Background It became a tradition during France's
ancien régime for the
Duchy of Orléans to be granted as an
appanage to a younger (usually the second surviving) son of the king. While each of the Orléans branches thus descended from a junior prince, they were always among the king's nearest relations in the male line, sometimes aspiring to the throne itself, and sometimes succeeding. Since they had contemporaneous living descendants, there were two Bourbon-Orléans branches at
court during the reign of Louis XIV. The elder of these branches consisted of
Prince Gaston, Duke of Anjou, younger son of king
Henry IV, and the four daughters of his two marriages. Prince Gaston became the Duke of Orléans in 1626, and held that title until his death in 1660. Upon the death of Gaston, the
appanage of the Duchy of Orléans reverted to the Crown. His nephew, Louis XIV, then gave Gaston's appanages to his younger brother
Prince Philippe, who became Duke of Orléans. At court, Gaston was known as
Le Grand Monsieur ("The Big Milord"), and Philippe was called
Le Petit Monsieur ("The Little Milord") while both princes were alive.
Creation Philippe and his second wife, the famous court writer
Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, founded the modern House of Bourbon-Orléans. Before then, Philippe had been styled as the
Duke of Anjou, like Prince Gaston. Besides receiving the appanage of
Orléans, he also received the duchies of
Valois and
Chartres:
Duke of Chartres became the courtesy title by which the heirs apparent of the Dukes of Orléans were known during their fathers' lifetimes. Until the birth of the king's son, the
Dauphin Louis, the Duke of Orléans was the
heir presumptive to the crown. He was to maintain a high position at court till his death in 1701. Their surviving son,
Philippe II served as the
regent of France for the young
Louis XV. As a
fils de France, Philippe's
surname was
de France. Upon his death, his son inherited the Orléans dukedom, but as a
petit-fils de France. His surname ''d'Orléans'' (used also by his descendants) was taken from his father's main title. The first two dukes, as son and
patrilineal grandson, respectively, of a French king, were entitled to be addressed as
Royal Highness. But Philippe I was primarily known as
Monsieur, the
style reserved at the French court for the king's eldest brother. Philippe II was succeeded as duke by his only legitimate son,
Louis d'Orléans, who was entitled to the style of
Serene Highness as a
prince du sang. After 1709, the heads of the Orléans branch of the
House of Bourbon ranked as the
premier princes du sang – this meant that the dukes could be addressed as
Monsieur le Prince (a style they did not, however, use). More importantly, should there be no heir to the Crown of France in the king's immediate family, then the Orléans family would ascend by right the throne.
Prince du sang and his younger brother
Le Petit Monsieur In 1709, the
5th prince de Condé died. He was the
premier prince du sang and head of the
House of Bourbon-Condé. As a result of this death, the title of
premier prince passed to the House of Orléans, as they were closer in blood to the throne of France. But since the two senior males of that line held higher rank as, respectively,
fils de France and
petit-fils de France, they did not make use of the title and had no need of its attached prerogative; a household and
retinue maintained at the expense of the
Crown. The Orléans household was already large, as it held the staff of Philippe II d'Orléans and of his wife, as well as the staff of his widowed mother, the
dowager Duchess. This combined household, though not fully functional until 1723, contained almost 250 members including officers, courtiers, footmen, gardeners, and even barbers.
The Regency with his Protégé,
Louis XV On the death of Louis XIV in September 1715, the new king,
Louis XV, was only five years old. The country was then governed by the new king's older relative Philippe II d'Orléans as the
regent of France. This period in French history is known as the Regency (
La Régence), and gave the
House of Orléans the pre-eminent position and political role in France during the king's
minority. The regent ruled France from his family residence in Paris, the
Palais-Royal. He installed the young Louis XV in the
Palais du Louvre which was opposite the Palais-Royal. In January 1723 Louis XV gained his majority and began to govern the country on his own. The young king moved the court back to
Versailles and in December, Philippe II died and his son, '''
Louis d'Orléans''' succeeded him as 3rd duke and, more importantly, as France's heir presumptive. Nonetheless, since his rank by birth (as a great-grandson of a French king) was
prince du sang, that of
premier prince du sang constituted a higher style, of which he and his descendants henceforth made use.
Under Louis XV Louis d'Orléans was in several ways his father's opposite, being retiring by nature and extremely devout. Although still in his twenties when widowed, he did not remarry after
his wife's death, and is not known to have ever taken a mistress. He died in the
Monastery of St. Geneviève in Paris. His son,
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, was the fourth of his line to hold that title. After having a distinguished military career, he decided to live quietly with his mistress (later, his
morganatic wife), the
marquise de Montesson, at the
Château de Sainte-Assise.
