Representing the Queen When the Queen Is Missing: The Duchess of Angoulême and Louis XVIII (1799-1824)

This article argues that the Duchess of Angoulême, born Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France, daughter of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, took on the role of substitute queen during the reign of her uncle, King Louis XVIII. The King, widower of Marie-Joséphine de Savoie, realised well before his wife’s death the importance of having a female figure by his side. Although the King’s niece was born a Fille de France and did not wear the royal crown, the iconography commissioned by Louis gave her all the prerogatives of queenship, at least in appearance, and so helped shape a blurred and complex image of a royal couple such as had never been seen before.