Editing Louis XVII

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{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| title        = [[Dauphin of France]]
| image        = Louis Charles of France5.jpg
| caption      = 1792 portrait
| succession   = [[King of France]] {{nobold|(claimant)}}
| reign-type   = Tenure
| reign        = 21 January 1793 – 8 June 1795
| predecessor  = [[Louis XVI]]
| successor    = [[Louis XVIII]]
| house        = [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]]
| father       = [[Louis XVI]]
| mother       = [[Marie Antoinette]]
| religion     = [[Catholicism]]
| birth_name   = Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1785|3|27|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Palace of Versailles]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1795|6|8|1785|3|27|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Temple (Paris)|Paris Temple]], [[First French Republic]]
| burial_date  = 10 June 1795
| burial_place = [[Cimetière Sainte-Marguerite]], Paris, France
| signature    = Signature of Louis Charles of France, Duke of Normandy later known as Louis XVII of France.jpg
}}
'''Louis XVII''' (born '''Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy'''; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) 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 of France|Dauphin]] ([[heir apparent]] to the throne), a title he held until 1791, when the [[French Constitution of 1791|new constitution]] accorded the heir apparent the title of Prince Royal.

When his [[Execution of Louis XVI|father was executed]] on 21 January 1793, during the middle period of the French Revolution, he [[The king is dead, long live the king!|automatically succeeded]] as [[King of France]], Louis XVII, in the eyes of the royalists. France was by then [[First French Republic|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 in France|Bourbon Restoration]], his uncle acceded to the throne and was proclaimed [[Louis XVIII]].

==Biography==
[[File:Acte de baptême de Louis Charles.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Baptismal certificate, [[Church of Notre-Dame, Versailles|Parish of Notre-Dame]]]]
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|Marie-Antoinette]].<ref name=":1">{{EB1911|wstitle=Louis XVII. of France|volume=17|last= Bryant |first= Margaret |author-link=|page=45}}</ref> He was named after his father and his mother's favourite sister [[Maria Carolina of Austria|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, [[Princess Sophie Helene Beatrice of France|Sophie]], was born a little over a year later. He became the [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]] on the death of his elder brother, [[Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France|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.<ref name=":2">Lever, Evelyne: ''Marie-Antoinette'', Fayard, Paris, 1991, p. 480</ref> She was replaced by the [[Louise Élisabeth de Croÿ|marquise Louise Élisabeth de Tourzel]]. Additionally, the queen selected [[Agathe de Rambaud]] to be the official nurse of Louis-Charles. [[Alain Decaux]] wrote: <blockquote>"Madame de Rambaud was officially in charge of the care of the prince from the day of his birth until [[10 August (French Revolution)|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".<ref>Alain Decaux, ''Louis XVII retrouvé'', 1947, p. 306.{{cite web|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k73447w/f65.table|title=Gallica|year=1927|publisher = BNF}}</ref></blockquote>

Some have suggested that [[Axel von Fersen the Younger|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, but this theory 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. The king wrote in his diary about the birth as "when my son was born". 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=180–200, 305–313}}</ref>

On 6 October 1789, the royal family was forced by a [[Women's March on Versailles|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 Guard (France)|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.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=350–360}}</ref> In 1790, the queen adopted a foster sibling for him, [["Zoë" Jeanne Louise Victoire]], as a playmate.<ref name="ReferenceA">Philippe Huisman, Marguerite Jallut: ''Marie Antoinette'', Stephens, 1971</ref> On 21 June 1791, the family tried to escape in what is known as the [[Flight to Varennes]], but the attempt failed. After the family was recognized, they were brought back to Paris. When the Tuileries Palace was stormed by an armed mob on [[10 August (French Revolution)|10 August 1792]], the royal family sought refuge at the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]].

On 13 August, the royal family was imprisoned in the tower of the [[Temple (Paris)|Temple]]. At first, their conditions were not extremely harsh, but they were prisoners and were re-styled as the "Capets" by the newborn [[First French Republic|Republic]]. On 11 December, at the beginning of his trial, Louis XVI was separated from his family.

