Customer Reviews

The Lost King of France: A True Story of Revolution, Revenge, and DNA

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It is a rare piece of historical non-fiction that is so gripping it becomes a one-sitting read, as Deborah Cadbury's book does. As Alison Weir's comments on the hardback edition state, it is: `stunningly written'.
The book opens with a present day mystery of a heart that is purported to be that of Louis XVII of France - the boy-king - that is (dis)proved by DNA. Rather than giving us the answer immediately the author then tells the story of the downfall of the French Monarchy at the hands of the sans-culottes and the leaders of the French Revolution. Told from the royal perspective, centering on Marie Antoniette, Louis XVI, Louis-Charles (Dauphin and future Louis XVII) and their other immediate family and associates, we are given a story full of immense pathos, where the royal family - clearly depicted as undone by previous French royal excesses and a failing economy - are treatedly brutally at the hands of the revolutionaries. Marie Antoniette is depicted as a naïve young woman of excess, then as a great mother, ultimately as aa Queen of France whose suffering reflects much of the Revolution. Louis XVI is presented as a monarch whose stoical steadfastness to uphold the good of his country costs him the constitution and ultimately his life, Louis-Charles as a boy wise beyond his years - clearly intimated as potentially a great french monarch.
The first part of the book is taken up with the history of the french royal family from the moment Maria-Antonia of Austria marries the young Dauphin and follows them as they are vilified, blamed and ultimately killed for the problems assailing France. The story is told from the royal perspective, Cadbury engendering great sympathy with the family, possibly to the extent of presenting a somewhat biased view of the revolutionaries as a brutal regime whose leaders use the anger of the mob to further their own political gain. Drawing mainly on personal testimonies of Clery who served the family during their Parisian imprisonment at Tullieres, The Tower and the Temple, Marie-Therese (daughter of Marie-Antoniette and Louis) and Madame Tourzel, we are given the emotional history of a key point in European history where the author gives a very focused view on the ordeals and depravations of Louis XVI, Marie Antoniette, and finally, in a lengthy section, on Louis-Charles mental and physical abuse. Part 1 ends with the death of Louis-Charles according to the official version given at the time.
Part 2 deals with the twenty year period of revolution, Robespierre and Napoleon, culminating in Marie-Therese's (as the sole direct survivor) reentry into Paris as the Queen with the newly crowned Louis XVIII and subsequent re-fleeing. At this point history gives rise to the legend that Louis-Charles did not die (as Dr Pelletan's autopsy initially stated) but rather was substituted with another child. The primary mover of this legend came from Madame Simon, the wife of the man depicted as responsible for much of Louis-Charles systematic abuse who claimed they had smuggled Louis-Charles out in a wicker basket. What resulted was a procession of Dauphin-claimants, the most prominent being Naundorff, Bruneau and Hervagault each of whom claimed to be the long-lost surviving Louis-Charles - to the evident distress of Marie-Therese. As each of these were found guilty of being imposters eventually the rumours and claimants dwindled until twentieth century forensic and, eventually, DNA, technology enabled scientists to coduct tests on the original family, the notable claimants and the preserved heart that Pelletan had taken from the dead boy during the autopsy.
This leads us back to the opening statement of the book and the resulting conclusions, based on DNA, seem to give a resolution to the story.
What the author has done is present a deeply sympathetic view of the lives of Louis XVI, Marie-Antoniette and Louis-Charles, perhaps seeking to redress the perceptions of them as given in many political articles of the time, and finally, give a satisfactory ending to a mystery that has echoed over the past two hundred years. She has done it in a way that, conclusions aside, is immensely readable and interesting.

Yet again, huge applause for Deborah Cadbury here, proving her amazing book Terrible Lizard, was not just a fluke. IN this she follows the story of what happened to the boy king Louis XVII of France. A child when his parents Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine in the French Revolution. The boy king was kept locked up in appalling conditions, solitary confinement with constant maltreatment. By 1795 he was silent, unable to speak, and that same year he died. Therein lies the beginning and end of this book for almost immediately the rumours that the boy who died in that cell was not the King, but an imposter.

Deborah Cadbury, intrigued by this mystery, who died in that cell? and what of all the imposters who harassed the Kings sister until her death, were they really the King returned from exile? Or were they also imposters? This would be a very short book if that was all that Cadbury wrote of. However Cadbury provides us with an excellent background from Marie-Anotnia leaving her Hapsburg home in Austria and arrival in France as Marie-Antoinette, the teenage wife-to-be of the heir to the French throne.

The reasons for the French revolution, the downfall of the house of Bourbon in France, the terrible end of the boy king in his lonely pest-ridden cell and then the rise of the swathe of counterfeit King Louis XVII's and their legal battles over the centuries - indeed right into the 1950's when the last great court battles were fought in France by the main pretenders to the French Throne.

Ironically the last court battle was fought the same year that Crick and Watson discovered the double helix model which is DNA which was finally to prove the veracity of the claim. It has only been in very recent times that DNA science could be used to identify mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from tiny samples provided. MtDNA, unlike DNA, is passed on almost complete from mother to children, there are on average one variation in 33 generations so it is a very stable way of being able to test family linkages.

