Louis-Philippe of France

Louis-Philippe of France (October 6, 1773–August 26, 1850) reigned as the "Orléanist" king of the French from 1830 to 1848. He was France's last king.

The Clash of the Pretenders

The clashes of 1830 and 1848 between the Legitimists and the Orleanists over who was the valid monarch had its epilogue in the 1870s when, after the fall of the Empire, the National Assembly with the support of public opinion offered a reconstituted throne to the Legitimist pretender, "Henry V", the Comte de Chambord. As he was unmarried and childless, the heir to his claim was (except in the view of the most extreme Legitimists) Louis-Phillippe's grandson, now called the Comte de Paris. So Chambord's death would unite the House of Bourbon and House of Orleans.

Related Topics:
Legitimists - Orleanist - Comte de Chambord - Comte de Paris

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However Chambord, with infamous stubbornness, refused to accept the throne unless France abandoned the flag of the revolution, the Tricolore, and replaced it with what he regarded as the flag of pre-revolutionary France. This the National Assembly was unwilling to do. A temporary Third Republic was established; many intended it to be disestablished and replaced by a constitutional monarchy when Chambord died and the more moderate Comte de Paris became the agreed claimant. However, Chambord lived longer than expected. By the time of his death in 1883 support for the monarchy had declined, with most people accepting the Third Republic as the form of government that "divides us least", in Adolphe Thiers's words. Thus France's monarchical tradition came to an end, though some did suggest a monarchical restoration under a later comte de Paris after the fall of the Vichy regime. Even though the royalist organisation, of the 1930s, in France, had supported the Vichy regime, with glee, and so in effect been enemies of Britain and America. Instead , the Third Republic was briefly resurrected before being replaced by the Fourth Republic in 1946.

Related Topics:
Tricolore - Comte de Paris - 1883 - Third Republic - Adolphe Thiers - Vichy regime - Fourth Republic

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Most French monarchists regard the descendants of Louis Philippe's grandson, who hold the title comte de Paris, as the rightful pretender to the French throne. A small minority of Legitimists however insist on a nobleman of Spanish birth, Don Luis-Alfonso de Borbon, Duke of Anjou (to his supporters, "Louis XX") as being the true Legitimist pretender; he is representative in the male line of Philippe, Duke of Anjou, the second grandson of Louis XIV, who renounced his right to the throne of France on becoming King of Spain.

Related Topics:
Comte de Paris - Pretender - Legitimists - Luis-Alfonso de Borbon, Duke of Anjou - Philippe, Duke of Anjou - Louis XIV - Spain

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Both sides even challenged each other in the French Republic's law courts, in 1897 and again almost a century later, in the latter case, with Henri, comte de Paris (d. 1999) challenging the right of the Spanish-born "pretender" to use the French royal title duc d'Anjou. The French courts disagreed with the comte de Paris and threw out his claim.

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