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

Tags

Comte de Chambord, Count of Paris, Emperor Napoleon III of France, Franco-Prussian War, Henri V of France, Philippe VII of France, Third Republic

In the early 1870s, as the Second Empire collapsed following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War at the battle of Sedan on 1 September 1870, the royalists became a majority in the National Assembly. The Orléanists agreed to support the aging comte de Chambord’s claim to the throne, with the expectation that at his childless death he would be succeeded by their own claimant, Philippe d’Orléans, comte de Paris.

Henri was then pretender for both Legitimists and Orléanists, and the restoration of monarchy in France seemed a close possibility. However, Henri insisted that he would accept the crown only on condition that France abandon its tricolour flag and return to the use of the white fleur de lys flag. He rejected a compromise, whereby the fleur-de-lys would be the new king’s personal standard, and the tricolour would remain the national flag.

Defeat

A temporary Third Republic was established, to wait for Henri’s death and his replacement by the more liberal Comte de Paris. By the time this occurred in 1883, public opinion had however swung behind the Republic as the form of government which, in the words of the former President Adolphe Thiers, “divides us least”. Thus, Henri could be mockingly hailed by republicans such as Georges Clemenceau as “the French Washington” — the one man without whom the Republic could not have been founded.

Henri died on August 24, 1883 at his residence in Frohsdorf, Austria, at the age of sixty-two, bringing the Louis XV male-only line to an end. He was buried in his grandfather Charles X’s crypt in the church of the Franciscan Kostanjevica Monastery in Gorizia, then Austria, now in Slovenian city of Nova Gorica. His personal property, including the château de Chambord, was left to his nephew, Robert I, Duke of Parma (son of Henri’s late sister).

Henri’s death left the Legitimist line of succession distinctly confused. On one hand, Henri himself had accepted that the head of the Maison de France (as distinguished from the Maison de Bourbon) would be the head of the Orléans line, i.e. the Comte de Paris, recognized by most monarchists as Philippe VII of France. This was accepted by many Legitimists, and was the default on legal grounds; the only surviving Bourbon line more senior was the Spanish branch, which had renounced its right to inherit the throne of France as a condition of the Treaty of Utrecht.

However, many if not most of Henri’s supporters, including his widow, chose to disregard his statements and this law, arguing that no one had the right to deny to the senior direct-male-line male Bourbon to be the head of the Maison de France and thus the legitimate King of France; the renunciation of the Spanish branch is under this interpretation illegitimate and therefore void. Thus these Legitimists settled on Infante Juan, Count of Montizón, the Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne (the Salic law having been suspended in Spain, the actual king, Alfonso XII, was not the senior descendant in the male line), as their claimant to the French crown.

Pretenders to the Throne ~ France, Part II.

Tags

Comte de Chambord, Duke of Anjou, France, French pretenders, Henri VII, Kingdom, Louis XX, Napoleon, Napoleon III, Third Republic

Picking up where we left of yesterday we saw Louis Philippe mount the throne of France. While I do admit that his succession was in violation of the traditional laws of the kingdom he did come to power during a revolution and it seems that in revolutions most laws are off the books and it in a time of upheaval the revolutionaries get to set the new rules.

Louis Philippe’s reign lasted about 18 years when once more revolution struck France and the king fell from power. The heir to the French throne, Prince Ferdinand Duc d’Orléans died in a carriage accident in 1842 leaving his son, grandson of the king, Prince Philippe d’Orléans as heir. The National Assembly of France was willing to accept Philippe as king but the tide of opinion toward the monarchy was very negative and instead France was once again proclaimed a Republic.

The second Republic was replaced by the second Empire under Napoleon III. Once that regime collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 France once again turned toward the House of Bourbon with the intent of restoring the royal line of French kings. The vast majority of French monarchists accepted the claims of Henri V, Comte de Chambord as the legitimate pretender to the throne. Henri was childless and not likely to father any children so many regarded Philippe d’Orléans as Henri’s eventual and rightful heir. The National Assembly and Henri could not reach agreement on the nature of his rule and what rights and powers he would have. Also, Henri, insisted he reign under the white flag of the House of Bourbon and not the tri-colored flag of the revolution. Unable to reach agreement a Third Republic was proclaimed. There was a belief that a restoration of Philippe to the French throne would occur after Henri’s death but Henri lived until 1883 and by that time support for the monarchy had declined (they lost the majority in Parliament in 1877) to the point where a continuation of the Third Republic was the most favorable option.

The vast majority of French monarchists supported the Orléans claimant while a faction of those that did not support the Orléans claim supported the descendents of Felipe V of Spain. These supporters, called Legitimists, believe in the fundamental laws of the kingdom and that a French prince cannot legally give up his rights to the throne. Therefore the renunciation of Philippe Duc d’Anjou (King Felipe V of Spain) of his rights were invalid according to the laws of France at the time. With the death of Henri V in 1883 the Legitimist pretender was Juan, Count of Montizón who was the senior heir general to King Louis XIV. Spain was also experiencing civil discord with the Carlists War, which did not legally recognize Queen Isabel II’s right to the Spanish throne due to Felipe V instituting the Salic Law in Spain, which was abolished by King Fernando VII in 1829 by his wife, Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, in order for their daughter Isabel to succeed to the Crown.

Today the representative of the Spanish line for the French crown is HRH Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou. He is a great-grand son of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and through his mother he is a great-grandson of Spain’s former dictator Francisco Franco. He is first cousin once removed to Spain’s current king, Juan Carlos. To his Legitimist supporters he is King Louis XX of France. All titles he holds are in pretense as he does not hold any legal title in Spain and is not a member of the Spanish Royal Family. He is married to María Margarita Vargas Santaella and they have three children, twin boys, Louis and Alphonse and a daughter Eugénie.

The Orléans representative is HRH Prince Henri VII d’ Orléans, Comte de Paris, Duc de France. He is a descendent of King Louis Philippe. His first marriage was to Duchess Marie Therese of Württemberg, daughter of HRH Prince Philipp Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg (himself a claimant to the throne of Württemberg) and Archduchess Rosa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. They had five children. The eldest son, Prince François of Orléans, Count of Clermont, is not heir to his father’s claim due to mental difficulties developed because of toxoplasmosis during pregnancy. Henri’s heir is his second son, Prince Jean, Duke of Vendôme, and is married to Philomena de Tornos Steinhart and they have two children, Prince Gaston and Princess Antoinette.