January 19, 1927: Death of Princess Charlotte of Belgium, Empress of Mexico. Part I.

Tags

Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, King Leopold I of the Belgians, King Louis Philippe of the French, King Pedro V of Portugal, Kingdom of the Belgians, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Charlotte of Belgium (Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; June 7, 1840 – January 19, 1927), better known under the name Charlotte, was the daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium and Princess Louise of Orléans. Her first name pays homage to the late Princess Charlotte of Wales, her father’s first wife.

Princess Charlotte of Belgium

She was also later known by the Spanish version of her name, Carlota, was by birth a Princess of Belgium and member of the House of Wettin in the branch of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (as such she was also styled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony).

Her mother was was the eldest daughter of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and of his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

Princess Charlotte of Belgium

Through her mother, Charlotte was a granddaughter of King Louis Philippe I of the French and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, and through her father, she was a first-cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; thanks to these relations, and in addition to regular stays in the city of Ostend in the summer, Charlotte spent long holidays with her maternal grandparents in the French royal residences and at her cousin’s in Windsor Castle.

As a child, she had a religious and bourgeoisie education thanks to the part played by her mother and her aunt, Princess Adélaïde of Orléans, to whom she was very close.

Princess Charlotte of Belgium

In her youth, Charlotte resembled her mother, and was noted as being a beauty possessing delicate features. This, combined with her status as the only daughter of the King of the Belgians, made her a desirable match.

In 1856, as she was preparing to celebrate her sixteenth birthday, two suitors sought her hand: Prince Georg of Saxony (who was quickly rejected) and King Pedro V of Portugal. The latter was the favorite candidate of both Queen Victoria and King Leopold I.

By personal choice, and under the influence of Madame d’Hulst (who affirmed that at the Portuguese court no priest would understand her), Charlotte declined the offer of marriage with King Pedro V. She explained: “As for Pedro, it is a throne, it is true, I would be Queen and Majesty but what is that, the crowns nowadays are heavy burdens and how one regrets later to have yielded to such crazy considerations”.

In the month of May 1856, Charlotte met in Brussels with Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. She was immediately charmed by this prince who was eight years her senior. Reportedly she stated: “it will be him that I will marry”.

Archduke Maximilian of Austria

Her father left Charlotte the choice of her future husband; as she testified in a letter addressed to her grandmother Maria Amalia: “He wrote me the most impartial letter, putting before my eyes the advantages of one and the other without wanting to influence me in any way”.

As for Leopold I, he wrote to his future son-in-law: “You won in May […] all my confidence and my benevolence. I also noticed that my little girl shared these dispositions; however it was my duty to proceed with precaution”. Charlotte declared: “If, as it is in question, the Archduke was invested with the Viceroyalty of Italy, that would be charming, that’s all I want”. The official engagement was celebrated on December 23, 1856.

Archduke Maximilian of Austria was born on July 6, 1832 in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire. He was baptized the following day as Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria. The first name honored his godfather and paternal uncle, Emperor Ferdinand I, and the second honored his maternal grandfather, Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria.

Princess Charlotte of Belgium and Archduke Maximilian of Austria

His father was Archduke Franz Charles, the second surviving son of Emperor Franz I, during whose reign he was born. Maximilian was thus a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, a female-line cadet branch of the House of Habsburg. His mother was Princess Sophie of Bavaria, a member of the House of Wittelsbach.

Charlotte appeared elated by the prospect of her marriage to Maximilian, praising a fiancé for whom she envisioned an exceptional destiny. Maximilian appeared less enthusiastic when negotiating the dowry of his bride. The Archduke said of his fiancée: “She’s short, I’m tall, which must be.

She’s brunette, I’m blonde, which is good too. She is very intelligent, which is a bit annoying, but I will undoubtedly get over it”. The marriage ceremony was celebrated on July 27, 1857 at the Royal Palace of Brussels. This alliance with the House of Habsburg-Lorraine enhanced the legitimacy of the recently established Kingdom of the Belgians.

January 13, 1865: Birth of Princess Marie of Orléans, Princess of Denmark

Tags

Bernstorff, King Christian IX of Denmark, King George I of Greece, King Louis Philippe of the French, Prince George of Greece and Denmark, Prince Waldemar of Denmark, Princess Marie Bonaparte, Princess Marie of Orléans

Princess Marie of Orléans (January 13, 1865 – December 4, 1909) was a French princess by birth and a Danish princess by marriage to Prince Waldemar. She was politically active by the standards of her day.