===Naming===
At his birth, Louis-Charles, a ''[[Fils de France]]'' ("Son of 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 [[French Constitution of 1791|September 1791]], when France became a [[Kingdom of France (1791–92)|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 [[Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy|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, North Rhine-Westphalia|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====
[[File:Louis XVI au Temple, Musée de la Révolution française - Vizille.jpg|thumb|''Louis XVI taking care of the education of his son in the [[Temple (Paris)|Temple]]'', ([[Musée de la Révolution française]])]]
Immediately following Louis XVI's execution, plots were hatched for the escape of the prisoners from the [[Temple, Paris|Temple]], the chief of these plots were engineered by the {{ill|François Augustin Regnier de Jarjayes|lt=Chevalier de Jarjayes|fr}}, the [[Jean, Baron de Batz|Baron de Batz]], and [[Charlotte Atkyns|Lady Atkyns]]. Others said to be involved in his escape(s) are [[Paul Barras]] and [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]].<ref name="son-of-louis-xvi">{{cite book |last1=Bloy |first1=Léon |title=The Son of Louis XVI |url=https://sunnyloupublishing.com |date=2022 |publisher=Sunny Lou Publishing}}</ref>

On 3 July, Louis-Charles was separated from his mother and put in the care of [[Antoine Simon]], a [[Shoemaking|cobbler]] who had been named his guardian by the [[Committee of Public Safety]]. The tales told by royalist writers of the cruelty inflicted by Simon and his wife on the child have not been proved. Louis Charles' sister, [[Marie-Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême|Marie Thérèse]], wrote in her memoires about the "monster Simon", as did Alcide Beauchesne. Antoine Simon's wife Marie-Jeanne, in fact, took great care of the child's person.{{cn|date=February 2024}} Stories survive narrating how he was encouraged to eat and drink to excess and learned the language of the gutter. 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 [[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|Commune]] with manufactured "evidence" against the Queen.<ref name=nagel /> However, the scenes related by {{ill|Alcide de Beauchesne|fr}} 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, [[Jean-Nicolas Pache|Pache]], [[Pierre Gaspard Chaumette|Chaumette]], [[Jacques Hébert]] and others visited the boy and secured his signature to charges of sexual molestation against his mother and his aunt.<ref name=nagel>{{cite book|last=Nagel|first=Susan|title=Marie-Thérèse: the fate of Marie Antoinette's daughter|year=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-0-7475-9666-0|pages=137|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ydFDp1ZasMC }}</ref> The next day he met his elder sister [[Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte]] for the last time.

====1794: Illness====
On 19 January 1794, the Simons left the [[Temple, Paris|Temple]], after securing a receipt for the safe transfer of their ward, who was declared to be in good health. A large part of the Temple records from that time onward disappeared under the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], making ascertaining of the facts impossible. Two days after the departure of the Simons, Louis-Charles is said by the Restoration historians to have been put in a dark room that was barricaded like the cage of a wild animal. The story recounts that food was passed through the bars to the boy, who survived despite the accumulated filth of his surroundings.

[[Maximilien Robespierre]] visited Marie-Thérèse on 11 May, but no one, according to the legend, entered the boy's room for six months until [[Paul Barras]] visited the prison after the [[Thermidorean Reaction|9th Thermidor]] (27 July 1794). Barras's account of the visit describes the child as suffering from extreme neglect, but conveys no idea of the alleged walling-in. The boy made no complaint to Barras of any ill treatment. He was then cleaned and re-clothed. His room was cleaned, and during the day he was visited by his new attendant, {{ill|Jean Jacques Christophe Laurent|fr}} (1770–1807), a creole from [[Martinique]]. From 8 November onward, Laurent had assistance from a man named Gomin.

