Louis Charles
Count of Beaujolais
Portrait by Charles-François Phelippes. c.1838,Palace of Versailles
Born	(1779-10-07)7 October 1779 Palais-Royal,Paris, France
Died	30 May 1808(1808-05-30) (aged 28) Casa Miari,Valletta,Malta
Burial	Saint John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
Names Louis Charles Alphonse Léodgard d'Orléans
House	Orléans
Father	Philippe d'Orléans
Mother	Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Coat of arms of Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais

Louis Charles Alphonse Léodgard d'Orléans, Count of Beaujolais (7 October 1779 – 30 May 1808) was a Frenchprince of the blood, son ofPhilippe Égalité and the younger brother ofKing Louis-Philippe I of the French.

Louis Charles was born at thePalais-Royal inParis.^[1] He was the third and youngest son ofPhilippe d'Orléans,Duke of Chartres, laterDuke of Orléans asPhilippe Égalité, and of his wife,Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. As a member of the reigningHouse of Bourbon, he was aprince du sang.

His mother was the greatest heiress of the age as the only surviving child of the vastly wealthyduc de Penthièvre. She was also the sister in law of the famousprincesse de Lamballe.

In 1781 theCountess of Genlis was appointed to be the governess to Louis-Charles and to his two older brothers Louis-Philippe and Antoine.^[2] Two years later the abbé Mariottini, nephew ofthe apostolic nuncio to France, was made his tutor, but he resigned in 1786 after a conflict with Madame de Genlis. Louis Charles was then tutored by the first chamberlain Barrois, before being assigned to the under-governor Lebrun in 1789.

In April 1793 Louis Charles was arrested with his father and imprisoned atFort-Saint-Jean inMarseille. During his imprisonment he contractedtuberculosis, a condition which eventually caused his death. His father was executed in November 1793 but Louis Charles remained imprisoned until August 1796 when theDirectory decided to exile him and his brotherAntoine toPhiladelphia. The Frenchchargé d'affaires in Philadelphia settled upon Louis-Charles an annual pension of 15,000 francs.

In February 1797 Louis Charles and Antoine were joined in Philadelphia by their older brother Louis Philippe. Together they travelled toNew York City andBoston, and as far north asMaine and as far south asNashville.

In September 1797 Louis Charles and his brothers learnt that their mother had gone into exile inSpain, and so they decided to return to Europe. They went toNew Orleans, planning to sail toCuba and from there to Spain. The ship they took from New Orleans, however, was captured by a British warship in theGulf of Mexico.

The British seized the three brothers, but took them toHavana anyway. Unable to find passage to Europe, the three brothers spent a year in Cuba, until they were unexpectedly expelled by the Spanish authorities. They sailed via theBahamas toNova Scotia. Eventually, the brothers sailed back to New York, and in January 1800, they arrived in England, where they settled atTwickenham outsideLondon.

In September 1804 Louis Charles entered theRoyal Navy, but his health did not allow him to continue a military career. In October he and his brothers went on a brief expedition to the French coast. They were fired upon by the French batteries atBoulogne but escaped without harm.^[3]

In 1808, in an attempt to improve Louis Charles' health, his older brother Louis Philippe accompanied him on a voyage toGibraltar,Sicily andMalta. The brothers were received atCasa Miari, a palace in the Maltese capital cityValletta.^[4]

Louis Charles, however, continued to deteriorate; he died oftuberculosis a fortnight after his arrival on the island. His funeral took place on 3 June. Ten years later his body was buried on 10 April 1818 inSt. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.James Pradier designed and sculpted his tomb, a replica of which is atDreux.

Louis Charles' portrait was painted posthumously in 1818 byAlbert Gregorius and by Charles-Francois Phelippes (both now in thePalais-Royal). Another portrait was painted in 1835 byAmédée Fauré (now at theChâteau d'Eu). There are copies of all three portraits in thePalace of Versailles.^[5]

• The Adami Collection - collection of Parish records of Marriages, legacy and nobility, National Library of Malta, vol 10, pp 1838.
• Abela, A.E.A Nation's Praise - Malta: People, Places and Events. Historical Sketches. Progress Press, 1994.ISBN 99909-3-038-4
• The Beaujolois Tradition by Stephen Tyrrell, 2018, Pasticcio Ltd,ISBN 978-0-9570311-6-6

• 1779 births
• 1808 deaths
• Nobility from Paris
• House of Orléans
• 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
• Tuberculosis deaths in Malta
• Counts of France
• Royal reburials
• Burials at Saint John's Co-Cathedral

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