16 Notable People Guillotined in the French Revolution

16 Notable People Guillotined in the French Revolution

Trista - October 10, 2018

16 Notable People Guillotined in the French Revolution
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

6. Princess Elisabeth

Princess Elisabeth was the sister of King Louis XVI. She was only a year old when he ascended to the throne and remained very close to him and the rest of her family throughout his reign. She never married, possibly because she was very close to her brother and did not want to enter into a foreign alliance through marriage, which would undoubtedly take her away from her family. She was known to be very religious and, possibly because religion and the monarchy were inextricably intertwined through the divine right of kings, took a conservative royalist political stance.

When the palace at Versailles was stormed, she was carried off to Paris with her brother and the rest of the royal family. During the family’s house arrest, she may have secretly engaged in negotiations with factions sympathetic to the monarchy in the effort to be released. Her attempts were unsuccessful, but she remained with Marie Antoinette and her children. Despite not being considered a threat, Robespierre had her arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1794; seeing as both the king and queen had already been executed, her fate had been sealed. She was charged with treason for helping the royal family try to escape and was executed at the guillotine.

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