Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême

Louis Antoine of France, Duke of Angoulême (6 August 1775 – 3 June 1844) was the elder son of Charles X of France and the last Dauphin of France from 1824 to 1830.

He was a petit-fils de France at birth, and was initially known as Louis Antoine d'Artois. After his father's accession to the throne, he became Dauphin de France, and his surname changed to de France, following the royal custom for princes with such rank. '

Biography The young duke with his siblings and mother, the Countess of Artois (by Charles Le Clercq, c. 1780–1782)

Early life Louis Antoine was born at the Palace of Versailles, as the eldest son of Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, the youngest brother of King Louis XVI. He was born one year after the death of his great-grandfather, King Louis XV and 7 years after the death of his great-grandmother, Queen Marie Leszczyńska. His mother was Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy (known as Marie Thérèse in France), daughter of Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain.

From 1780 to 1789, Louis Antoine and his younger brother, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, were educated by their gouverneur Armand-Louis, Marquis of Sérent in the château de Beauregard, located away from Versailles. On the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the two young princes followed their father into exile first to Turin, then the Holy Roman Empire, and finally Britain. In 1792, Louis Antoine joined the émigré army of his cousin, the Prince of Condé.

In June 1795, his uncle, the comte de Provence, proclaimed himself King Louis XVIII. Later that year, the 20-year-old Louis Antoine led an unsuccessful royalist uprising in the Vendée. In early 1797, he joined his brother and uncle in the German Duchy of Brunswick, hoping to join the Austrian Army. The defeat of Austria by France obliged them to flee, and they took refuge in Mittau, Courland, under the protection of Tsar Paul I of Russia.

There, on 10 June 1799, Louis Antoine married his first cousin, Marie Thérèse of France, the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only member of the immediate royal family to survive the French Revolution. Since her release from the Temple Prison in 1795, she had been living at the Austrian court. They had one child, who died at birth in 1813. Louis-Antoine and Marie-Therese finally consummated their marriage. On December 19, Marie-Therese's thirty-fourth birthday, she confirmed to be pregnant after falling seriously ill the week of October 31-November 5, possibly showing symptoms of nausea from morning sickness. By the time Princess Charlotte of Wales noticed she was in high spirits, her doctor, Monsieur Lefebvre confirmed to Francois Hue, "At this moment, I am tending to a woman who lives above me and who is pregnant for the first time after more than thirteen years of marriage." He announced to his wife in a letter that the Duke of Angouleme would become a father in June. Madame Hue recorded, “Monsieur Hue and Monsieur Lefebvre designate Madame the Duchess of Angouleme, announcing her pregnancy.” On February 15. Louise de Conde wrote to her father about her shock and astonishment concerning the Duchess's pregnancy. At least nine days prior, British newspapers recorded that Marie-Therese was severely indisposed and was advised by her doctors to "not attend the drawing room on Thursday."

In mid-May, “The Duke D'Angouleme, Baron De Rolli, and the Duke D'Artois, left London yesterday for the Continent. Prague is said to be their destination, where, according to report, a Congress of Princes is to be held.” Sometime between late February and June 1813, Marie-Therese suffered a severe, five-month miscarriage or gave birth to a stillborn child, almost certainly at Hartwell House. Had she delivered in May or June, she and Louis-Antoine would have almost certainly apart. She travelled to Bath with her uncle to recover, on both July 15 and August 7

Flight to Britain and return Faience plate celebrating the Duke of Angoulême as Admiral of France. On display at the Musée national de la Marine, Paris. Louis Antoine was, as chief of the royalist army in the southern Rhône River valley was unable to prevent the return of Napoleon to Paris however unlike the rest of the French royals he and his wife, in Bordeaux, stayed put after Napoleon retook power. After leading an insurrection he was captured then released, being granted safe passage to Britain through Spain during the "Hundred Days". He loyally served Louis XVIII after the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. His younger brother was assassinated at the Paris Opera in February 1820.

In 1823, he commanded a French army sent into Spain to restore the Spanish King's absolute powers, known as the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis. He was victorious in the Battle of Trocadero, after which the reactionary power of King Ferdinand VII of Spain was firmly restored. For this achievement, he was offered the title of Prince of Trocadero.

Upon Louis XVIII's death in 1824, his father became King Charles X and Louis Antoine became Dauphin, heir-apparent to the throne. He attended his father's coronation in Reims in May 1825.

July Revolution In the July Revolution of 1830, masses of angry demonstrators demanded the abdication of Charles. He reluctantly signed the document of abdication on 2 August 1830. It is said that Louis Antoine, who relinquished his right to the throne, became king "Louis XIX" between his father's signature and his own, but in the abdication document he is only referred as "Louis Antoine". The document was signed in favour of his nephew Henri, duke of Bordeaux. For the final time he left for exile, where he was known as the "count of Marnes". near Holyrood Palace where Charles X was staying.

Emperor Francis I of Austria offered the Prague Castle in Prague to the royal entourage in 1832, so Louis-Antoine and Charles X moved there. Francis I, however, died in 1835, and his successor Ferdinand I told the French royal family that he needed the palace for his coronation in the summer of 1836. in Görz, Austria on 21 October 1836. but this is not backed up by historical evidence. He never reigned over the country, but after his father's death in 1836, he was the legitimist pretender as Louis XIX.

In fiction and film The newborn Duke of Angoulême is portrayed by an uncredited child actor in a brief scene in the movie Marie Antoinette (2006), directed by Sofia Coppola. This scene contains an error, as it mistakenly names his parents as the Count and Countess of Provence, who never had children.