Prince Philippe of Orléans, Count of Paris (Louis Philippe Albert; 24 August 1838 – 8 September 1894), was disputedly
King of the French
The precise style of French sovereigns varied over the years. Currently, there is no French sovereign; three distinct traditions (the Legitimist, the Orleanist, and the Bonapartist) exist, each claiming different forms of title.
The three style ...
from 24 to 26 February 1848 as Louis Philippe II, although he was never officially proclaimed as such. He was the grandson of
Louis Philippe I
Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...
,
King of the French
The precise style of French sovereigns varied over the years. Currently, there is no French sovereign; three distinct traditions (the Legitimist, the Orleanist, and the Bonapartist) exist, each claiming different forms of title.
The three style ...
. He was the
Count of Paris
Count of Paris () was a title for the local magnate of the district around Paris in Carolingian times. After Hugh Capet was elected King of the Franks in 987, the title merged into the crown and fell into disuse. However, it was later revived ...
as
Orléanist
Orléanist () was a 19th-century French political label originally used by those who supported a constitutional monarchy expressed by the House of Orléans. Due to the radical political changes that occurred during France in the long nineteenth ...
claimant to the French throne from 1848 until his death. From 1883, when his cousin
Henri, Count of Chambord
Henri, Count of Chambord and Duke of Bordeaux (; 29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883), was the Legitimist pretender to the throne of France as Henri V from 1844 until his death in 1883.
Henri was the only son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke ...
died, he was often referred to by Orléanists and a large faction of Legitimists as Philippe VII.
Early life
Prince Philippe became the ''Prince Royal'',
heir apparent
An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...
to the throne, when his father,
Prince Ferdinand-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, died in a carriage accident in 1842. Although there was some effort during the days after the abdication of his grandfather in 1848 to put him on the throne under the name of Louis-Philippe II, with his mother (
Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Helene Luise Elisabeth; 24 January 1814 – 17 May 1858) was a French Crown Princess after her marriage in 1837 to the eldest son of Louis Philippe I. She is known as the mother of the future Prince Philipp ...
) as
Regent
In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
, this came to nothing. They fled, and the
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic ( or ), officially the French Republic (), was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852.
Following the final defeat of Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle ...
was proclaimed.
American Civil War

A historian, journalist and outspoken democrat, Philippe volunteered to serve as a
Union Army officer in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
along with his younger brother,
Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres. He was appointed as an
assistant adjutant general with the rank of captain on 24 September 1861 and served under the name of Philippe d'Orléans, the Count of Paris. He served on the staff of the commander of the
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the primary field army of the Union army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the Battle of ...
, Major General
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...
, for nearly a year. He distinguished himself during the unsuccessful
Peninsular Campaign. He resigned from the Union Army, along with his brother, on 15 July 1862. Philippe's ''History of the Civil War in America'' is considered a standard reference work on the subject.
During their stay in the United States, the princes were accompanied by their uncle, the
Prince of Joinville, who painted many watercolours of their stay. On 10 November 1880 Philippe was elected as a companion of the first class (i.e. a veteran officer) of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or, simply, the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was consisted ...
– an organization of Union officers who had served during the American Civil War. He was assigned insignia number 2107. His eldest son,
Philippe d'Orleans, was elected as a 2nd class member (i.e. an eldest son of a veteran officer) in 1890 and succeeded to first class membership in the Order upon Philippe's death.
Marriage and issue
On 30 May 1864 at
St. Raphael's Church in
Kingston upon Thames, England he married his paternal first cousin,
Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans (1848–1919), Infanta of Spain. She was daughter of
Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain and
Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier (1824–1890), the youngest son of
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his thron ...
and
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (Maria Amalia Teresa; 26 April 1782 – 24 March 1866) was List of French royal consorts, Queen of the French by marriage to Louis Philippe I, King of the French. She was the last Queen of France.
Among ...
. They had eight children:
*
Princess Amélie d'Orléans (1865–1951); married
Carlos I of Portugal
Dom (title), ''Dom'' Carlos I (; 28 September 1863 – 1 February 1908), known as "the Diplomat" (), "the Oceanographer" () among many other names, was List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1889 until his Lisbon Regicide, assassin ...
in 1886.
*
Prince Louis ''Philippe'' Robert d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans (1869–1926); married
Archduchess Maria Dorothea of Austria, daughter of
Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria in 1896,
*
Princess Hélène of Orléans (1871–1951); married
Emmanuel Philibert, 2nd Duke of Aosta in 1895.
