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Louis Phillipe was the only member of the Bourbon Orleans line to reign as King of France. The Revolution against Charles established Louis Phillipe as a constitutional monarch. The event was remembered by Delacroix in his painting Liberty leading the
people. Honore Daumier, the famed plitical cartooniost, liked to draw Louis, the Bourguoise Monarch, as a large pear in a top hat. The King was furious about it.
Louis Philippe's father Louis-Philippe Josephd'Orleans, Duke of Orléans who was born in 1747. He became known during the Revolution as Philippe Egalité. His farther's parents were Louis-Philippe d'Orleans, Duke of Orléans, who was born in 1725 and Louise-Henrietta von Conty, born 1726. His mother was Princess Louise-Adelaide de Penthièvre who is father mairred in 1769, biy divirced in 1792, presumably because of her royalist leanings.
We have no information at this time about the realationship between the brothers and sisters. Louis Philippe's siblings were:
The first child was born in 1771, but died at birth.
Louis Philippe himself was the oldest son and was born in 1773.
Anton Philip d'Orleans was born in 1775. He became the Duke of Montpensier. He died at the rather young age in 1807.
Adelaide was born in 1777. She married Baron Athelin and died in 1847.
Another sister was born in 1777, but died in 1782.
Louis Charles d'Orleans was born in 1779. He became the Count of Beaujolais. He died in 1808.
Louis Philippe was born in 1773.
It was not likely that the part which Louis Philippe
played in the revolution of 1789, his share in the republican victories of Jemappes and of Valmy, would be forgotten by those who saw in him only a pseudo-republican, a "citizen king" in name only, and who seized eagerly upon the opportunity of mocking at his youthful espousal of republicanism.
The Belgian drive for independence was inspired by the July Revolution in France that put Louis Phillipe on the throne. In August, 1830 an uprising began in which a unique coalition of Catholics and liberals proclaimed its independence which was accepted by the Great Powers in the Treaty of London, over Dutch protests.
Louis Phillipe mairred Marie-Amélie de Bourbon in 1809. Her father was Ferdinand IV de Bourbon of Naples, King of Naples & Sicily who was born in 1751. Her mother was Maria Carolina, Habsburg-Lotharingen, who was born in 1752.
Louis Phillipe and Marie-Amélie had an extremely fruitful mairrage. There were six sons and four daughters.
Prince Ferdinard, Duc D'Orleans, was born in 1810. I know nothing about his chilodhood or boyhood clothes. He married 30 Helena Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1837. Ferdinand
died in an accident in 1842 before his father was overthrown in the 1848 Revolution. The succession passed to his eldest son te Comte de Paris who was to be styled Phillipe VII.
Princess Louise Marie was born in 1812 in Palermo Sicily while Napoleon still contolled Europe. She was Louis Philippe's oldest daughter. She mairred Leopold I George of Compiegne to Saxe-Coburg in 1832 who was King of Belgium and an uncle of England's Prince Albert. She was the mother of Leopold II, one of the most evil monarch's in Europe during the 19th century.
Marie was born in 1813. She mairred Alexander von Württemberg, Duke of Württemberg
in 1837, but died childless only 2 years later in 1839.
Louis was born in 1814 and became the Duke of Nemors. I have litttle information on his childhood. He married Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a relative of England's Prince Albert and Belgium's King Leopold I, in 1840. The couple had four children. The oldest was Gastoin d'Eu, Count of Eu was borm in 1842. An 1845 Winterhalter portrait shows how the boys were dressed Louis died in 1896.
Fransisca was born in 1816, but died in infancy in 1818.
Clementine was born after the Bourbon restoration at Neuilly-sur-Seine. She mairred August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1843. They had five children. The youngest was born in 1861 and was to become Ferdinand I of Bulgaria.
Francis was born at Neuilly in France during 1818. He mairred Francisca de Bragança of Portugal, Princess of Brazil in Rio de Janerio during 1843. They had two children.
He died in 1900.
Charles was born in 1820, but died at only 8 years of age in 1828.
