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| Henri | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count of Chambord Duke of Bordeaux | |||||
.jpg) Photographc. 1870 | |||||
| Legitimist pretender to the French throne as Henri V | |||||
| Pretence | 3 June 1844 – 24 August 1883 | ||||
| Predecessor | Louis XIX | ||||
| Successor | Philippe VII or Jean III | ||||
| Born | (1820-09-29)29 September 1820 Tuileries Palace, Paris,France | ||||
| Died | 24 August 1883(1883-08-24) (aged 62) Schloss Frohsdorf, Frohsdorf,Austria-Hungary | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | |||||
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| House | Bourbon | ||||
| Father | Prince Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry | ||||
| Mother | Princess Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Henri, Count of Chambord and Duke of Bordeaux (French:Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné d'Artois, duc de Bordeaux, comte de Chambord; 29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883),[1] was theLegitimistpretender to the throne of France asHenri V from 1844 until his death in 1883.
Henri was the only son ofCharles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, born after his father's death, by his wife,Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of KingFrancis I of the Two Sicilies. The Duke himself was the younger son ofCharles X. As the grandson of Charles X, Henri was aPetit-Fils de France. He was the last legitimate descendant ofLouis XV of France in the male line.
Henri d'Artois was born on 29 September 1820, in thePavillon de Marsan, a portion of theTuileries Palace that still survives in the compound of theLouvre Palace inParis. His father, theduc de Berry, had been assassinated seven months before Henri's birth.
At birth, Henri was given the title ofduc de Bordeaux. Because of his birth after his father's death, when the senior male line of theHouse of Bourbon was on the verge of extinction, one of his middle names wasDieudonné (French for "God-given"). Royalists called him "the miracle child".Louis XVIII was overjoyed, bestowing 35 royal orders to mark the occasion. Henri's birth was a major setback for theDuke of Orleans' ambitions to ascend the French throne. During his customary visit to congratulate the newborn's mother, the duke made such offensive remarks about the baby's appearance that the lady holding him was brought to tears.[2]
On 2 August 1830, in response to theJuly Revolution, Henri's grandfather, Charles X,abdicated, and twenty minutes later Charles' elder sonLouis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, himself renounced his rights, in favour of the young Duke of Bordeaux. Charles X urged his cousin Louis Philippe of Orléans, asLieutenant général du royaume, to proclaim Henri asHenry V, King of France. Louis Philippe requested the Duke of Bordeaux to be brought to Paris to have his rights recognised. The duchess of Berry was forbidden to escort her son; therefore, both the grandfather and the mother refused to leave the child in France.[4] As a consequence, after seven days, a period in which legitimist monarchists considered that Henri had been the rightful monarch of France, the Chamber of Deputies decreed that the throne should pass to Louis Philippe, who was proclaimed King of the French on 9 August.[5]
Henri and his family left France and went into exile on 16 August 1830. While some French monarchists recognised him as their sovereign, others disputed the validity of the abdications of his grandfather and of his uncle.[citation needed] Still others recognised theJuly Monarchy of Louis Philippe. With the deaths of his 79-year-old grandfather in 1836 and of his uncle in 1844, young Henri became the genealogically senior claimant to the French throne. His supporters were calledLegitimists, to distinguish them from theOrléanists, the supporters of the family of Louis Philippe.
Henri, who preferred the courtesy title ofCount of Chambord (from thechâteau de Chambord, which had been presented to him by theRestoration government, and which was the only significant piece of personal property of which he was allowed to retain ownership upon his exile), continued his claim to the throne throughout the July Monarchy of Louis Philippe, theSecond Republic andEmpire ofNapoléon III, and the early years of theThird Republic.
In November 1846, the Count of Chambord married his second cousinArchduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, daughter of DukeFrancis IV ofModena and PrincessMaria Beatrice of Savoy. The couple had no children.
