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.