Prince Philippe, Count of Paris (24 August 1838-8 September 1894) was the Orleanist claimant to the French throne from 24 August 1883 to 8 September 1894, succeeding Henri, Count of Chambord and preceding Prince Philippe, Duke of Orleans.
Biography[]
Louis Philippe Albert de Orleans was born in the Tuileries Palace of Paris, France on 24 August 1838, the son of Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans and the grandson of King Louis Philippe I. In 1842, following his father's death in a carriage accident, Louis Philippe became the heir apparent to the French throne, but plans to crown him "Louis Philippe II" following the French Revolution of 1848 were thwarted by the creation of the French Second Republic. The revolution forced the Orleanists into exile, and they settled at the York House in Twickenham, England. Philippe became a historian, journalist, and outspoken democrat, and he and his brother Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Philippe d'Orleans served on the staff of Army of the Potomac commander George B. McClellan for nearly a year, and he distinguished himself during the 1862 Peninsular Campaign. He and his brother resigned on 15 July 1862, and, in 1871, Philippe and his family returned to France following Napoleon III's downfall during the Franco-Prussian War. He sacrificed his claim to the throne in order to back the Legitimist candidate Henri, Count of Chambord's candidacy, but any chance of a royalist restoration failed when Henri refused to recognize the tricolor as the flag of France; Henri died in 1883 without ever specifying Philippe as his heir. Most monarchists recognized Philippe as "King Philippe VII", but the Carlists of Spain claimed that, as fellow Bourbons, they had more of a right to rule than the Orleanists (ignoring the Spanish Bourbons' forfeiture of their claim to the French throne at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession). In 1886, the family returned to exile in England, this time in Richmond upon Thames. Philippe died at the Stowe House in 1894 and was succeeded as the Orleanist pretender by his son, Prince Philippe, Duke of Orleans.