Louis XVII to have royal burial
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DNA testing proved this mummified flesh belonged to King Louis XVII.
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PARIS, France (Reuters) -- More than 200 years after the death of Louis XVII, son of France's Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, the French culture ministry has given permission for his heart to be buried in the royal crypt.
The ministry approved the symbolic burial after geneticists who had compared the DNA of different members of the royal family decided in 2000 that it was indeed Louis who had died in prison in 1795.
The then dauphin, or heir to the throne, was seven when he was jailed in 1792 along with the rest of the royal family in the turbulent period after the French Revolution, and died of tuberculosis in 1795.
His parents died on the guillotine in 1793.
His death was long a subject of dispute. The "lost dauphin" legend says he was taken from prison and replaced by another boy, and that it was the substitute who died there.
Because of lingering uncertainty Louis' heart, stone-hard and held in an urn, was later placed in the chapel near the royal crypt of the Saint Denis Basilica, near Paris, the burial place of his parents and other members of the royal family.
"Given all the historical and scientific studies, the ministry of culture believes there's mounting evidence that the heart is that of Louis XVII," a ministry spokesman told Reuters on Sunday. "That has led to its approval to transfer the heart to the royal crypt."
The French daily Le Figaro reported on Saturday that the ministry had approved the re-burial of the heart at the request of the Society of the Bourbon House, which represents descendants of the royal family. France is now a republic.
The paper said the Society would hold the burial ceremony next June 8, the anniversary of Louis' death.
The ministry could not confirm the date but said the French state would not pay for the burial.
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