August 26, 1850: Death of Louis Philippe I, King of the French

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Charles X of France, Comte de Neuilly, Duke of Orleans, French Revolution, General Assembly, Henri de Chambord, House of Bourbon, House of Bourbon -Orléans, July Monarchy, Louis Philippe I of the French, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Regent, Revolution of 1848

Louis Philippe I (October 6, 1773 – August 26, 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.

Early life

Louis Philippe was born in the Palais Royal, the residence of the Orléans family in Paris, to Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, who was the daughter of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Teresa d’Este of Modena.

At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre, Prince of Lamballe, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution. She was descended from Louis XIV of France through a legitimized line.

Louis Philippe I, King of the French

As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louis Philippe was a Prince of the Blood (Prince du sang), which entitled him the use of the style “Serene Highness“.

Louis Philippe was the eldest of three sons and a daughter, a family that was to have erratic fortunes from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration.

The elder branch of the House of Bourbon, to which the Kings of France belonged, deeply distrusted the intentions of the cadet Orléans branch, which would succeed to the throne of France should the senior branch die out. Louis Philippe’s father was exiled from the royal court, and the Orléans confined themselves to studies of the literature and sciences emerging from the Enlightenment.

As Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wars, but broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI. He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France’s monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité) fell under suspicion and was executed, and Louis Philippe remained in exile for 21 years until the Bourbon Restoration.

In 1808, Louis Philippe proposed to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom. His Catholicism and the opposition of her mother Queen Charlotte (born a Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz) meant the Princess reluctantly declined the offer.

HRH The Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom and Hanover

In 1809, Louis Philippe married Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, the thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I

The ceremony was celebrated in Palermo November 25, 1809. The marriage was controversial because Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily’s mother, Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, was a younger sister to Queen Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI.

HRH Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of the French

Louis Philippe’s father was considered to have a role in Marie Antoinette’s execution. Maria Carolina as the Queen of Naples was opposed to the match for this reason. She had been very close to her sister and devastated by her execution, but she had given her consent after Louis Philippe had convinced her that he was determined to compensate for the mistakes of his father, and after having agreed to answer all her questions regarding his father.

Bourbon Restoration (1815–1830)

After the abdication of Napoleon, Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, returned to France during the reign of his fifth cousin Louis XVIII, at the time of the Bourbon Restoration. Louis Philippe had reconciled the Orléans family with Louis XVIII in exile, and was once more to be found in the elaborate royal court.

However, his resentment at the treatment of the Orléans family, the cadet branch of the House of Bourbon under the Ancien Régime, caused friction between him and Louis XVIII, and he openly sided with the liberal opposition.

Louis Philippe was on far friendlier terms with Louis XVIII’s brother and successor, Charles X, who acceded to the throne in 1824, and with whom he socialized. However, his opposition to the policies of Villèle and later of Jules de Polignac caused him to be viewed as a constant threat to the stability of Charles X’s government. This soon proved to be to his advantage.

King of the French (1830–1848)

1830, the July Revolution overthrew Charles X, who abdicated in favour of his son Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, who shortly abdicated in favour of his 10-year-old nephew, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux.

King Louis Philippe I of the French

Charles X named Louis Philippe Lieutenant général du royaume, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies. Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession.

As a consequence, because the chamber was aware of Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. For the prior eleven days Louis Philippe had been acting as the regent for the young King Henri V his fifth cousin twice removed.

Maria Amalia, then Duchess of Orléans, with her son Ferdinand Philippe

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of Comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Louis-Philippe was sworn in as King Louis Philippe I on August 9, 1830. Upon his accession to the throne, Louis Philippe assumed the title of King of the French – a title already adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791. Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre) was aimed at undercutting the legitimist claims of Charles X and his family.

