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Thumbnail for Lost king of France : the tragic story of Marie-Antoinette's favourite son

Lost king of France : the tragic story of Marie-Antoinette's favourite son

Cadbury, Deborah2009
Books, Manuscripts
Louis-Charles Bourbon enjoyed a charmed early childhood in the gilded palace of Versailles. At the age of four, he became the Dauphin, heir to the most powerful throne in Europe. Yet within five years, he was to lose everything. Drawn into the horror of the French Revolution, his family was incarcerated and their fate thrust into the hands of the revolutionaries who wished to destroy the Monarchy. In 1793, when his mother was beheaded at the guillotine, she left her adored eight-year-old son imprisoned in the Temple Tower. Far from inheriting a throne, the orphaned boy-King had to endure the hostility and abuse of a nation. Two years later, the Revolutionary leaders declared Louis XVII was dead. No grave was dug, no monument built to mark his passing. Immediately, rumours spread that the Prince had, in fact, escaped from prison and was still alive. Others believed that he had been murdered, his heart cut out and preserved as a relic. In time, his older sister, Marie-Therese, who survived the Revolution, was approached by countless 'brothers' who claimed not only his name, but also his inheritance. Several 'princes' were plausible, but which, if any, was the real Louis-Charles?
Author:
Imprint:
London : bFourth Estate, 2003.
Collation:
314 pages. ; 20 cm.
ISBN:
000733379X9780007333790
Local class:
944.04
Language:
English
BRN:
1316122
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