Louis XVII, titular king of France

Louis XVII (Louis Charles), 1785–1795?, titular king of France (1793–95), known in popular legend as the "lost dauphin." The second son of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (ăntwənĕt`, äNtwänĕt`)
..... Click the link for more information. , he became dauphin at the death (1789) of his elder brother. In 1792 the revolutionists imprisoned him with the royal family in the Temple. After the execution (1793) of Louis XVI, the comte de Provence (later King Louis XVIII) proclaimed the dauphin king as Louis XVII, but he remained in prison until his death. Cruel treatment by his jailer, Antoine Simon Simon, Antoine (äNtwän` sēmôN`)
..... Click the link for more information. , was said to have hastened his end.

His death has often been disputed; it was rumored that someone had taken the true dauphin from prison and substituted another boy in his place. Evidence, however, has long indicated that the boy really died in prison in 1795, and historians, for the most part, have disregarded the lost dauphin theory altogether. In 2000 geneticists announced that they had compared DNA from the dead boy's preserved heart with DNA from members of the royal family and proved conclusively that the child who died in prison was indeed the dauphin.

Bibliography

For the life of Louis XVII and discussion of the claims of various pretenders see study by H. G. Francq (tr. 1971).

Louis XVII

orig. Louis-Charles

(born March 27, 1785, Versailles, France—died June 8, 1795, Paris) Titular king of France from 1793. The second son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, he became heir to the throne on his brother's death, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolution. In 1792 he was imprisoned with the rest of the royal family. When his father was beheaded in 1793, the French émigré nobility proclaimed Louis-Charles king. He died in prison at age 10, but the secrecy surrounding his last months gave rise to rumours that he was not dead, and over the next few decades more than 30 persons claimed to be Louis XVII. DNA tests in 2000 established that the child who died in 1795 was in fact the son of Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette.

Louis XVII

1785--95, titular king of France (1793--95) during the Revolution, after the execution of his father Louis XVI; he died in prison

Louis XVII (1793–1795?) “lost

dauphin”; heir to French kingship imprisoned and probably abducted. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 1617]

See : Disappearance