By an ordinance he signed on August 13, 1830, the new king defined the manner in which his children, as well as his “beloved” sister, would continue to bear the territorial designation of “Orléans” and the arms of Orléans, declared that his eldest son, as Prince Royal (not Dauphin), would bear the title Duke of Orléans, that the younger sons would continue to have their previous titles, and that his sister and daughters would only be styled Princesses of Orléans, not of France.

His ascent to the title of King of the French was seen as a betrayal by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and it ended their friendship.

In 1832, his daughter, Princess Louise-Marie, married the first ruler of Belgium, Leopold I, King of the Belgians. Their descendants include all subsequent Kings of the Belgians, as well as Empress Carlota of Mexico.

King Louis Philippe I of the French. The only French monarch to be photographed

On February 24, 1848, during the February 1848 Revolution, King Louis Philippe abdicated in favour of his nine-year-old grandson, Philippe, comte de Paris. If he had reigned he would have been King Philippe VII of France, although some sources list him as King Louis Philippe II of France.

Fearful of what had happened to the deposed Louis XVI, Louis Philippe quickly left Paris under disguise. Unlike Louis XVI, who attempted to escape France in extravagant transportation, he instead rode in an ordinary cab under the name of “Mr. Smith.” He fled to England and spent his final years incognito as the ‘Comte de Neuilly’.

The National Assembly of France initially planned to accept young Philippe as king, but the strong current of public opinion rejected that. On February 26 the Second Republic was proclaimed. Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was elected president on December 10, 1848; on December 2, 1851, he declared himself president for life and then Emperor Napoleon III in 1852.

Louis Philippe and his family remained in exile in Great Britain in Claremont, Surrey, though a plaque on Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, claims that he spent some time there, possibly due to a friendship with the Marquess of Bristol, who lived nearby at Ickworth House.

The royal couple spent some time by the sea at St. Leonards and later at the Marquess’s home in Brighton. Louis Philippe died at Claremont on August 26, 1850. He was first buried at St. Charles Borromeo Chapel in Weybridge, Surrey. In 1876, his remains and those of his wife were taken to France and buried at the Chapelle royale de Dreux, the Orléans family necropolis his mother had built in 1816, and which he had enlarged and embellished after her death.

October 9, 1836: Death of King Charles X of France and Navarre

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Abdication, Charles X of France and Navarre, Conquest of Algeria, Count of Artois, French Revolution, July Monarchy, Louis Antoine, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Louis XVIII of France and Navarre, Marie Thérèse of Savoy

Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; October 9, 1757 – November 6, 1836) was King of France and Navarre from September 16, 1824 until August 2, 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI (Louis Auguste) and Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas) he supported the latter in exile.

Charles Philippe of France was the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis and his wife, the Dauphine Marie Josèphe, and born at the Palace of Versailles. Dauphine Maria Josèphe was the daughter of Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Maria Josepha of Austria. Dauphine Maria Josèphe was the ninth of sixteen children and the fifth daughter.

Charles Philippe was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely ever to become king. His eldest brother, Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession.

After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Charles Philippe (as heir-presumptive) became the leader of the ultra-royalists, a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed rule by divine right and opposed the concessions towards liberals and guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of 1814. Charles gained influence within the French court after the assassination of his son Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, in 1820 and eventually succeeded his brother in 1824.

In 1773, Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, married Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy (1756 – 1805).

Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was born at the Royal Palace in Turin during the reign of her grandfather Carlo Emmanuel III of Sardinia. The daughter of the heir apparent , Victor Amadeus and his wife Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, the youngest daughter of Felipe V of Spain (himself a scion of the French Royal House of Bourbon) and Elisabeth Farnese.

Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was the couple’s third daughter and fifth child of twelve children. She was raised with her sister Princess Maria Giuseppina who was three years her senior and whom she would join later as a member of the Royal House of France, when her sister married Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence (and later King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre).

