Does the French royal family still exist?
Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
Their father has conferred upon them the historic French titles of, respectively, Duke of Burgundy ("duc de Bourgogne"), and Duke of Berry ("duc de Berry"). (In Spain, the twins are "Don" Luis and "Don" Alfonso de Borbón Vargas). Prince Louis, as Legitimist Dauphin of France, is expected to succeed his father as head of the French royal house, the senior Bourbon/Capetian line, in Legitimist reckoning. However, under Spanish law, and assuming Felipe VI does not in future father a son, the Spanish crown will be inherited by his elder daughter Leonor, Princess of Asturias, who will become queen regnant, and if Felipe does have a son, that son will inherit the Spanish throne regardless of the genealogical seniority of the Anjou branch. Louis and Alphonse were baptised on 5 September 2010 at St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Louis' godparents were Arancha Martínez-Bordíu and Francisco D'Agostino and Alphonse's were Amparo Corell de Trenor, and Lorenzo Perales.
Line of succession to the French throne (Orléanist)
Alfred de Gramont alleged in his diary, ""L'ami du Prince": Journal of a Novel", published by Eric Mension Rigau-Fayard in 2011 that this decision was made by the Orléans for two reasons: first, the desire of other dynasts to exclude the Comte d'Eu and the princes of Orléans-Braganza (who were the heirs presumptive to the Empire of Brazil, and after abolition of the monarchy in 1889, pretenders thereto), and second, the influence of French nationalism. However, exclusion from the French succession as a consequence of permanent emigration to Brazil had been acknowledged and accepted in writing by the Comte d'Eu prior to his marriage to the Princess Imperial of Brazil.
Louis XII of France
King Louis XI died on 30 August 1483. He was succeeded to the throne of France by his thirteen (13) year-old son, Charles VIII. Nobody knew the direction which the new king (or more accurately his regent and oldest sister, Anne of France) would take in leading the kingdom. Accordingly, on 24 October 1483, a call went out for a convocation of the Estates General of the French kingdom. In January 1484, deputies of the Estates General began to arrive in Tours, France. The deputies represented three different "estates" in society. The First Estate was the Church; in France this meant the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Estate was composed of the nobility and the royalty of France. The Third Estate was generally composed of commoners and the class of traders and merchants in France. Louis, the current Duke of Orleans and future Louis XII, attended as part of the Second Estate. Each estate brought their chief complaints to the Estates General in hopes to have some impact on the policies that the new King would pursue.
Capetian dynasty
Historians in the 19th century (see House of France) came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet. It was not a contemporary practice. The name "Capet" has also been used as a surname for French royalty, particularly but not exclusively those of the House of Capet. One notable use was during the French Revolution, when the dethroned King Louis XVI (a member of the House of Bourbon and a direct male-line descendant of Hugh Capet) and Queen Marie Antoinette (a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) were referred to as "Louis and Antoinette Capet" (the queen being addressed as "the Widow Capet" after the execution of her husband).
House of Croÿ
Another son, Auguste de Croÿ, 9th Duke of Croÿ, better known as "Le Bel Auguste" (1765–1822), was mediatized upon the demise of the Holy Roman Empire in his capacity as sovereign prince of Dülmen. When the Bourbons were restored to the throne of France, Auguste was made a peer of France. From three of Auguste's sons - Alfred, Ferdinand and Philipp Franz - descend the three extant branches of the House of Croÿ, residing in Germany and France. 
On 27 October 1913, Karl Rudolf, 13th Duke of Croÿ, married Nancy Leishman, daughter of Pittsburgh industrialist John George Alexander Leishman, United States Ambassador to Germany and former president of Carnegie Steel. In 1974 Karl Rudolf died and was succeeded by his son Carl (d. 14 June 2011), 14th Duke of Croÿ; Carl was married to Princess Gabriele, daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. Their eldest son, Rudolf, the 15th and current Duke of Croÿ, married Alexandra Miloradovich; they had six children. Duchess Alexandra died on September 23, 2015; her funeral took place at St Jakobus Kirche in Dülmen on October 3, 2015. The Duke and his family live at their "Haus Merfeld" estate near Dülmen.
Georges Martin. "Histoire et Généalogie Maison de Croÿ". HGMC, 2002.
Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
As the queen matures, she focuses less on her social life and more on her family and makes what she considers to be significant financial adjustments. A year after her mother's death on 29 November 1780, Marie Antoinette gives birth to a son, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, on 22 October 1781. She also gives birth to another son, Louis XVII on 27 March 1785, and another daughter, Princess Sophie on 9 July 1786, who dies on 19 June 1787, a month before her first birthday. As the French Revolution erupts with the storming of the Bastille, the royal family resolves to stay in France, unlike most of the court. Rioting Parisians force the family to leave Versailles for Paris. The film ends with the royal family's transfer to Tuileries Palace. The last image is a shot of Marie Antoinette's bedroom at Versailles, destroyed by angry rioters.
List of French monarchs
The death of Charles IV started the Hundred Years' War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet later the House of Lancaster over control of the French throne. The Valois claimed the right to the succession by male-only primogeniture, having the closest all-male line of descent from a recent French king. They were descended from the third son of Philip III, Charles, Count of Valois. The Plantagenets based their claim on being closer to a more recent French King, Edward III of England being a grandson of Philip IV through his mother, Isabella. The two houses fought the Hundred Years War to enforce their claims; the Valois were ultimately successful, and French historiography counts their leaders as rightful kings. One Plantagenet, Henry VI of England, did enjoy "de jure" control of the French throne under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes, which formed the basis for continued English claims to the throne of France until the 19th century. The Valois line would rule France until the line became extinct in 1589, in the backdrop of the French Wars of Religion. As Navarre did not have a tradition of male-only primogeniture, the Navarrese monarchy became distinct from the French, with Joan II, a daughter of Louis X, inheriting there.
Monaco succession crisis of 1918
Moreover, while the House of Grimaldi had close ties to France due not only to geographical proximity, but also to possession of estates (vaster by far than the territory of the principality) and financial investments there, nothing officially prevented the dynasty's political or cultural associations from focusing elsewhere. Moreover, the hereditary principle allocated monarchies according to one form or another of proximity of blood, and the Grimaldis' hitherto exclusive control of Monaco's dynastic marital policy was what threatened to enthrone a German duke on France's border, even after the Empire's defeat in war. Just as the ruling families of Britain, Russia, Belgium, and the Netherlands had all become patrilineally German by the twentieth century due to the propensity of monarchical heiresses, seeking dynastically equal marriages, to choose husbands from among Germany's many minor princely families, Monaco was on the verge of the same fate. Although the Grimaldis did not require inter-marriage with royalty by law as German dynasties typically did, by custom they never married subjects of their own realm, and no Monégasque reigning prince or heir had wed a French consort in more than a century.
