Locked in a filthy prison cell at just eight years old, Louis-Charles—son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette—endured unimaginable cruelty after his parents’ executions. Declared ‘Louis XVII’ by royalists, he became a pawn of the Revolution, isolated and abused in Paris’s Temple Prison. In 1795, officials announced his death from neglect and tuberculosis… but rumors swirled that he had been secretly rescued. Over 100 impostors later claimed to be the lost prince, yet DNA tests on a preserved heart in 2000 suggested he did perish in captivity. His tragic fate remains one of history’s most haunting mysteries.
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The Lost Dauphin
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Locked in a filthy prison cell at just eight years old, Louis-Charles—son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette—endured unimaginable cruelty after his parents’ executions. Declared ‘Louis XVII’ by royalists, he became a pawn of the Revolution, isolated and abused in Paris’s Temple Prison. In 1795, officials announced his death from neglect and tuberculosis… but rumors swirled that he had been secretly rescued. Over 100 impostors later claimed to be the lost prince, yet DNA tests on a preserved heart in 2000 suggested he did perish in captivity. His tragic fate remains one of history’s most haunting mysteries.