The French Bourbons in 1814
How to succeed at Bourbon (without really trying)
The heir-y problem
The heir-y problem
The heir-y problem
Enter the Duchess
Enter the Duchess
Old Orléans
Old Orléans
Old Orléans
- Royal blood
- Fabulously wealthy
- Reasonably clever
Which meant:
- Scheming in the 1780s
- Big supporter of the Revolution
Old Orléans
- Royal blood
- Fabulously wealthy
- Reasonably clever
Which meant:
- Scheming in the 1780s
- Big supporter of the Revolution
- Got in over his head
Old Orléans
- Royal blood
- Fabulously wealthy
- Reasonably clever
Which meant:
- Scheming in the 1780s
- Big supporter of the Revolution
- Got in over his head
- Lost his head
Duke on the run
In 1792, Louis-Philippe was:
- Wanted for treason by the Revolution
- Despised by royalists as the son of a regicide
Over two decades, he:
- Worked as a schoolmaster
- Spent 3 years in America
- Married Marie-Amélie
“Learned nothing and forgotten nothing”
Louis-Philippe also took care of one unpleasant bit of business in exile: he made nice with his cousins
- “forever regrettable circumstances”
- Pledged allegiance to Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII forgave Orléans, but he definitely did not forget.
Schemes and plots
In 1814, Napoleon fell & the Bourbons were restored.
And Louis-Philippe is… up to something?
- Orléans didn’t return home until Louis XVIII proclaimed a constitution
- Once there, Louis-Philippe found himself more popular than his cousin — especially with the army
In February 1815, Napoleon escaped Elba
- Louis-Philippe’s actions in this period are murky but very suspicious
Just the facts, madame
- On March 5, Louis-Philippe tried to persuade Louis XVIII to do one of two things:
- Grant him command of an army near Paris, or
- Send all the other Bourbon princes to other parts of the country but keep Louis-Philippe by his side in Paris
- On March 7, a General d’Erlon tried to march his division on Paris before being foiled
- When Louis-Philippe did leave Paris, he pointedly left his sister behind in danger
- Napoleon later said: “It wasn’t Louis XVIII I dethroned, it was the Duc d’Orléans.”
“Activity without movement”
- Self-exile in England after Waterloo
- Art patronage
- Sending his sons to school
“The Duc d’Orléans… remains quite still, but nevertheless I notice that he is moving forward… What does one do to stop a man who does not move?” — Louis XVIII, 1821
King of the Cake
Louis-Philippe was still family — but that didn’t mean Louis XVIII liked him
- “His Serene Highness”
- “Have it handed over by one of the chapel clerks”
- “Perhaps he finds that this royalty does not amount to much”
Berry bad news
Let’s come back to this guy:
Berry bad news
Let’s come back to this guy:
Nine bastards, six women:
- 1807
- 1808
- 1809
- 1815
- 1817
- 1819
- 1820
- 1820
- 1820
“One never gives up a crown without regret”
- Berry was fatally stabbed Feb. 13, 1820
- On his deathbed, his wife revealed she was pregnant
- “Miracle child” born Sept. 29, 1820: the long-sought Bourbon heir
Louis-Philippe behaved badly
- “So we will never count for anything!”
The great irony of the Restoration
In 1824, Louis XVIII died and his brother Artois became King Charles X
Charles mended fences:
- “Royal Highness”
- “Émigré’s Billion”
- “A four-year-old child is a very small thing”
And he lived happily ever after…
Charles became unpopular in the late 1820s
But Louis-Philippe remained quiet
Efforts to secure a throne for his sons in Greece or elsewhere
Not a part of “Orléanist” agitation
When crisis hits Charles, Louis-Philippe is not driving events
Questions?
To find out what happens next to Louis-Philippe, tune in to upcoming episodes of The Siècle!
Key sources:
- Beach, Vincent W. Charles X of France: His Life and Times. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing Company, 1971.
- Mansel, Philip. Louis XVIII. Rev. ed. Phoenix Mill: Sutton, 1999.
- Price, Munro. The Perilous Crown: France between Revolutions. London: Macmillan, 2007.