Treaty of the Child Bride

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The Treaty of the Child Bride was an agreement between King Louis XVII of France, living in comfortable exile in the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator in New Rome, and Constantine Phocas, the chief tutor of Princess Theodora, who was the closest relative and therefore heiress-apparent of Emperor Manuel VIII.

By the terms of the agreement, if the Emperor died while Theodora was still a minor, Constantine and the King would support each other in her regency council, to arrange a marriage between Theodora and her godfather Louis, and the raising of Louis to the rank of Emperor Augustus. In return, once crowned Emperor Augustus, King Louis would crown Constantine as a junior emperor.

The treaty was agreed upon in 1803, when Princess Theodora was two years old, and made public when it came into fruition after the death of Emperor Manuel VIII in 1810. Each man honoured the treaty - the regency council assented to the marriage between the nine year old Empress Theodora II and the twenty five year old King Louis XVII of France. It also agreed that the King should be crowned Emperor Augustus. Emperor Louis then honoured his agreement by crowning his ally Emperor Constantine XXI.