DBWI: Louis XVIII didn’t have a son

OOC: the POD is that Maria Josephine dies of illness in 1770, causing Louis to marry the next sister in line Maria Theresa instead of Charles. Maria Theresa seems to have been more fertile than Josephine, allowing Louis to have children with her, 3 boys and 2 girls. (For you guys to play around with marriage alliances: Philip, born in 1782; Henry, born in 1785; Eleanor, born in 1787; Maria Louise, born in 1790; and Charles, born in 1800). All other history until 1814 was basically OTL.

IC: If Louis XVIII had had no children, the throne would have passed to Charles, his brother, to rule as Charles X, instead of his son, Philip VII, or Philip the Great of France. Charles’ letters seem to indicate he was more of an absolutist while Louis and Philip were liberal reformers. After the French Revolution and Napoleon, it seems the cat was out of the bag and liberalism would come to France, but could a return to absolutism actually bring about a second Revolution and/or a republic, or is that off limits after what happened in the 1790s?
 
I think that by this point absolutism was off the cards, Charles X if he reigns for longer than a year is going to damage things for the French monarchy, he's far too reactionary. Your best bet is to have Charles X die in 1824, alongside his brother, and then have his son Louis take over the reins.
 
I think that by this point absolutism was off the cards, Charles X if he reigns for longer than a year is going to damage things for the French monarchy, he's far too reactionary. Your best bet is to have Charles X die in 1824, alongside his brother, and then have his son Louis take over the reins.

Louis seems to be an interesting figure there. He seems to have been more reactionary, but by his time as Finance Minister in the late 1830s he came around to a conservative liberalism.
 
Louis seems to be an interesting figure there. He seems to have been more reactionary, but by his time as Finance Minister in the late 1830s he came around to a conservative liberalism.

Agreed, I think he'd definitely make a decent King and if he's able to rein in his father's more absolutist tendencies he should be able to succeed without blood
 
Top