The fifth son was Henri, Duc D'Aumale was born in 1822. He mairred Caroline decBourbon. Theybhad five children. He appears to have become quite English. He became the president of an English cricket club in 1860.
Louis Phillipe's youngest child was born in 1824. He became the Duke of Montpensier. He mairred Louise of Spain de Bourbon in 1846. They had 10 chidren.
I know very little about Louis Fellipe's family and how the children were dressed. Presumably they wore dresses as younger boys and cthen skeleton suits.
One author notes the children, or at least some of them, were sent to public school. This was at the time quite a symbolic step. The British monarcy at the time was not even sending the children to private schools.
Louis Phillipe became king of France after the July Revolution drove Charles X from Paris. It was Phillipe's actions as king which put his government out of touch with the need of the changing society and economy of France. Phillipe ignored the principals behind parliamentary government. He appointed first ministers that agreed with his decisions. He also manipulated elections, as well as, gave judiciary favors. Phillipe stubbornly resisted attempts to make government more representative and responsive. It is one of the many little ironies of Louis Philippe's reign that, after having owed his election to his supposed advocacy of freedom of the press, he should in less than two years take vigorous measures to stifle it. Some of the best known cartoons that appeared in La Caricature deal with this very subject.
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The newspapers who had plyed such a critical role in Loui-Philipe's rise to power, proved to be a key role in his fall. It was no long in his reign before they were villifgying the King. [Mansel] The adversaries of the government of 1830 were of two
kinds. One kind, of which Admiral Carrel was a type, resorted to passionate argument, to indignant eloquence. The other kind resorted to the methods of the Fronde; they made war by pin-pricks, by bursts of laughter, with all the resources of French gayety and wit. In this method the leading spirit was Philipon, who understood clearly the power that would result from the closest alliance between la presse et l'image. Even before La Caricature was founded the features of the last of
the Bourbons became a familiar subject in cartoons. Invariably the same features are emphasized; a tall, lank figure, frequently contorted like the "india-rubber man" of the dime museums; a narrow, vacuous countenance, a high, receding forehead, over which sparse locks of hair are straggling; a salient jaw, the lips drawn back in a mirthless grin, revealing huge, ungainly teeth,
projecting like the incisors of a horse. In one memorable cartoon he is expending the full crushing power of these teeth upon the famous "charter" of 1830, but is finding it a nut quite too hard to crack.
From the very beginning La Caricature assumed an
attitude of hostile suspicion toward Louis Philippe, the
pretended champion of the bourgeoisie, whose veneer of
expedient republicanism never went deeper than to send his children to the public schools, and to exhibit himself parading the streets of Paris, umbrella in hand. Two cartoons which appeared in the early days of his reign, and are labeled respectively "Ne vous y frottez pas" and "Il va bon train, le Ministère!" admirably illustrate the public lack of confidence. The first of these, an eloquent lithograph by Daumier, represents a powerfully built and resolute young journeyman printer standing with hands clinched, ready to defend the liberty of the press. In the background are two groups. In the one Charles X., already worsted in an encounter, lies prone upon the earth; in the other Louis Philippe, waving his ubiquitous umbrella, is with difficulty restrained from assuming the aggressive. The second of these cartoons is more sweeping in its indictment. It represents the sovereign and his ministers in their "chariot of state," one and all lashing the horses into a mad gallop toward a bottomless abyss. General Soult, the Minister of War, is flourishing and snapping a military flag, in place of a
whip. At the back of the chariot a Jesuit has succeeded in securing foothold upon the baggage, and is adding his voice to hasten the forward march, all symbolic of the violent momentum of the reactionary movement.
French society changed significantly during Louis Philippe's reign. Paris in particular became increasinglyradicalized. A Corsican attempted to assassinate the King in 1835. He failed but his arrangement of 25 rifle barrels killed 18 and wounded 22 guards and bystanders. More Frence dreamed of either a republic or of Napoleonic glory. When the Emperor'd body was returned from St. Helena, Parisians had lined the streets. The Napoleonic cult was growing with a heady mixture of nostalgia and nationalism. [Mansel] Leading political figures were François Guizot and Adolphe Thiers. Guizot answered demands to broaden the sufferage with the remark "enrichissez vous" or "get rich" and gain the franchise. Great advances were being made in the economy. Inventions like photography were founding whole new industrues. Socialists began to buildtheir theories. Louis Blanc wrote the memoral phrase, "from each according to their capacities, to each according to their needs".
