Trial and Execution of Louis XVI, 1792–1793

After the monarchy was overthrown, the National Convention placed Louis XVI on trial under the name Louis Capet. Deputies debated guilt, appeal and punishment before voting for death.

Louis was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. His death intensified war with European monarchies, sharpened divisions within the Revolution and made association with royalism still more dangerous.

Sir Percy Leads the Band begins during the votes on the king’s fate and uses the execution as the political background to a rescue in provincial France. The novel’s threatened families are endangered by the same radicalisation that turned the former king into a condemned citizen.