Cadbury saves the results of the testing to the very last chapters. The last great search for the body of Louis XVII, the painstaking tracking down of his heart which was taken in the the dissection of the body. The search for sources of DNA sources for Marie-Antoinette and her family - and finally the results.

These may not be conclusive as the results suggest. But Cadbury presents all the evidence and makes conclusions which I found convincing, I won't spoil the answer by revealing it, but it will keep you reading to the last page.

This is a phenomenal book, well researched, written with the easily readable style Cadbury showed in Terrible Lizard, and a compelling page turner.

My highest recommendation.

A unique combination of page-turning adventure, history, and modern science provide one of the most satisfying reads to be found. Award-winning journalist Deborah Cadbury has presented the remarkable answer to a question that has baffled the world for over 200 years - the fate of Louis XVII. Plus, her answer is offered in energetic, affecting prose backed by flawless research. Toss in the fact that her story moves with the excitement of a topnotch mystery and you have a stunning book.

When Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette rose to the throne in 1774, the 19-year-old king and his 18-year-old queen wept, saying, "God guide and protect us! We are too young to govern."

As history reveals, their prayer went unanswered.

This true story powerfully evokes the high drama and brutality of the French Revolution, while relating the absorbing account of one family. Ms. Cadbury vividly describes the steps, taken almost unknowingly by the royal family, which led to their incarceration and eventual beheading. The storming of Versailles and the taking of the Bastille are painted with wrenching exactitude as is the imprisonment of the King, the Queen and their two children in the Temple Tower. in Paris.

Most heartbreaking of all is the ruthless barbarity endured by the young Dauphin. When Marie Antoinette was beheaded in 1791 her adored son was left to face his abusers alone. Two years later a 10-year-old boy died in a rat infested cell, wasted by neglect and tuberculosis. Leaders of the Revolution declared the boy-king dead - Louis XVII was no more.

However, rumors abounded: was the real Dauphin perhaps still alive? Had he somehow escaped and found sanctuary? Over the next 200 years numerous pretenders came forward, all pretending to be the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Some of them presented almost believable cases, which served only to torment Marie-Therese, the Dauphin's sister.

Only recently, a mere two years ago, thanks to our advanced knowledge of DNA the mystery was solved.

"The Lost King of France" fascinates not only because the story is so expertly told but because it is true.

- Gail Cooke

I'm a history buff and I love reading about the French Revolution, so this book was a must. Besides, I had already read about the DNA investigation that finally solved the mystery of Louis XVII's fate, but I didn't know the details, or the full story of his captivity after being separated from his family.

The DNA part is very interesting, but what I found really harrowing was the description of the shameful treatment meted out to this little boy whose only fault was to be the son of the despised king and queen (who, by the way, displayed a lot more dignity in their final hours than those who sent them to the scaffold). I agree wholeheartedly with the words of the bishop who, in a small ceremony, blessed the heart on which the DNA tests were conducted. He said that the heart of the small victim was a symbol of all those children who have suffered through the ages - and continue to suffer - because of wars, revolutions, and the cruelty of adults. This kid, seven years old when his father was executed, was locked up in a filthy cell away from his family and friends, regularly abused morally and physically, and referred to in contemporary documents as "the wolf cub" or "the ape's son" (the wolf being Louis XVI and the ape Marie Antoinette, or maybe it was the other way round).

I found myself seriously hating people such as Hebert, the despicable pamphleteer who through his libellous paper contributed enormously to the royal family's unpopularity and the little boy's ordeal, or the shoemaker Simon, who brutalized the helpless child entrusted to his "care".

However great and good the motives and ideals behind the Revolution - which no one intends to deny -, it led to acts of unspeakable brutality against innocent, defenseless people. How fitting that many of those who committed or instigated them ended their days with the same violence they so easily used against others. And how fitting, also, that this little hapless victim of cruelty and hatred should finally have found, in the true telling of his story, the vindication that his senseless suffering deserved.

