Editing Louis XVI (section)

==Childhood==
[[File:François hubert drouais - duque berry conde provença.jpg|thumb|The young Duke of Berry (right) with his younger brother, the [[Louis XVIII|Count of Provence]] (by [[François-Hubert Drouais]], 1757)]]
[[File:Duc de Berry-Borély.jpg|thumb|upright|The Duke of Berry as a young boy (portrait artributed to Pierre Jouffroy)]]

''Louis-Auguste de France'', who was given the title [[Duke of Berry]] at birth, was born in the [[Palace of Versailles]] on 23 August 1754. One of seven children, he was the second surviving son of [[Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765)|Louis]], the [[Dauphin of France]] and the grandson of [[Louis XV]] and of his consort, [[Maria Leszczyńska]]. His mother was [[Maria Josepha of Saxony (1731–1767)|Marie-Josèphe of Saxony]], the daughter of [[Augustus III]], [[Prince-elector]] of [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] and [[King of Poland]] and Archduchess [[Maria Josepha of Austria]].

Louis-Auguste was overlooked by his parents who favored his older brother, [[Louis of France (1751–1761)|Louis, Duke of Burgundy]], who was regarded as bright and handsome but died at the age of nine in 1761. Louis-Auguste, a strong and healthy boy but very shy, excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy and became fluent in Italian and English. His tutors in mathematics and physics had high praises for his work. Le Blonde, his mathematics instructor, wrote that the prince's studies were "proofs of [his] intelligence and the excellence of [his] judgement," though flattery was to be expected when addressing a prince. Louis-Auguste's apparent mathematical skills are corroborated by his enjoyment of cartography, which would have required an understanding of scale and projections.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hardman |first=John |title=Louis XVI |publisher=Arnold |year=2000 |isbn=0-340-70649-X |location=London |pages=10–12}}</ref> He also enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather and rough play with his younger brothers, [[Louis XVIII|Louis-Stanislas, Count of Provence]], and [[Charles X of France|Charles-Philipe, Count of Artois]]. From an early age, Louis-Auguste was encouraged in another of his interests, [[locksmithing]], which was seen as a useful pursuit for a child.<ref>{{cite book | last=Andress | first=David | title=The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France | publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux | location=New York | year=2005 | pages=12–13 | isbn=978-0374530730}}</ref>

When his father died of [[tuberculosis]] on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]]. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband and died on 13 March 1767, also from tuberculosis.<ref>{{cite book | last=Lever | first=Evelyne | title=Louis XVI | publisher=Librairie Arthème Fayard | location=Paris | year=1985 | isbn=978-2213015453 | language=French}} {{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref> The strict and conservative education he received from [[Paul François de Quelen de la Vauguyon]], "''gouverneur des Enfants de France''" (governor of the Children of France), from 1760 until his marriage in 1770, did not prepare him for the throne that he was to inherit in 1774 after the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities.<ref>Hardman, John, ''Louis XVI, The Silent King'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 10.</ref> His instructors may have also had a good hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became. Abbé Berthier, his instructor, taught him that timidity was a value in strong monarchs, and Abbé Soldini, his confessor, instructed him not to let people read his mind.<ref>Hardman, John, ''Louis XVI, The Silent King'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 18.</ref>