The future King Charles X, as the Count of Artois had previously been intended to marry Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, the third and last child of Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and his wife, Charlotte de Rohan (1737–1760),

However, the union never took place as her rank was much lower than Artois who, as a male-line descendant of a French monarch, was a grandson of France, thus he was entitled to the style His Royal Highness. Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, despite being born a princesse du sang; was from a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon and this only entitled her to the style of Her Serene Highness.

As her husband was the grandson of a king, the newly named Marie Thérèse of Savoy held the rank of granddaughter of France, and was commonly referred to by the simple style Madame la comtesse d’Artois.

Accession to the Throne

Charles’ brother King Louis XVIII’s health had been worsening since the beginning of 1824. Suffering from both dry and wet gangrene in his legs and spine, he died on September 16, of that year, aged almost 69. Charles, by now in his 67th year, succeeded him to the throne as King Charles X of France and Navarre. In his first act as king, Charles attempted to unify the House of Bourbon by granting the style of Royal Highness to his cousins of the House of Orléans, who had been deprived of this by Louis XVIII because of the former Duke of Orléans’ role in the death of Louis XVI.

On May 29, 1825, King Charles X was anointed at the cathedral of Reims, the traditional site of consecration of French kings; it had been unused since 1775, as Louis XVIII had forgone the ceremony to avoid controversy. It was in the venerable cathedral of Notre-Dame at Paris that Napoleon had consecrated his revolutionary empire; but in ascending the throne of his ancestors, Charles reverted to the old place of coronation used by the kings of France from the early ages of the monarchy.

Charles X’s reign of almost six years proved to be deeply unpopular from the moment of his coronation in 1825, in which he tried to revive the practice of the royal touch. The governments appointed under his reign reimbursed former landowners for the abolition of feudalism at the expense of bondholders, increased the power of the Catholic Church, and reimposed capital punishment for sacrilege, leading to conflict with the liberal-majority Chamber of Deputies.

Charles also initiated the French conquest of Algeria as a way to distract his citizens from domestic problems, and forced Haiti to pay a hefty indemnity in return for lifting a blockade and recognizing Haiti’s independence. He eventually appointed a conservative government under the premiership of Prince Jules de Polignac, who was defeated in the 1830 French legislative election. He responded with the July Ordinances disbanding the Chamber of Deputies, limiting franchise, and reimposing press censorship. Within a week France faced urban riots which led to the July Revolution of 1830, which resulted in his abdication of King Charles X of France and Navarre.

Charles reluctantly signed the document of abdication on August 2, 1830. Charles initially abdicated the throne to his eldest son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. It is said that Louis Antoine spent the next 20 minutes listening to the entreaties of his wife (his first cousin, Marie Thérèse of France, the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only member of the immediate royal family to survive the French Revolution) not to sign a similar document of abdication, while the former Charles X sat weeping. However, Louis Antoine also abdicated, in favour of his nephew, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux.

Technically the Duke of Angoulême was King Louis XIX of France and Navarre for about 20 minutes before he himself abdicated his rights to the throne to his nephew. Louis Antoine never reigned over the country, but after his father’s death in 1836, he was considered the legitimist pretender as Louis XIX. For the final time he left for exile, where he was known as the “Count of Marnes”. He never returned to France.

The boy who should have been King after Charles X was Henri, Duke of Bordeaux. He was the only son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, the younger son of Charles X of France, and born after his father’s death in 1920. The Duke of Bordeaux’s mother was Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his first wife, Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, the tenth child and third daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain.

Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily’s parents were double first cousins. The Two Sicilies Royal Family was a branch of the Spanish House of Bourbon. The grandson of Charles X, Henri was a Petit-Fils de France. He was the last legitimate descendant in the male line of Louis XV of France.

Charles X named Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans (from the Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon descendants of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of King Louis XIV) Lieutenant général du royaume, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies.

Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, because the Chamber of Deputies was aware of Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. For the prior eleven days Louis Philippe had been acting as the regent for the young King Henri V of France and Navarre, his fifth cousin twice removed.