House of Orléans
Louis-Philippe and his family lived in England until his death in Claremont, Surrey. Like his mother, he and his wife, Amelia (1782–1866), were buried at the "Chapelle royale de Dreux". In 1883, the comte de Chambord died without children. As a result, some Legitimists recognized the House of Orléans as the heirs to the throne of France.
Fils de France
Although the children of monarchs are often referred to in English as "prince" or "princess", those terms were used as general descriptions for royalty in France but not as titular prefixes or direct forms of address for individuals (with the exception of "Monsieur le Prince" for the senior "prince du sang") prior to the July Monarchy (1830–1848). Collectively, the legitimate children of the kings and dauphins were known as "enfants de France" ("children of France"), while examples abound in reputable works of "fils de France" and "fille de France" being converted into other languages as "Prince/Princess of France" (however the same works, as cited, leave the Spanish equivalent, "Infante/Infanta de España)", untranslated. The illegitimate children of French kings, dauphins, and "princes du sang" were not entitled to any rights or styles "per se", but often they were legitimised by their fathers. Even then, however, they were never elevated to the rank of "fils de France", although they were sometimes accorded the lower rank and/or privileges associated with the "princes du sang".
Bernard-François, marquis de Chauvelin
The scion of an illustrious family, Chauvelin followed his father François-Claude de Chauvelin as "Master of the King's Wardrobe" (to Louis XVI) and fought in the Comte de Rochambeau's French Expeditionary Force. However, despite being of aristocratic birth, he had been raised with liberal views and thus became supportive of the French Revolution.
In February 1792 he married Herminie-Felicienne-Joséphine Tavernier de Boulogne de Magnanville and was posted to the Court of St. James's, styled "Ambassador's Cloak" (or Deputy Ambassador), under Talleyrand. His role in London was to persuade the British Government to remain neutral in the impending war between France and Austria and Prussia. Arriving in May 1792, Chauvelin was well received at first and secured British neutrality. However, on 10 August 1792, in light of the storming of the Tuileries and the formal suspension of King Louis XVI of France from power, Chauvelin's status became ambiguous - as his credentials had been issued by a non-ruling king and, moreover, Britain had recalled its own ambassador (and not replaced him), thereby ending official communication. Following the formation of French Republic in September, the new French republican government did not promptly renew his credentials, ending what remained of his official status at the Court of St James. Despite Chauvelin's claims to continue as interim representative of France until the arrival of his new credentials (he believed them imminent), foreign secretary William Grenville refused to recognize him as officially speaking for the French republic and returned his papers and missives. Chauvelin finally received his new credentials from the French republic in January, 1793 and requested an audience with the British king to present them. But the timing was inauspicious - Louis XVI had been sentenced to death by the French convention the day before, and would be executed a few days later (21 January). Chauvelin was ordered to leave England by 1 February 1793, as the British made preparations for war.
French Crown Jewels
During the late 18th and 19th centuries the jewels survived the First French Republic, the Directorate, the First Empire, the Restoration, the July Monarchy, the Second French Republic and the Second Empire. However, the decision of Henri, Comte de Chambord not to accept the French Crown in the early 1870s ended not just the prospect of a royal restoration. It also led to the break-up and partial sale of the Crown Jewels. The Brazilian beauty Aimée de Heeren, mistress of President Getúlio Vargas was known for being the largest private owner of the French Crown jewels, along with the Brazilian crown jewels and other important jewelry.
Swedish royal family
The Swedish royal family () since 1818 has consisted of a number of persons in the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. Today those who are recognized by the government are entitled to royal titles and style (manner of address), and perform official engagements and ceremonial duties of state. The extended family of the King () consists of other close relatives who are not royal and thus do not represent the country officially.
List of fictional monarchs
In an alternate reality where American Revolution never occurred and British America remained within the British Empire, a personal union comprising the French and Spanish empires called the Holy Alliance is the British Empire's main rival; the Holy Alliance is dominated by its French half, ruled by François IV.In the apocalyptic series that begins with "Dies the Fire", some of the British Royal Family are evacuated to the Isle of Wight.
Descendants of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
A member of the House of Bourbon, he is the founder of the current House of Orléans. His heirs formed a junior collateral branch of the royal dynasty. They include the second duke, who governed France during the minority of Louis XV in the Regency era; one French monarch, Louis Philippe I; and the Orléanist pretenders to the French throne still flourishing in the 21st century. The accumulation of the vast wealth which the House of Orléans would possess and use to influence both politics and court life (until it was confiscated during the French Revolution) began with Philippe, a lifelong beneficiary of his brother's largesse.
Line of succession to the French throne (Orléanist)
Despite the fact that some Orléanists considered that the severe disabilities of Prince François should exclude him from the line of succession, and his younger brother Vendôme was appointed his permanent legal guardian, their father recognized his eldest son as the "Dauphin". François, however, died without issue in 2017, thereby rendering moot the "council of regency" the Count of Paris had created to exercise future dynastic authority in his son's behalf and resolving the public dispute that decision had evoked within the family: In January 2018 the Count of Paris recognized the Duke of Vendôme as his rightful successor.
Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou
The House of Orléans never possessed or used the Anjou ducal title during the "ancien régime", but its head claims the right "de jure" to dispose of it, as of all titles traditional in France's royal house. So, too does the Legitimist claimant. Thus, Charles-Philippe, Duke of Anjou and Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou are contemporaries and cousins — both reared in Spain, as it happens — but nominally represent different and competing rationales for restoration of the French monarchy.
Nobility of the First French Empire
Today, the title of baron of the First French Empire is still claimed by families including d'Allemagne, Ameil, d'Andlau, d'Astorg, Auvray, Caffarelli, Christophe, Daru, Dein, Dubois, Eblé, Evain, Fabvier, DeCroy, Fain, Géloes, Gourgaud, Guerrier de Dumast, Hamelin, Hottinguer, Laffitte, Lefebvre, Lepic, Méquet, Mallet, Marbot family, Martin de Lagarde, Massias, Nérin, Nicolas, Parmentier, Petiet, Pinoteau, Portalis, Rey, Rippert, Roederer, de Saint-Didier, de Saint-Geniès, de Saizieu, Salmon, de Saluce, Seillère, Strolz, Testot-Ferry, Thiry, de Villeneuve, Werlein.
