Editing Louis XVIII (section)

===Early years===
When the Count of Provence arrived in the [[Low Countries]], he proclaimed himself [[regent]] of France. He exploited a document that he and Louis XVI had written{{sfn|Nagel|2008|page=113}} before the latter's failed escape to [[Varennes-en-Argonne]]. The document gave him the regency in the event of his brother's death or inability to perform his role as king. He would join the other princes-in-exile at [[Coblenz]] soon after his escape. It was there that he, the Count of Artois, and the [[Princes of Condé|Condé princes]] proclaimed that their objective was to invade France. Louis XVI was greatly annoyed by his brothers' behaviour. Provence sent emissaries to various European courts asking for financial aid, soldiers, and munition. Artois secured a castle for the court in exile in the [[Electorate of Trier]] (or "Treves"), where their maternal uncle, [[Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony]], was the [[Prince-elector|Archbishop-Elector]]. The activities of the ''émigrés'' bore fruit when the rulers of [[Prussia]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] gathered at [[Dresden]]. They released the [[Declaration of Pillnitz]] in August 1791, which urged Europe to intervene in France if Louis XVI or his family were threatened. Provence's endorsement of the declaration was not well received in France, either by the ordinary citizens or by Louis XVI himself.{{sfn|Nagel|2008|pages=113-114}}

In January 1792, the Legislative Assembly declared that all of the {{lang|fr|émigrés}} were traitors to France. Their property and titles were confiscated.{{sfn|Nagel|2008|page=118}} The monarchy of France was abolished by the [[National Convention]] on 21 September 1792.{{sfn|Hibbert|1982|page=180}}

Louis XVI was [[Execution of Louis XVI|executed in January 1793]]. This left his young son, Louis Charles, as the titular King. The princes-in-exile proclaimed Louis Charles "King [[Louis XVII]]". The Count of Provence now unilaterally declared himself regent for his nephew, who was too young to be head of the House of Bourbon.{{sfn|Nagel|2008|page=136}}

Louis XVII, still a minor, died in prison in June 1795. His only surviving sibling was his sister [[Marie Thérèse of France|Marie-Thérèse]], who was not considered a candidate for the throne because of France's traditional adherence to [[Salic law]]. Thus on 16 June, the princes-in-exile declared the Count of Provence "King Louis XVIII". The new king accepted their declaration soon after{{sfn|Nagel|2008|pages=152-153}} and busied himself drafting a manifesto in response to Louis XVII's death. The manifesto, known as the "[[Declaration of Verona]]", was Louis XVIII's attempt to introduce the French people to his politics. The Declaration of Verona beckoned France back into the arms of the monarchy, "which for fourteen centuries was the glory of France".{{sfn|Mansel|1999|p=111}}

Louis XVIII negotiated the release of Marie-Thérèse from her Paris prison in 1795. He desperately wanted her to marry her first cousin, [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême]], the son of the Count of Artois. Louis XVIII deceived his niece by telling her that her parents' last wishes were for her to marry Louis-Antoine, and she duly agreed to Louis XVIII's wishes.{{sfn|Nagel|2008|page=165}}

Louis XVIII was forced to abandon Verona when [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|Napoleon Bonaparte invaded]] the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1796.{{sfn|Nagel|2008|page=190}}