Louis XV (1710 - 1774)

Louis XV

Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was a king of France of the Bourbon dynasty who reigned from September 1, 1715 until his death on May 10, 1774.

Louis was the great-grandson of King Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715) and the son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and Marie-Adelaide of Savoy. Because his parents and his only surviving brother died in 1712, he became king at the age of five years after the death of Louis XIV (September 1, 1715). Until he came of age in February 1723, France was ruled by a regent, Philip II, Duke of Orleans.

Louis was a gutless and lazy ruler; he lived an intra-palace life of mistresses, while his government degenerated into a faction of scheming ministers and courtiers. In 1745 the king declared Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, his official mistress, whose political influence lasted until her death in 1764.

Louis XV was not entirely passive; he introduced a complex system of secret diplomacy and intrigue into Europe in an attempt to play his own political game. However, all his efforts did not lead to the desired result, and even on the contrary. For example, in 1763 France lost in favor of the British almost all of its colonial possessions in North America and India. In an attempt to strengthen his authority within the country, the king introduced reforms in government and legislation, but in the end his fruitless reign contributed to the decline of royal power, which led to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.

Louis XV's long reign was marked by a decline in the moral and political authority of the crown, as well as failures in foreign and military affairs. The king died in 1774, hated by his citizens as much as Louis XIV.