What happened to the children?

Part I

I meant to publish this newsletter before the new year. But, December and the holidays were busy as usual, with preparations for Christmas, and the actual celebrations. We had a quiet family celebration and it was great to see my family again.

Now to something else. Don’t you ever wonder what happened to the children of famous people? People who made an impact on world history. At least I do, and I will look into the life of some of the famous men and women and what happened to their children. I start with one of the most famous of them all:

Marie Antoinette’s children

I am sure I don’t have to tell you anything about her story. It has been told numerous times. Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had four children;

Their daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, Madame Royale, was born at Versailles on 19 December 1778.

Their son, Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin de France, born on 22 October 1781. He died of tuberculosis in 1789, age 7.

Their son, Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy, born on 27 March 1785 and died on 8 June 1795, age 10.

Their daughter, Marie Sophie Hélène Béatrix, born on 9 July 1786 and died on 19 June 1787, possibly by tuberculosis, aged 11 months.

At the time of the revolution they had two surviving children; Madame Royale and the Duke of Normandy.

Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy

Louis Charles became the Dauphin of France when his older brother died in 1789, just a month before the French revolution started. When his father was executed in 1793 he automatically succeeded as King of France, as Louis XVII, at least in the eyes of the royalists. France, by then, was a republic so he never ruled.

On 6 October 1789, the royal family was forced to move from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. There they spent the next three years under strict surveillance of the National Guards.

In spite of the heavy surveillance the family tried to escape the Tuileries Palace on 21 June 1791. The infamous escape has been known as the Flight to Varennes. The flight failed and they were returned to Paris, and moved to the tower of the Temple in August. As time proceeded, the conditions for the royal family became worse and worse. In December, Louis XVI was separated from his family, as the trial against him began. He was executed on 21 January 1793.

Separation

In the beginning of July, Louis-Charles was separated from his mother and put in the care of a cobbler, Antoine Simon. There are tales, by royalist writers, that Simon and his wife treated the child with cruelty, in different ways; behaviour, language etc. There are other indications that Madame Simon tried to protect him against her husband’s worst atrocities. But, the aim of the Commune was to brainwash the child.

On 16 October 1793 Marie-Antoinette was executed.

On 19 January 1794, the Simons left the Temple with their protegé. A declaration was signed that he was in good health. It seems, that most of the Temple records disappeared during the Bourbon Restoration, making it impossible to verify facts. It is said that, after the departure from the Temple, Louis-Charles was put in a dark, barricaded room, and was left in isolation and filth.

Six months later it seems that his conditions improved. His cell was cleaned, he received new clothes and taken out for fresh air. However, from the end of October, when he was forced to make a declaration against his mother, he ceased to speak.

Illness and death

In May 1795, Louis-Charles became seriously ill. He was treated by doctor Pierre Joseph Desault, who cared for him during his last days, and he stated: “I found a child who was an idiot, dying, a victim of the most degrading misery, completely abandoned, a being who was totally broken down by such cruel treatment and whom it is impossible for me to bring back to life.” (quote from ‘Axel von Fersen och drottning Marie-Antoinette’ by Margareta Beckman.) Louis-Charles died on 8 June. An autopsy took place the next day stating that death was caused by ‘scrofulous infection of long standing”. Today we call it tuberculoses. He was buried in the Sainte Marguerite cemetery, without a head stone. Several victims of the guillotine were buried there.

It would not be a real historical story if there were not rumours that Louis-Charles was not dead at all. A number of ‘false Dauphins’ appeared during the nineteenth century. Today, luckily, we have the possibility to verify such accounts. Since his grave is not known, where to find a sample for the DNA tests? Luckily, one of the doctors who performed the autopsy, secretly took away the heart. After many twists and turns, thefts and recoveries, Louis-Charles heart came to rest in Saint-Denis.

DNA testing took place in two separate laboratories in Belgium and Germany in 2000, stating that the DNA was ‘identical with those of Marie Antoinette, two of her sisters and two living relatives on the maternal side’.

Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, Madame Royale

Marie-Thérèse was the oldest child of Marie Antoinette. After a difficult birth M-A greeted her daughter with the words:

“Poor little one, you are not what was desired, but you are none the less dear to me! A son would have belonged to the state, but you will belong to me.”

She was named after her maternal grandmother, the Empress regnant of Austria, Maria Theresa. M-A called her Mousseline.

Imprisonment

She was imprisoned in the Temple, but, unlike her brother, she was allowed to stay with her mother, and aunt Élisabeth (Louis XVI’s youngest sister) until M-A was taken away and executed. On 10 May 1794 the aunt was executed.

Her stay was one of solitude. She only had two books that she read over and over again. The Imitation of Christ and Voyages by Jean-François de La Harpe. She was refused other books, as well as other requests. She scratched the following words on the walls in her room:

"Marie-Thérèse Charlotte is the most unhappy person in the world. She can obtain no news of her mother; nor be reunited to her, though she has asked it a thousand times. Live, my good mother! whom I love well, but of whom I can hear no tidings. O my father! watch over me from Heaven above. O my God! forgive those who have made my parents suffer."

During her incarceration she was never told what happened to her family, only that her father was dead. Only in August 1795 was she informed what happened to the rest of her family. In December that year she was exchanged for French prisoners and taken to Vienna.

Life in exile

Thus started her many years in exile. She moved to Mitau, Courland, (now Jelgava, Latvia) where her uncle Count of Provence, lived as a guest of Tsar Paul I. He had proclaimed himself King of France as Louis XVIII. He had no children of his own and wanted his niece to marry her cousin Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. Most sources say the marriage was possibly not consummated, while another source said they lost a baby in 1813. They left no children behind.

British exile (1795-1814) and Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830)

The family spent their exile years in Great Britain, which ended with Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, and the Bourbon Restoration. Louis XVIII ascended the throne, 21 years after the death of his brother.

Coming back to France was emotionally difficult for Marie-Thérèse. She was distrustful to many of her countrymen who supported either the Republic or Empire. She visited her parent’s grave. Louis XVIII died in 1824 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles X. Marie-Thérèse's husband was now heir to the throne, and she was addressed as Madame la Dauphine, the only Dauphine whose father was a former King of France.

However, there were no peaceful times in France and the Royal family had to flee again after the July Revolution in 1830. They went back to Britain and settled in Edinburgh. In 1833 the former king decided to move to Prague, and they moved into luxurious apartments in Prague Castle. They later left Prague and moved to the estate of Count Coronini near Gorizia, then Austria, today Italy.

Her husband died in 1844, and Marie-Thérèse moved to Schloss Frohsdorf, a baroque castle just outside Vienna. She seems to have spent a quiet life there, taking walks, reading, sewing and praying. She was joined by family members. In 1848 another revolution ended in France becoming a Republic.

Death

Marie-Thérèse died of pneumonia on 19 October 1851. She was buried next to her father-in-law and her husband, in the crypt of the Franciscan monastery church of Castagnavizza in Görz, then Austria, today Kostanjevica in Slovenia. On her gravestone she is described as the 'Queen Dowager of France', a reference to her husband's claim as King Louis XIX of France.

Read more?

The lives of these two children is a sad story. As royal children you are always affected by politics and events of which you have no real control. On the other hand, children don’t have control, that is why we have to protect them.

If you are further interested in the story, there are a lot to read on the web about Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI and their children. Fascinating stories. I have read a few books about the family and can recommend the following:

Marie-Antoinette, The Journey by Antonia Fraser - the biography.

Marie-Antoinette by Stefan Zweig - a historical fiction by the master of writing.

Axel von Fersen och drottning Marie-Antoinette by Margareta Beckman - for the Swedish readers. The love story, and the exchange of letters between the Queen and the Swedish Count Axel von Fersen.