Line of succession to the French throne (Orléanist)
Becoming the Head of the House of Orléans on his father's death in 1999, the new Count of Paris and "Duke of France" cancelled the dynastic exclusions imposed by his father. Acknowledging that no one has the power to change the order in succession of a prince of the blood royal of France, he recognised his brother, Prince Michel, Count of Evreux and his male-line descendants, and Robert, Count of La Marche, son of his deceased brother Prince Thibaut, Count of La Marche, as possessing succession rights to the French crown, should it ever be restored.
Jaime, Duke of Madrid
Don Jaime was descended from many highly aristocratic European houses: the Borbóns, the Bourbon-Parmas, the Bourbons, the Borbón-Two Sicilies, the Braganças, the , the Austria-Estes, the Savoyans and other. The rate of intermarriage, which posed problems to health of aristocratic offspring, in his case was rather low: instead of 16 great-great-grandparents he had 14. Among them there were 6 kings who actually ruled: Charles IV in Spain (1788-1808), Charles X in France (1824-1830), João VI in Portugal (1822-1826), Francis I in Two Sicilies (1825-1830), Victor Emmanuel I in Sardinia (1802-1821) and Louis I in Etruria (1801-1803). There was one king among his great-grandparents, Louis II of Etruria (1803-1807); having lost his royal status he later reigned as duke Charles I over the Duchy of Lucca (1824-1847) and as Charles II over the Duchy of Parma (1848-1849). Another great-grandfather Francis IV ruled as the Duke of Modena (1814-1846) and another one Carlos V claimed the Spanish throne as a Carlist pretender (1833-1845). Among Don Jaime's grandparents the only one who actually ruled was Charles III, the Duke of Parma (1849-1854), though the Carlist claimant Juan III posed as the king of Spain (1861-1868) and later also as Jean III, the legitimist king of France (1883-1887). Don Jaime's father, Carlos de Borbón (1848-1909), as Carlos VII was the 4th successive claimant to the Carlist throne (1868-1909) and later as Charles XI a legitimist claimant to the French one (1887-1909). Don Jaime's mother, Marguerite de Bourbon-Parme (1847-1893), was daughter to the second-last ruling Duke of Parma and sister to the last ruler of the Duchy of Parma. In 1894 Don Jaime's father remarried with Berthe de Rohan, an Austrian aristocrat and a distant descendant to a branch of French dukes, but the couple had no children.
List of The Rose of Versailles characters
is the King of France and grandfather of the Dauphin. He has a lover, Madame du Barry. He dies of smallpox in the Palace of Versailles. After his death, his heir and grandson becomes the King of France. The people of all the cities celebrate the birth of a new kingdom.
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had four children: Marie Therese, Louis Joseph, Louis Charles, and Sophie. Louis Joseph is the heir to the French throne. Rather mature for his age, he admires Oscar and wants to be the King of France to make the country better. However, he dies at age 7.
House of France
Since 1733, all legitimate male Capetians were of the House of Bourbon, of the Vendôme branch, descended from Charles, Duke of Vendôme. The descendants of Charles (themselves from the Dukes of Bourbon and, by them, from the youngest son of St. Louis), then became the only surviving legitimate branch of the Capetian dynasty. The House of Bourbon-Busset form, indeed, the elder branch, but are not considered dynasts of the House of Bourbon (for they descend through what is considered an illegitimate line). These are the only surviving Bourbons who are not descended in male line from Henry IV. Charles' eldest son Antoine, King of Navarre, was the ancestor of the royal dynasties of France and Spain, and of the House of Orléans, while his youngest son Louis, Prince of Condé (1530–1569), was the ancestor of the House of Condé. A cadet branch of the Condés was the House of Conti, who in male line descended of Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646). Both Condés and Contis were ranked as Prince du sang.
Dauphin of France
The title was abolished by the Constitution of 1791, which made France a constitutional monarchy. Under the constitution the heir-apparent to the throne (Dauphin Louis-Charles at that time) was restyled "Prince Royal" (a "Prince of the Blood" retitled "prince français"), taking effect from the inception of the Legislative Assembly on 1 October 1791. The title was restored "in potentia" under the Bourbon Restoration of Louis XVIII, but there would not be another Dauphin until after his death. With the accession of his brother Charles X, Charles' son and heir Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême automatically became Dauphin.
French nobility
Napoleon also established a new knightly order in 1802, the "Légion d'honneur", which still exists but is not officially hereditary. Napoleon had decided by decree that three successive generations of legionnaires would confer the family hereditary nobility with the title of "chevalier". A small number of French families meet the requirement but the Napoleonic decree was abrogated and is not applied today.
Capetian dynasty
This did not affect monarchies not under that law such as Portugal, Spain, Navarre, and various smaller duchies and counties. Therefore, many royal families appear and disappear in the French succession or become cadet branches upon marriage. A complete list of the senior-most line of Capetians is available below.
House of Orléans
From 1709 until the French Revolution, the Orléans dukes were next in the order of succession to the French throne after members of the senior branch of the House of Bourbon, descended from king Louis XIV. Although Louis XIV's direct descendants retained the throne, his brother Philippe's descendants flourished until the end of the French monarchy. They held the Crown from 1830 to 1848, and they still are pretenders to the French throne.
Princess Clémentine of Belgium
Napoleon and Clémentine had two children: Princess Marie-Clotilde, born in 1912, and Louis Jérôme Bonaparte, born in 1914. Through this marriage all the current members of the imperial family of France descend from king Louis Philippe of France.
List of movements that dispute the legitimacy of a reigning monarch
The Legitimists () are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution.
Princess Hélène of Orléans
Hélène was the third of eight children born to Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain. Her father was a grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French, and had been heir-apparent to the throne from 1842 until the exile of the dynasty in 1848. Like her two elder siblings, she was born in exile at York House in Twickenham England, shortly before the law of banishment against the dynasty was repealed. Repatriating to France at the end of June 1871, the family took up residence in Paris at the "Hotel Fould" on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, as guests of their uncle, Henri, Duke of Aumale, whose wealth and properties in France had not been confiscated in 1852, unlike those of the other Orléans princes. On 21 December 1872 the National Assembly enacted a law of restitution, authorising restoration of approximately 40 million of the eighty million francs worth of property which had formerly belonged to the House of Orléans, although the actual re-acquisition of that wealth would take several years.