*Prince Charles d'Orléans (1875–1875).
*
Princess Isabelle d'Orléans (1878–1961); married
Prince Jean D'Orléans, Duke of Guise in 1899.
*Prince Jacques d'Orléans (1880–1881).
*
Princess Louise d'Orléans (1882–1958); married
Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Don Carlos, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain (Full Italian language, Italian name: ''Carlo Maria Francesco d'Assisi Pasquale Ferdinando Antonio di Padova Francesco de Paola Alfonso Andrea Avelino Tancredi, Principe di Borbone dell ...
in 1907. Through her daughter,
Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, she was the grandmother of King
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...
.
*
Prince Ferdinand d'Orléans, Duke of Montpensier (1884–1924); married Marie Isabelle Gonzales de Olañeta y Ibaretta, Marchioness of Valdeterrazo in 1921.
Restoration of French monarchy
The Orleans family had been in exile in England since the
Revolution of 1848 which toppled King Louis Philippe. During their early married life, the Count and Countess of Paris lived at
York House, Twickenham. However, in 1871 after the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
and the downfall of
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
, they were allowed to return to France, and many of their properties were restored to them. In 1873, anticipating a
restoration of the monarchy by the largely monarchist
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
that had been elected following the fall of Napoleon III, the Count of Paris withdrew his claims to the defunct French throne in favour of the
legitimist claimant,
Henri V, best known as the ''Comte de Chambord''. It was assumed by most that the Count of Paris was Chambord's heir-presumptive, and would thus be able to succeed to the throne upon the childless Chambord's death, reuniting the two claims that had divided French monarchists since 1830. However, Chambord's refusal to recognize the tricolor as the
French flag
The national flag of France () is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. The design was adopted after the French Revolution, whose revolutionaries were influenced by the horizontally striped r ...
sabotaged hopes of a restoration, and Chambord died in 1883 without ever specifically recognizing his
Orléanist
Orléanist () was a 19th-century French political label originally used by those who supported a constitutional monarchy expressed by the House of Orléans. Due to the radical political changes that occurred during France in the long nineteenth ...
rival as his heir-presumptive.
Upon the Count of Chambord's death, the Count of Paris was recognized by most monarchists as Philippe VII of France. This succession was disputed by the
Carlist
Carlism (; ; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty, one descended from Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain, Don Carlos, ...
descendants of the
Bourbon kings of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, who argued that being descended directly from
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
their claim was greater than that of the Orléanists'; however, this argument pointedly ignored
Philip V of Spain
Philip V (; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was List of Spanish monarchs, King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724 and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign (45 years and 16 days) is the longest in the ...
's renunciation of his and his descendants' claim to the French throne pursuant to the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...
.
In 1886 the family was exiled again returning to the United Kingdom, where they first lived at Sheen House, near Richmond, where the young
Rosa Lewis was a member of their household. In 1890 they moved to the much grander
Stowe House
Stowe House is a grade I listed building, listed country house in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of the Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Stowe School and is owned by the Stowe House Preserv ...
, where he died in 1894. He was succeeded as claimant to the defunct French throne by his son
Prince Philippe.
Honours
* : Grand Cross of the
Order of the White Falcon, ''24 August 1856''
* : Knight of the
Order of the Elephant
The Order of the Elephant () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in ...
, ''22 October 1885''
* : Grand Cross of the
Sash of the Two Orders, ''22 May 1886''
Ancestry
Bibliography
* Flers, Hyacinthe, marquis de. ''Le comte de Paris''. Paris: Perrin, 1888.
* Hanson, Edward. "The Wandering Princess: Princess Hélène of France, Duchess of Aosta". Fonthill, 2017.
See also
*
Count of Paris
Count of Paris () was a title for the local magnate of the district around Paris in Carolingian times. After Hugh Capet was elected King of the Franks in 987, the title merged into the crown and fell into disuse. However, it was later revived ...
References
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philippe of Paris, Count
1838 births
1894 deaths
19th-century French people
French Roman Catholics
Dukes of Montpensier
Counts of Paris
Orléanist pretenders to the French throne
Union army officers
Burials at the Chapelle royale de Dreux
Princes of France (Orléans)
French heirs apparent who never acceded
Fellows of the Royal Society
2
2
Child pretenders