Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France

For other uses of "Louis, Dauphin", see Louis, Dauphin (disambiguation).

Louis Joseph
Dauphin of France
Portrait by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1784. (Nationalmuseum)
Born	(1781-10-22)22 October 1781 Palace of Versailles, France
Died	4 June 1789(1789-06-04) (aged 7) Château de Meudon, France
Burial	Basilica of Saint-Denis
Names Louis Joseph Xavier François de France
House	Bourbon
Father	Louis XVI of France
Mother	Marie Antoinette

Louis Joseph Xavier François (22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789) was Dauphin of France as the second child and first son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As son of a king of France, he was a fils de France ("Child of France"). Louis Joseph died aged seven from tuberculosis and was succeeded as Dauphin (and thus heir-apparent) by his four-year-old brother Louis Charles.

Biography

Marie Antoinette with her son Louis Joseph and daughter Marie-Thérèse, by Charles Le Clercq (1781).

Louis Joseph Xavier François de France was born at the Palace of Versailles on 22 October 1781. He was baptized on the day of his birth, in the chapel of the Palace of Versailles by Louis René Édouard de Rohan, Grand Chaplain of France, in the presence of Honoré Nicolas Brocquevielle, priest of Notre Dame de Versailles: his godfather was Emperor Joseph II of Austria, represented by Louis Stanislas Xavier and his godmother was Marie Clotilde of France, princess of Piedmont, represented by Élisabeth, younger sister of King Louis XVI. The newborn was the long-awaited Dauphin, his father's heir to the throne of France, as Salic Law, which excluded women from acceding to the throne, applied to his elder sister, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Madame Royale. When the dauphin was born, only his uncle seemed to be unhappy, for he had thereby lost his right to the throne. As for the texts and songs relating to this event, it was the same as that of his sister, Marie Thérèse. There were two extremes, but in general, everyone was happy at this birth. Numerous gifts, among others musical clocks and cars as well as a baby trunk donated by the city of Paris.

At 8:30 pm, a magnificent fireworks display will be held on the parade ground, which the King can see from his balcony as well as the entire Court. The princes of the same blood and all the lords of the court will have the honor to pay homage to Louis XVI on the occasion of the Queen's birth of the Dauphin.

The French Royal family around Louis Joseph in 1782.

His private household was created upon his birth. He was under the care of Victoire de Rohan, the Governess of the Children of France, until she was replaced in 1782 by Yolande de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac, one of his mother's favourites. His sous-gouverneur was the Maréchal de camp Antoine Charles Augustin d'Allonville. His wet nurse was Geneviève Poitrine, who was later accused of transmitting tuberculosis to the young Dauphin.

Louis Joseph has an older sister, a younger brother and a younger sister: Marie-Thérèse, Madame Royale, born 3 years before him, in 1778, Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy, in 1785 and Sophie Hélène Béatrix, Madame Sophie, in 1786. Out of all his siblings, Louis Joseph was closest to Marie-Thérèse.

The Prince was watched day and night for the first three years of his life. Louis Joseph was very close to his older sister and to his parents, who watched attentively over his education. He was always praised for being a very bright child for his age; however, it soon became apparent that he was of fragile health.

Illness

Bust of Louis-Joseph by Louis-Pierre Deseine (Musée de la Révolution française, Vizille, Isère)

Around April 1784, when he was three years old, Louis Joseph had a series of high fevers. Out of fear for his health, he was transported to the Château de La Muette where the air was reputed to have healing properties. The time spent at La Muette seemed to have helped Louis Joseph recover, and almost a year later, in March 1785, it is believed that his smallpox vaccination had something to do with it, the Dauphin seemed to weaken after this. Louis Joseph would not grow any further and would be in constant pain.

He did his best despite his physical pain. Despite his illness, Louis Joseph found comfort in the presence of his older sister Marie-Thérèse, who spent much time with him. The prince also showed great affection for his younger brother, Louis Charles whom he delighted in seeing in crib.

