6/8/2004: 209-year-old royal heart
 

http://cellar.org/2004/louisxviiheart.jpg

209 years ago today, the ten-year-old Louis XVII died.

His parents, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, had their heads removed three years previous in the French revolution; and the boy, who would have been king, was imprisoned in a tiny cell. He caught tuberculosis and died, and they ditched his body; but before they did, his autopsy doctor cut his heart out to save it as a souvenir.

And then it was stolen; and then it was returned; and then it was bequeathed out of the country somehow; passed around Europe; lost; found in an Austrian castle in 1975, and finally returned to France.

And then of course there were rumors that it wasn't the heart after all, and so four years ago it was subject to DNA tests which matched its lineage with a lock of Marie-Antoinette's hair that had been saved.

So today they were to finally bury it once and for all. Hopefully they got the job done...

HOpe someone is going to be guarding that grave-

*off-key* ...take another little piece of my heart now baby...

Quit playin games with my heart!

Shot through the heart... *hairflip*... and you're to blame... *highkick*... darlin' you give love a bad name *kissyface*

that's disgusting
who would want a human heart as a souvenir??

Hannibal Lector? Jeffery Dahmer? The French?

hey, that glass egg thingy has a heart on!

My heart will go on.............

You know, in 10 years they could probably clone him.

Wow that hearts been around, does it have it's own Passport? Bad luck it didn't clock up any frequent flyer points.:)

This ol heart of mine, been broke 1,000 times each time you went away..........

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass

Anyone ever read "Snow, Glass, Apples", by Neil Gaiman?

No, but I read "The Telltale Heart". :)

I've had a broken heart

Once more you opened the door, my heart will go on...........

Telltale Heart Deals Blow to Pretender to a Throne
 

This article from the NY Times (registration req'd) profiles "Prince Charles Louis Edmond de Bourbon, count of Poitiers - or, for short, King Charles XII by Right, the legitimate heir to the French throne..." but.. since the DNA from this heart doesn't line up with his... it mustn't be the real thing...


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/in...pe/08pret.html

Re: Telltale Heart Deals Blow to Pretender to a Throne
 

You didn't read the article very carefully, did you? It says that Mr. de Bourbon's lineage is in dispute, not the heart. The last paragraph says that a DNA comparison of a strand of Marie Antoinette's hair matched the heart:

:rolleyes:

is that like "braveheart"?

i've been stuck inside your heart shaped box_ for_weeks
neer neer neer ne ne neeer

No, your thinking of Captain Beefheart.:)

Is that a Faberge` heart container, or a cheap knockoff?

Reminds me of a Robert Bloch quote:

"I have the heart of a little boy -- pickled in a jar on my desk."

*raises glass*

To Louis XVII, we heartly knew you.

From CNN-article :
"There, it was placed in a royal crypt containing the remains of Louis XVII's parents, Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI."

Maybe I'm wrong but Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI were not burried in a crypt but thrown in mass-graves.

From www.wikipedia.com:

On the 16th of October 1793 Marie Antoinette was led to the guillotine, leaving behind her a touching letter to Madame Elizabeth, known as her "Testament."

She is buried in Saint Denis Basilica, Paris, France next to her husband, King Louis XVI of France.

Ok, checked it out. They were actually thrown into mass-graves, but in 1815 they were exhumed an burried in Saint-Denis...
My fault.
But actually Louis XVI should be named Roi des Français (king of frenchmen). That was his last title.

a mass grave makes much more sense - the French hated those people!

Yes, until 1815, when the reign of Bonaparte was over and France became a monarchy again...