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In 1870, as the Second Empire collapsed following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War at thebattle of Sedan on 2 September 1870, the royalists became a majority in the National Assembly. The Orléanists agreed to support the Count of Chambord's claim to the throne, with the expectation that upon his death, with him lacking any sons, he would be succeeded by their own claimant,Philippe d'Orléans, Count of Paris. With Henri backed by both Legitimists and Orléanists, the restoration of monarchy in France seemed a likely possibility. However, he insisted that he would accept the crown only on condition that France abandon itstricolour flag (associated with theFrench Revolution) and return to the use of thefleur de lys flag,[7] comprising the historic royal arms of France. He rejected a compromise whereby thefleur-de-lys would be the new king's personal standard, and the tricolour would remain the national flag.Pope Pius IX, upon hearing Henri's decision, notably remarked "And all that, all that for a napkin!"[8]
In 1873 another attempt to restore the monarchy failed for the same reasons. Henri traveled to Paris and tried to negotiate with the government, to no avail; and on 20 November, the National Assembly confirmedMarshalPatrice de MacMahon, duc de Magenta, as Chief of State of France for the next seven years.[9]
TheThird Republic was established (with then Chief of State,the Duke of Magenta, asPresident of the Republic) to wait for Henri's death and his replacement by his distant cousin, the more liberalCount of Paris, of the Orléanist branch of the House of Bourbon. Initially, the monarchist majority in Parliament believed this to be temporary, until such time as the Count of Paris could return to the throne. However, by the time this occurred in 1883, public opinion had swung behind the Republic as the form of government which, in the words of the former PresidentAdolphe Thiers, "divides us least". Thus, Henri could mockingly be hailed by republicans such asGeorges Clemenceau as "the FrenchWashington" – the one man without whom the Republic could not have been founded.
Henri died on 24 August 1883 at his residence inFrohsdorf,Austria, at the age of 62, bringing the male line of Louis XV to an end. He was buried in the crypt of his grandfather Charles X, in the church of the FranciscanKostanjevica Monastery inGorizia, Austria (nowSlovenia). His personal property, including theChâteau de Chambord, was left to his nephewRobert I, Duke of Parma, son of Henri's late sister.
Henri's death left the Legitimist line of succession distinctly confused. On the one hand, Henri himself had accepted that the head of theHouse of France (as distinguished from theHouse of Bourbon) would be the head of the Orléans line, i.e.Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. This was accepted by many Legitimists, and was the default on legal grounds; the only surviving Bourbon male line more senior was the branch of the Kings of Spain, descended fromKing Philip V, which had however renounced its right to inherit the throne of France as a condition of theTreaty of Utrecht. However, several of Henri's supporters, including his widow, chose to disregard his statements and the Treaty, arguing that no one had the right to deny that the senior direct male-line Bourbon was the head of the House of France and thus the legitimate King of France; the renunciation of the Spanish branch would be, under this interpretation, illegitimate and therefore void. Thus theBlancs d'Espagne, as they would come to be known, settled onInfante Juan, Count of Montizón, the formerCarlist pretender to theSpanish throne,[10] as their claimant to the French crown.
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House of Bourbon: Grand Master and Grand Croix of theOrder of the Holy Spirit
Spain: Knight of theOrder of the Golden Fleece (1823)[11]
Henri, Count of Chambord Cadet branch of theCapetian dynasty Born: 29 September 1820 Died: 24 August 1883 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of France (disputed) 2 – 9 August 1830 | Succeeded byasKing of the French |
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| Preceded by | — TITULAR — King of France Legitimist pretender 3 June 1844 – 24 August 1883 Reason for succession failure: July Revolution | Succeeded by |
The first generation are the children ofHenri IV; these males held the rank ofSon of France orGrandson of France; | ||
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*until1713 | ||
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| Bonaparte pretenders (1814–present)  |
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1 Actually reigned twice: first from 1814-1815, second from 1815-1824 2 Actually reigned from 1824-1830 3 Orléanist pretender from 1848-1873 as Louis Philippe II 4 Reigned as King of Spain from 1886-1931 as Alfonso XIII 5 Briefly restored and then deposed in 1815 6 Actually reigned from 1852-1870 | |||||||