[[File:Louis Charles of France2.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Louis Charles by [[Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun|Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun]]]]
Louis-Charles was then taken out for fresh air and walks on the roof of the Tower. From about the time of Gomin's arrival, he was inspected, not by delegates of the Commune, but by representatives of the civil committee of the 48 sections of Paris. From the end of October onward, the child maintained silence, explained by Laurent as a determination taken on the day he made his deposition against his mother. On 19 December 1794, he was visited by three commissioners from the Committee of Public Safety&nbsp;— {{ill|Jean-Baptiste Harmand|fr}}, [[Jean-Baptiste Charles Matthieu]] and {{ill|Jacques Reverchon|fr}}&nbsp;— but they failed to get the boy to say anything at all.

====1795: Death====
[[File:Jeton sur la mort de louis XVII.jpg|thumb|Louis XVII]]
On 31 March 1795, {{ill|Étienne Lasne|fr}} was appointed to be the child's guardian in place of Laurent. In May that year the boy was seriously ill, and a doctor, [[P. J. Desault]], who had visited him seven months earlier, was summoned. However, on 1 June, Desault himself died suddenly, not without suspicion of poison, and it was some days before doctors [[Philippe-Jean Pelletan]] and [[Jean-Baptiste Dumangin]] were called.

Louis-Charles died on 8 June 1795. The next day an autopsy was conducted by Pelletan. In the report it was stated that a child apparently about 10 years of age, "which the commissioners told us was the late Louis Capet's son", had died of a [[scrofulous]] infection of long standing. "Scrofula" as it was previously known, is nowadays called ''[[tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis]]'' referring to a [[lymphadenitis]] (chronic [[lymph node]] swelling or infection) of the neck ([[cervical lymph nodes]]) associated with [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{DorlandsDict|nine/100011836|tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Beauchesne|first=Alcide|title=Louis XVII: His Life, His Suffering, His Death, the Captivity of the Royal Family in the Temple, Volume 1|publisher=Palala Press|date=20 May 2016|isbn=978-1357844646}}</ref> During the autopsy, the physician Dr. Pelletan was shocked to see the countless scars which covered the boy's body, evidently the result of the physical mistreatment which the child had suffered while imprisoned in the Temple.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=Given the allegations of abuse sourcing this is very important}}

Louis-Charles was buried on 10 June in the [[Sainte Marguerite cemetery]], but no stone was erected to mark the spot. A skull was found there in 1846 and identified as his, though later re-examination in 1893 showed it to be from a teenager and therefore unlikely to be his.<ref>{{cite book|author=Xavier de Roche|title=Louis XVII. Le livre du bicentenaire|publisher=Editions de Paris|date=1995|page=12|language=fr}}</ref>

==== Heart of Louis-Charles ====
[[File:Coeur de Louis Charles de France (Louis XVII).jpg|thumb|Heart of Louis XVII inside a crystal urn, now buried at St Denis]]
Following a [[Heart-burial|tradition of preserving royal hearts]], Louis-Charles's heart was removed and smuggled out during the autopsy by the overseeing physician, [[Philippe-Jean Pelletan]]. Thus, Louis-Charles' heart was not interred with the rest of the body. Dr. Pelletan stored the smuggled heart in distilled wine in order to preserve it. However, after 8 to 10 years the distilled wine had evaporated, and the heart was from that time kept dry.

After the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Restoration]] in 1815, Dr. Pelletan attempted to give the heart to Louis-Charles's uncle, [[Louis XVIII]]; the latter refused because he could not bring himself to believe that it was the heart of his nephew. Dr. Pelletan then donated the heart to the [[Archbishop of Paris]], [[Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen]]. Following the [[July Revolution|Revolution of 1830]], and the plundering of the [[Archbishop's Palace of Paris]], Pelletan's son Philippe-Gabriel found the relic among the ruins and placed it in the crystal urn in which it is still kept today. After the younger Pelletan's death in 1879, it passed to Édouard Dumont.

