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Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (Louis Joseph Xavier François; 22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789) was the second child and elder son of King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette. As the heir apparent to the French throne, he was called the twenty-sixth Dauphin of France—the hereditary "crown prince" title of the Capetian and Bourbon monarchies.
Louis Joseph died at age seven of tuberculosis of the spine amidst the political turmoil and power machinations surrounding the Estates-General of 1789, for which period his parents' actions were so heavily criticized, giving rise to the deterioration of relations with the Estates.
Louis Joseph was succeeded as the French crown prince by his four year old brother Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France who eventually became the imprisoned and uncrowned King Louis XVII of France, who also died of illness in captivity during the French Revolution.
Early Life[]
Louis Joseph was born at the Palace of Versailles on 22 October 1781; he was the long awaited Dauphin of France. As the eldest son of the king, he was also a "Fils de France", literally a "Son of France".
His private household was created upon his birth and he was put into the care of Geneviève Poitrine, one of his wet nurses. It was Geneviève that was later accused of transmitting tuberculosis to the young Dauphin. His Sous gouverneur was Maréchal de camp Antoine Charles Augustin d'Allonville. Another member of his household was his mother's great friend, Yolande de Polastron.
He was very close to his sister and his parents, who closely monitored his education. Louis Joseph was always praised for being a very bright child for his young age, however, it was often noted that he had very fragile health. Apart from his older sister, Marie Thérèse (1778-1851), he also had two younger siblings: Louis Charles (1785-1795) and Sophie (1786-1787).
Illness[]
by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, unknown date
Around April 1784, when he was just three years old, Louis Joseph had a series of very bad 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 at La Muette seemed to help Louis Joseph recover and, almost a year later in March 1785, Louis Joseph returned to La Muette where he received an inoculation. However, in spite of this, his health would remain fragile.
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 was transmitted from female company to an education led by men, as was customary at the time. 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 corsets en fer - iron corsets.
From as early as January 1788 the fevers grew more frequent and the disease progressed quickly.
Death[]
The young Louis Joseph died on 4 June, 1789, at Meudon and was buried at the Basilica of St Denis, where his tomb, along with many Bourbon graves at St Denis, were destroyed during the French Revolution.
On his death, the title of Dauphin passed to his younger brother Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy, who would survive his father and die in prison at the age of ten.