Robertians
Although Philip II was officially the last king of the Franks ("rex Francorum") and the first king of France ("roi de France"), in (systematic application of) historiography, Hugh Capet holds this distinction. He is the founder of the Capetians, the royal dynasty that ruled France until the revolution of the Second French Republic in 1848save during the interregnum of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. It still reigns in Europe today; both King Felipe VI of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg are descendants of this family through the Bourbon cadet branch of the dynasty.
France
The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of the Franks. His descendantsthe Capetians, the House of Valois, and the House of Bourbonprogressively unified the country through wars and dynastic inheritance into the Kingdom of France, which was fully declared in 1190 by Philip II Augustus. The French nobility played a prominent role in most Crusades in order to restore Christian access to the Holy Land. French knights made up the bulk of the steady flow of reinforcements throughout the two-hundred-year span of the Crusades, in such a fashion that the Arabs uniformly referred to the crusaders as "Franj" caring little whether they really came from France. The French Crusaders also imported the French language into the Levant, making French the base of the "lingua franca" (litt. "Frankish language") of the Crusader states. French knights also made up the majority in both the Hospital and the Temple orders. The latter, in particular, held numerous properties throughout France and by the 13th century were the principal bankers for the French crown, until Philip IV annihilated the order in 1307. The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1209 to eliminate the heretical Cathars in the southwestern area of modern-day France. In the end, the Cathars were exterminated and the autonomous County of Toulouse was annexed into the crown lands of France. Later kings expanded their domain to cover over half of modern continental France, including most of the north, centre and west of France. Meanwhile, the royal authority became more and more assertive, centred on a hierarchically conceived society distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners.
Maison du Roi
The Maison du Roi (, "The King's Household") was the name of the royal household of the King of France. It comprised the military, domestic and religious entourage of the French royal family during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration. 
The exact composition and duties of its various divisions changed constantly over the Early Modern period. Officers of the "Maison du Roi" were directly responsible to the "Grand maître de France" (Chief Steward). Starting in the 16th century and then from the 17th century on, the "Maison du Roi" was overseen by a ministry, the "Département de la Maison du Roi", directed by a secretary of state, the "Secrétaire d'État à la Maison du Roi". The structure of the "Maison du Roi" was officially reorganized under Henry III in 1578 and 1585, and in the 17th century by Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
Duke of Orléans
Duke of Orléans () was a title reserved for French royalty, first created in 1344 by Philip VI in favor of his son Philip of Valois. Known as princes of the blood ("princes du sang"), the title of Duke of Orléans was given, when available, to the King of France's eldest brother. Thus, until 1830, they formed a collateral line of the French royal family, with an eventual right to succeed to the throne should more senior princes of the blood die out. In this way, the title of Duke of Orléans may be considered analogous to the Duke of York, which is traditionally granted to the reigning English (and later British) monarch's second son.
House of Stuart
The Royal House of Stuart became extinct with the death of Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart, brother of Charles Edward Stuart, in 1807. Duke Francis of Bavaria is the current senior heir. However, Charles II had a number of illegitimate sons whose surviving descendants in the male line include Charles Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond; Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton; Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans; and Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch. In addition, James II's illegitimate son, James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, founded the House of FitzJames comprising two branches, one in France and one in Spain. The last of the French branch died in 1967; the senior heir of James II's male line descendants is Jacobo Hernando Fitz-James Stuart, 16th Duke of Peñaranda de Duero.
House of France
For supporters of the younger branch of the Bourbons, or House of Orléans, the head of the royal House of France was the eldest of the Bourbons that remained continuously French, namely the Head of the House of Orléans, a descendant of Philippe de France (1640–1701), Duke of Orléans, and Louis-Philippe I, King of the French: the current "Count of Paris and Duke of France", "Henry VII" to his supporters. They recognize the validity of waivers of the treaties of Utrecht (1713).
House of Welf
The Welf dynasty continues to exist. The last member sitting on a European throne was Frederica of Hanover, Queen of Greece († 1981), mother of Queen Sofia of Spain and King Constantine II of Greece. Frederica's brother Prince George William of Hanover married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The House's head is Queen Frederica's nephew Ernst August, the third and present husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco.
List of French monarchs
This article lists all rulers to have held the title "King of the Franks", "King of France", "King of the French" or "Emperor of the French". For other Frankish monarchs, see List of Frankish kings. 
In addition to the monarchs listed below, the Kings of England and Great Britain from 1340–60, 1369-1420, and 1422–1801 also claimed the title of King of France. For a short time, this had some basis in factunder the terms of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. Henry V predeceased Charles VI and so Henry V's son, Henry VI, succeeded his grandfather Charles VI as King of France. Most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453, the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais (and the Channel Islands), and Calais itself fell in 1558. Nevertheless, English and then British monarchs continued to claim the title for themselves until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801.
Monarchism in France
However, since the permanent renunciation of the Spanish throne of the Duke of Madrid Jacques-Henri de Bourbon in 1969 which allowed the restoration of the monarchy in 1975 with the rise in Spain on the throne of Juan Carlos I, a major part of the French royalists again support the elder branch of the Bourbons, first in the person of Prince Alfonso. Since his death in 1989, they recognized as heir to the throne his son Louis, who is for them "Louis XX".
Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême
Many legitimists did not recognize the abdications as valid, and recognized Charles X as king until his death in 1836, with Louis XIX succeeding him. Louis Antoine died in Görz, Austria, in 1844, aged 69. He was buried in his father Charles X's crypt in the church of the Franciscan monastery of Kostanjevica near Görz, now Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Upon his death, his nephew the Duke of Bordeaux became head of the royal family of France under the regnal name Henry V, although he used the title of Count of Chambord in exile.The newborn Duke of Angoulême is portrayed by an uncredited child actor in a brief scene from the Sofia Coppola motion picture "Marie Antoinette". This scene contains a great error as it mistakenly names his parents as being Louis XVIII and Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy, who never had children.
