 His older brother, Louis Joseph, died in June 1789, a little over a month before the start of the French Revolution.At his brother's death he became the heir apparent to the throne and the Dauphin of France, a title he held until 1791, when the new constitution accorded the heir apparent the style of Prince Royal of France.When his father was executed on 21 January 1793, during the middle period of the French Revolution, he automatically succeeded as the king of France, Louis XVII, in the eyes of the royalists.