I'm just curious.
2007-03-01 19:07:24 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Royalty
No, We have no royal family.
The head branch of it died in the revolution: Louis XVI being beheaded in 1793, and his only son dying in prison in 1795. According to the rule of Salic law established in the 1300s, his surviving daughters did not carry the royal line.
Succession then devolved to Louis' brothers. The Co_unt of Provence reigned as Louis XVIII (Louis XVII being the dead prince who had theoretically been king 1793-95) from 1815 to his death in 1824. He died childless so power passed on to his younger brother, the count of Artois, who reigned as Charles X from 1824 to 1830.
His rule was impopular enough that he had to abdicate after a particularly nasty bout of civil unrest. Rule should then have gone to his son, who, being quite as impopular had to countersign Charles' abdication, and from there to his grandson Henry. However, a coup was led by the parliament and the Marquis de La Fayette (yes, that one) to set in his place a less legitimate (see below), but more moderate and generally acceptable candidate : Louis Philippe d'Orléans who became King Louis Philippe until he was ousted by the revolution of 1848.
Henry of Artois remained legitimate pretender to the crown until he died childless in 1883. Since then two branches of the Bourbon family claim the statute of pretender to the throne. Neither has any legitimacy.
The best known branch is that of the Count of Paris. They claim the throne as legitimate descendants of King Louis Philippe. However, the Orléans branch lost any shred of a right to claim the throne when their ancestor Philippe Egalité, duke of Orléans, who was part of the court at the trial of Louis XVI, cast the deciding vote and sealed the King's death sentence.
As a Regicide, he forfeited all claims to the throne for himself and his descent, the fact that his son Louis Philippe received political (as opposed to de jure) appointment to the throne notwithstanding.
The other Branch, so called "legitimist", has no rights to the throne however. Theoretic succession devolved to them as "closest" relatives of the late pretender Henry of Artois. However, they are descended from the Spanish branch of the Bourbons, who, in order to be allowed to mount the throne of Spain had, in thre Treaty of Utrecht, to renounce any future rights, claims, etc to the crown of France for both themselves and their descent. Their claims are thus irrecevable.
France is without any legitimate heir to the throne. So, while it has many noble families, and a number who are of royal descent, non can claim to be the "royal family", even if they pretend otherwise.
2007-03-01 23:10:01 · answer #1 · answered by Svartalf 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As I recall, there are three Pretenders to the French Throne. A Pretender is a claimant to a throne either occupied by another or abolished. The three Pretenders are from three different factions. Each of the Pretenders have, to their respective supporters, valid claims. Depending on which faction you support, there is Louis, Duke of Anjou, and is the Legitimist pretender (his son, Louis, Duke of Burgandy is styled Dauphin); Carlos, Duke of Parma is the Carlist pretender; and Henri, Count of Paris is the Duke of France the Orléanist pretender. Personally, I think the French should reinstate their royal family. If they followed the example of the British, the amount of revenue that family generates from tourism alone pays their keep.
2014-03-02 16:35:56 · answer #2 · answered by Randy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not like the British. The French Crown was overthrown in 1789, restored briefly in the 1800s, then gotten rid of again when France became a Republic. There are no hereditary claims to power; however, there are a number of princes, dukes, counts, viscounts, marquises (and of course their female counterparts) who have noble titles, but titles can only be used with permission from the French Ministry of Justice - if you have a legitimate claim you can have this confirmed by the Ministry and are able to use the title. Records are kept by the Association d'entraide de la Noblesse Francaise, whose current president, I believe, is the Comte de Harcourt.
2007-03-02 23:57:59 · answer #3 · answered by lesroys 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There used to be a royal family officially deposed and beheaded in 1789, then the country became an Empire and eventually a Republic.
Anyway, there are a lot of people who inherited from royal titles but who can't do anything else then showing them.
Recently, there has been a revival of the nostalgia for monarchy in France.
2007-03-02 04:05:10 · answer #4 · answered by fabee 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Louis Xiv Descendants
2016-12-12 06:36:25 · answer #5 · answered by saragosa 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are descendants of the French royal family still alive - the head of the family uses the grand-sounding title Count of Paris - but they do not have any political power.
2007-03-01 20:13:34 · answer #6 · answered by Dunrobin 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No it doesn't. The last known members were executed in the French revolution at the end of the 18th century. There are rumours that the dauphin (that's the crown prince) survived and fled under a new identity, but today nobody is able to prove that they are his descendants.
2007-03-01 19:17:53 · answer #7 · answered by Rumtscho 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Look up the two gentlemen who carry the titles of The Count of Paris and the Duke of Anjou
2007-03-02 13:38:42 · answer #8 · answered by Count DiMera 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
France is a republic and has been since the French Revolution.
2007-03-01 20:23:38 · answer #9 · answered by jemima 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Great replies, just what I was searching for.
2016-08-23 19:53:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