Its a shame to see this thread seems to have petered out. Perhaps we could do with discussing not only the Brit Royal murders. Here's a good one for starters.

Louis XVII. The question is still being asked whether the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was actually murderedat all, or whether he was somehow miraculously spirited away from the hands of the revolutionaries to start a new life with a new identity.

Louis became de facto king of France upon the execution of his father, Louis XVI, even though he was never crowned. The last known facts concerning Louis are that, on the night of July 3rd, 1793, he was snatched away from his mother and sister by the guards. The story then goes that he was taken to the Temple Prison. Two years later it was reported that Louis had died of tuberculosis, on 8th June, 1795.

Following the restoration of the French royal family, rumours began to circulate that Louis had in fact been rescued, and given another identity. In 1815, the grave where Louis' body was supposedly buried was excavated. Of the several bodies in the grave, the only one which showed any signs of tuberculosis was of a boy apparently in his teens. Louis had been ten years old when he died.

In the years that followed several people came forward to claim that they were the lost king. Interestingly, although he never claimed it for himself, the claim has been made in the past on the behalf of the famou James John Audubon. Probably the most succesful of the claimants was one Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, a german watchmaker. He was so suyccessful that a court in the Netherlands even recognised him as Louis XVII, rightful King of France.

DNA tests on Naundorff's remains, compared with those of Marie Antoinette show that he was a complete fraud. However, tests on the heart of the boy buried as Louis VII show a family relationship to Marie Antoinette. Which all raises the question why a vocal body of opinion still has it that somehow Louis XVII did survive, and was rescued. Rather like the whole issue of the descendants of George III of England, and Hannah Lightfoot ( have we discussed this one ? If anyone would like to, then let me know )