Although Louis was his parents' first son to be born alive, he died of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis at the young age of nine.

Louis Joseph Xavier, styled duke of Burgundy from birth, was born at the Palace of Versailles on September 13 1751.

[14][15] He was much loved by those who were close to him, especially his older sister Marie Zéphyrine,[16] who died at the age of five in 1755.

By 1761, the Duke was bound to his bed, unable to move his legs, with what was diagnosed as extra pulmonary tuberculosis of the bone.

[19][21] His younger brother, the future Louis XVI, served as his companion in the last few months of his life.