The French monarchy of the restoration era was as hybrid in its practical politics as in its self-representation.The court continued to be shaped by Ancien Régime structures and proceedings, but it was also open to modernization.The king tried to appear simultaneously as king by the grace of God, as father of the nation, and as first servant of the state. Even the most successful strategy of monarchical self-representation, the identification with history,had one great internal contradiction:while the cult of Henry IV promoted the idea of an eternal and “happy” alliance of monarchy, dynasty, and nation,the commemoration of the martyrdom of Louis XVI was bound to remind the French of the “unhappy” revolutionary breakdown of that alliance. During the reign of Louis XVIII these tensions were to be reconciled, as the monarch had the will and the ability to reach a compromise, to rule (and to govern) on the one hand by constitutional ways, and on the other hand to defend both the prerogative and the “majesty” of the crown. But Louis’personal success revealed a structural weakness of the monarchy. This particular king and the post-revolutionary order in France were reconciled, but the dynasty, the idea of monarchy and their supporters were not. That was to be shown by the future.