Louis XVII

Louis XVII was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a month before the start of the French Revolution. At his brother's death he became the new Dauphin, a title he held until 1791, when the new constitution accorded the heir apparent the title of Prince Royal.
When his father was executed on 21 January 1793, during the middle period of the French Revolution, he automatically succeeded as King of France, Louis XVII, in the eyes of the royalists. France was by then a republic, and since Louis-Charles was imprisoned and died in captivity in June 1795, he never actually ruled. Nevertheless, in 1814 after the Bourbon Restoration, his uncle acceded to the throne and was proclaimed his successor, as Louis XVIII.

Biography

Louis-Charles de France was born at the Palace of Versailles, the second son and third child of his parents, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. He was named after his father and his mother's favourite sister Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily, who was known as Charlotte in the family, Charles being the masculine version of her name. His younger sister, Sophie, was born a little over a year later. He became the Dauphin on the death of his elder brother, Louis Joseph, on 4 June 1789.
As customary in royal families, Louis-Charles was cared for by multiple people. Queen Marie Antoinette appointed governesses to look after all three of her children. Louis-Charles' original governess was Yolande de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac, who left France on the night of 16–17 July 1789, at the outbreak of the Revolution, at the urging of Louis XVI. She was replaced by the marquise Louise Élisabeth de Tourzel. Additionally, the queen selected Agathe de Rambaud to be the official nurse of Louis-Charles. Alain Decaux wrote:

"Madame de Rambaud was officially in charge of the care of the prince from the day of his birth until 10 August 1792; in other words, for seven years. During these seven years, she never left him, she cradled him, took care of him, dressed him, comforted him, and scolded him. Many times, more than Marie Antoinette, she was a true mother for him".

Some have suggested that Axel von Fersen, who was romantically linked with Marie Antoinette, was the father of her son. The fact that Louis Charles was born exactly nine months after he returned to court was noted, as well as the fact that Louis wrote of the birth in his diary "as easy as when my son was born", suggesting Louis Charles was, in fact, not his son, but it has also been interpreted as Louis being used to address the dauphin as "my son". This theory of paternity was debunked by most scholars, who reject it, observing that the time of his conception corresponded to a time that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had spent a lot of time together. Marie Antoinette reportedly retained her charisma after her pregnancies, cutting an imposing figure in her court. She was said to have many admirers, but remained a faithful, strong-willed wife and a stern but ultimately loving mother.
On 6 October 1789, the royal family was forced by a Parisian mob mostly composed of women to move from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, where they spent the next three years as prisoners under the daily surveillance of the National Guards who did not spare any humiliation to the family; at that time Marie Antoinette was always surrounded by guards, even in her bedroom at night and these guards were present when the Queen was allowed to see her children.
The family lived a secluded life, and Marie Antoinette dedicated most of her time to her two children under the daily surveillance of the national guards who kept her hands behind her back and searched everybody from the Queen to the children to see if any letters were smuggled to the prisoner. In 1790, the queen adopted a foster sibling for him, "Zoë" Jeanne Louise Victoire, as a playmate. On 21 June 1791, the family tried to escape in what is known as the Flight to Varennes, during which Louis-Charles was disguised as a girl, but the attempt failed. After the family was recognized, they were brought back to Paris. The blinds on their carriage were drawn back at the orders of a following crowd, exposing them all to the suffocating heat and dust. After killing a man who saluted the king, the mob taunted the family with his hat and clothing. On the second night of their journey home, the family was forced to walk through the unpredictable mob to reach their accomodation, many of whom openly threatened to kill them. As they arrived back at the palace, somebody attempted to attack Marie Antoinette, so Louis-Charles was snatched from her and whisked to safety by officials. That night, the young boy was awoken by nightmares of being eaten alive by wolves.
When the Tuileries Palace was stormed by an armed mob on 10 August 1792, the royal family sought refuge at the Legislative Assembly. They were forced to stay in a room ten feet long with a barred window facing the public gallery. Throughout the first nights of their stay, hundreds were murdered, stomped upon and set aflame. The family's possessions, jewels and the heads of their supporters were paraded before them, and they are made to watch men dying of their wounds. They had nothing to eat or drink for two days. During this, Louis-Charles spent a great deal of time clinging to his mother.
On 13 August, the royal family was imprisoned in the tower of the Temple. At first, their conditions were not extremely harsh, but they were prisoners and were re-styled as the "Capets" by the newborn Republic. Louis-Charles had toys and games to play with and was tutored in mathematics, literature, history and geography by his father. He was recorded by family members and even his captors as having a remarkable memory, being able to recite lengthy passages from novels and scripture on command. However, his education was cut short when the ever-suspicious guards ordered that all pencils, paper and ink be taken from the family to prevent secret correspondence. Louis-Charles was also prevented from learning maths when one guard claimed the king was, in fact, using the multiplication table to teach his son to write in cipher.
On 11 December, at the beginning of his trial, Louis XVI was separated from his family. He knew he was to be imminently taken away that morning, but even through his nerves could not refuse Louis-Charles' request to play nine-pins. Louis-Charles lost all the games, and after his father was taken away, slept in his mother's bed while she sat awake. Marie Antoinette and her children were permitted to see the king only one last time before his execution.