Background

Marie was the eldest child of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres, and his wife, and first cousin, Princess Françoise d’Orléans. Her father was the second son of Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and Duchess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Princess Marie of Orléans

Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1810 – 1842) was the eldest son of King Louis Philippe I of the French and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily.

Princess Françoise of Orléans was the daughter of Prince François d’Orléans, Prince de Joinville, and Princess Francisca of Brazil.

Princess François d’Orléans, Prince de Joinville (1818 – 1900) was the third son of King Louis Philippe I of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily

Born during the reign in France of her family’s rival, Emperor Napoléon III, she grew up in England, where her family had moved in 1848. She moved to France with her family after the fall of Napoleon in 1871.

Marriage

After obtaining papal consent from Pope Leo XIII, Marie married Prince Waldemar of Denmark, the youngest son of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, on October 20, 1885 in a civil ceremony in Paris.

They had a religious ceremony on 22 October 1885 at the Château d’Eu, the residence of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. The wedding was believed by one source to have been politically arranged, and in France, it was believed that the Prince Philippe of Orléans, Count of Paris (the bride’s uncle) was personally responsible for the match. However, the same source claimed that “there was every reason to believe that [it was] a genuine love match”.

They were third cousins, once-removed.

Prince Waldemar of Denmark

She remained a Roman Catholic, he a Lutheran. They adhered to the dynastic arrangement usually stipulated in the marriage contract in such circumstances: sons were to be raised in the faith of their father, daughters in that of their mother.

The couple took up residence at Bernstorff Palace outside Copenhagen, in which Waldemar had been born. Since 1883, he had lived there with his nephew and ward Prince George of Greece, a younger son of Waldemar’s elder brother Wilhelm, who had become King of the Hellenes in 1863 as George I. The king had taken the boy to Denmark to enlist him in the Danish navy and consigned him to the care of his brother Waldemar, who was an admiral in the Danish fleet.

Feeling abandoned by his father on this occasion, George would later describe to his fiancée, Princess Marie Bonaparte, the profound attachment he developed for his uncle Waldemar from that day forward.

Prince George of Greece and Denmark

Prince George of Greece and Denmark, was the second of the five sons of King George I of the Hellenes and was introduced to Marie Bonaparte on July 19, 1907 at the Bonapartes’ home in Paris. Although homosexual, he courted her for twenty-eight days, confiding that from 1883, he’d lived not at his father’s Greek court in Athens, but at Bernstorff Palace near Copenhagen with Prince Waldemar of Denmark, his father’s youngest brother.

It was into this household and relationship that Marie came to live. In 1907, when George brought his bride to Bernstorff for the first family visit, Marie d’Orléans was at pains to explain to Marie Bonaparte the intimacy which united uncle and nephew, so deep that at the end of each of George’s several yearly visits to Bernstorff, he would weep, Waldemar would feel ill, and the women learned to be patient and not intrude upon their husbands’ private moments.

On this and subsequent visits, the Bonaparte princess found herself a great admirer of the Orléans princess, concluding that she was the only member of her husband’s large family in Denmark and Greece endowed with brains, pluck, or character.

During the first of these visits, Waldemar and Marie Bonaparte found themselves engaging in the kind of passionate intimacies she had looked forward to with her husband George who, however, only seemed to enjoy them vicariously, sitting or lying beside his wife and uncle.

Princess Marie Bonaparte

On a later visit, George’s wife carried on a passionate flirtation with Prince Aage, Waldemar eldest son. In neither case does it appear that Marie objected, or felt obliged to give the matter any attention.

George criticized Marie to his wife, alleging that she was having an affair with his uncle’s stablemaster. He also contended that she drank too much alcohol and could not conceal the effects. But Marie Bonaparte found no fault with Marie d’Orléans; rather she admired her forbearance and independence under circumstances which caused her bewilderment and estrangement from her own husband.

Prince George of Greece and Denmark with his wife Princess Marie Bonaparte

Life and influence

Marie was described as impulsive, witty, and energetic, and introduced a more relaxed style to the stiff Danish court. She never fully learned to speak Danish. The marriage was friendly. She gave her children a free upbringing, and her artistic taste and Bohemian habits dominated her household.

She was informal, not snobbish, believed in social equality, expressed her own opinions, and performed her ceremonial duties in an unconventional manner. In 1896, she wrote to Herman Bang: “I believe that a person, regardless of her position, should be herself”. She liked both to ride and to drive and was known for her elegance.

