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Prince Louis of Orléans, Duke of Nemours (Louis Charles Philippe Raphaël d'Orléans; 25 October 1814 – 26 June 1896) was the second son of King Louis-Philippe I of France, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily.


Life


Childhood

He was born at the Palais Royal, in Paris. At twelve years of age, he was nominated colonel of the First Regiment of Chasseurs, and in 1830 entered the '' Chambre des Pairs''. As early as 1825, while revolutionaries were still engaged in the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...
, attempting to establish a
Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...
(which transpired with the London Conference of 1832), Louis' name was mentioned as a possible candidate as the first modern
King of Greece The Kingdom of Greece was ruled by the House of Wittelsbach from 1832 to 1862 and by the House of Glücksburg from 1863 to 1924 and, after being temporarily abolished in favor of the Second Hellenic Republic, again from 1935 to 1973, when it ...
. In February 1831, five months before revolutionaries succeeded in the
Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was a conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. The ...
, which established the Kingdom of
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, Louis was nominated to be the first
King of the Belgians The monarchy of Belgium is the Constitutional monarchy, constitutional and Inheritance, hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/quee ...
; international considerations deterred Louis-Philippe from accepting the honour for his son. Prince Louis did accompany the French '' Armée du Nord'' that entered Belgium to support its separation from the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...
; there he took part in the Siege of Antwerp (1832). Louis accompanied the Algerian expedition against the town of Constantine in the autumn of 1836, and in a second expedition (1837) he was entrusted with the command of a brigade and with the direction of the siege operations at Constantine. General Damrémont was killed at his side on 12 October, and Constantine was taken by assault on the 13th. He sailed a third time for Algeria in 1841, and served under General Bugeaud, taking part in the expedition to get provisions to Médéa on 29 April, and in sharp fighting near Miliana on 3 to 5 May. In the expedition against the fortified town of Takdempt, Louis commanded the 1st Infantry Division. On his return to France he became commandant of the camp of
Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...
. Louis was also dispatched on missions of courtesy to England in 1835, in 1838 and in 1845, and to Berlin and
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in 1836.


Marriage

On 26 April 1840, he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at the Château de Saint-Cloud. The occasion of his marriage in 1840 with Victoria was marked by a check to Louis-Philippe's government in the form of a refusal to bestow the marriage dowry proposed by
Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic. Thi ...
in the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
. The death of his elder brother, Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, in 1842 gave him a position of greater importance as the natural
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 ...
in the case of the accession of his nephew, the young
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 ...
. His reserve, and dislike of public functions, with a certain haughtiness of manner, however, made him unpopular. On the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 he held the Tuileries long enough to cover the king's retreat, but refrained from initiating active measures against the mob. He followed his sister-in-law, Hélène, Duchesse d'Orléans, and her two sons to the chamber of deputies, but was separated from them by the rioters, and only escaped finally by disguising himself in the uniform of a national guard.


Exile and return to France

He embarked for England, where he settled with his parents at Claremont. His chief aim during his exile, especially after his father's death, was a reconciliation between the two branches of the
house of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...
, as indispensable to the re-establishment of the French monarchy in any form. These wishes were frustrated on the one hand by the attitude of the comte de Chambord, and on the other by the determination of the Duchess of Orleans to maintain the pretensions of the Count of Paris. Nemours was prepared to go further than the other princes of his family in accepting the principles of the
legitimists The Legitimists () are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject ...
. Lengthy negotiations ended in 1857 with a letter, written by Nemours, as he subsequently explained, at the dictation of his brother, François, prince de Joinville, in which he insisted that Chambord should express his adherence to the tricolour flag and to the principles of constitutional government. In 1871 the Orléans princes renewed their professions of allegiance to the senior branch of their house, but they were not consulted when the count of Chambord came to Paris in 1873, and their political differences remained until his death in 1883. Nemours lived at Bushy House after the death in 1866 of Queen Marie Amélie, widow of Louis Philippe. In 1871 the exile imposed on the French princes was withdrawn, but he only transferred his establishment to Paris after their disabilities were also removed. In March 1872 he was restored to his rank in the army as general of division, and placed in the first section of the general staff. After his retirement from the active list he continued to act as president of the Red Cross Society until 1886, when new decrees against the princes of the blood led to his withdrawal from Parisian society. During the presidency of Marshal MacMahon, he appeared from time to time at the Elysée. He died at
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of ÃŽle-de-France, ÃŽle-de-France region in Franc ...
on 26 June 1896 at the age of 81, the duchess having died at Claremont on 10 November 1857. He outlived all of his siblings apart from Princess Clémentine, the Duke of Aumale and the Prince of Joinville.


Issue

* Prince Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand ''Gaston'' of Orléans, Count of Eu (28 April 1842 – 28 August 1922), who married Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, eldest daughter and heiress of Emperor
Pedro II of Brazil ''Don (honorific), Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the List o ...
; * Prince Ferdinand Philippe Marie of Orléans, Duke of Alençon (12 July 1844 - 29 June 1910), who married Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria (1847–1897), sister of Elizabeth, Empress of Austria ("Sisi"), and who had been for a time engaged to
Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King (), was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke ...
; * Princess Marguerite Adélaïde Marie of Orléans (1846–1893), who married Prince Ladislaus Czartoryski; * Princess Blanche Marie Amélie Caroline Louise Victoire of Orléans (28 October 1857 - 4 February 1932).


Honours

*
Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...
: ** Knight of the Holy Spirit, ''19 February 1829'' ** Knight of St. Michael, ''19 February 1829'' *: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, ''10 March 1833'' * : Grand Cross of the Order of Pedro I * Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, ''March 1840'' * : Knight of the Golden Fleece, ''1 October 1843'' * : Knight of St. Hubert, ''1868'' * : Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword Retrieved 2018-09-21.


Ancestors


References

* * René Bazin, ''Le Duc de Nemours'' (1907); Paul Thureau-Dangin, ''Histoire de la monarchie de France'' (4 vols., 1884, etc.). {{DEFAULTSORT:Louis Of Nemours, Prince, Duke 1814 births 1896 deaths Nobility from Paris People of the Belgian Revolution House of Orléans Burials at the Chapelle royale de Dreux Dukes of Nemours Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Children of Louis Philippe I Sons of kings