Imagine what his life was like! Being separated from his mother and father, was horrific enough, then to be thrown into a situation where he is at the mercy of a sadist like "Citizen Simon" is truly beyond comprehension. The boy is brutalized, forced into grotesque sexual acts from which he contracts disease; he is physically, mentally and emotionally tortured for many months until finally he is moved to a different cell and away from Simon...who was later, jusitifiably, killed. In one of the saddest parts of this story, the Dauphin leaves some flowers at his mother's cell door, not knowing she had been killed weeks before.
His situation goes from horrific to beyond description in rapid succession until one day he meets a physician, called in at the 11th hour when the keepers are concerend over the deterioration of the Dauphin's condition. Confined in a dark, rat infested cell, with no water and no toilet, he is forced to live in a black, fetid cell with his own waste. His limbs grow abnormally long to compensate for his total lack of exercise, and decent food and his health declines from lack of fresh air, light and water to bathe in. The doctor is a sympathetic soul who makes promises to the Dauphin to help him, and his health, for a time, improves...but one day the doctor does not come and the Dauphin doesn't know his only friend has been poisoned for being a confidante of the Dauphin and being sympathetic to him.
My former sympathies for the people of France during the Revolution were considerably eroded after reading this account; I know the conditions were terrible, but after reading what they were capable of doing to a terrified, delicate little boy, they became, rightly or wrongly, a nation of monsters, ravening beasts.
The Dauphin becomes a wise, cynical child, with wisdom gained from extreme horror, and he no longer believes in anyone or anything after the doctor is taken away from him, and not long after that, he mercifully succumbs.
I literally (forgive the cliche) could not believe what I was reading; I had often wondered about the Dauphn and what became of him after his parents were murdered, and now I know...and it is far beyond any horrors that even his parents faced, given his age and the brutality he was forced to live in for the last couple of years of his sad little life. Remember, this boy grew up in a beautiful place, Versailles, with beauty and love all around him, his doting parents and siblings, and the servants, and then within a matter of days, he is separated from his family and thrown into conditions appalling enough to break a Viking, let alone a delicate, loving child.
This book has haunted me ever since I first read it, and I am so thankful that after all he was forced to endure, he is now back with his family and surrounded by beauty and love once again.

As my title states, I found this book very 'readable'. I read a great number of historical non-fiction books, & find some authors don't have a clue for holding the readers attention. This is not so of this author.
Having a keen interest in the royal family at the time of the French Revolution I was eager to read this book, & was not disappointed, although parts are heart-wrenching to read i.e. the details of how the little dauphin was treated after being separated from his mother & sister, & even moreso after the execution of his mother (Marie Antoinette).
Having read a great number of books set at this time I fully understand that the royal family were not blameless, however it must be remembered that this was just a little boy. He should not have been held responsible for the actions of his parents, nor treated so barbarically because of his birthright. The book made it abundantly clear just how desperate some were to completely irradicate the old regime in France, & in particular the royal family, & even moreso the (male) off-spring of (the hated) Marie Antoinette.
The book unfortunately does not give much insight into the personality of the little dauphin, but this would probably prove almost impossible for any author to research & re-construct, due to the shortness of his life & the actions of the revolutionists (i.e. during the revolution a debate began over whether to keep the nations heritage intact or begin history anew & radicals began a movement that attempted to purge France of anything that harkened back to the rot that was the monarchy. Archives & family records of nobles were burned)
The first part of the book details activity leading up to the French Revolution, & this may tend to put some readers off, however I urge readers to continue with the book as it does settle into details, sometimes quite grim, of the little dauphin's life & demise.
The book also gives the reader an insight into the torment, which must have been suffered by the dauphin's sister, after the revolution, when several `impostors' came forward claiming to be her brother.
The DNA facts are quite fascinating.
In summary, I found the book highly readable, shocking, compelling, fascinating but above all heart-wrenching to read, & I recommend it highly to anyone interested in this fascinating period of history.

I love historical biography but didn't know much about this Royal Family. I was fascinated with both parts of this book - the fate of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their children and the never ending list of imposters pretending to be Louis XVII.
The French Revolution is a perfect example of absolute power in the wrong hands and it was a frightening time. Miss Cadbury kept my interest the entire book and the research that went into this book cannot go unnoticed. Hope she has written some other historical work because I plan to read them.

A well researched book, but a little short on the DNA until the very end. But the entirely heartbreaking story of the life of the poor Dauphin after the death of his mother is something that hangs with you long after you finish the book. The story of his torment and, essentially, his torture, is truly going to hit your emotions hard.

Excellent book. This book goes into great detail about the personal lives of Louis XV1, Marie Antoinette and their children. It is quite easy to find information on the King and Queen, but I have never been able to find out much about their children, especially the ill-fated Dauphin. This book does a good job of filling that gap by going into detail on the treatment that Louis Charles received at the hands of revolutionaries and his tragic death from neglect. People who are interested in DNA will also find the story of the young Dauphin's heart and the forensic evidence obtained from it extremely interesting.Scientists were able to prove that the heart was definitely from the child of Marie Antoinette. I remember reading in a newspaper years ago that DNA studies proved that the heart was from the son of Marie Antoinette but that the father was not Louis XV1, but rather the Queen's lover. I wish that the author had discussed this, but it wasn't mentioned at all. Other than that, I highly recommend this book.

I read The Lost King of France: A True Story of Revolution, Revenge, and DNA when it first came out and to this day, I'm still haunted by details of Louis-Charles, Duc de Normandie's tragic life. Never have I read a more compelling, and heart wrenching part of history. It's one of those books you never forget. I had a hard time putting this engrossing account of Louis-Charles mysterious life and death, down. Even though I knew the results of the findings of the DNA in advance, Deborah Cadbury's absorbing investigated work and well documented historical account kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. This tragic tale of Louis-Charles will stay with me for a long, long time.