Princess Marie of Orléans and Denmark with her tattoo

She was the official protector of the fire brigade and let herself be photographed in a fire brigade uniform, which was caricatured, and as a support to her spouse’s career as a marine, she had an anchor tattooed on her upper arm. She once said regarding complaints about her unconventional manners: “Let them complain, I am just as happy nevertheless”.

She had asked the permission of the court to leave the house without a lady-in-waiting, and she had mainly spent her time with artists. She painted and photographed and was a student of Otto Bache and Frants Henningsen. She participated in the exhibitions at Charlottenborg in 1889, 1901 and 1902 and was a member of the Danish Arts Academy.

She refused to obey the expectation on royal women to stay away from politics. In 1886, Waldemar declined the throne of Bulgaria with her consent. She belonged to the political left and participated in convincing the king to agree to the reforms of 1901, which led to an appointment of a Venstre government, and the de facto introduction of parliamentarism.

In 1902 she rejected the idea of offering the Danish West Indies to the United States. She also saw to the interests of France: she was credited by the French press with having influenced the Franco-Russian alliance in 1894 and the peace in the French-German Colonial conflict over Morocco in 1905. She assisted her friend H.N. Andersen, the founder of the East Asiatic Company, with contacts in his affairs in Thailand. She was a popular person in Denmark.

Marie’s husband and three sons were in India en route to Siam when they received word that she had died at Bernstorff.

October 17, 1779: Birth of Prince Louis Charles of Orléans, Count of Beaujolais

Tags

Count of Beaujolais, Duke of Orleans, French Revolution, House of Bourbon, House of Orléans, King Louis Philippe of the French, Louis Charles of Orléans, Philippe Égalité, prince du sang (Prince of the Blood)

Louis Charles of Orléans, Count of Beaujolais (October 17, 1779 – May 30, 1808) Louis Charles was born at the Palais-Royal in Paris. He was the third and youngest son of Louis Philippe II of Orléans, Duke of Chartres, later Duke of Orléans as Philippe Égalité, and of his wife, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon.

Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon was the daughter of Louis Jean de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Teresa d’Este. At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre, Prince of Lamballe, Louise Marie Adélaïde became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution.

Louis Jean de Bourbon (1725 – 1793) was the son of Louis Alexandre de Bourbon and his wife Marie Victoire de Noailles. Louis Jean de Bourbon was therefore a grandson of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. From birth he was known as the Duke of Penthièvre.

As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louis Charles of Orléans, Count of Beaujolais was a prince du sang (Prince of the Blood). Louis Charles of Orléans, Count of Beaujolais was also the younger brother of King Louis Philippe I of the French.

In 1781 the Countess of Genlis was appointed to be the governess to Louis Charles and to his two older brothers Louis Philippe and Antoine. 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. Louis Charles was then tutored by the first chamberlain Barrois, before being assigned to the under-governor Lebrun in 1789.

In April 1793 Louis Charles was arrested with his father and imprisoned at Fort-Saint-Jean in Marseille. During his imprisonment he contracted tuberculosis, a condition which eventually caused his death. 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. The French chargé d’affaires in Philadelphia settled upon Louis-Charles an annual pension of 15,000 francs.

In February 1797 Louis Charles and Antoine were joined in Philadelphia by their older brother Louis Philippe. Together they travelled to New York City and Boston, and as far north as Maine and as far south as Nashville.

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. They went to New Orleans, planning to sail to Cuba and from there to Spain. The ship they took from New Orleans, however, was captured by a British warship in the Gulf of Mexico.

The British seized the three brothers, but took them to Havana anyway. Unable to find passage to Europe, the three brothers spent a year in Cuba, until they were unexpectedly expelled by the Spanish authorities. They sailed via the Bahamas to Nova Scotia. Eventually, the brothers sailed back to New York, and in January 1800, they arrived in England, where they settled at Twickenham outside London.

In September 1804 Louis Charles entered the Royal Navy, but his health did not allow him to continue a military career. In October he and his brothers went on a brief expedition to the French coast. They were fired upon by the French batteries at Boulogne but escaped without harm.

In 1808, in an attempt to improve Louis Charles’ health, his older brother Louis Philippe accompanied him on a voyage to Gibraltar, Sicily and Malta. The brothers were received at Casa Miari, a palace in the Maltese capital city Valletta.

