Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Brittany

Who was Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Brittany?

Louis, Duke of Brittany, Dauphin of France, was the first son of Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy, and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy.

As a son of the eldest son of the Dauphin, he was a fils de France. Louis was born at Versailles to the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy; at birth he was created the Duke of Brittany and was the first person to hold that title for almost 200 years. At the time of his birth Louis was the third-in-line heir to his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV, following his father and grandfather, Louis, le Grand Dauphin. He was preceded in birth by an elder brother, also named Louis, who was born in 1704 and died in infancy the following year.

Due to the deaths of his grandfather in 1711 and his father in 1712, he was heir apparent to his great-grandfather as Dauphin of France for three weeks in 1712. Like his parents, he too died of measles and was buried in the Basilica of St Denis. His younger brother became the Dauphin and eventually succeeded as King Louis XV in 1715.