House of Courtenay
The House of Bourbon, which acquired the French throne with Henry IV of France, was another cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. Under the Salic law, males descended in male line from Hugh Capet are princes of the blood – i.e., they have the right to succeed to the French throne in the event that the male line of the royal family and of more senior princes die out. Hence, the then impoverished Capetian House of Courtenay, being agnatic descendants of Louis VI of France, sought to be acknowledged as "princes du sang" (Princes of the Blood Royal) and "cousins to the king," two titles normally reserved for the members of the royal family and prized for the seats at the Royal Council and the Parliament of Paris that they conferred upon its holders. Three Bourbon kings in a row – Henri IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV – turned down their petitions. That the Bourbon monarchs confined the French royalty to the descendants of Louis IX is evidenced by the Treaty of Montmartre (1662) which named the non-Capetian House of Lorraine as the next in line to the French throne after the Bourbons, thus bypassing the Courtenay branch, a Capetian family. Although the Courtenays protested against this clause, their claims to the princely title were never acknowledged by the Paris Court of Accounts. The last male member of the French Courtenays died in 1733, but his niece married the Marquis de Bauffremont, and her descendants assumed the title of "Prince de Courtenay" with dubious validity, which they bear to this day. However the marquis de Beauffremont was made on 8 June 1757 Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (inheritable by all male-line descendants); this title was recognised in France. Beauffremont-Courtenay are also princes of Carency and dukes of Beauffremont.
List of French monarchs
Following the first defeat of Napoleon and his exile to Elba, the Bourbon monarchy was restored, with Louis XVI's younger brother Louis Stanislas being crowned as Louis XVIII. Louis XVI's son had been considered by monarchists as Louis XVII but he was never crowned and never ruled in his own right before his own death; he is not usually counted among French monarchs, creating a gap in numbering on most traditional lists of French kings. Napoleon would briefly regain control of the country during his Hundred Days rule in 1815. After his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon attempted to abdicate in favor of his son, but the Bourbon Monarchy was re-established yet again, and would continue to rule France until the July Revolution of 1830 replaced it with a cadet branch, the House of Orleans.
House of France
The notion of royal family can be construed in a strict or broad sense. Strictly speaking, the royal family included the close relatives of the king.
Louis XIII of France
Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the oldest child of King Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de' Medici. As son of the king, he was a Fils de France ("son of France"), and as the eldest son, Dauphin of France. His father Henry IV was the first French king of the House of Bourbon, having succeeded his ninth cousin, Henry III of France (1574–1589), in application of Salic law. Louis XIII's paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, and Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre. His maternal grandparents were Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Eleonora de' Medici, his maternal aunt, was his godmother. As a child, he was raised under the supervision of the royal governess Françoise de Montglat.
Monarchy of Canada
According to the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust, Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn—due to his having lived in Canada between 1791 and 1800, and fathering Queen Victoria—is the "ancestor of the modern Canadian Royal Family". Nonetheless, the concept of the Canadian Royal Family did not emerge until after the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, when Canadian officials only began to overtly consider putting the principles of Canada's new status as an independent kingdom into effect. At first, the monarch was the only member of the Royal Family to carry out public ceremonial duties solely on the advice of Canadian ministers; King Edward VIII became the first to do so when in July 1936 he dedicated the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France. Over the decades, however, the monarch's children, grandchildren, cousins, and their respective spouses began to also perform functions at the direction of the Canadian Crown-in-Council, representing the monarch within Canada or abroad. But it was not until October 2002 when the term "Canadian Royal Family" was first used publicly and officially by one of its members: in a speech to the Nunavut legislature at its opening, Queen Elizabeth II stated: "I am proud to be the first member of the Canadian Royal Family to be greeted in Canada's newest territory." Princess Anne used it again when speaking at Rideau Hall in 2014. By 2011, both Canadian and British media were referring to "Canada's royal family" or the "Canadian royal family".
Prince of Guéméné
The present male line descendants live in Austria, the family having fled France due to the French Revolution.
The present Prince of Guéméné is also a claimant to the Duchy of Bouillon. In 1816, at the Congress of Vienna, it was decided that the family were the rightful heirs to the duchy which had been the property of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne. Through the marriage of Jules and Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne in 1743, the Princes of Guéméné were descendants of the La Tour d'Auvergne family through Marie Louise, whose nephew Jacques de La Tour d'Auvergne (son of her brother the Duke of Bouillon and Mademoiselle de Marsan) was the last Duke of Bouillon.
House of Ibelin
When the Kingdom of Cyprus was destroyed in the 15th century, the Ibelins apparently also lost their lands and positions, and the family possibly became extinct — the sources, at least, no longer mention them. Descendants of the Ibelins, through the royal Lusignans, include several royal families of modern Europe, since their descendant Anne, Duchess of Savoy, daughter of Janus of Cyprus, was, for example, the ancestor of the Dukes of Savoy, the La Tremoille princes of Talmond and Taranto, the Longueville family, the princes of Monaco, the electors of Bavaria, the Farnese of Parma, the last Valois kings of France, the Dukes of Lorraine, the Habsburg-Lorraines, the Bourbons of Navarre and France, and, as their progeny, practically all Catholic royalty in recent centuries.The Ibelin crest shown here was used in the film, "Kingdom of Heaven", but has nothing to do with the real Ibelin family. While researching crests and coats of arms for the film (which used real and fabricated crests), members of the production team discovered this crest - a red cross on a gold field - in a museum in Paris, with "Balian 1380" written under it. They were delighted, even though it wasn't "their" Balian, and used it as the Ibelin crest, despite it having no historic connection to that family. This information can be found in the "Kingdom of Heaven" companion book.
House of France
Between the sixteenth century and 1830, the royal family of France was composed, in a ceremonial order, of the king, his wife (the queen), mother (the Queen Mother), his children and grandchildren, his brothers and sisters, their children and grandchildren and the spouses of each of them, and, where applicable, queens which were wives of kings of France of extinct branches.
Bourbon claim to the Spanish throne
Philip of France, Duke of Anjou, was the second son of Louis, "le Grand Dauphin" and Maria Anna of Bavaria, known as "Dauphine Victoire", a younger brother of Louis, Duke of Burgundy and an uncle of Louis XV of France.
Philip was born at the Palace of Versailles in France. His older brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, was in line to the throne right after his father, "Le Grand Dauphin", thus leaving him and his younger brother, Charles, Duke of Berry little expectation to ever rule over France. However, his fortune (and that of his grandfather Louis XIV) started looking up when the degenerate last monarch of Spain, Charles II, fell ill. Both of Charles's marriages had failed to produce any offspring.