Louis Charles, however, continued to deteriorate; he died of tuberculosis a fortnight after his arrival on the island. His funeral took place on June 3. Ten years later his body was buried on April 10, 1818 in St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. James Pradier designed and sculpted his tomb, a replica of which is at Dreux.

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). Another portrait was painted in 1835 by Amédée Fauré (now at the Château d’Eu). There are copies of all three portraits in the Palace of Versailles.

July 21, 1831: Accession Ceremony of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as King of the Belgians

Tags

Auguste of Leuchtenberg, Belgium, Duke of Nemours, Eugène de Beauharnais, George IV of the United Kingdom, King Leopold I of the Belgians, King Louis Philippe of the French, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Napoleon, National Congress, Prince Louis, The Prince Regent

Leopold I (December 16, 1790 – December 10, 1865) was the first King of the Belgians, reigning from July 21, 1831 until his death in 1865.

Leopold was born in Coburg in The Holy Roman Empire and the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria. He was the youngest son of Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf.

In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the city of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon’s defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom where he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, who was second in line to the British throne and the only legitimate child of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV).

On November 5, 1817, after having suffered a miscarriage, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son. She herself died the next day following complications. Leopold was said to have been heartbroken by her death.

Had Charlotte survived, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom on the death of her father and Leopold presumably would have assumed the role of prince consort, later taken by his nephew Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Despite Charlotte’s death, Leopold continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain and the Prince Regent granted Prince Leopold the British style of Royal Highness by Order in Council on April 6, 1818.

From 1828 to 1829, Leopold had an affair with the actress Caroline Bauer, who bore a striking resemblance to Charlotte.

Caroline was a cousin of his advisor Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar. She came to England with her mother and took up residence at Longwood House, a few miles from Claremont House. But, by mid-1829, the liaison was over, and the actress and her mother returned to Berlin.

Many years later, in memoirs published after her death, she declared that she and Leopold had engaged in a morganatic marriage and that he had bestowed upon her the title of Countess Montgomery. He would have broken this marriage when the possibility arose that he could become King of Greece. The son of Baron Stockmar denied that these events ever happened, and indeed no records have been found of a civil or religious marriage with the actress.

Following a Greek rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, Leopold was offered the throne of an independent Greece as part of the London Protocol of February 1830. Though initially showing interest in the position, Leopold eventually turned down the offer on May 17, 1830. The role would subsequently be accepted by Otto of Wittelsbach in May 1832 who ruled until he was finally deposed in October 1862.

At the end of August 1830, rebels in the Southern provinces (modern-day Belgium) of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands rose up against Dutch rule. The rising, which began in Brussels, pushed the Dutch army back, and the rebels defended themselves against a Dutch attack. International powers meeting in London agreed to support the independence of Belgium, even though the Dutch refused to recognize the new state.

In November 1830, a National Congress was established in Belgium to create a constitution for the new state. Fears of “mob rule” associated with republicanism after the French Revolution of 1789, as well as the example of the recent, liberal July Revolution in France, led the Congress to decide that Belgium would be a popular, constitutional monarchy.

Search for a Monarch

The choice of candidates for the position was one of the most controversial issues faced by the revolutionaries. The Congress refused to consider any candidate from the Dutch ruling house of Orange-Nassau.

Some Orangists had hoped to offer the position to King Willem I of the Netherlands or his son, Willem, Prince of Orange, which would bring Belgium into personal union with the Netherlands like Luxembourg. The Great Powers also worried that a candidate from another state could risk destabilizing the international balance of power and lobbied for a neutral candidate.

Eventually the Congress was able to draw up a shortlist. The three viable possibilities were felt to be Eugène de Beauharnais, a French nobleman and stepson of Napoleon; Auguste of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugène; and Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours, who was the son of the French King Louis-Philippe.

All the candidates were French and the choice between them was principally between choosing the Bonapartism of Beauharnais or Leuchtenberg and supporting the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe.

Louis-Philippe realized that the choice of either of the Bonapartists could be first stage of a coup against him, but that his son would also be unacceptable to other European powers suspicious of French intentions.

Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours refused the offer. With no definitive choice in sight, Catholics and Liberals united to elect Erasme Louis Surlet de Chokier, a minor Belgian nobleman, as regent to buy more time for a definitive decision in February 1831.

Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been proposed at an early stage, but had been dropped because of French opposition. The problems caused by the French candidates and the increased international pressure for a solution led to his reconsideration. On April 22, 1831, he was finally approached by a Belgian delegation at Marlborough House to officially offer him the throne. Leopold, however, was reluctant to accept.

Accession

On July 17, 1831, Leopold travelled from Calais to Belgium, entering the country at De Panne. Travelling to Brussels, he was greeted with patriotic enthusiasm along his route.

The accession ceremony took place on July 21, on the Place Royale in Brussels. A stand had been erected on the steps of the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg, surrounded by the names of revolutionaries fallen during the fighting in 1830.

After a ceremony of resignation by the regent, Leopold, dressed in the uniform of a Belgian lieutenant-general, swore loyalty to the constitution and became king.

The enthronement is generally used to mark the end of the revolution and the start of the Kingdom of Belgium and is celebrated each year as the Belgian national holiday.

Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria, Queen of Belgium.

Tags

Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria, Archduke Joseph of Austria-Hungary, King Leopold I of Belgium, King Leopold II of Belgium, King Louis Philippe of the French, Louise of Orléans, Queen Maria II of Portugal, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

From the Emperor’s Desk: Generally on the blog I post biographical information of a royal person on the anniversary of their birth or death or marriage. While I will continue this practice I will also begin to post biographies of Royal persons randomly without any relation to an anniversary.

Both in the biographical posts on the birth, death or marriage anniversaries, as well as the random biographies, I will focus on just a portion of their lives since writing the entirety of their lives does take several days and many posts. I will also be including more topical posts in the future.

So here is a random biography

Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria (August 23, 1836 – September 19, 1902) was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Leopold II. The marriage was arranged against the will of both Marie Henriette and Leopold and became unhappy due to their dissimilarity, and after 1872 the couple lived separate lives, though they continued to appear together in public.

Queen Marie Henriette was described as an energetic and intelligent horsewoman, foremost devoted to her animals. In 1895, she openly retired from public life and lived her last seven years in the city of Spa, where she became known as “The Queen of Spa”.

Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria was one of five children from the marriage of Archduke Joseph of Austria, Palatine of Hungary, and Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg.

Archduchess Marie Henriette was a cousin of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, and granddaughter of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II through her father. She was also a first cousin, once removed to Mary of Teck, the future Queen Mary of the United Kingdom (wife of King George V) through her mother.

Her father was Palatine of Hungary, and she spent a great deal of her childhood in the Buda Castle in Hungary. She lost her father at the age of ten. After her father’s death, she became a ward of Archduke Johann of Austria at the Palais Augarten in Vienna. It was said that she was raised by her mother “as a boy”. Marie Henriette was a vivid and energetic person with a strong will and a hot temperament, interested in riding.

Marriage

One day before her 17th birthday, she married 18-year-old Prince Leopold of Belgium, the heir to the throne, on August 22, 1853. Leopold was the second-surviving son of Leopold I of Belgium and his French wife, Louise of Orléans; the eldest daughter of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and of his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

Marie Henriette was the sister-in-law of Charlotte of Belgium, future Empress of Mexico via Charlotte’s husband and Marie Henriette’s cousin, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, (brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary) and a cousin by marriage to both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Queen Maria II of Portugal.

The marriage was arranged to strengthen the status of the Belgian Monarchy. As the former Protestant monarch of a newly established monarchy, the Belgian king Leopold I wished his son to marry a member from a Roman Catholic and prestigious dynasty, and the name Habsburg was one of her more important qualities. The marriage further more created an historical link between the new Kingdom of Belgium and the Habsburg dynasty of the Austrian Netherlands.

The marriage was suggested by her future father-in-law the king of Belgium to her guardian, the Archduke Johann of Austria, and arranged by the two men over her head.

She was introduced to Leopold on an Imperial court ball at Hofburg in May 1853, and she was informed that she was to marry him. Neither she or Leopold made a good impression on each other. She protested against the marriage plans without success, but was convinced to submit to it by her mother. Leopold himself also commented that he had agreed to the marriage because of his father.

Marie Henriette resigned from her rights to the Austrian throne and signed the marriage contract in Vienna on August 8, 1853. A wedding by proxy was celebrated at the Schönbrunn Palace on August 10, after which she travelled to Brussels, where the final ceremony was celebrated with Leopold in person on August 22nd.

The wedding was followed by a tour through the Belgian provinces and a trip to Great Britain in October. Queen Victoria commented to king Leopold I about the differences between the couple.

