Louis XXI (1845? - 1879) was briefly King of France in December 1879. Louis became king following the abdication of his father, Louis XX, in early December. Paris had fallen into anarchy following a series of French defeats in the Franco-German War of 1878 - 1880, and Louis XX's abdication was an attempt to placate the mob. Unfortunately, although the newly-proclaimed king had a reputation as a reformer, the mobs who now ruled Paris would no longer accept monarchical government, and on 25 December 1879 they stormed the Palace of Versailles. Louis XXI was put to death, along with his parents and his three sisters.
Following Louis' death, the French throne was claimed by his exiled cousin, who proclaimed himself Charles X.