Louis XVI’s body was supposed to be buried in a mass grave, covered in quick-lime, according to Decree of the National Convention, and dissolved so that no trace of him was left on earth. The exact spot of his burial was also supposed to be unknown but the Curé of La Madeleine knew exactly where Louis was buried and waited until the fall of Napoleon to reveal all. Only, was it Louis XVI’s body or was it really Robespierre’s that was exhumed?
‘Twenty-two years have elapsed since the mild and martyred Louis XVI. perished upon a scaffold : Saturday last was the anniversary of his execution. It has been generally believed that Louis XVI. after his murder, was thrown into a grave, and his body consumed by quick-lime ; that the precise place of his interment could not be pointed out, and “not a stone tells where he lies.” But this is not the fact. In the Rue d’Anjou St. Honore, not far from the Madeleine, at Paris, there is a small nook, which escaped the notice of the enemies of religion and humanity, and which will now be revered as the ancients revered places that had been struck by lightning. In this nook are buried Louis XVI. and his Queen.
On the 21st January, 1793, the body of the martyr was conveyed, without pomp or escort, to the church-yard of the Rue d’Anjou. A Decree of the Convention ordered a quantity of quick-lime to be thrown into the grave, in order that there might remain no trace upon earth of the King. The silence of terror reigned round the grave–no one dared approach it. Humanity hid the tears she shed, and turned away her eyes–Religion alone braved every danger. In the night of the 21st January, the Cure of la Madeleine, with his Vicars, came to say over the body the prayers for the dead, and sprinkle the grave with holy water. All these facts are attested by M. Descloseaux, who is still living.
In the September of the same year, Marie Antoinette, condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris, intreated her butchers to deposit her body near Louis XVI. This demand was granted ; for the prayers of the dying have an ascendancy over the hearts even of barbarians ! The remains of Maria Antoinette were deposited in a grave near that of her husband. In digging the grave for the Queen, it was found that the coffin of Louis XVI. was entire, and that the quick-lime had not consumed the mortal remains of the august victim.
Twenty-two years have elapsed since Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. have reposed in the church-yard of the Rue d’Anjou–no monument has been erected to them–the God of the Seasons has alone taken care of the royal tombs which man had abandoned : the humble patica, the modest forget-me-not, a few other plants, and grass, cover the bodies of a powerful Monarch and of a Queen who formed the charm and ornament of France.
The tomb of Louis XVI. is placed in an angle of the wall the north of the church-yard ; a few paces further is a vast grave, in which were buried pell-mell the Swiss and French who perished on the 10th of August.
And now, one naturally asks, where rest the ashes of Madame Elizabeth, the sister of Louis XVI. and of the hapless orphan Louis XVII. who died in the prison of the Temple? The infant Monarch, who lived a moment but to suffer, is lost in the crowd of dead : no one can point out the place of his interment. Madame Elizabeth, whom nothing could separate from her brother in life, does not rest by his side. She was buried at Mousseau.
A few days after the King of Prussia entered Paris, he visited and knelt by the grave of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette ; and the spot is shewn to all where the yet mourning Duchess of Angouleme threw herself on her knees, to bathe with her tears the sod that covers the unconscious bones of her murdered parents.’
Stamford Mercury, 27th January, 1815.