The jar containing the heart of Louis XVII. The debate is not over yet
Paris. The heart of Louis XVII, the 17-year-old heir to the French throne, was taken from his body after he died in prison, kept in alcohol, stolen, returned and about 10 years later underwent a DNA test. Next week the heart of Louis XVII will be buried in the royal tomb estate north of Paris. Many historians are now convinced, following the findings of genetic testing, that the tiny, fossilized heart is almost certainly the real royal thing.
In ceremonies to be held next week, European royalty will honor the young boy, who became a hostage during the French Revolution and died in prison. After the mass this coming Tuesday, Louis' heart will be buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis, next to the grave of his parents - Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.
The initiators of the burial of the royal heart want to close the door on 209 years of rumors, legends and historical fog surrounding the child's death. However, some skeptics still claim that the mystery of his death has not yet been solved: many historians are convinced that the real heir to the throne escaped from prison, and the sickly boy who died there was nothing more than a substitute. "I would like to believe that the boy escaped and survived," said Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon de Ferme, one of Louis XVII's living relatives. "Today, scientists have proven that the opposite is true."
Louis XVII's short life resembles a telenovela script: he lost his parents, whose heads were beheaded by a guillotine, and was imprisoned for three years in a prison in Paris, part of which he spent in total isolation in a dark cell, without anyone bathing him or cleaning up after him. The boy eventually died of tuberculosis in 17 and his body was thrown into a mass grave, not before a doctor working at the prison took his heart and preserved it. According to historian Philippe Delrome, the doctor removed the heart with a handkerchief and kept it as a rare exhibit.
The rumors that the real Louie had been smuggled out of prison and that a boy from the common people had been imprisoned there in his place quickly spread. "This is a universal myth, the myth about the king who was lost or hidden," believes Delrom. "In all cultures, in all periods, a myth unfolds about people who were hidden from us." After the French royal house was restored in 1814, about 100 people arrived in Paris and declared that they were the heir to the missing throne. According to Delrom, some of them came from very far places, such as the Seychelles. Among those who followed was even a missionary from Wisconsin, in whose family tree Indian ancestors were found. He passionately claimed that he was "the lost Dauphin" (one of Louis XVII's nicknames).
The doctor who performed the postmortem on the body of Louis XVII preserved the heart in a crystal jar that stood on a shelf. One of the doctor's students could not resist and stole the souvenir. On his deathbed, the thief confessed his act and asked his wife to return the jar. The heart was offered to several members of the royal family, and eventually ended up in the Spanish branch of the Bourbon family. The Spanish returned the heart to Paris in 17, and it has been kept in the Basilica of Saint Denis ever since. However, the explanation was that the heart belonged to the child who died in prison, and not necessarily to the heir to the throne.
Until the genetic tests were performed, many did not believe that the royal heart, passed from hand to hand for 200 years, managed to survive. However, when scientists from two European universities compared heart tissue samples to a lock of Marie Antoinette's hair, which was cut from her when she was a child in Austria, the blood relation was confirmed.
However, the debate does not end there either. Some argue that the connection does not conclusively prove the identity of the heart holder, who could also belong to the brother of Louis XVII, who died in 17. But there will always be skeptics. The story of the heir to the throne was "so horrific, and people prefer a happy ending", concludes Delrom. "This is a story about a boy whose life was taken from him. Even his death was taken from him. People just couldn't believe that he died in such horrible conditions. In the end, this is a wound in the history of France."
By IP and the "Haaretz" service
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~869871303~~~160&SiteName=hayadan
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