It was later offered to [[Carlos, Duke of Madrid]] in 1895, a pretender to the throne of France and Spain, nephew (both biological and in-law) of the Archduchess [[Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (1817–1886)|Maria Theresa of Austria-Este]]. The offer was accepted and the relic was held near [[Vienna]] at [[Schloss Frohsdorf]]. In 1909, Carlos's son, [[Jaime, Duke of Madrid]], inherited the heart, and gave it to his sister, Beatriz de Borbón (1874–1961),<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> wife of [[Massimo family|Prince Fabrizio Massimo (1868–1944)]], and in 1938, to their daughter Maria della Neve, wife of Charles Piercy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://histoiredefranceactu.over-blog.fr/article-64400964.html|title=la science au secours de l'histoire|author=messire62|work=histoiredefancescience|date=6 January 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memorialdefrance.org/page23a.html|title=Cottin|publisher=|access-date=19 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625231743/http://www.memorialdefrance.org/page23a.html|archive-date=25 June 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Finally Maria della Neve offered the heart to [[Jacques de Bauffremont]], president of the Memorial of the [[Basilica of St Denis]] in Paris. He in turn put the heart and its crystal urn in the basilica's necropolis of the Kings of France, the burial place of Louis-Charles's parents and other members of the [[Capetian dynasty|French royal family]].
There it rested undisturbed until December 1999, when public notaries witnessed the removal of a section of the muscle of the heart's aorta and its transfer into a sealed envelope, and subsequently the opening of the same sealed envelope in the laboratory for it to be tested.

It was in 2000 that the [[historian]] [[Philippe Delorme]] arranged for [[DNA testing]] of the heart as well as bone samples from one of the many historical claimants to Louis-Charles's identity, namely [[Karl Wilhelm Naundorff]], a German clockmaker. Ernst Brinkmann of [[Münster University]] and Belgian genetics professor Jean-Jacques Cassiman of the [[Katholieke Universiteit Leuven]], conducted [[mitochondrial DNA]] tests using a strand of the hair of the boy's mother, [[Marie Antoinette]], and other samples from her sisters [[Archduchess Maria Johanna Gabriela of Austria|Maria Johanna Gabriela]] and [[Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria|Maria Josepha]], their mother, Empress [[Maria Theresa]], and two living direct descendants in the strict maternal line of Maria Theresa, namely [[Queen Anne of Romania]] and her brother, Prince André of Bourbon-Parma, maternal relatives of Louis XVII. The tests proved both that Naundorff was not the dauphin, and the heart was that of Louis-Charles.

Of these results, historian [[Jean Tulard]] wrote: "This [mummified] heart is ... almost certainly that of Louis XVII. We can never be 100 per cent sure but this is about as sure as it gets".<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|last=Broughton|first=Philip Delves|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1463951/Tragic-French-boy-kings-heart-finds-a-final-resting-place-after-209-years.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1463951/Tragic-French-boy-kings-heart-finds-a-final-resting-place-after-209-years.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Tragic French boy king's heart finds a final resting place after 209 years|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=2004-06-07|access-date=2020-03-17|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2004/06/03/France-buries-200-year-old-royal-mystery/70691086280595/|title=France buries 200-year-old royal mystery|last=Bryant|first=Elizabeth|date=3 June 2004|website=United Press International|access-date=17 March 2020}}</ref>

In the light of this conclusion, French [[Legitimists]] organized the heart's solemn burial in the [[Basilica of St Denis]] on 8 June 2004. The burial took place in connection with a mass and during the ceremony 12-year-old Prince Amaury of Bourbon-Parma carried the heart and placed it in a niche beside the tombs of Louis-Charles' parents, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.<ref name=":6" />
It was the first time in over a century that a royal ceremony had taken place in France, complete with the [[fleur-de-lis]] standard and a royal crown.<ref name=":3">[http://www.genebase.com/blog/?p=44 "The mtDNA and its role in Ancestry: Part XIV (Descendents of Maria-Theresa)" Genebase] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513073022/http://www.genebase.com/blog/?p=44 |date=13 May 2009 }} Retrieved 22 June 2009</ref><ref>[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k203799w/f60.image Revue rétrospective], BNF</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9IFTAAAAIBAJ&pg=4943,2008214|title=French boy king's heart to be buried in crypt|date=7 June 2004|newspaper=Kingsport Daily News|location=Paris|agency=Reuters|page=1}}</ref>

