Luigi VII di Ludovicia

His Royal Highness

Louis VII of Ludovicia
Louis VII in an official portrait
King of Ludovicia
Reign	12 october 1936 - 24 january 1993
Coronation	20 october 1936
Predecessor	Louis VI
Successor	Louis VIII
Prime Minister	see Prime ministers of Ludovicia
Personal informations
Born	17 november 1912 at Ludovicia, Kingdom of Ludovicia
Died	24 january 1993 at Port Royale, Kingdom of Ludovicia
Burial	26 january at Cathedral of Saint Louis, Ludovicia, Kingdom of Ludovicia
Spouse	Marie Louise Coulomb de Neuchâtel
Issue	Louis, crown prince Daniel, prince of Ludovicia Paul, prince of Ludovicia
Full name	Louis Alexandre Philippe Charles
House	Orléans-Ludovicia
Father	Louis VI
Mother	Juliette de La Roche
Religion	Church of Ludovicia
Signature	---

Louis VII (Louis Alexandre Philippe Charles; 17 november 1912 - 24 january 1993) was king of Kingdom of Ludovicia from 1936 to 1993.

He was nicknamed The Wise for his skilful ability to keep out of the conflict and to ensure peace and prosperity to the kingdom after the Second World War, but after the Rohan-Lefevre crisis he was nicknamed the The Waver. With its 57-year reign, he is the monarch of the Kingdom of Ludovicia who reigned longer.

Biography

First years

Third son of king Louis VI of Ludovicia and his wife, Juliette de La Roche, Louis was born in 1912 at the Royal Palace in Ludovicia. He was baptized in the chapel of the Royal Palace of Ludovicia by the archbishop Jean Eduard Piquet de Montreuil, with as godfather his paternal uncle prince Charles d'Orléans-Ludovicia, duke of Cognac, and as godmother his maternal grandmother [[]]. Before his birth, his parents had already had two children, of whom the eldest son, Alexandre Mathieu, died when he was just one month. The role of crown prince then passed to his younger brother, the second son Louis François who, however, died in 1929, leaving only heir the third son of the royal couple, Louis Alexandre.

The prince, who already had 17 years, was hurriedly introduced to the business of government under the leadership of two guardians in people of François de Coubertain and Victor de La Polette who instructed him on the state operations but strongly advised against his father to appoint him prime minister as he intended to do after the resignation of monarchical Henry de La Tour. He was nonetheless appointed Minister of Environment for two years (1933-1934) within the new government led by elder Honoré de La Fayette, playing a marginal role in national politics.

Accession to the throne and early years of government

When Louis VII came to the throne after the death of his father in 1936, in Europe already they began to feel the first winds of war from 1939 would also touch the small kingdom of Ludovicia albeit marginally. Wisely, thanks to the work of the Foreign Minister, the native English George McKenzie, Ludovicia remained outside in all conflicts, however, considering the opportunity to lend assistance indirectly to France on the basis of the agree of 1891.

The neutrality in the conflict earned him wide recognition on the part of the population that bestowed the nickname the Wise. After the war, in 1946, he devoted himself to the reconstruction of diplomatic relations, in particular by implementing the trade with France, expanding exports of sugar cane, jewelry products and silverware products from Ludovicia, allowing for the first time to private investors to buy part of the shares of the national silver mines.

At the University of Ludovica, he instituted a cultural award dedicated to the memory of his father to be awarded every two years to one of the most eminent personalities in the field of university research.

The Rohan-Lefevre Crisis

The bishop Louis Rohan-Lefevre

With the sudden death of the eldest son Louis Antoine in 1973, Louis VII fell into a deep depression that led him first to think of abdicating to his second son, Louis Francis, and then to take decisions which proved deeply unpopular: in fact he put himself into hands of the bishop of Port Royale, monsieur Louis Rohan-Lefevre, who since 1976 was appointed his personal advisor and prime minister. Under the influence of the bishop Rohan-Lefevre, who was determined to consolidate the influence of the local ludovician church in the state administration, Louis VII inaugurated 42 new churches and intensified the role of the state religion, entrusting the management of schools solely in the hands of the church, going so far as to appoint the bishop of Port Royale also Minister of Education of his government.

This and other facts, led to the popular revolts that imposed to the king to dismiss the new minister pain of dethronement and it was so. The popular support of Louis VII, however, was never the same and at the same time there arose a deep anti-religious sentiment that led to the destruction of some places of worship and the looting of property of some monasteries. After the resignation of Rohan-Lefevre in 1982 (he was also forced to leave the position of bishop of Port Royale and sentenced to exile), the government remained mostly in the hands of the prime minister Karl Kirchbach who strove to hold fast to the crown since the same position that Louis VII, after another coup, had decided to retire from public life mostly leaving the reins of government to his ministers.

Last years

Giant turtles on Tortoise Islands, protected by order of Louis VII

Last years of Louis VII's government were marked, as was said, by his substantial abandonment of public life and affairs of state in favor of a secluded life, taking permanent residence in the Governor's Palace at Port Royale.

Since 1991 he became interested in particularly in the protection of flora and fauna of the Isle of Port Royale, constituting the National Park of the Tortoise Islands, a group of landmass on which live from prehistoric eras a colony of giant tortoises that under his reign have been designated a protected species by the state of Ludovicia.

Genealogy

Marriage and children

In 1965, the then crown prince Louis Francis married the countess Marie Louise Coulomb de Neuchâtel. The couple had the following children:

• Louis, crown prince (b. 1968), in 1991 married to dukess Mary von Turbighen
• Daniel, royal prince (b. 1970)
• Paul, royal prince (b. 1972)

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

Foreigns orders

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Legion d'Honneur (France)
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Michael and Sanit George (United Kingdom)

Bibliography

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