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, Henri V, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Charles died in 1836 in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was the last of the French rulers from the senior branch of the House of Bourbon.

August 24, 1883: Death of Prince Henri, Count of Chambord, pretender to the French throne. Part I.

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Abdication, French Empire, French Republic, Henri de Chambord, Henri V of France, July Monarchy, King Charles X of France, King Louis Philippe of the French, Revolutions of 1848

Prince Henri, Count of Chambord (French: Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné d’Artois, duc de Bordeaux, comte de Chambord; September 29, 1820 – August 24, 1883) was disputedly King of France from 2 to 9 August 1830 as Henry V, although he was never officially proclaimed as such.

Afterwards, he was the Legitimist pretender to the throne of France from 1844 until his death in 1883.

Henri was the only son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, born after his father’s death. The Duke of Berry was the younger son of Charles X of France and Navarre by his wife, Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies. As the grandson of Charles X, Henri was a Petit-Fils de France. He was the last legitimate descendant in the senior male line of Louis XV of France.

Henri d’Artois was born on September 29, 1820, in the Pavillon de Marsan, a portion of the Tuileries Palace that still survives in the compound of the Louvre Palace in Paris. His father, the duc de Berry, had been assassinated seven months before his birth.

At birth, Henri was given the title of duc de Bordeaux. Because of his birth after his father’s death, when the senior male line of the House of Bourbon was on the verge of extinction, Henri was named Dieudonné (“God-given”). Royalists called him “the miracle child”. Louis XVIII was overjoyed, bestowing 35 royal orders to mark the occasion. Henri’s birth was a major setback for Duke of Orleans’ ambitions to ascend the French throne. During his customary visit to congratulate the newborn’s mother, the duke made such offensive remarks about the baby’s appearance that the lady holding him was brought to tears.

On August 2, 1830, in response to the July Revolution, Henri’s grandfather, Charles X, abdicated, and twenty minutes later Charles’ elder son Louis Antoine, duc d’Angoulême, (Louis XIX) himself renounced his rights, in favour of the young duc de Bordeaux. Charles X urged his cousin Louis Philippe of Orléans, as Lieutenant général du royaume, to proclaim Henri as Henri V, King of France.

Louis Philippe requested the duc de Bordeaux to be brought in Paris to have his rights recognized. The duchess of Berry was denied to escort her son, therefore both the grand-father and the mother refused to leave the child in France . As a consequence, after seven days, a period in which legitimist monarchists considered that Henri had been the rightful monarch of France, the National Assembly decreed that the throne should pass to Louis Philippe, who was proclaimed King of the French on August, 9.

Henri and his family left France and went into exile on August 16, 1830. While some French monarchists recognized him as their sovereign, others disputed the validity of the abdications of his grandfather and of his uncle.

Still others recognised the July Monarchy of Louis Philippe. With the death of his 79-year-old grandfather, Charles X, in 1836 and of his uncle, Louis Antoine, duc d’Angoulême, (Louis XIX) in 1844, young Henri became the genealogically senior claimant to the French throne. His supporters were called Legitimists to distinguish them from the Orléanists, the supporters of the family of Louis Philippe.

In November 1846, the comte de Chambord married his second cousin Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, daughter of Duke Francis IV of Modena and Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy. The couple had no children.

February 23, 1848: Abdication of Louis Philippe, King of the French

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Abdication, Citizen King, February Revolution 1848, July Monarchy, King Charles X of France, King Louis-Philippe of France, Kings and Queens of France, Louis Philippe, Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom

The 1848 Revolution in France, sometimes known as the February Revolution was one of a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In France the revolutionary events ended the July Monarchy (1830–1848) and led to the creation of the French Second Republic.

Louis Philippe I (October 6, 1773 – August 26, 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848. As Duke of Chartres he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wars but broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI.

