Louis-Antoine, the Duc d'Angoulême, was the nephew of Louis XVI, being the oldest son of the Comte d'Artois. The Comtesse d'Artois, mother of Louis-Antoine, gave him over to the servants to raise and he had many health problems. He was painfully shy, awkward, unattractive, impotent, unsocialized - all the qualities usually and unfairly attributed to his uncle Louis XVI. It was planned from his childhood that he would marry his first cousin
Madame Royale, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
After her release from prison and temporary stay in Vienna (where she almost married
Archduke Karl), Marie-Thérèse married Louis-Antoine in Mitau in Courland (Latvia) in 1799. Their uncle, Louis XVIII, wrote love letters in Louis-Antoine's name to Marie-Thérèse in order to get her to marry her cousin because Louis XVIII needed her with him in order to further his goal of gaining the Throne of France. Marie-Thérèse discovered too late that Louis-Antoine did not write the love letters.
For many years scholars debated as to whether or not the marriage of the Duc and Duchesse d'Angoulême was ever consummated.
According to the research of Dr. Susan Nagel, author of
the most recent biography of Marie-Thérèse, the marriage was indeed consummated at some point. From the fact that the matter was ever in doubt, we can guess that perhaps the marriage was not all it should have been. However, Marie-Thérèse never sought an annulment or took lovers.
Louis-Antoine loved the military and actually distinguished himself as a soldier and even as a commander on several occasions. It was his courage that won Bordeaux to the side of the Bourbons in 1814. He was known to be a very devout and kindly man to those
of his household, as was his wife, although they both had tempers and quarrelled with each other. He was closer to his uncle Louis XVIII than he was to his father Charles X (Artois). However, he and his father made the terrible blunders which led to the final collapse of the Bourbons and the rise of the House of Orléans to the throne in 1830, as is described in the novel
Madame Royale.
Louis-Antoine is often known as Louis XIX because he was king for about 10 minutes after his father abdicated; then he himself signed the abdication as well. An eccentric and pathetic character but a frustrating one....His wife, Marie-Thérèse, stayed with him to the end of his life (1844); they had become tender companions and best friends over the years in spite of many troubles, or perhaps because of them.