==Lost Dauphin claimants==
{{wide image|Marie Antoinette and her Children by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.jpg|300px|{{center|'''The Royal Family of France, 1787'''}} Queen [[Marie Antoinette]] with her children, 1787 at Versailles; (L-R); [[Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France|Marie-Thérèse Charlotte]], known as ''Madame Royale'' at court; the Queen with the Duke of Normandy on her lap; the [[Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France|Dauphin]] is on the right pointing into an empty cradle; the cradle used to show [[Sophie Hélène Béatrice de France|Madame Sophie]]; she died later in the year and had to be painted out; by [[Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun]]; the [[Fleur-de-lis]] of France and the Bourbons can be seen behind on the cabinet||right}}
As rumors quickly spread that the body buried was not that of Louis-Charles and that he had been spirited away alive by sympathizers, the legend of the "Lost Dauphin" was born. When the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon monarchy was restored]] in 1814, some one hundred claimants came forward. Would-be royal heirs continued to appear across Europe for decades afterward.

===Naundorff===
[[Karl Wilhelm Naundorff]] was a German clockmaker whose story rested on a series of complicated intrigues. According to him, [[Paul Barras]] determined to save the Dauphin in order to please [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], the future empress, having conceived the idea of using the Dauphin's existence as a means of dominating the [[Louis XVIII|comte de Provence]] in the event of a restoration. The Dauphin was concealed in the fourth storey of the Tower, a wooden figure being substituted for him. Laurent, to protect himself from the consequences of the substitution, replaced the wooden figure with a deaf mute, who was presently exchanged for the scrofulous child of the death certificate. The deaf mute was also concealed in the Temple. It was not the dead child, but the Dauphin who left the prison in the coffin, to be retrieved by friends before it reached the cemetery.

Naundorff arrived in Berlin in 1810, with papers giving the name Karl Wilhelm Naundorff. He said he was escaping persecution and settled at [[Spandau]] in 1812 as a clockmaker, marrying Johanna Einert in 1818. In 1822 he removed to [[Brandenburg an der Havel]], and in 1828 to [[Krosno Odrzańskie|Crossen]], near [[Frankfurt (Oder)]]. He was imprisoned from 1825 to 1828 for coining, though apparently on insufficient evidence, and in 1833 came to push his claims in Paris, where he was recognized as the Dauphin by many persons formerly connected with the court of [[Louis XVI]]. Expelled from France in 1836, the day after bringing a suit against [[Marie Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême]] for the restitution of the Dauphin's private property, he lived in exile until his death at [[Delft]] on 10 August 1845, and his tomb was inscribed "Louis XVII., roi de France et de Navarre (Charles Louis, duc de Normandie)". The Dutch authorities who had inscribed on his death certificate the name of Charles Louis de Bourbon, duc de Normandie (Louis XVII) permitted his son to bear the name de Bourbon, and when the family appealed in 1850–51, and again in 1874, for the restitution of their civil rights as heirs of Louis XVI, no less an advocate than [[Jules Favre]] pled their cause.

However, DNA testing conducted in 1993 proved that Naundorff was not the Dauphin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Antonia |author-link = Antonia Fraser | title=Marie Antoinette: The Journey |date=2001 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0385489485}}</ref>

===Richemont===
[[Baron de Richemont]]'s tale that Jeanne Simon, who was genuinely attached to him, smuggled him out in a basket, is simple and more credible, and does not necessarily invalidate the story of the subsequent operations with the deaf mute and the scrofulous patient, Laurent in that case being deceived from the beginning, but it renders them extremely unlikely. Richemont, alias ''Henri Éthelbert-Louis-Hector Hébert'', began to put forward his claims in Paris in 1828. He died in 1853.

