His mother was the greatest heiress of the age as the only surviving child of the vastly wealthy duc de Penthièvre.

[2] Two years later the abbé Mariottini, nephew of the apostolic nuncio to France was made his tutor, but he resigned in 1786 after a conflict with Madame de Genlis.

His father was executed in November 1793 but Louis Charles remained imprisoned until August 1796 when the Directory decided to exile him and his brother Antoine to Philadelphia.

In September 1797 Louis Charles and his brothers learnt that their mother had gone into exile in Spain, and so they decided to return to Europe.

Unable to find passage to Europe, the three brothers spent a year in Cuba, until they were unexpectedly expelled by the Spanish authorities.

Eventually, the brothers sailed back to New York, and in January 1800, they arrived in England, where they settled at Twickenham outside London.

Louis Charles' portrait was painted posthumously in 1818 by Albert Gregorius (now in the Palais Royal) and by Charles-Francois Phelippes (now in the Palais-Royal).