HistoryCourt characters

At the start of the Revolution, Louis XVI placed himself at the head of the reformist movement. But he was indecisive and he hesitated to ratify the proclamations abolishing the nobles’ privileges and the declaration of Human Rights drawn up soon after the taking of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. On 5 October 1789, the people invaded Versailles and demanded that the royal family move its residence to Paris. The king was taken to the Tuileries palace from which he tried to flee in June 1790. Arrested at Varennes, he was taken back to Paris. In 1792, he was tried by the revolutionaries. The monarchy was abolished and “Year I of the French Republic” began. Louis XVI, guillotined on 21 January 1793, the last king to live in the Château de Versailles, was nicknamed “Louis the Last” by the revolutionaries.