Louis XVII (27 March 1785 in Versailles – 8 June 1795 in Paris), from birth to 1789 known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy; then from 1789 to 1791 as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France; and from 1791 to 1792 as Louis-Charles, Prince Royal of France, was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. As the son of the king, he was a Fils de France (Son of France). His older brother, Louis Joseph, died in June 1789, just a few weeks before the start of the French Revolution.

When his father was executed on 21 January 1793, during the middle-period of the French Revolution, he became (nominally) King of France and Navarre in the eyes of the royalists. However, since France was by then a republic, and Louis XVII had been imprisoned from August 1792 until his death from illness in 1795 at the age of 10, he was never officially king, nor did he rule. His title was bestowed by his royalist supporters and acknowledged implicitly by his uncle's later adoption of the regnal name Louis XVIII rather than Louis XVII, upon the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814.

Louis-Charles de France was born at the Palace of Versailles, the second son and third child of his parents, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. He became the Dauphin at the death of his elder brother, Louis-Joseph.

As customary in royal families, Louis-Charles was cared for by multiple people. Queen Marie Antoinette appointed governesses to look after all three of her children. Louis-Charles' original governess was Yolande de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac, who left France at the beginning of the revolution, on the night of 16–17 July 1789. She was replaced by marquise Louise Élisabeth de Tourzel. Additionally, the queen selected Agathe de Rambaud to be the official nurse of Louis-Charles. Alain Decaux wrote: "Madame de Rambaud was officially in charge of the care of the Dauphin from the day of his birth until 10 August 1792, in other words, for seven years. During these seven years, she never left him, she cradled him, took care of him, dressed him, comforted him, scolded him. Many times, more than Marie Antoinette, she was a true mother for him". Some Historians have suggested that Fersen , who was romantically linked with Marie Antoinette without being her lover in the physical sense, was the father of her son but this theory was debunked by DNA evidence and most scholars reject it. Marie Antoinette who gained massive weight because of her pregnancies including this (she was described as "very fat" by the king of Sweden) retained her charisma with an imposing figure which make her tower in her high heels over any person in her court were she has lot of favorites and admirers; but she remained a faithful strongwilled wife and a loving mother .

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