Naming

At his birth, Louis-Charles, a Fils de France, was given the title of Duke of Normandy, and, on 4 June 1789, when Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, his elder brother, died, the four-year-old became Dauphin of France, a title he held until September 1791, when France became a constitutional monarchy. Under the new constitution, the heir-apparent to the throne of France, formerly referred to as the "Dauphin", was restyled the Prince Royal. Louis-Charles held that title until the fall of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. At the death of his father on 21 January 1793, royalists and foreign powers intent on restoring the monarchy held him to be the new king of France, with the title of Louis XVII. From his exile in Hamm, in today's North Rhine-Westphalia, his uncle, the Count of Provence and future Louis XVIII, who had emigrated on 21 June 1791, appointed himself Regent for the young imprisoned king.

Prison and rumours of escape

1793: In the care of Antoine Simon

Immediately following Louis XVI's execution, plots were hatched for the escape of the prisoners from the Temple, the chief of these plots were engineered by the, the Baron de Batz, and Lady Atkyns. Others said to be involved in his escape are Paul Barras and Joséphine de Beauharnais.
On the night of 3 July, Louis-Charles was suddenly awoken and separated from his mother. The two of them begged and cried, Marie Antoinette fiercely trying to protect her son, but was forced to give him up under threat of death to them all. The boy was put in the care of Antoine Simon, a cobbler who had been named his guardian by the Committee of Public Safety. Louis-Charles' sister, Marie Thérèse, wrote in her memoires about the "monster Simon", as did Alcide Beauchesne. Stories survive narrating how Louis-Charles was made to copy the revolutionaries; his blond curls were cut short, and he was dressed in a red cap and jacket and made to loudly sing revolutionary songs, which his mother and sister could hear in their room upstairs. He was forced to eat and drink to excess and use foul language, to read inappropriate books or ballads, to swear oaths against God and use derogatory language towards his surviving family. Simon referred to the boy as 'Charles Capet', or more commonly, 'wolf-cub.' He would be hit, kicked, woken several times a night and doused with cold water if he prayed. He was taken daily into the garden and was occasionally permitted to play with the laundry woman's daughter. He still had some toys and, after expressing a desire for birds, was even briefly allowed a flock of canaries. Marie-Jeanne, Simon's wife, often tried to protect the boy from her husband's rage, but did not stop Louis-Charles from serving her at the table and had the boy polish her shoes.
The foreign secretaries of Britain and Spain also heard accounts from their spies that the boy was raped by prostitutes in order to infect him with venereal diseases to supply the Commune with manufactured "evidence" against the Queen. However, the scenes related by of the physical torment of the child are not supported by any testimony, though he was at this time seen by a great number of people.
On 6 October, Pache, Chaumette, Jacques Hébert and others visited the boy, who was drunk on liquor, and secured his signature to charges of sexual molestation against his mother and his aunt. The next day he met his elder sister Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte for the last time.