In 1786, the fevers returned, but his household regarded them as being of no importance. These fevers, however, were the first signs of tuberculosis. In the same year, Louis Joseph's education was turned over to men, as was customary for the sons of the kings of France. At the ceremony, it was noted that Louis Joseph had trouble walking, which was in fact caused by a curvature of the spine – something which was treated through the use of metal corsets

In 1787, Louis Joseph's condition worsened: fevers followed one another and the dauphin's back became so deformed that he soon developed a hunchback. Marie-Antoinette spent much of her time looking after her always gentle son.

Louis Joseph while wearing a metal corset.

According to Marie Antoinette, his health gradually deteriorated and his body became deformed: “his waist became disordered, and his hips were higher than the rest and his back had slightly crooked and protruding vertebrae". By January 1788 the fevers grew more frequent and the disease progressed quickly. She added, in a letter to her brother, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, that her son was “gaunt and weak, had lost his milk teeth and at the beginning of 1788 he suffered from fever every day”. Count Mercy commented on the little Prince's deteriorating health: “The joints of the feet and hands lost their flexibility, we noticed tumors there that signaled rickets. The doctors no longer knew what treatment to provide.”

By early 1789, Louis Joseph had lost the flexibility of his limbs and was permanently confined to bed, where he had to wear a corset to straighten his deformed spine. The tuberculosis he suffered from further deteriorated under the helpless gaze of the queen, who was heartbroken to see her child like this. The dauphin's rare outings in the garden were made in a wheelchair. The Dauphin had to sitting in a wheelchair to watch the States General's opening from the balcony. Faced with her son's condition, the queen fell into a state of despair. She knew that her child was doomed.

Louis Joseph died at 1:00 a.m. at Château de Meudon on June 4 1789, at the age of seven and a half, during the Estates General, 40 days before the storming of the Bastille. He was the last prince to live in the castle. For 5 years, Louis Joseph had been battling what appeared to be a form of smallpox. He far from his parents, who were not allowed to attend his final moments or his burial due to royal protocol. His death had a profound effect on his older sister but devastated his mother, who fainted at the news of her son's death. Louis XVI, who visited his son daily, was also deeply saddened. Marie-Antoinette wrote to her brother, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II: “The country seems to have paid more than a passing attention to the death of my poor little Dauphin.” He was buried on 13 June in a simple ceremony at the Basilica of St Denis, a month before the storming of the Bastille. On 10 August 1793, on order of the National Convention during the Reign of Terror, his tomb was desecrated, together with those of the kings and queens of France, members of the royal family, high dignitaries, and abbots.

At the death of Louis Joseph, the title of Dauphin passed to his younger brother Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy (1785–1795), who died during the French Revolution, at the Temple prison in Paris.

Legacy

Queen Marie Antoinette with her children, 1787 at Versailles; (L-R); Marie Thérèse Charlotte, known as Madame Royale at court; the Queen with the Duke of Normandy on her lap; the Dauphin is on the right pointing into an empty cradle; the cradle used to show Madame Sophie; she died later in the year and had to be painted out; by Élisabeth-Vigée-Le Brun; the Fleur-de-lis of France and the Bourbons can be seen behind on the cabinet

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in which Harrisburg is located, is named after him. The Pennsylvania legislature, meeting in Philadelphia in 1785, named the newly formed county northwest of Lancaster and north of York to thank France for helping the United States win her independence from the British Empire. Within the county, the borough of Dauphin, so named when it was incorporated in 1845, is thus indirectly also named for him.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Louis Joseph of France

8. Louis XV of France 4. Louis, Dauphin of France 9. Marie Leszczyńska 2. Louis XVI of France 10. Augustus III of Poland 5. Maria Josepha of Saxony 11. Maria Josepha of Austria 1. Louis Joseph of France 12. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine 6. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor 13. Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans 3. Marie Antoinette of Austria 14. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 7. Empress Maria Theresa 15. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick

Bibliography

History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Historical Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

External links

• Media related to Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France at Wikimedia Commons