Figure from the Museum of Ventura County collection.

“Like a pillow, the last person to sit on it leaves the impression.”

Louis XVI (1754-1793; reigned 1774-1791) was a slow, well-meaning, but stubborn man. Like his grandfather Louis XV, he showed genuine concern for his subjects. He lacked a strong will and was the pawn of special interests. He paid for his weakness at the guillotine. He would have been an excellent constitutional monarch, had he been able to bring the Bourbons through the first two years of the Revolution.

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