===Williams===
Reverend [[Eleazer Williams]] was a Protestant missionary from [[Wisconsin]] of [[Mohawk nation|Mohawk]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] descent.<ref name="E.Williams">{{cite journal|year=1897|first=L'abbé M.|last=Mainville|title=Louis XVII est-il venu au Canada?|journal=Le Bulletin des Recherches Historiques|pages=66–70|volume=3|issue=5|url=https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06617_29/2?r=0&s=1}}</ref> While at the house Francis Vinton, William began shaking and trembling upon seeing a portrait of [[Antoine Simon]], a member of the [[sans-culottes]], saying of the portrait that it had "haunted me, day, and night, as long as I can remember." Simon was rumored to have physically abused the Dauphin while he was imprisoned at the Temple. Francis Vinton was convinced by Eleazar William's reaction that Williams was Louis-Charles. Williams claimed he had no recollection of how he escaped his imprisonment at the Temple, or of his early years in France.

Williams was a missionary to Native Americans when, according to him, the [[prince de Joinville]], son of [[Louis Philippe I|Louis-Philippe]], met him, and after some conversation asked him to sign a document abdicating his rights in favor of Louis-Philippe, in return for which he, the Dauphin (alias Eleazar Williams), was to receive the private inheritance which was his. This Eleazar Williams refused. Williams's story is generally regarded as false. However, other elements published in 1897 provide some grounds for doubt.<ref name="E.Williams"/>

==In fiction==
===Novel===
* 1884 – [[Mark Twain]], ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'', {{ISBN|9780486280615}} (a character falsely claiming to be him)
* 1913 – [[Baroness Emmuska Orczy]], ''[[Eldorado (novel)|Eldorado]]'', {{ISBN|9780755111121}}
* 1937 – [[Rafael Sabatini]], ''[[The Lost King]]'', {{ISBN|9780755115440}}
* 1951 – [[Dennis Wheatley]], ''[[The Man Who Killed The King]]'', {{ISBN|0090031903}}
* 1953 – [[Willa Gibbs]], ''Seed of Mischief'', {{ISBN|9780110500645}}
* 1955 – [[Carley Dawson]], ''Dragon Run''
* 2000 – [[Deborah Cadbury]], ''The Lost King of France: A true story of revolution, revenge, and DNA'', {{ISBN|9780312283124}}
* 2003 – [[Françoise Chandernagor]], ''La Chambre'', éditions Gallimard, {{ISBN|2070314200}}
* 2003 – [[Amélie de Bourbon Parme]], ''Le Sacre de Louis XVII'', éditions Folio, {{ISBN|9782070302284}}
* 2005 – [[Ann Dukthas]], ''En Mémoire d'un prince'', éditions 10/18, Grands Détectives, {{ISBN|2264037903}}
* 2007 – [[Christophe Donner]], ''Un roi sans lendemain'', éditions Grasset, {{ISBN|2246625815}}
* 2009 – [[Dominic Lagan]], ''Live Free or Die'', {{ISBN|0956151809}}
* 2010 – [[Jennifer Donnelly]], ''[[Revolution (novel)|Revolution]]'', {{ISBN|9780385737647}}
* 2011 – [[Louis Bayard]], ''The Black Tower'', {{ISBN|9782266188906}}
* 2011 – [[Jacques Soppelsa]], ''Louis XVII, la piste argentine'', Histoires, A2C Médias, {{ISBN|9782916831169}}
* 2011 – [[Missouri Dalton]], ''The Grave Watchers'', {{ISBN|9781610402842}}

