King Louis XXII (Escape to Metz)

Louis XXII (Born: 17 August 1936) is the current King of France. He became the King of France in 1986 when his father, King Louis XXI, died. He was fifty years old when he became the King of France and his son Louis Napoleon Frederick is the current Dauphin. He is the father of 3 children, the grandfather of 8 children, the great-grandfather of 3 children.

Early Life
Louis was almost four years old, when Nazi-Germany invaded France. The King of France, his grandfather, was captured and sent to Berlin, Germany to prison. Louis' father was sent away from his mother and sister. Vichy France was were the rest of the familiy were living and it was not for a long time before the couple could unite the family. King Louis XX was in prison for four year before managing to escape and liberate France. He was then king for the remainder of his life. His father recieved the throne in 1964. By this time Louis XXII had a wife and child he named Louis Napoleon Frederick. His wife, in 1964 was pregnant once again and later gave birth to a daughter they named Marie Josepha Josephine Johanna. They also had another son in 1965 named Philip Louis Henri Frederick Francois Auguste which broke the tradition of naming all sons' first name Louis.

Reign
On 23 December 1986, his father died and he became the new King of France. He made the Royal Family's offical residence Tullieries Palace so he could be "close with the people." Many people have nicknamed him over the years as the People's King. In a speech given in 1989 he said, "This is your country and you can all change anything you want about our country to make it better. Even though we love our beautiful country it, like every country, must make changes in order to be sucessful." He also said that he would not do anything the people wouldn't want.

On 2 October 2012, 25 year aniversary of his coronation, King Louis XXII was the first to renew his vows and oaths from his coronation to show the people he was still loyal to them.

He is said to be one of the most loyal and friendly members of the House of Bourbon family.

End of Cold War
With the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the formation of a united Germany, France became one of Germany's close allies even though Germany invaded France in 1940. An alliance was offically formed in 1997 to keep peace which was a hard thing for Louis XXII to want (since the Germans invaded and took his family from him) but he knew it was what the people wanted and so he formed the alliance out of respect for the newly formed Germany and for that of the People of France.

Women Rights in Succession
In the early months of 2000 a group of people petitioned that women should have a right in the succession of France. In the history of French monarchs there had never once been a Queen ruling in her own right. All women were excempt from the Succession no matter if they were the eldest or not. In England, the tradition was to have the male children rule first and if they had no heirs or if there was no male, than the female child would rule. But in France, it was always the male child and if a King had no male child but had a female child than the female would be disconnected from the line of succession no matter how closely related she was to the King. This was an old tradition that dates back about 1,500 years.

King Louis XXII declared his support for Royal Women's Rights to enter into the Succession. The National Assembly voted in Summer of 2003. By a vote of 563 for and 337 against, it was declared that women would not enter into the Succession. It was clear that their was still sexist people, against women ruling a government. Countries from all over the world began mocking France because they would not allow women in the Succession laws. When asked why they simply stated, "tradition has been created for a reason."

The Election of 2004 made it possible for the bill to go through again but King Louis ignored the bill stating that this new National Assembly is not passing much of anything. Since you can only vote on bills two times before the bill would be terminated, Louis waited for the right moment. If they voted two times against the bill not only would it be thrown out no National Assembly would be able to vote for that same bill until a new king was crowned.

When gay marriage was passed in 2011, Louis declared his support once again for Royal Women in the Succession. He thought since the National Assembly went against tradition and legalized gay marriage, that it would be a possible goal for them to vote for new succession laws that would make the eldest child no matter the gender the Dauphin or Dauphine of France.

The National Assembly voted in summer 2012 for the Succession Bill of 2000. 697 were for the bill and 203 were against it making it law that no matter what the gender, the eldest child would be the heir.

Gay Marriage
A petition was signed by a little more than 15% of all French citizens stating that they wanted marriage equality for all. Understand that the people wanted gay marriage and adoption to be legalized, King Louis XXII did everything in his power in Spring of 2007 to legalize gay marriage. The National Assembly took a vote (2/3 needed to create a new law). 544 votes out of 900 were cast for wanting marriage equality in Summer of 2007 which was not enough to reach the 2/3 majority needed to make the bill law. Louis XXII had to wait until the Election of 2009 was over to try again with the new National Assembly. In Spring and Summer of 2010 Louis was talking with members of the National Assembly about the issue and said to, "Do what is not best for you but what is best for this country. Who cares what we think it what the people want that is important."

It was not until Summer of 2011 that the voting began for passing the bill. 640 voted for gay marriage while 260 voted against it. Since they needed at least 600 votes for it to become law, the law was offically passed on 31 July 2011 that gay marriage was legalized.

Health Problems
In 1973 Louis XXII was taken to the hospital for a leg injury from playing tennis. He tore a muscle in his right leg but recovered fully by the next year.

On 4 February 2001 at 21:38 local time, King Louis XXII along with his wife and third child, Prince Philip got into a car crash. King Louis broke his arm, while his wife suffered major back problem, his son recieved cuts on the face and neck from broken window glass but only needed 3 stiches.

After the car crash, King Louis XXII decided to quiet smoking at the age of 65 years old.

King Louis XXII was diagnosed with lung cancer on 8 July 2009. The cancer was detected very earily on and he kept working without the need of a regent. The cancer was surgically removed from his body in 2011.

He was re-diagnosed with long cancer on 24 March 2012 just months after his surgery. The cancer spread to another portion of his lung and doctors suggested a combination of radiation therapy and surgery. He scheduled his surgery on 11 April 2012. All the cancer was removed and nothing abnormal occured during his second surgery. He appeared again in October 2012 to the public looking very healthy.

He will be celebrating his 77th birthday on 17 August, 2013.

Issues
Louis XXII married on 16 December 1960 when he was twenty four. He married Maria Anna of Portugal who was born in 1937 and is the current Queen Consort of France. They have the following issues:

1. Louis Napoleon Frederick (10 December 1963-present) 

2. Marie Josepha Josephine Johanna (22 November 1964-present)

3. Philip Louis Harei Frederick Francois Auguste (20 October 1965-present)