Louis XVI Louis Philippe I d'Orléans and his wife
Louise Henriette de Bourbon had two children: the fifth duke, '''
Louis Philippe II d'Orléans'
, known to history as Philippe Egalité'', and
Bathilde d'Orléans. As the Duke of Chartres, Louis Philippe II married one of his cousins,
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. She was the sole heiress of the
House of Bourbon-Penthièvre, which had accumulated vast wealth bestowed, despite their
bar sinister, on the
princes légitimés by their father, Louis XIV. The Duchess of Chartres had a dowry of six million
livres, , and an annual allowance of over 500,000 livres, . Upon the death of her father she inherited the remainder of the Bourbon-Penthièvre revenues and
châteaux. Louis Philippe II was given the surname
Egalité ("Equality") when French titles of nobility were abolished in 1790. His wife outlived him by almost thirty years. Louise Marie Thérèse
Bathilde d'Orléans married
Louis Henry II, Prince of Condé, the last of
his house, and was the mother of the
Duke of Enghien, who was
executed by
Napoleon. She died in 1822, the same year as her sister-in-law the
Duchess of Orléans. They were both buried in the
Chapelle royale de Dreux.
French Revolution 's
execution by the
guillotine. His cousin,
Philippe Égalité, voted for his execution At the time of the
French Revolution, Philippe-Egalité, was the only person of the royal family to actively support the revolution. He went so far as to vote for the
execution of his cousin, Louis XVI, an act which earned him popularity among the revolutionaries, and the undying hostility of many French monarchists. He remained in prison until October, the beginning of the
Reign of Terror. He was shortlisted for a trial on 3 October, and effectively tried and
guillotined in the space of one day, on the orders of
Maximilien Robespierre. Most of the Orléans family were forced to flee. The new Duke of Orléans had fled to Austria several months previously, triggering the arrest of his father. His brother, the
Duke of Montpensier, would die in England, and his sister fled to Switzerland after being imprisoned for a while. The youngest brother,
Louis-Charles, Count of Beaujolais, was thrown into a prison in the south of France (Fort-Saint-Jean in
Marseille) in 1793, but later escaped to the United States. He too died in exile. Of the Orléans, only the widow of Philippe Egalité was able to remain in France unhindered until, in 1797 she, too, was banished to Spain along with the few remaining Bourbons who still lived in France. In 1814 during the
Bourbon Restoration, the three remaining members of the family, the Duke of Orléans, his mother and sister, returned to Paris. The family's properties and titles were returned to them by
Louis XVIII.
July Monarchy In 1830, following the French
July Revolution, the House of Orléans became the ruling house when the monarch of the elder
restored Bourbon line,
Charles X, was replaced by the 6th duke, '''
Louis-Philippe III d'Orléans, son of Philippe-Egalité. Louis Philippe ruled as a constitutional monarch, and as such was called King of the French''', rather than "of France". His reign lasted until the
Revolution of 1848, when he abdicated and fled to England. Even after his ouster, an
Orléanist faction remained active, supporting a return of the House of Orléans to power. Legitimist monarchists however continued to uphold the rights of the elder line of Bourbons, who came close to regaining the throne after the fall of the
Second Empire. In the early 1870s, a majority of deputies in the
National Assembly were monarchists, as was the nation's president,
MacMahon. Thus, it was widely expected that the old dynasty would be invited to re-mount the throne, in the person of either the Bourbon or the Orléans claimant. To seize this opportunity the Orléanists offered a so-called
fusion, whereby King Louis Philippe's grandson and heir,
Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, accepted the childless Legitimist pretender's right to the throne, thereby potentially uniting French royalists in support of a single candidate. But the refusal of the last male of Louis XIV's direct line, the
Count of Chambord, to accept the
tricolore as France's flag under a restored monarchy proved an insurmountable obstacle to his candidacy. Although the Orléans had
reigned under the tricolor without objection, this time the Orléans princes did not abandon the cause of the head of their dynasty by seeking to offer themselves as alternative candidates; by the time Chambord died and the Orléans felt free to re-assert their claim to the throne, the political moment had passed, and France had become resolutely republican. France has had neither a Bourbon nor Orléans monarch since 1848. Louis-Philippe and his family lived in England until his death in
Claremont,
Surrey. Like his mother, he and his wife, Amelia (1782–1866), were buried at the
Chapelle royale de Dreux. In 1883, the Count of Chambord died without children. As a result, some Legitimists recognized the House of Orléans as the heirs to the throne of France. However, a portion of the Legitimists, still resentful of the revolutionary credentials of the House of Orléans, transferred their loyalties to the
Carlist heirs of the Spanish Bourbons, who represented the most senior branch of the
Capetians even though they had renounced their claim to the French throne to obtain Spain in 1713. Thus to their supporters, not only are the heads of the House of Orléans the rightful heirs to the constitutionalist title of "King of the French", but also to the Legitimist title of "King of France and Navarre". ==Heads of the House==