Marie Henriette was described as intelligent, well educated and cultivated, Leopold as well spoken and interested in military issues, but with no common interests between them whatsoever.

They did manage to have four children:

Issue
Louise, Princess Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant
Stéphanie, Crown Princess of Austria
Clémentine, Princess Napoléon

April 13, 1747: Birth of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

Tags

Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, Duke of Orleans, French Revolution, House of Bourbon, House of Orléans, July Revolution, King Louis Philippe of the French, Louis Philippe II, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Philippe Égalité, Reign of Terror

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (April 13, 1747 – November 6, 1793), was a major French noble who supported the French Revolution.

Louis Philippe II was born at the Château de Saint-Cloud to Louis Philippe I, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Henriette de Bourbon. He was titled Duke of Montpensier at birth. Louis 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.

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

When his grandfather Louis, Duke of Orléans, died in 1752, his father became the new Duke of Orléans and Louis Philippe II became Duke of Chartres. When his father died in 1785, he became Duke of Orléans and First Prince of the Blood. He was styled as Serene Highness. This put him in line for the succession to the throne immediately after Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, the youngest brother of Louis XVI.

On June 6, 1769, Louis Philippe married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans (1753 –1821), was the daughter of his cousin Louis Jean de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Teresa d’Este, a Princess of Modena. Her father the The were wed at the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. Her father was one of the richest men in France.

Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre

Since it was certain that his wife would become the richest woman in France upon the death of her father, Louis Philippe was able to play a political role in court equal to that of his great-grandfather Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who had been the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV.

Unlike her husband, Louise Marie Adélaïde the Duchess of Orléans did not support the Revolution. She was a devout Catholic who supported keeping the monarchy in France, as well as following the orders of Pope Pius VI. This was the causes of one of the rifts of the couple, as their first son, Louis Philippe, the future “King of the French”, followed his father’s footsteps and joined the Jacobin faction.

During the first few months of their marriage, the couple appeared devoted to each other, but the Duke went back to the life of libertinage he had led before his marriage. The Duke was a well-known womanizer and, like several of his ancestors, such as Louis XIV and Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, had several illegitimate children.

In 1792, during the Revolution, Louis Philippe II changed his name to Philippe Égalité. He was a cousin of King Louis XVI. 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.

Louis Philippe voted for the death of Louis XVI. The King was especially shocked by the news, stating:

“It really pains me to see that Monsieur d’Orléans, my kinsman, voted for my death.”

Death

On April 1, 1793, a decree was voted for within the Convention, including Égalité’s vote, that condemned anyone with “strong presumptions of complicity with the enemies of Liberty.”

At the time, Philippe Égalité’s son, Louis Philippe, who was a general in the French army, joined General Dumouriez in a plot to visit the Austrians, who were an enemy of France.

Although there was no evidence that convicted Égalité himself of treason, the simple relationship that his son had with Dumouriez, a traitor in the eyes of the Convention, was enough to get him and Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais (son of Philippe Égalité and the younger brother of King Louis-Philippe I of the French) arrested on April 4, 1793, and the other members of the Bourbon family still in France on the days after.

Philippe Égalité spent several months incarcerated at Fort Saint-Jean in Marseille until he was sent back to Paris. On November 2, 1793, he was imprisoned at the Conciergerie. Tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on November 6, he was sentenced to death, and guillotined the same day.

His son, Louis Philippe, became King of the French after the July Revolution of 1830. After Louis Philippe II, the term Orléanist came to be attached to the movement in France that favored a constitutional monarchy.

December 10, 1865: Death of King Leopold I of the Belgians

Tags

Charlotte of Wales, Franz of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, George IV of the United Kingdom, King Louis Philippe of the French, Kingdom of Greece, Leopold I of Belgium, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Louise of Orléans, National Congress, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Regent, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

From the Emperor’s Desk: December 9 was the death of Duke Franz of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and today, December 10, is the anniversary of the death of his youngest son, King Leopold I of the Belgians.

Leopold I (December 16, 1790 – December 10, 1865) was the first King of the Belgians, reigning from July 21, 1831 until his death in 1865.

Leopold was born in Coburg in the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on December 16, 1790. He was the youngest son of Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf.

