Louis Philippe, King of the FrenchCritiques

A slight but appealing volume made up, in part, of a diary meticulously kept by Louis-Philippe, king of France from 1830 to 1848. Covering the period 25 March to 21 May 1797, the diary provides a partial report of a horseback journey into the backcountry of the southern central United States by twenty-three-year-old Louis-Philippe during the early years of what became a twenty-two-year exile from France after the Revolution. With his one servant and two younger brothers, ages twenty-two and seventeen, the impoverished royal traveled simply, undergoing the privations that confronted all visitors to this undeveloped region. His detailed reporting, on subjects ranging from the cost of hard-to-come-by foodstuffs to the flirtatiousness of Indian women, provides fascinating insights into early America and the personality of the future “Citizen King” of France.

Originally French 1976, English translation 1977, trip taken in 1844