Luigi VIII di Ludovicia

His Royal Highness

Louis VIII of Ludovicia
Louis VIII just ascended to ludovician throne
King of Ludovicia
Reign	24 january 1993 - present
Coronation	1 february 1993
Predecessor	Louis VII
Heir Apparent	Crown Prince Louis of Ludovicia
Prime Minister	Leopold von Altbishofen
Personal informations
Born	11 november 1968 at Ludovicia, Kingdom of Ludovicia
Spouse	Marie von Turbighen
Issue	Louis, crown prince
Full name	Louis François Charles Dieudonné
House	Orléans-Ludovicia
Father	Louis VII
Mother	Marie Louise Coulomb de Neuchâtel
Religion	Church of Ludovicia
Signature	---

Louis VIII (Louis François Charles Dieudonné; born 11 november 1968 in Ludovicia) is the current king of Kingdom of Ludovicia.

Biography

First years

Louis was born in the Royal Palace of Ludovicia on 11 November 1968 by Louis VII, king of Ludovicia, and his wife, the duchess Marie Louise Coulomb de Neuchâtel. From his father side he is descendant of king Louis Philippe I of France and of Stanislaus Poniatowsky, king of Poland. He was baptized in the chapel of the Royal Palace of Ludovicia by the archbishop de La Tourette, with as godfather [[]], and as godmother [[]]. He was second-born after his brother Louis Antoine who perhaps died in 1974 during an accident, so he was proclaimed crown prince.

Since 1974 he was entrusted for his education to a teacher in the figure of Georges de La Valliere, who in the wake of what were the beginnings of Rohan-Lefevre Crisis grave him a religious education, believing that such practice was necessary for the proper administration of the kingdom. After the expulsion of the bishop Rohan-Lefevre and the consequent resignation of La Valliere, the little Louis was entrusted to Jean Baptiste De Huguemont, a noble descendant of a family originally from the Ardennes, in France, which bringed him to military career and predisposed him to studies of different languages ​​including, in addition to native French, as English, German, Italian and Latin. With his brother Daniel, he learned playing piano and violin, often making concerts to delight his father's court. So he attended the "Louis Amédée Moreau de Maupertuis" Institute of Ludovicia and then passed to the Royal University of Ludovicia since 1986 where he studied mathematics. In 1988 he visited Paris where stayed three months and visited Britain three times between 1988 and 1990.

Years of opposition

When in 1976 his father Louis VII appointed as his personal advisor and prime minister of his governament the bishop of Port Royale, the influential Louis Rohan-Lefevre, Louis began to hatch a deep impatience with the overwhelming ludovician church government on state affairs, especially as concerned his personal education and the political choices of the state. With the support of his uncle Jean Gaston d'Orléans-Ludovicia, the young Louis became the symbol of the moderate opposition to the monarchy, or the party that, while maintaining the monarchical regime in act, was intended to downsizing the profoundly changing in its costumes reducing greatly the power of the local church with Rohan-Lefevre bishop had gained excessive influence in all fields. The extremist fringe of the movement even came to propose it as a successor to his father, but it was his same father who, fearing that his son could be exploited to build a coup, decided to sack the Bishop of Port Royale and pursue a more favorable policy to Ministers. Louis during these years, and until the death of his father, was particularly close to the conservative Prime Minister Karl Kirchbach that de facto ruled the state since Louis VII started to gradually reduce its output after the crisis.

Rising the power

After the death of Louis VII, the trone passed at his son Louis Francis, who was solemnly crowned with the name of Louis VIII. He, unlike his father, in the years of the crisis, had harbored a deep hatred of lax administration of the father and why he devoted himself immediately to the consolidation of personal power of the king at the expense of government personalities and influence reached the main characters who had governed the fate of the government in previous years. Since 1993, therefore, he decided to fully renew the Government Cabinet by appointing conservative count Leopold von Altbishofen as prime minister. Since 1997 he ushered in a series of reforms with the aim of promoting the freedom of religion on national soil, removing the influence of the Ludovician Church accumulated before and during the period of the Rohan-Lefevre crisis, reopening local brothels (including those in the capital), partially legalizing the use of drugs, but while strengthening the police and the secret police controls in the whole state. Also he intensified the army and the national navy.

Quirky character, invested considerable money for the construction of a new personal residence about 30 kilometers away from the capital, implanting there a great system of channels to bring huge amounts of water from the river Ludovicia to create spectacular water features and beautiful fountains. At the same time he decided to open the gardens to all in order to improve domestic tourism, and to allow all his subjects to enjoy the renewed peace under his rule.

Genealogy

Marriage and children

In 1991, the then crown prince Louis Francis married the duchess Marie von Turbighen, daughter of the count general Franz von Turbighen, of austrian origins. The couple had the following children:

• Louis Philippe, crown prince (b. 1993)
• Ludovica, royal princess (b. 1995)
• Isabella, royal princess (b. 2000)

Honours

National orders

• Grand Master and Knight Companion of the Order of Saint Louis
• Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit
• Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Ludovicia
• Grand Master and Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit
• Grand Master and Honorary I class of the Order of Sacred Cock
• Patron and Honorary I class of the Order of Holy Breast

Foreigns orders

Bibliography

• L. von Altbishofen, The great house of kings of Ludovicia from its origins to the present day, Ludovicia's Royal Print, 2015