In , he married Marie Antoinette. He became King of France and Navarre on his grandfather's death on 10 May , [ 5 ] and reigned until the abolition of the monarchy on 21 September From onwards, he used the style of king of the French.
The first part of Louis XVI's reign was marked by attempts to reform the French government in accordance with Enlightenment ideas. These included efforts to increase tolerance toward non-Catholics as well as abolish the death penalty for deserters. Louis implemented deregulation of the grain market , advocated by his economic liberal minister Turgot , but it resulted in an increase in bread prices. In periods of bad harvests, it led to food scarcity which, during a particularly bad harvest in , prompted the masses to revolt.
This led to the convening of the Estates General of Discontent among the members of France's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to the French aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy , of which Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were representatives.
Increasing tensions and violence were marked by events such as the storming of the Bastille , during which riots in Paris forced Louis to definitively recognize the legislative authority of the National Assembly.
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His unsuccessful flight to Varennes in June , four months before the constitutional monarchy was declared, seemed to justify the rumors that the king tied his hopes of political salvation to the prospects of foreign intervention. His credibility was deeply undermined, and the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic became an ever-increasing possibility.