His father was Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and his mother was Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince of the Blood, which entitled him the use of the style “Serene Highness”. His mother was an extremely wealthy heiress who was descended from Louis XIV of France through a legitimized line. His father, known as Philippe Égalité during the French Revolution supported the execution of Louis XVI, fell under suspicion and was executed, and Louis Philippe fled France and remained in exile for 21 years until the Bourbon Restoration.

Marriage

In 1796, Louis Philippe supposedly fathered a child with Beata Caisa Wahlborn (1766-1830) named Erik Kolstrøm (1796-1879). In 1808, Louis Philippe proposed to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom. His Catholicism and the opposition of her mother Queen Charlotte meant the Princess reluctantly declined the offer. Louis Philippe struck up a lasting friendship with Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (father of Queen Victoria) and moved to England, where he remained in exile from 1800 to 1815.

Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom

In 1809, Louis Philippe married Princess Maria Amalia of the Two-Sicilies, the tenth of eighteen children of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Carolina of Austria, herself thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I. The ceremony was celebrated in Palermo 25 November 1809. The marriage was considered controversial, because she was the niece of Marie Antoinette of Austria (wife of King Louis XVI of France), while he was the son of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans who was considered to have played a part in the execution of her aunt.

Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily

Louis Philippe usurped the throne from his distance cousin Henri de Bourbon, comte de Chambord and was proclaimed king in 1830 after his cousin Charles X was forced to abdicate by the July Revolution. Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and his popularity with the masses was the main reason the Chamber of Deputies chose him as king. Upon his accession to the throne, Louis Philippe assumed the title of King of the French – a title already adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791. Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre) was aimed at undercutting the legitimist claims of Charles X and his family.

The reign of Louis Philippe is known as the July Monarchy and was dominated by wealthy industrialists and bankers. Though initially liberal in his policies Louis Philippe followed conservative policies, especially under the influence of French statesman François Guizot during the period 1840–48. He also promoted friendship with Britain and sponsored colonial expansion, notably the French conquest of Algeria. His popularity faded as economic conditions in France deteriorated in 1847.

The Duke of Orleans in uniform as a Colonel-General of the Hussars in 1817

Nicknamed the “Bourgeois Monarch”, Louis Philippe sat at the head of a state controlled mainly by educated elites. Supported by the Orléanists, he was opposed on his right by the Legitimists (former ultra-royalists) and on his left by the Republicans and Socialists. Louis Philippe was an expert businessman and, by means of his businesses, he had become one of the richest men in France. Still Louis Philippe saw himself as the successful embodiment of a “small businessman” (petite bourgeoisie).

The year 1846 saw a financial crisis and bad harvests, and the following year saw an economic depression. A poor railway system hindered aid efforts, and the peasant rebellions that resulted were forcefully crushed. According to French economist Frédéric Bastiat, the poor condition of the railway system can largely be attributed to French efforts to promote other systems of transport, such as carriages.

Because political gatherings and demonstrations were outlawed in France, activists of the largely middle class opposition to the government began to hold a series of fund-raising banquets. This campaign of banquets (Campagne des banquets), was intended to circumvent the governmental restriction on political meetings and provide a legal outlet for popular criticism of the regime. The campaign began in July 1847. Friedrich Engels was in Paris dating from October 1847 and was able to observe and attend some of these banquets.

The banquet campaign lasted until all political banquets were outlawed by the French government in February 1848. As a result, the people revolted, helping to unite the efforts of the popular Republicans and the liberal Orléanists, who turned their back on Louis-Philippe.

Anger over the outlawing of the political banquets brought crowds of Parisians flooding out onto the streets at noon on 22 February 1848. They directed their anger against the Citizen King Louis Philippe and his chief minister for foreign and domestic policy, François Pierre Guillaume Guizot.