Charles II married Marie Louise of Orléans (1662–1689), eldest daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the only sibling of Louis XIV, and his first wife Princess Henrietta of England. It is likely that Charles was impotent, and no children were born. Marie Louise became deeply depressed and died at 26, ten years after their marriage, leaving 28-year-old Charles heartbroken. Still in desperate need of a male heir, the next year he married the 23-year-old Palatine princess Maria Anna of Neuburg, a daughter of Philip William, Elector of the Palatinate, and sister-in-law of his uncle Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. However, this marriage was no more successful than the first in producing the much-desired heir.
House of Bernadotte
Two branches of the French Bernadotte family survive. The elder descends from Andrew ("André") Bernadotte, an older granduncle of Carl John's, with descendants today in the general population of France. The younger branch divided in two, one branch descending from the king's older brother John ("Jean Évangéliste") Bernadotte (1754–1813), the heads of which were French barons as of 1810 with Louvie Castle in the south of Pau as their seat (branch extinct with the death of Baron Henry Bernadotte in 1966), and the other branch being the Swedish Royal House.
The list excludes in-laws and has persons currently alive (2018) in "italics", all listed primarily as Swedish royalty unless otherwise noted.
Charles X of France
A movement advocating for Charles X's remains to be buried along with other French monarchs in Basilica of St Denis reportedly began a process of repatriation in late 2016, although the current head of the House of Bourbon, Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou has stated, in early 2017, that he wishes the remains of his ancestors to remain at the monastery crypt.Charles X married Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy, the daughter of Victor Amadeus III, King of Sardinia, and Maria Antonietta of Spain, on 16 November 1773.
The couple had four children – two sons and two daughters – but the daughters did not survive childhood. Only the oldest son survived his father. The children were:
Prince du sang
In theory, the princes of the blood included all members of the Capetian dynasty. In practice, only the agnatic descendants of Saint Louis IX, such as the Valois and the Bourbons, were acknowledged as "princes du sang". France's kings, for instance, refused to recognize the Courtenay Capetians as princes of the blood. The Courtenays descended in legitimate male-line from King Louis VI, but had become impoverished, minor nobles over the centuries. Their repeated petitions for recognition to the Bourbon rulers were in vain. When the Treaty of Montmartre was concluded in 1662, declaring the House of Lorraine to be heirs to the French throne in the event of extinction of the Bourbons, the Courtenays protested, requesting substitution of the phrase "the royal house issued in legitimate male line from the kings of France" to no avail. In 1715 Louis-Charles de Courtenay, his son Charles-Roger and his brother Roger were once again rebuffed in their attempt to seek recognition of their status. Roger, "abbé" de Courtenay, was the last male of the family, dying on 5 May 1733, and his sister Hélène de Courtenay, marquise de Bauffremont (1689–20 June 1768), obtained no redress when she appealed to the king in 1737 after the Parlement of Paris ordered the term "princesse du sang royal de France" deleted from court documents.
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon (, ; ; Spanish: Borbón) is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have monarchs of the House of Bourbon.
French nobility
The French nobility () was a privileged social class in France during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to the revolution in 1790. The nobility was revived in 1805 with limited rights as a titled elite class from the First Empire to the fall of the July Monarchy in 1848, when all privileges were abolished for good. Hereditary titles, without privileges, continued to be granted until the Second Empire fell in 1870. They survive among their descendants as a social convention and as part of the legal name of the corresponding individuals.
Royal family
A royal family is the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while the terms baronial family, comital family, ducal family, archducal family, grand ducal family, or princely family are more appropriate to describe, respectively, the relatives of a reigning baron, count, duke, archduke, grand duke, or prince. However, in common parlance members of any family which reigns by hereditary right are often referred to as royalty or "royals." It is also customary in some circles to refer to the extended relations of a deposed monarch and his or her descendants as a royal family. A dynasty is sometimes referred to as "the House of ...". As of July 2013, there are 26 active sovereign monarchies in the world who rule or reign over 43 countries in all.
Spanish royal family
The House of Bourbon-Anjou (or simply House of Bourbon-Spain) is the reigning royal house of the Kingdom of Spain. The current Spanish royal family consists of the present king, the queen consort, their children and the king's parents. The House of Bourbon-Anjou is a branch of the House of Bourbon that descends from Philip V of Spain.
Monarchism in France
From 1813 until his death in 1845, he sought to gain the recognition of European rulers and the Bourbons. Under Louis-Philippe, he had few supporters among the "Survivantists" but their numbers declined rapidly from 1837 after the failure of his petitions to the Chamber of Deputies and especially when he wanted to create a new religion. He died August 10, 1845 in Delft. His tomb bears the inscription "Here lies Louis XVII King of France and Navarre, born in Versailles March 27, 1785, died August 10, 1845". He left behind a wife and eight children who never ceased to defend the claim of their father.
House of Bonaparte
Between 1852 and 1870, there was a Second French Empire, when a member of the Bonaparte dynasty again ruled France: Napoleon III, the youngest son of Louis Bonaparte. However, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the dynasty was again ousted from the Imperial Throne. Since that time, there has been a series of pretenders. Supporters of the Bonaparte family's claim to the throne of France are known as Bonapartists. Current head Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon, has a Bourbon mother.
Monarchy of Monaco
The Prince is styled "His Serene Highness". Although used only formally, the Prince also bears several other hereditary titles, some of which are occasionally bestowed on his relatives or their spouses. Some of these titles have merged with the Crown of Monaco as a result of the Grimaldi family's acquisition of various fiefs; they no longer imply ownership or territorial authority, although the Princes of Monaco have long been substantial owners of land and in France. Most were granted or recognised by the Kingdom of France or the Papal States and could only pass through the male line; they therefore became extinct as French dignities on the death of Albert's great-grandfather Prince Louis II in 1949. Thereafter, some of these titles were implicitly re-created as distinctly Monegasque titles. The father of Prince Rainier III was Pierre Grimaldi, Duke of Valentinois, "né" Count Pierre de Polignac, whose legitimate male-line descendants (including Rainier III "et al.") remain remotely in the line of succession for the French dukedom of Polignac).
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 Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of the July Monarchy of 1830–1848 which placed Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans head of the Orléans cadet branch of the Bourbon dynasty on the throne until he too was dethroned and driven with his family into exile.
