Louis XVII

Louis XVII (1785-1795), titular king of France (1793-1795). The son and Dauphin (heir) of King Louis XVI, eight-year-old Louis XVII was recognized as king by French Royalists after his father's execution during the French Revolution. According to official reports, he died of tuberculosis while a prisoner of the Republican government in Paris. A grave containing the supposed remains of the boy is in the church of Sainte Marguérite, in the eleventh arrondissement of Paris. Many believed that he had escaped, however, and more than 30 people later claimed to be the 'Lost Dauphin', although genetic tests in 2000 on a child's heart preserved by Philippe-Jean Pelletan, the doctor who performed the autopsy, seemed to prove that Louis had died in prison.