Alphonse de Lamartine in front of the Town Hall of Paris rejects the red flag on 25 February 1848, during the February 1848 Revolution

At 2 pm the next day, February 23, Prime Minister Guizot resigned. Upon hearing the news of Guizot’s resignation, a large crowd gathered outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An officer ordered the crowd not to pass, but people in the front of the crowd were being pushed by the rear. The officer ordered his men to fix bayonets, probably wishing to avoid shooting, but in what is widely regarded as an accident, a soldier discharged his musket and the rest of the soldiers then fired into the crowd. Fifty-two people were killed.

Fires were set, and angry citizens began converging on the royal palace. Louis-Philippe, fearing for his life, abdicated in favor of his nine-year-old grandson Philippe, Comte de Paris and fled to England in disguise. A strong undercurrent of republican sentiment prevented Philippe, Comte de Paris from taking his place as king.

Louis-Philippe (1773-1850), The Citizen King by Eugène Lami

Louis Philippe and his family remained in exile in Great Britain in Claremont, Surrey, though a plaque on Angel Hill, Bury St. Edmunds claims that he spent some time there, possibly due to a friendship with the Marquess of Bristol, who lived nearby at Ickworth House. The royal couple spent some time by the sea at St. Leonards and later at the Marquess’s home in Brighton. Louis Philippe died at Claremont on August 26, 1850.

On this date in History: August 9, 1830. Accession of Louis Philippe as King of the French.

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Duke of Orleans, House of Bourbon, House of Orléans, July Monarchy, July Revolution, King Charles X of France, King of France, King of the French, Louis Philippe, Louis XVIII

King Louis XVIII’s health had been worsening since the beginning of 1824. Suffering from both dry and wet gangrene in his legs and spine, he died on September 16, of that year, aged almost 69. Louis XVIII died without any issue making his younger brother, Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, now in his 67th year, the successor to the throne as King Charles X of France and Navarre. In his first act as king, Charles attempted to unify the House of Bourbon by granting the style of Royal Highness to his cousins of the House of Orléans, who had been deprived of this style by Louis XVIII because of the former Duke of Orléans’ role in the death of Louis XVI.

Charles X, King of France and Navarre.

The almost six year reign of King Charles X proved to be deeply unpopular from the moment of his coronation in 1825, in which he tried to revive the practice of the royal touch. The governments appointed under his reign reimbursed former landowners for the abolition of feudalism at the expense of bondholders, increased the power of the Catholic Church, and reimposed capital punishment for sacrilege, leading to conflict with the liberal-majority Chamber of Deputies. Charles X also initiated the French conquest of Algeria as a way to distract his citizens from domestic problems. He eventually appointed a conservative government under the premiership of Prince Jules de Polignac, who was defeated in the 1830 French legislative election. He responded with the July Ordinances disbanding the Chamber of Deputies, limiting franchise, and reimposing press censorship. Within a week France faced urban riots.

Masses of angry demonstrators demanded the abdication of Charles X and of his descendants. They sent a delegation to the Tuileries Palace to force his compliance. Charles X reluctantly signed the document of abdication on August 2, 1830. The next in line to inherit the throne was Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême (August 6, 1775 – June 3, 1844) the elder son of Charles X of France and the last Dauphin of France from 1824 to 1830. Louis Antoine was equally reluctant to sign the Instrument of Abdication.

It is said that Louis Antoine spent this time listening to the entreaties of his wife not to sign, while the former Charles X sat weeping. After 20 minutes, he also abdicated for himself in favour of his 10 year old nephew, Prince Henri, the Duke of Bordeaux. Louis-Antoine was technically King of France and Navarre for 20 minutes before he himself abdicated. After the death of Charles X in 1836, he was the legitimist pretender as Louis XIX.

Within days the legitimate king, Prince Henri, the Duke of Bordeaux (King Henri V of France and Navarre to the Legitimists) was supplanted by Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, a scion of the House of Orléans.

The Rise of Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans as King of the French.

