forced the European rulers to drive the Bourbon family from their territories.
In 1798, after long wanderings across Europe, the titular king of France finally received asylum in Russia. Emperor Paul I, who previously provided special patronage to emigrants, showed sympathy for the unenviable fate of the overthrown Bourbons and showered them with generous gifts. The Russian sovereign took upon himself all the costs of moving Louis XVIII with his family and royal court retinue to Russia, sending him 60,000 rubles for the road and ordering Lieutenant General Fersen to accompany them all the way to Mitava (modern Jelgava in Latvia). The journey from Prussia to Russia lasted about a month.
The spacious Bironovsky Palace was at the disposal of the French guests, which from the very beginning did not satisfy all the claims of the king. Not remembering the rather large sums allocated by Pavel Petrovich for living in foreign lands and moving, Louis from the first days began to complain about the lack of comfort in his new home. In addition, he was unhappy with the fact that the emperor was delaying the issuance of new amounts in addition to the gratuitous content. In his diaries, the king wrote: "Paul I furnished me here with half a sin … they did not think to prepare rooms for my retinue at all … I had to buy at my own expense everything necessary for the first establishment." At the same time, the discerning king did not receive from other European rulers even half of what Paul I gave him.
The Russian monarch was embarrassed by such ingratitude, and pity for the ousted French king in him faded a little. The emperor was especially irritated by the newly admitted French noble corps to the Russian army. Lack of strict discipline, familiarity and frequent duels forced Paul I to issue an order that canceled any concessions for French soldiers and obliged them to serve in accordance with the statutes of His Imperial Majesty.
First expulsion of Louis XVIII from Russia
In 1799, the king had chances to return to his homeland. Russia fought successful battles against Napoleon in Italy, and they remembered about Louis again - Paul I presented him with orders and promised to return the throne.
Over time, the emperor became disillusioned with his allies in the anti-French coalition. Before the campaign in Switzerland, the Austrians did not provide the Suvorov troops with food, gave the wrong maps of the terrain and threw them alone with a superior enemy. Particular indignation was caused by the behavior of the British, who, after the liberation of Malta from the French, decided to keep it for themselves, instead of returning it to the Knights of Malta.
After these events, Paul I breaks off relations with unreliable allies and begins to seek reconciliation with France. Napoleon willingly took steps to meet the emperor and released the captured Russian soldiers. Active discussions began on joint military plans. And in such conditions, the presence of the Bourbons in Russia became impossible.
In January 1801, Count Fersen arrived in Mitava and informed Louis XVIII that he should leave Russia by order of the tsar. Moreover, this had to be done the next day after the notification.
Departure was complicated by the lack of funds for the road, but the local nobility helped the monarch and issued a loan on his word of honor. On the way from Russia to Warsaw, the king and his retinue stayed at roadside hotels and in the estates of hospitable Courland barons.
Return to Mitava under Alexander I
Louis found another refuge in Warsaw under the name of Count de Lille. A couple of months after his arrival, he learned about the death of the Russian emperor and described his feelings in his diary: "I cannot express what happened to me when I found out about this event … I forgot the injustice against me and thought only about the death that befell him." …
The new emperor of Russia, Alexander I, informed the exile about the resumption of maintenance payments and invited him to re-settle in Russia. Louis accepted this invitation only in 1805, when, under the influence of Napoleon, the king of Prussia asked him to leave Warsaw.
The French monarch, together with the royal court, settled again in Mitava and stayed there for 2 years. In the spring of 1807, a meeting between Alexander I and Louis XVIII took place at this place, during which the emperor promised that the exiled would always find a place in Russia and "in personal friendship." This favor was due to the fact that Russia was again at war with Napoleon. In fact, the Russian autocrat, unlike his father, had no respect for the titular king and for the entire Bourbon dynasty.
What happened to the king after another departure from Russia
Louis' dreams that his "friend" Alexander Pavlovich would defeat Napoleon and return the throne to him were not destined to come true. In the summer of 1807, after the War of the Fourth Coalition, the Tilsit Peace Treaty was concluded between Alexander I and Napoleon. The confused king, taught by bitter experience, understood perfectly well what awaited him, and decided not to wait for unpleasant messages from the king.
The Wanderer King voluntarily left Russia and settled in London. From there, he closely followed the war of 1814 and learned about the victory of the Russian army. The "Corsican" is finally defeated, and Louis goes home, takes the throne and regains the constitutional monarchy. The king without a kingdom waited 19 years for his return, and ruled the country for only 10. He died on September 16, 1824 after a long illness, leaving no direct descendants.
But the Bourbons are not the only dynasty that, after many years of power, was forced into exile. After coups and revolutions, the most titled monarchs appeared in their countries, who, it seemed, would always rule. Special hit also fell on the children of the rulers, because they were often seen as a threat to restoration.
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