Louis XVI ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791 and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of the 10th of August 1792, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of treason, and executed on January 21 1793. His execution signaled the end of the absolutist monarchy in France and would eventually bring about the rise of Napoleon I.

Although he was beloved at first, his indecisiveness and conservatism led the people to reject him and hate in him the perceived tyranny of the former kings of France. During the French Revolution, he was given the family name Capet (a reference to Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty), and was called Louis Capet in an attempt to discredit his status as king. He was also informally nicknamed Louis le Dernier (Louis the Last), a derisive use of the traditional nicknaming of French kings.