In 1825 the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg became extinct when its last duke, Friedrich IV, died without male heirs. Quarrels arose between the three remaining Ernestine lines of Saxon dukes about the succession. As a result of an arbitration issued by King Friedrich August I of Saxony in 1826, the Ernestine duchies were rearranged and Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was again split:

Saxe-Gotha passed to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, which had to cede Saxe-Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen. The territories constituted the newly created Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Saxe-Altenburg was also given to the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who in turn passed his own domain to Saxe-Meiningen and assumed the title of a Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.

As the youngest son of Duke Franz of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars.

First Marriage

Leopold received British citizenship in March 1816. On May 2, 1816, Leopold married Princess Charlotte of Wales at Carlton House in London. Charlotte was the only legitimate child of the Regent George (later King George IV) and his estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and therefore second in line to the British throne.

The Prince Regent had hoped Charlotte would marry Willem, Prince of Orange, (future King Willem II of the Netherlands) but she favoured Leopold. Although the Regent was displeased, he found Leopold to be charming and possessing every quality to make his daughter happy, and so approved their marriage.

On November 5, 1817, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son. She herself died the next day following complications. Leopold was said to have been heartbroken by her death.

Had Charlotte survived, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom on the death of her father and Leopold presumably would have assumed the role of Prince Consort, la position later taken by his nephew Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Despite Charlotte’s death, the Prince Regent granted Prince Leopold the British style of Royal Highness by Order in Council on April 6, 1818.

From 1828 to 1829, Leopold had an affair with the actress Caroline Bauer, who bore a striking resemblance to Charlotte. Caroline was a cousin of his advisor Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar. She came to England with her mother and took up residence at Longwood House, a few miles from Claremont House.

But, by mid-1829, the liaison was over, and the actress and her mother returned to Berlin. Many years later, in memoirs published after her death, she declared that she and Leopold had engaged in a morganatic marriage and that he had bestowed upon her the title of Countess Montgomery. Leopold have broken this marriage when the possibility arose that he could become King of Greece. The son of Baron Stockmar denied that these events ever happened, and indeed no records have been found of a civil or religious marriage with the actress

After the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), Leopold was offered the throne of Greece under the 1830 London Protocol that created an independent Greek state, but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious.

In 1862 when the Greek throne was once again vacant, the throne was offered to Leopold’s great-nephew, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of his nice and nephew, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Alfred refused the throne.

In November of 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and to the establishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a provisional government and a national congress.

Fears of “mob rule” associated with republicanism after the French Revolution of 1789, as well as the example of the recent, liberal July Revolution in France, led the Congress to decide that Belgium would be a popular, constitutional monarchy.

Search for a Monarch

The choice of candidates for the position was one of the most controversial issues faced by the revolutionaries. The Congress refused to consider any candidate from the Dutch ruling house of Orange-Nassau. Some Orangists had hoped to offer the position to King Willem I or his son, Willem, Prince of Orange, which would bring Belgium into personal union with the Netherlands like Luxembourg. The Great Powers also worried that a candidate from another state could risk destabilizing the international balance of power and lobbied for a neutral candidate.

Eventually the Congress was able to draw up a shortlist. The three viable possibilities were felt to be Eugène de Beauharnais, a French nobleman and stepson of Napoleon; Auguste of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugene; and Louis of Orléans, Duke of Nemours who was the son of the French King Louis-Philippe.

All the candidates were French and the choice between them was principally between choosing the Bonapartism of Beauharnais or Leuchtenberg and supporting the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe.

Louis-Philippe realized that the choice of either of the Bonapartists could be first stage of a coup against him, but that his son would also be unacceptable to other European powers suspicious of French intentions. Nemours refused the offer. With no definitive choice in sight, Catholics and Liberals united to elect Erasme Louis Surlet de Chokier, a minor Belgian nobleman, as regent to buy more time for a definitive decision in February 1831.

Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, had been proposed at an early stage, but had been dropped because of French opposition. The problems caused by the French candidates and the increased international pressure for a solution led to his reconsideration. On April 22, he was finally approached by a Belgian delegation at Marlborough House to officially offer him the throne. Leopold, however, was reluctant to accept.

After a ceremony of resignation by the regent, Leopold, dressed in the uniform of a Belgian lieutenant-general, swore loyalty to the constitution and became King of the Belgians on July 21, 1831, an event commemorated annually as Belgian National Day.

