The story of Louis Carlos de Bourbon, born in Versailles on March 27, 1785, was marked from day one by the imminent collapse of the French monarchy. The son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he grows up in a turbulent country, on the eve of the revolution that will change his fate and the fate of his entire family forever. After the uprising of August 10, 1792, the young man was imprisoned with his parents and siblings in the Temple, a medieval fortress converted into a prison. He remained there until January 1793, when his father was executed by guillotine.
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The royalists in exile automatically declared him king under the name Louis XVII, even though he was only seven years old. His personality gained political importance amid the war between France, Austria and Prussia, which prompted the revolutionary government to isolate him further. On July 3, 1793, he was separated from his mother and placed in the custody of Antoine Simon, a shoemaker charged with “re-educating” him. Marie Antoinette would be executed months later, on October 16 of that year, without her son knowing his fate.
From 1794 onwards, Luis Carlos was again detained in a temple dungeon, in precarious conditions that caused his health to rapidly deteriorate. During this period, a mystery arose that would last for more than two centuries: what happened to the heir to the French throne?
Reports indicated that a person secretly entered the prison, deceived the guards, replaced the child, and escaped. The story gained so much attention that in the 19th century, dozens of men claimed to be the real Louis XVII or his descendants. Novels even depicted the so-called “Lost King”.
The heart that holds the answer
The mystery began to be clarified only in 2000, when a group of scientists decided to resort to modern DNA techniques. The key was in one thing: the boy’s heart, which was removed during an autopsy performed by Dr. Philippe-Jean Bellitan after his death.
The organ, which dried up with time, was stolen, lost and exchanged over two centuries, until it was preserved in the Basilica of Saint-Denis. From there, researchers from the Universities of Leuven (Belgium) and Münster (Germany), led by geneticist Jean-Jacques Cassiman, began the analysis.
The work was not simple: first, it was necessary to cut the heart in half to extract the DNA. Then came the most delicate step: finding reliable genetic material from Marie Antoinette that would make it possible to confirm the boy’s identity.
How did scientists find Marie Antoinette’s DNA?
The crucial discovery came from a necklace that belonged to the queen’s mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The piece contained sixteen medallions featuring locks of hair from each of her children, including the future Queen of France. However, experts sought to strengthen the result and requested another genetic sample from the maternal line.
They then turned to the empress’s descendants – at the time, the Queen of Romania and her brother – who provided blood samples. Comparative tests were conclusive: DNA taken from the heart preserved in Saint-Denis perfectly matched Marie Antoinette’s mother’s lineage.
The analysis confirmed that Luis Carlos never escaped and was not replaced. He died in prison when he was ten years old, a victim of neglect, illness, and isolation. After solving the mystery, in 2004, the French Ministry of Culture allowed a symbolic burial in the Church of Saint-Denis, the temple of the kings of France, where the boy was finally able to be reunited with his family.