Europe was changing om the 19th century. The start of the industrial Revolution was crearing an expanding middle class as well as a desperately poor urbab working class. Both of these groups increasingly wanted a role in government affairs. King Louis Philippe in essence betrayed the people who had brought him to power, the lower and middle classes. He had denied them the suffrage. His regime openly favored the rich upper class and aristocracy. Government policies caused increasing discontent. Banquets were organized to protest government's intransigence. The largest one was planed for February 22, 1848. Fearing problems, authorities canceled it. This started the demonstrations and riots that launched the banner of Revolution once again in France. Phillipe who had betrayed the people who had brought him to power, now found himself without any support. After the National Guard refused to cheer for their king--Louis Phillipe abdicated in favor of his grandson. The King fled across the Channel to England. He arrived "unshaven, wiglees, wearing a blavk silk handkerchief round his hed and calling himself Mr. William Smith." [Mansel] The Second Republic was declared from the Hotel de Ville. The cabinet was confirmed by a crowd outside the hotel.
Louis Phillipe's actions as king clearly sparked the revolution in France, which sparked revolutions in Germany, Austria, and Italy during 1848. As in France, the rising middle class wanted a role in government affairs. The thornes of Prussia and Austria were shaken but did not topple. The monarchies were however forced to conceed liberal reforms like constitutions, male sufferage, and legislatures with real powers. It comes as no surprise that Phillipe was not a very good king. His only real previous experience in leadership was as an officer in the royal army. He was involved in politics, although not significantly until he became king. The major factor in his becoming king was that he was a member of the Orlean family, a branch of the ruling Bourbon familys.
Louis was forced to flee to England, where he spent the rest of his life as the Comte de Neuilly. He also reportedly made a trip to America at this time, but I have few details. A One reader reports, "I am told that he came to Hastings and stayed at The Royal Victoria Hotel in St. Leonards on Sea and then stayed at Fairlight Hall, Fairlight near Hastings and that he died there in 1850."
There was to be no Bourbon successor to Louis Phillipe. He was overthrown by a republican revolution in 1848 followed shortly by the regime of Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III). The line of succession was his son and grandson, but no Bourbon evere returned to the throne of France.
Prince Ferdinard, Duc D'Orleans, was birn in 1810. He was Louis Philippe's eldest son and grandson of Louis Phillipe, the last Bourbon king of France and only king from the Orleans line. His mother was Queen Marie-Amélie de Bourbon (1782- ). Prince Ferdinand married Helena Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1837. They had two children: Louis Philippe (1838-94) Count of Paris and Robert (1840- ) Duke of Chartes. Prince Ferdinand was killed in a carriage accident during 1842, before the 1848 Revolution that deposed his father. As a result, the royal line was continued by Ferdinand's son, Phillipe VII, Comte de Paris (1838-1894).
The succession after Ferdinand's death was passed to Ferdiand's eldest son, Phillipe VII, Comte de Paris (1838-1894). We have little information on his childhood. One 1849 painting shows Phillipe and his younger brother looking rather English in Eton-like outfits. He presumably spent some time in England after the 1848 Revolution and regime of Napoleon III. His son was, Phillipe VIII, Duc D'Orleans (1869-1899).
We note a postcard portrait of Prince Charles-Philippe d' Orleans, Duc de Namours. It would have been taken in the 1900s. He looks to be weating what looks like a dark satin cut-away jacket suit. I'm not sure what color it was. He wears a blouse with a wudewhat collar with it. We are not yet sure just how he fits into the Orlrans dynasty. We do not know who his fsather abnd mother were, but he must have been somehow related to Ling Louis-Philippe. Hope HBC readers will help us with the geneology here.
Mansel, Philip. Paris Between Empires: Monarchy and Revolution, 1814-1852 (St. Martin's, 2003), 559p.
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