Second Marriage

On August 9, 1832 Prince Leopold married Louise of Orléans (April 3, 1812 – October 11, 1850). Born in Palermo, Sicily, Louise was the eldest daughter of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and of his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. As a child, she had a religious and bourgeoisie education thanks to the part played by her mother and her aunt, Princess Adélaïde of Orléans, to whom she was very close. She was given a strict religious upbringing by her aunt. She also learned to speak English, German and Italian.

As a member of the reigning House of Orléans she was entitled to the rank of a Princess of the Blood Royal. She rarely participated in public representation, but acted as the political adviser of her spouse. Her large correspondence is a valuable historical source of the period and has been published. They had four children.

Reign and Death

Leopold’s reign was marked by attempts by the Dutch to recapture Belgium and, later, by internal political division between liberals and Catholics. As a Protestant, Leopold was considered liberal and encouraged economic modernisation, playing an important role in encouraging the creation of Belgium’s first railway in 1835 and subsequent industrialisation. As a result of the ambiguities in the Belgian Constitution, Leopold was able to slightly expand the monarch’s powers during his reign. He also played an important role in stopping the spread of the Revolutions of 1848 into Belgium.

Leopold died in Laeken near Brussels on December 10, 1865, a week short of his 75th birthday. His funeral was held on December 16, on what would have been his 75th birthday. He is interred in the Royal Crypt at the Church of Notre-Dame de Laeken, next to Louise-Marie.
Leopold was succeeded by his son, Leopold II, aged 30, who would rule until 1909.

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

Tags

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.

French Dynastic Disputes: Part V (a)

Tags

Dynastic Disputes, Fundamental Laws of Succession to the French Crown, House of Bourbon, House of Orléans, King Louis Philippe of the French, Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, Louis Philippe

One of the most interesting French Dynastic Disputes is the battle for the vacant or non existent throne of France. The argument rests on the legality of the renunciation of rights to the French throne by King Felipe V of Spain (1700-1746) and his descendents at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. Felipe V (Philippe Duc d’Anjou) was born a French prince and a grandson of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre (1643-1715) and also a great-grandson of King Felipe III of Spain (1598-1621) from whose descent he was appointed successor to the childless King Carlos II of Spain (1665-1700).

Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou

Today there are two claimants from different lines of the House of Bourbon: Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou is the senior male heir of Hugh Capet, King of France (987-996). Louis Alphonse is also the senior descendant of King Louis XIV of France through his grandson King Felipe V of Spain. By the Legitimist faction of French royalists he is recognized as the rightful claimant to the French crown.

Prince Jean of Orléans, Comte de Paris and Duc de France.

The other claimant to the French crown is Prince Jean of Orléans, Comte de Paris and Duc de France. Prince Jean is a descendant of King Louis Philippe (1830-1848), the last King of France and he is the current head of the Orléans line of the Bourbon dynasty.

The issues are complicated so I will attempt to give a basic readers digest version of how the two rival claims arouse. Succession to the thrones of all monarchies are governed by laws. There are two basic fundamental laws that governed the succession to the French throne. The First is the Salic Law which states that the succession is via male only primogeniture and that women could neither inherit the throne for themselves nor pass on succession rights to their sons. The other relevant law is that a French prince could not renounce their rights to the throne.

In 1830 King Charles X of France (1824-1830) was deposed in a revolution. He unsuccessfully tried to abdicate the throne in favor of his eldest son, Louis Antoine, Duc d’Angoulême whom the Legitimist faction call King Louis XIX of France and Navarre. His tenure on the French throne was brief and never recognized for 30 minutes later Louis XIX abdicated his claim to the throne to his nephew Henri of Artois, Count of Chambord. The Count of Chambord claimed the throne of France as Henri V until the Chamber of Deputies proclaimed his distant cousin, Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orléans as King of the French on August 9, 1830. The Legitimist faction view Louis-Philippe as a usurper to the French throne.

Technically he was a usurper. The National Assembly named Louis Philippe Lieutenant général du royaume, and gave him the responsibility to proclaim to the Chamber of Deputies his desire to have his cousin, Henri V, Count of Chambord mount the French throne. Louis Philippe failed to do this in an attempt to seize the throne for himself. This hesitation gave the Chamber of Deputies time to consider Louis Philippe in the role of king due to his liberal policies and his popularity with the general public. Despite Louis Philippe being regent for Henri V the Chamber of Deputies proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon which was in direct violation of the Fundamental Laws of Succession to the French Crown.

This concludes part I. Tomorrow Part II will show the rise of the rival claims in the aftermath of the reign of Louis Philippe.