House of Bonaparte
The House of Bonaparte formed the Imperial House of France during the French Empire, together with some non-Bonaparte family members. In addition to holding the title of Emperor of the French, the Bonaparte dynasty held various other titles and territories during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Kingdom of Holland, and the Kingdom of Naples. The dynasty held power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very powerful enemies, such as Austria, Britain, Russia, and Prussia, as well as royalist (particularly Bourbon) restorational movements in France, Spain, the Two Sicilies, and Sardinia, the dynasty eventually collapsed due to the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the restoration of former dynasties by the Congress of Vienna.
Bourbon family tree
This is a simplified family tree of the House of Bourbon. The House of Bourbon is a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty that descended from a younger son of King Louis IX of France. Louis IX's grandson was the first duke of Bourbon, whose descendants would later become Kings of France in accordance to the Salic law. In the present day, family representatives are the King of Spain and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Several others are pretenders to the thrones of France, Two Sicilies, and Brazil.
House of Valois
The House of Valois () was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They succeeded the House of Capet (or "Direct Capetians") to the French throne, and were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589. Junior members of the family founded cadet branches in Orléans, Anjou, Burgundy, and Alençon.
Pretender
The arguments are, on one side, that Louis XIV's younger grandson, Philip de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou renounced any future claim to the French throne when he left France to become king of Spain as Philip V in 1700 (the renunciation was ratified internationally by the Treaty of Utrecht), ostensibly leaving the Dukes of Orléans as heirs to the throne of France in the event of extinction of descendants of Louis XIV's elder grandson Louis, Duke of Burgundy, which occurred in 1883. On the other side, Anjou's renunciation is held to be invalid because prior to the revolution it was a fundamental tenet of the French monarchy that the crown could never be diverted from the rightful heir of Hugh Capet. Moreover, although the Orléans volunteered to defer their rival claim to the throne after 1873, the regicidal vote of their ancestor Philippe Égalité in 1789 and the usurpation of Louis Philippe in 1830 are alleged to have extinguished all rights to the throne for the Orléans branch. The schism has continued to the present day, with supporters of the senior line reclaiming the title of "Legitimist", leaving their opponent royalists to be known, once again, as "Orléanists". The current representative of the senior line is Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, the senior legitimate living descendant of Hugh Capet (and of Philip V "d'Anjou" of Spain) who was born and raised in Spain. The Orléanist line, which returned to live in France when the law of banishment was repealed in 1950, is represented by Prince Jean, Duke of Vendôme, senior male-line descendant of King Louis Philippe.
Line of succession to the French throne (Bonapartist)
There are no surviving descendants in legitimate male line of any of Napoleon's brothers except Jérôme. This branch of the House of Bonaparte is recognized by Bonapartists as Napoleon I's dynastic heirs, being excluded from residence in France or service in its military by law, along with the heads of the House of Orléans, between 1883 and 1950.
Duke of Bourbon
Therefore, the heir male of the Bourbon family belonged to the House of Bourbon-Vendôme from 1527 onwards, in the person of Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme until he died in 1537. Charles remained loyal to the king, even though Francis I had denied him the Bourbon inheritance and the inheritance of his wife, the sister of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon. Charles's son, Antoine, would become King of Navarre, and his grandson, Henry, would become King of France. All of the present-day family members descend from him. As the new reigning dynasty, the House of Bourbon-Vendôme was simply called the House of Bourbon.
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans
Marie-Adélaïde was never to see her two younger sons again, Montpensier and Beaujolais, who died in exile before the 1814 Bourbon Restoration. She, Rouzet and the Orléans exiled in Spain returned to France in 1814 at the time of the first Bourbon Restoration. After legal battles which lasted until her death, the bulk of her inheritance was eventually recovered. She died in her castle at Ivry-sur-Seine on 23 June 1821, after battling breast cancer. Rouzet had died nine months before, on 25 October 1820, and she had him inhumed in the new family chapel she had built in Dreux in 1816, as the final resting place for the two families, Bourbon-Penthièvre and Orléans. The original Bourbon-Penthièvre family crypt in the Collégiale de Saint-Étienne de Dreux had been violated during the Revolution and the bodies thrown together into a grave in the Chanoines Cemetery of the Collégiale. She was buried in the new chapel which, after the accession to the throne of her son Louis Philippe, was enlarged, embellished and renamed "Chapelle royale de Dreux", becoming the necropolis for the now royal Orléans family. Marie Adélaïde did not live to see her son Louis Philippe become "King of the French" in 1830.
Parvenu
Established royal families of Europe regarded the Bonaparte family as "parvenu" royalty. Napoleon III tried to marry into Swedish and German royalty, but was unsuccessful because he was a "parvenu". This was also said to be the case with the marriage of Egyptian Princess Fawzia to the future Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. One of the reasons speculated for their divorce is that Fawzia's family, including King Farouk I, viewed the Pahlavis as "parvenus". Though the Muhammad Ali Dynasty of Egypt and Sudan, to which Fawzia belonged, had humble beginnings, it had solidified its status in Egypt and the Arab World since 1805. In contrast, the Pahlavis were a far more recent dynasty, owing their position entirely to the "coup d'état" of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's father, Reza Khan, in 1921.
House of Monpezat
The House of Monpezat (or Laborde de Monpezat; ) is a French noble family associated with the Danish Royal Family by marriage after 1967, when Henri de Laborde de Monpezat wed Princess Margrethe of Denmark, heir presumptive of the ruling House of Glücksburg. In the event of ascension to the Danish throne of their son or male-line descendant, the main branch of the Danish Royal Family will belong patrilineally to the "Laborde de Monpezat" lineage. However, it is unclear which name the royal family will use in this event.
Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma
Son of a deposed ruler, he had relatives – associated with France, Spain and Portugal's monarchical regimes – engaged in legitimist politics, although others – in Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark and Italy – were affiliated with dynasties reigning in liberal-democratic frameworks. His views on contemporary French politics are not clear from known records. He upheld the legitimist claim of the Spanish Bourbons to the crown of France. On the other hand, the head of the family, Élie, openly abandoned the legitimist cause, acknowledging Alfonso XIII as the legitimate king of Spain Then Traditionalist author Francisco Melgar asserts that Prince Xavier remained within ""más pura doctrina tradicionalista"", demonstrating ""adhesion profunda"" to legitimist claimants, while others suggest that he nurtured democratic ideas.
House of Bourbon
Though it is not as powerful as it once was and no longer reigns in its native country of France, the House of Bourbon is by no means extinct and has survived to the present-day world, predominantly composed of republics.
