The Crown Prince (Monsieur, the Dauphin) was Louis Joseph, the eldest son of Marie Antoinette. Although physically frail, he was a charming boy endowed with sharp intelligence. He was captivated by Oscar François de Jarjayes, whom everyone admired, and his affection for her deepened until, during an outing, they confronted their feelings for each other. This culminated in a heartfelt confession of love and a kiss. However, the disease known as spinal caries struck him, seemingly hastening the inevitable, and took his life at the tender age of seven.
During the scene of his funeral, the Minister of Finance announces the depletion of the national treasury and reveals, "We do not even have funds for the funeral." Louis 16-sei tries desperately to sell their silverware to raise some money, but it proves impossible to gather enough funds to provide a fitting farewell for the Crown Prince, who bore the nation's future on his shoulders. Marie Antoinette, gripped by despair, laments, "Is this the consequence of all our past extravagance?"
In historical fact, the origin of his illness was tuberculosis, passed on to him by one of his many wet nurses, Geneviève Poitrine. The tuberculosis bacteria entered his bloodstream, traveled throughout his body, and ultimately settled in his spine. As a result, just before his eighth birthday—at seven and a half years old, during the session of the Estates-General—Louis Joseph lost his life to spinal caries.
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