The 4th House of Orléans, sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans to distinguish it from several branches of the Royal House of France that held that name. They were all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty’s founder, Hugh Capet. The incarnation of the 4th House of Orléans was founded by Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, the “Sun King,” (1648-1715).

Louis Philippe III (October 6, 1773 – August 26, 1850) was born in the Palais Royal, the residence of the Orléans family in Paris, to Louis Philippe II, Duke of Chartres (Duke of Orléans, upon the death of his father Louis Philippe I), and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince of the Blood, which entitled him the use of the style “Serene Highness”. His mother was an extremely wealthy heiress who was descended from Louis XIV of France through a legitimized line.

To explain the rise of Louis Philippe (III), Duke d’Orléans, to the French throne, I would like to briefly examine the fall from grace of the House of Bourbon and it begins with the fall of his father, Louis Philippe II d’Orléans.

Louis Philippe, King of the French

Louis Philippe II d’Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793), most commonly known as Philippe, was born at the Château de Saint-Cloud. He was the son of Louis Philippe I Duke d’Orléans, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Henriette de Bourbon. Philippe was a member of the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the French royal family. His mother came from the House of Bourbon-Condé. He inherited the title of Duke of Orléans at the death of his father, Louis Philippe I d’Orléans, in 1785 and also became the Premier prince du sang, title attributed to the Prince of the Blood closest to the throne after the Sons and Grandsons of France. He was addressed as Son Altesse Sérénissime (S.A.S.).

In 1792, during the French Revolution, he changed his name to Philippe Égalité. Louis Philippe II d’Orléans was a cousin of Louis XVI and one of the wealthiest men in France. He actively supported the Revolution of 1789, and was a strong advocate for the elimination of the present absolute monarchy in favor of a constitutional monarchy. He voted for the death of king Louis XVI; however, he was himself guillotined in November 1793 during the Reign of Terror. After his death, the term Orléanist came to be attached to the movement in France that favored a constitutional monarchy.

After the abdication of Napoleon, Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, returned to France during the reign of his cousin Louis XVIII, at the time of the Bourbon Restoration. Louis Philippe III had reconciled the Orléans family with Louis XVIII in exile, and was once more to be found in the elaborate royal court. However, his resentment at the treatment of his family, the cadet branch of the House of Bourbon under the Ancien Régime, caused friction between him and Louis XVIII, and he openly sided with the liberal opposition.

Louis Philippe III was on far friendlier terms with Louis XVIII’s brother and successor Charles X and with whom he socialized. However, his opposition to the policies of Villèle and later of Jules de Polignac caused him to be viewed as a constant threat to the stability of Charles’ government. This soon proved to be to his advantage.

In 1830, the July Revolution overthrew Charles X, who abdicated in favour of his son Louis Antoine who in turn abdicated his right to his 10-year-old nephew, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux, and, naming Louis Philippe III Lieutenant général du royaume, charged him to announce to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies his desire to have his grandson succeed him.

Louis Philippe III did not announce to the Chamber of Deputies that Prince Henri, the Duke of Bordeaux was now king. His refusal to do so was motivated to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, because the chamber was aware of Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed him King Louis Philippe I. Despite having been acting as the regent for his young cousin, as the new French king, his proclamation was a usurpation displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon.

Louis Philippe, King of the French

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Upon his accession to the throne, Louis Philippe assumed the title of King of the French – a title already adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791. Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre) was aimed at undercutting the legitimist claims of Charles X and his family.

By an ordinance he signed on August 13, 1830, the new king defined the manner in which his children, as well as his “beloved” sister, would continue to bear the surname “d’Orléans” and the arms of Orléans, declared that his eldest son, as Prince Royal (not Dauphin), would bear the title Duke of Orléans, that the younger sons would continue to have their previous titles, and that his sister and daughters would only be styled Princesses of Orléans, not of France.

His ascension to the title of King of the French was seen as a betrayal by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and it ended their friendship.