Death Of A Monarch

Anytime a leader of a nation is killed or dies, the fate of the nation can be at risk. Most often, the transition of power is a smooth process, but on occasion, things can go terribly wrong. In the case of Louis XVII, born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy on March 27, 1785, who was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette the death of his parents and the succession to the throne, was anything but simple. Louis-Charles de France was born in the Palace of Versailles as the second son and third child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. He received his name in honor of his father and his mother’s beloved sister, Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily, affectionately called Charlotte by the family, with Charles being the male equivalent of her name. His younger sister, Sophie, arrived just over a year after him.

For Louis Charles XVII to become king was, in fact, impossible. Nevertheless, as it turns out, Louis XVII’s older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a month before the start of the French Revolution. He assumed the title of Dauphin following the demise of his older brother, Louis Joseph, on June 4, 1789, and became the heir apparent to the throne. He remained Dauphin until 1791 when the new constitution granted the heir apparent the title of Prince Royal. That would set the stage for his eventual transition to king whenever his father died. He didn’t, however, expect that day to come so soon.

The family was captured and imprisoned. After his father’s execution on January 21, 1793, at the height of the French Revolution. Young Louis was separated from his mother on January 19, 1794, after securing a receipt for the safe transfer of their ward, was declared to be in good health. It seems that the committee did not attempt to find another guardian for him. A large part of the Temple records from that time onward disappeared under the Bourbon Restoration, making ascertaining of the facts impossible. Two days later, Louis-Charles is said by the Restoration historians to have been moved into a damp, dark room that was bolted and barricaded like the cage of a wild animal. He had a bed of straw, no lavatory, no way of staying clean and no ways to occupy himself. The story recounts that food was passed through the bars to the boy, who survived despite the accumulated filth of him and his surroundings. While Royalists recognized Louis XVII as King of France, France was now a republic, young Louis-Charles was imprisoned and died on June 8, 1795, at the young age of just 10 years, the last of which were spent in captivity never actually ruling. When the Bourbon monarchy was restored in 1814, his uncle took the throne as Louis XVIII.