===Cinema===
* 1937 – ''[[Le roi sans couronne]]'' played by [[Scotty Beckett]]
* 1938 – ''[[La Marseillaise (film)|La Marseillaise]]'' played by [[Marie-Pierre Sordet-Dantès]]
* 1938 – ''[[Marie Antoinette (1938 film)|Marie Antoinette]]'' played by Scotty Beckett
* 1945 – ''[[Pamela (film)|Pamela]]'' played by [[Serge Emrich]]
* 1957 – ''[[Dangerous Exile]]'' played by [[Richard O'Sullivan]]
* 1982 – ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982 film)|The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'' played by Richard Charles
* 1989 – ''[[La Révolution française (film)|La Révolution française]]'' played by Sean Flynn
* 1991 – ''[[Killer Tomatoes Eat France]]'' played by [[Steve Lundquist]].
* 1995 – ''[[Jefferson in Paris]]'' played by [[Damien Groelle]]
* 2001 – ''[[The Affair of the Necklace]]'' played by [[Thomas Dodgson-Gates]]
* 2006 – ''[[Marie Antoinette (2006 film)|Marie Antoinette]]'' played by [[Jago Betts]], [[Axel Küng]], [[Driss Hugo-Kalff]]

===Music===
* 2014 – ''[[Symphony of the Vampire]]'' by [[Kamijo (musician)|Kamijo]]
* 2018 – ''[[Sang (Kamijo song)|Sang]]'' by [[Kamijo (musician)|Kamijo]]

==See also==
{{portal|Biography}}
* [[Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia|Alexei Nikolaevich]], heir to the [[Russian Empire]]; imprisoned and killed by the [[Bolsheviks]] in the [[Russian Civil War]]
* [[Arthur I, Duke of Brittany]], boy claimant to the English throne; alleged to have been murdered by his uncle [[John of England|King John]]
* [[Edward V of England]] and [[Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York]], the [[Princes in the Tower]] who vanished towards the end of the [[Wars of the Roses]]; alleged to have been murdered by their uncle [[Richard III of England|Richard III]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Cadbury, Deborah. ''The Lost King of France: Revolution, Revenge and the Search for Louis&nbsp;XVII''. London: Fourth Estate, 2002 ({{ISBN|1-84115-588-8}}, hardcover), 2003 ({{ISBN|1-84115-589-6}}, paperback); New York: St.&nbsp;Martin's Press, 2002 ({{ISBN|0-312-28312-1}}, hardcover); New York: St.&nbsp;Martin's Griffin, 2003 ({{ISBN|0-312-32029-9}}, paperback reprint). (Note that subtitles vary in different editions of the book.)
** [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n08/mant01_.html Reviewed] by Hilary Mantel in the [http://www.lrb.co.uk/ ''London Review of Books''], Vol.&nbsp;25, No.&nbsp;8, 17 August 2003.
* 'Live Free or Die' (historical thriller novel) by Dominic Lagan {{ISBN|978-0-9561518-0-3}}, Editions Gigouzac 2009 paperback
* Alcide Beauchesne "Louis 17. Sa vie, martyr et agonie" 1852. Plon. Paris.

==External links==
{{Commonscat}}
'''''Primary sources'''''
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/angouleme/index.html Duchess of Angoulême's Memoirs on the Captivity in the Temple] (from the autograph manuscript)
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/France/_Texts/CROROY/Memoires_du_Temple/1*.html Duchess of Angoulême's Memoirs on the Captivity in the Temple] (1823 English translation of a slightly redacted French edition)

'''''Other material'''''
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.chez.com/louis17 Philippe Delorme's website] ([[Philippe Delorme]]'s website : one page in English).
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006063500/http://louis17.ifrance.com/ Details about the DNA analysis of the heart] believed to be that of Louis-Charles.

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{{s-hou|[[House of Bourbon]]|27 March|1785|8 June|1795|[[Capetian dynasty]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France|Louis-Joseph]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Dauphin of France]]|years=4 June 1789&nbsp;– 1 October 1791}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême|Louis-Antoine]]}}
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{{s-bef|before = [[Louis XVI]]}}
{{s-tul|title  = [[List of French monarchs|King of France]]|years=21 January 1793&nbsp;– 8 June 1795|reason = [[Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy|Monarchy abolished in 1792]]}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Louis XVIII]]}}
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