The Coronation of Louis XVI the King of France took place at

Reims Cathedral , image = Reims Kathedrale.jpg , imagealt = Facade, looking northeast , caption = Façade of the cathedral, looking northeast , pushpin map = France , pushpin map alt = Location within France , ...

on 11 June 1775 which fell on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

. Louis XVI had come to the throne the previous year in succession to his grandfather

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

who had reigned for 59 years. It was the first coronation since 1722 and only the second since 1654 due to the longevity of the two previous monarchs

and

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

. The city of

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

was the traditional site of French coronations, a ceremony that stretched back in some form to the baptism of

Clovis I Clovis ( la, Chlodovechus; reconstructed Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single kin ...

in the city. The ceremony was performed by

Charles Antoine de La Roche-Aymon Charles Antoine, Count of La Roche-Aymon, born at Mainsat (Marche) on 17 February 1697 and died in Paris on 27 October 1777, was a French prelate, cardinal and grand aumônier de France. La Roche-Aymon was born in the diocese of Limoges in 1696, ...

, the

Archbishop of Reims The Archdiocese of Reims (traditionally spelt "Rheims" in English) ( la, Archidiœcesis Remensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese ...

. Louis was crowned alongside his wife

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

who he had married in 1770 in a dynastic match to support the

Franco-Austrian Alliance The Franco-Austrian Alliance was a diplomatic and military alliance between France and Austria that was first established in 1756 after the First Treaty of Versailles. It lasted for much of the remainder of the century until it was abandoned dur ...

. The couple were childless at the time of the coronation but went on to have several children following the birth of Marie-Thérèse in 1778. In contrast to his predecessors Louis, rejected a role as leader of fashion and ceremony, and as soon as the coronation was over he took off his heavy coronation robes and never wore them again. He preferred lighter and less ceremonial dress at court.

Aftermath

Both Louis and Marie Antoinette were

guillotined A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at the ...

during the Revolution and their young heir

Louis XVII Louis XVII (born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a m ...

died in prison. The succession then passed to Louis XVI's younger brothers

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

and

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...

. It was the last coronation of the

Ancien Regime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word fo ...

before the French Revolution thirteen years later led to the overthrow of the monarchy. It was also the penultimate coronation of a French king followed only by the Coronation of Charles X (Louis' younger brother the

Count of Artois The count of Artois (French: Comtes d'Artois, Dutch: Graven van Artesië) was the ruler over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790. House of Artois *Odalric (c. 850s) ...

) in Reims during the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

. The

Coronation of Napoleon Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French on Sunday, December 2, 1804 (11 Frimaire, Year XIII according to the French Republican calendar), at Notre-Dame de Paris in Paris. It marked "the instantiation of hemodern empire" and was a "transpa ...

in 1804 had taken place at Notre Dame in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

.Price p.119

References

Bibliography

* Baker, Michael Keith. ''Inventing the French Revolution: Essays on French Political Culture in the Eighteenth Century''. Cambridge University Press, 1990. * Caiani, Ambrogio A. ''To Kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII''. Yale University Press, 2021. * Jones, Colin. ''The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon''. Penguin UK, 2003. * McManners, John. ''Church and Society in Eighteenth-century France: The clerical establishment and its social ramifications''. Clarendon Press, 1998. * Price, Munro. ''The Perilous Crown: France Between Revolutions, 1814–1848''. Pan Macmillan, 2010. {{ISBN? 1775 in France Louis XVI Reims Louis XVI

Aftermath

See also

References

Bibliography