Charles XI of France


 * This article is about a fictional King of France referenced in Southern Victory. For the cruise liner named after him, see Charles XI (Ship).

Charles XI (d 1944) installed as King of France by the Action Francaise party in 1930, after the Party seized control of the country.

In the 1930s, Charles supported Spanish Nationalists against the German-backed Monarchists in the Spanish Civil War--illustrating that France was once again able to challenge Germany on the battlefield. Charles also received Confederate envoy Anne Colleton in 1934. Colleton had been specifically appointed by President Jake Featherston to negotiate a continued alliance between the two countries and also keep the opportunistic Colleton away. Charles readily agreed, and sent Colonel Jean-Henri Jusserand to the C.S. in 1936 as military attaché.

In 1941, Charles, along with his Entente allies Mikhail II of Russia, Winston Churchill and Oswald Mosley of Britain, launched a series of coordinated assaults against Germany, beginning the Second Great War. Concurrently, France's North American ally, the CSA, attacked its traditional enemy, the United States.

The ensuing war lasted three years. Although France had arguably been the most vocal critic of German Empire before the war (and the country Germany appeared most determined to hold down), the country quickly became a junior partner to Britain. Despite initial gains, the Entente's fortunes in Europe were obviously turning by 1943.

In 1944, Charles was killed by the German superbomb that destroyed Paris. He was succeeded by Louis XIX, who, after an initial show of defiance, ultimately sued for peace.

Literary Comment
There is a popular Internet rumour identifying Charles XI with Charles Maurras (1868-1952), the OTL head of Action Francaise. This website previously endorsed this notion, but a closer reading of the text found no evidence for the idea, beyond the king's first name and political affiliation. It would have been unthinkable for Maurras to be king anyway, as all royalist societies in France regarded members of the Bourbon family as the only dynasty with a claim to the throne, though they disagreed on which family branch had the best claim. Maurras could have sought to be a power behind the throne, but not the king. Charles XI could be a fictional Bourbon prince (a common Harry Turtledove trope), but there is no textual evidence for that either.