Louis XV, metal coin

Louis XV (1710–1774), byname Louis the Well-Beloved, king of France from 1715 to 1774, whose ineffectual rule contributed to the decline of royal authority that led to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. Louis was the great-grandson of King Louis XIV (ruled 1643–1715) and the son of Louis, duc de Bourgogne, and Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy. Because his parents and his only surviving brother had all died in 1712, he became king at the age of five on the death of Louis XIV (September 1, 1715).