Ceremony ahead of royal burial for Louis XVII's heart

Описание: (8 Jun 2004)

Paris, June 7, 2004
1. Exterior of Saint Germain L'Auxerrois church
2. Sculpture on church wall
3. Church facade - tilts down to entrance, with AUDIO of bells ringing
4. Interior of church with flowers at altar where heart of Louis XVII is contained in glass vessel
5. Various of nuns and monks inside church
6. Glass vessel containing heart - zooms in
7. Congregation looking at altar
8. SOUNDBITE: (French) Professor Alexandre Gady, historian:
"This ceremony is dedicated to the memory of this prince who was a young king, a child, in fact. He died at the age of ten. He was not assassinated, it was more subtle than that, but he was left to die in prison. For the revolutionaries this was a way of avoiding having another death on their conscience. He was a tragic child, the son of Louis the sixteenth and Marie Antoinette. He therefore became King of France after his father, but when the Revolution came and the monarchy was overthrown and Louis the sixteenth was killed, he was imprisoned with his mother, sister and aunt. He was a nuisance to the revolutionaries because if he had ever escaped he would have been recognised as king by the French people."

Saint Denis, June 8, 2004
11. Exterior of St Denis basilica - tilts down to crowds outside, with AUDIO of service being held inside basilica relayed on loudspeakers
12. Cortege outside basilica
13. Various of heart being carried into basilica in glass vessel covered with cloth - with AUDIO of trumpet fanfare
14. Crowd outside basilica
15. Royal coat of arms seen through window
16. Exterior of basilica
17. Big screen outside basilica on which images of service inside are broadcast - with AUDIO of chorister singing
18. SOUNDBITE: (French) Bruno Touttee, spectator:
"I am French. My flag has three colours - it is blue, white and red. It's part of a whole, a logical continuation of a part of French history. That's why it's seems totally natural to be here."
19. Duc D'Anjou, claimant to the French throne, leaving basilica with family - zooms in
20. Crowd cheering
21. Various of Duc D'Anjou greeting supporters with some crowd members shouting (french) "The King!"
22. Onlooker clapping
23. Duc D'Anjou walking through crowd

File
24. Portrait of Louis XVII with Marie Antoinette and children
25. Close-up of portrait of Louis XVII - pulls out

STORYLINE:

The heart of a 10-year-old boy identified as Louis XVII was being placed in France's royal crypt on Tuesday after genetic testing persuaded many historians that it was almost certainly the real thing.

The heart was interred in a two hour ceremony at St. Denis basilica north of Paris.

The burial lays to rest not only the heart of the boy-king, but also the controversy over his fate after the French Revolution.

Louis XVII was the son of the French King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette.

Both were executed and the boy was imprisoned in the filthy Temple prison.

Louis XVII died of tuberculosis in the custody of the revolutionary government in 1795. He was just ten years old.

Several pretenders claimed to be Louis XVII in the years after the French Revolution, but recent DNA tests, carried out with blood samples from living descendants of the boy, have convinced the remaining members of the French royal family that the remains buried on Tuesday were indeed those of a French king.

Trumpets sounded to welcome the arrival of the tiny mummified heart at the Saint-Denis Basilica on Tuesday.

The heart was carried into the cathedral in a crystal vessel covered in a thin purple cloth.














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