Louis XVII of France
| Louis XVII | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dauphin of France | |||||
Portrait aged 7 by Alexander Kucharsky, 1792
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| Born | 27 March 1785 Palace of Versailles, France | ||||
| Died | 8 June 1795 (aged 10) Paris Temple, France | ||||
| Burial | Saint Denis Basilica, France (His heart only) | ||||
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| House | Bourbon | ||||
| Father | Louis XVI of France | ||||
| Mother | Marie Antoinette | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||
Louis XVII (27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795), born Louis-Charles, was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette.
He was at birth given the title Duke of Normandy. His older brother, Louis Joseph, died in June 1789, a little over a month before the start of the French Revolution. At his brother's death he became the heir-apparent to the throne and the Dauphin of France, a title he would hold until 1791, when the new constitution accorded the heir apparent the style of Prince Royal of France.
When his father was executed on 21 January 1793, during the middle-period of the French Revolution, he became "King of France" in the eyes of the royalists. However, since France was by then a republic, and Louis XVII had been imprisoned from August 1792 until his death from illness in 1795 at the age of 10, he never actually governed. His title stems from monarchist theory, whereby there is always a monarch; on the death of one monarch, the heir apparent or failing that the heir presumptive are immediately monarch. His title was the reason why on his death his uncle took the regnal name of Louis XVIII of France rather than Louis XVII, retaining it upon the
Bourbon Restoration in 1814.
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