Knowra Louis XVII of France Louis XVII of France Louis XVII was the second son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, imprisoned during the French Revolution. Royalists recognized him as king after his father’s execution, though he never ruled.
Louis XVI : King of France from 1774 until the monarchy’s abolition in 1792, executed during the French Revolution. His father’s execution in 1793 made the imprisoned boy the royalist claimant to the throne.
Temple prison : A Paris fortress used as a prison during the French Revolution, where the royal family was held. Louis-Charles spent his final years confined in this former fortress.
Louis XVIII : King of France from 1814 to 1824, except during Napoleon’s return in 1815; he was Louis XVI’s younger brother. After Louis-Charles’s death, royalists recognized his uncle as the next Bourbon claimant.
Naundorff affair : A nineteenth-century controversy over Karl Wilhelm Naundorff’s claim that he was Louis XVII, escaped from prison. Naundorff’s survival story directly opposed the accepted account of Louis-Charles’s death.
Marie Antoinette : Queen of France from 1774 until the monarchy’s abolition, executed during the French Revolution. Louis XVII’s mother shared his imprisonment before her execution in 1793.
Execution of Louis XVI : The guillotining of Louis XVI in Paris on 21 January 1793, ordered by the National Convention. The execution prompted royalists to proclaim the imprisoned Louis-Charles king.
Count of Provence : The title used by the future Louis XVIII before he became king of France. He declared himself regent for Louis XVII and later claimed the throne after the boy’s death.
Karl Wilhelm Naundorff : A Prussian clockmaker who claimed to be Louis XVII after arriving in France in 1833. He was the most persistent claimant to the identity of the dead prince.
Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France : The elder son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who died in 1789 before inheriting the throne. His death made his younger brother the next heir to the French crown.
Death of Louis XVII : The death of Louis-Charles in prison on 8 June 1795, officially attributed to tuberculosis. His death ended the life of the royalist claimant whose fate became the subject of later disputes.
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