Louis Joseph | |||||
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Dauphin of France | |||||
Portrait by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller in 1784
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Born |
Palace of Versailles, France |
22 October 1781||||
Died | 4 June 1789 Château de Meudon, France |
(aged 7)||||
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House | Bourbon | ||||
Father | Louis XVI of France | ||||
Mother | Marie Antoinette |
Full name | |
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Louis Joseph Xavier François de France |
Louis Joseph de 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 son of a king of France, he was a Fils de France ("Son of France"), and as the eldest son and heir apparent, he was Dauphin of France, (the twenty-sixth "crown prince" of the Capetian and Bourbon monarchies.)
Louis Joseph died at age seven of tuberculosis, and was succeeded as Dauphin de France by his four-year-old brother Louis-Charles.
Louis Joseph Xavier François de France was born at the Palace of Versailles on 22 October 1781. He was the long-awaited Dauphin. His elder sister, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Madame Royale, was not allowed to succeed to the throne due to the Salic Law. The birth of Louis Joseph at that point ruined his uncle's hopes of becoming the king.
His private household was created upon his birth and he was put into the care of Geneviève Poitrine, one of his wet nurses. She was later accused of transmitting tuberculosis to the young Dauphin. His sous-gouverneur was the Maréchal de camp Antoine Charles Augustin d'Allonville. Another member of his household was Yolande de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac, his mother's favorite.
Louis Joseph was very close to his sister and to his parents, who closely watched over his education. He was always praised for being a very bright child for his young age, however, it was often noted that he had very fragile health.