Louis XVII remains identification
The identification of Louis XVII's remains centers on the scientific analysis of a heart preserved for over two centuries, believed to belong to the young heir of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Following the French Revolution, Louis XVII, born Louis-Charles in 1785, faced a tragic fate after being imprisoned and separated from his family, ultimately dying from tuberculosis at just ten years old in 1795. For years, the legitimacy of his death was questioned, with numerous claims that he had been smuggled out of prison, leading to a series of impostors asserting their identity as the lost king.
In 2000, mitochondrial DNA analysis conducted on a sample of the preserved heart revealed a match with DNA from the royal family, confirming it as belonging to Louis XVII. This finding not only resolved longstanding debates regarding the boy's fate but also underscored the historical significance of his short life amidst the chaos of the revolution. The heart was later interred in a royal crypt during a ceremony in 2004, bringing a degree of closure to a story that has captivated historians and royalists alike for generations.
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Louis XVII remains identification
DATE: Findings announced on April 19, 2000
THE EVENT: Scientists announced that mitochondrial DNA analysis of a sample taken from a heart that had been kept in a jar in a basilica near Paris since the late eighteenth century revealed the heart to be that of Louis XVII, a young boy who was heir to the throne of France.
SIGNIFICANCE: For more than two hundred years, various claims had been made regarding the lost son of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette of France. Forensic analysis of mitochondrial DNA established that Louis XVII died in prison in 1795.
Louis XVII, known for most of his life as Louis-Charles, was the second son of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette of France. He was born on March 27, 1785, and became heir apparent upon the death of his older brother in 1789. As the French Revolution was beginning (1789), the royal family was imprisoned. With the execution of Louis XVI on January 21, 1793, the young boy became the titular King Louis XVII at the age of eight. Consequently, he was a threat to the revolutionaries should the royalists attempt to reestablish the monarchy. The boy was separated from the rest of his family and imprisoned. He was beaten and malnourished by his jailers, and he died of tuberculosis on June 8, 1795, in the Temple Prison, Paris. After his body was autopsied, the physician Philippe-Jean Pelletan smuggled the boy’s heart out of the prison and preserved it in wine alcohol.
Rumors were widespread that young Louis XVII had been smuggled out of prison and another boy substituted in his place. When the monarchy was restored nineteen years later, many young men came forward claiming to be Louis XVII. The most famous among them was Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, who died in Delft, the Netherlands, in 1845. His gravestone lists him as Louis Charles, Duc de Normandie, Louis XVII. In 1950, Naundorff’s coffin was reopened, and the right humerus (the long bone of the upper arm) was removed so that tests could be performed to determine whether Naundorff had been poisoned. The bone remained thereafter in the Dutch F Laboratories. In addition, locks of Naundorff’s hair were taken from the coffin and sealed in envelopes, which were deposited in the Delft town archives.
In 1993, research groups in the Netherlands and France were given access to the Naundorff samples for analysis. From these samples, they extracted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), amplified segments of the hypervariable regions by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and sequenced the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). The researchers also had access to hair samples from Marie-Antoinette, her mother (Maria Theresa of Austria), and two of her sisters (Maria Johanna Gabriela and Maria Josepha). Hair samples from other descendants were also made available. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited maternally. The results of the mtDNA comparisons ruled out Naundorff as Louis XVII.
In 1999, the French government allowed scientists to take a 500-milligram sample of the heart taken by Pelletan (which had been kept in a jar at the Basilique Saint-Denis, north of Paris). Analysis showed that the mtDNA from the heart was identical to that of Marie-Antoinette and her maternal relatives, establishing that the heart was that of Louis XVII. The data on this research were published by Els Jehaes and colleagues in 2001. In June 2004, 209 years after the young king’s death, a funeral Mass was celebrated for Louis XVII at the Basilique Saint-Denis, and the heart of the boy was placed in a royal crypt near the graves of his parents.
Bibliography
Cadbury, Deborah. The Lost King of France: A True Story of Revolution, Revenge, and DNA. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Jehaes, Els, et al. “Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of the Putative Heart of Louis XVII, Son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.” European Journal of Human Genetics 9 (2001): 185-190.
Mark, Harrison W. "Louis XVII of France." World History Encyclopedia, 1 Feb. 2023, www.worldhistory.org/Louis‗XVII‗of‗France/. Accessed 15 Aug. 2024.
Meyer, Anna. Hunting the Double Helix: How DNA Is Solving Puzzles of the Past. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2005.