List of French monarchs
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The family consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and "dux et princeps Francorum" hereditary and becoming the real powers behind the Merovingian kings. In 751, a Carolingian, Pepin the Younger, dethroned the Merovingians and with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, was crowned King of the Franks.
Romanov Family Association
The Romanov Family Association (RFA) is an organization of legitimate male-line descendants of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. While extensive, it by no means includes all of the House of Romanov or all Romanov descendants; Maria Vladimirovna has never joined and neither did her late father Vladimir Cyrillovich. The Association attributes the title of "Prince" or "Princess of Russia" to each of its members. Members of the Association now living are:The RFA also offers Associate Memberships to the children and grandchildren of princesses and grand duchesses, widows and widowers of princes and princesses and grand dukes and grand duchesses, as well as people who have always shown close ties to the Romanovs. At the present there are seven living Associate Members:
Committee Members:
Capetian dynasty
Many years have passed since the Capetian monarchs ruled a large part of Europe; however, they still remain as kings, as well as other titles. Currently two Capetian monarchs still rule in Spain and Luxembourg. In addition, seven pretenders represent exiled dynastic monarchies in Brazil, France, Spain, Portugal, Parma and Two Sicilies. The current legitimate, senior family member is Louis-Alphonse de Bourbon, known by his supporters as Duke of Anjou, who also holds the Legitimist ("Blancs d'Espagne") claim to the French throne. Overall, dozens of branches of the Capetian dynasty still exist throughout Europe.
Louise Élisabeth of France
Marie Louise Élisabeth of France (Marie Louise Élisabeth; 14 August 1727 – 6 December 1759) was a French princess, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort, Maria Leszczyńska, and the elder twin of Anne Henriette de France. She married Infante Philip, younger son of Philip V of Spain, who inherited the Duchy of Parma from his mother in 1748, thereby founding the House of Bourbon-Parma. In secondary sources she is referred to also as "Louise Élisabeth of France". She functioned as the de facto ruler of the Duchy of Parma between 1748 and 1759.
Prince Jean, Duke of Vendôme
The couple have five children: He was created Duke of Vendôme (French: "Duc de Vendôme") by his paternal grandfather, on 27 September 1987. 
Jean is a member of the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, itself a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. His patrilineal ancestors, or direct male-line ancestors, include many of the Kings of France.
Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma
Residing in Paris and sustained by his remaining portion of the family wealth, Xavier reached his mid-30s before making marriage plans; his fiancée being Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset, who was nine years his junior and the daughter of the Count de Lignières. She belonged to a non-royal branch of the French Bourbons. The Bourbon-Bussets have been the subject of a centuries-old controversy: historically regarded as non-dynastic when the line was founded, it has never been established that the Bourbon ancestor from whom they undisputedly descend, Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège (1436-1482), was ever lawfully married. The proposed marriage of Prince Xavier and Madeleine might deprive their children of Bourbon-Parma ducal succession rights, depending upon the decision of the head of the house. Since the death of Duke Robert, Prince Élie, Xavier's eldest half-brother, headed the family. He declared the would-be marriage morganatic. Despite this obstacle, Xavier wed Madeleine in 1927 and some newspapers titled her "princesse".
As the Bourbon-Bussets enjoyed significant wealth, the marriage changed the financial status of Xavier. The couple settled in Bostz castle, where Xavier managed the rural estate of his in-laws. Their eldest, Hugues, was born in 1928 and was followed by five more children, the last one was born in 1940. Following the 1932 death of his father-in-law, Xavier became head of the family's enterprise, including the Château de Lignières. Little is known of his public activity at that time, except that he was engaged in various non-political, Catholic initiatives. In 1934 the premature death of Sixte deprived Xavier of his closest comrade.
Maison militaire du roi de France
The maison militaire du roi de France, in English the military household of the king of France, was the military part of the French royal household or "Maison du Roi" under the Ancien Régime. The term only appeared in 1671, though such a gathering of units pre-dates this. Like the rest of the royal household, the military household was under the authority of the Secretary of State for the Maison du Roi, but it depended on the "ordinaire des guerres" (controlled by the Secretary of State for War) for its budget. Under Louis XIV, these two officers of state were given joint command of the military household.
Dynasty
Prior to the 20th century, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. In nations where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's ruling house. This has changed in some places in Europe, where succession law and convention have maintained dynasties "de jure" through a female. For instance, the House of Windsor will be maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II, as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands, whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant. The earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna. In Limpopo Province of South Africa, Balobedu determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother's dynasty when coming into her inheritance. Less frequently, a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic (or polydynastic) system – that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession.
House of Lusignan
Janus, son of James I and Helvis, married Charlotte de Bourbon and their marriage was described as a "cornerstone in the revitalisation of French culture in the Lusignan court that characterised Janus's rule".
Charlotte died on 15 January 1422 of the plague. She was buried in the Royal Monastery of Saint Dominic's in Nicosia. Her many descendants included Queen Charlotte of Cyprus, Queen Jeanne III of Navarre; French Kings Charles VIII, Francis I, Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV and the subsequent Bourbon kings; Anne of France, and Mary, Queen of Scots. She is also an ancestress of the current British Royal Family.
Armorial of the House of Bonaparte
The House of Bonaparte was a royal dynasty started by Napoleon I, son of Carlo Bonaparte. The family formed the Imperial House of France during the first French Empire. The house ruled until 1871, when they were ultimately ousted due to the effects of the Franco-Prussian War. Here are their individual seals:
English claims to the French throne
Nonetheless the kings and queens of England (and, later, of Great Britain) continued to claim the French throne for centuries, through the early modern period. The words "of France" was prominently included among their realms as listed in their titles and styles, and the French fleur-de-lys was included in the royal arms. This continued until 1801, by which time France had no monarch, having become a republic.
Louise Henriette de Bourbon
Among her extramarital affairs, she is said to have had a relationship with the Count of Melfort whom she met at the Château de Saint-Cloud after the birth of her son. During the Revolution of 1789, Philippe-Égalité publicly claimed that his real father was not his mother's husband at all but instead a coachman at the Palais-Royal.. This assertion was likely for political reasons to distance the ambitious Duke from the ancien regime. However recent DNA testing, to establish the Y-chromosome haplogroup and STR pattern of the House of Bourbon, has indeed confirmed the biological legitimacy of Louise Henriette's eldest son, Philippe-Égalité. As part of this project samples were taken from 3 living genealogical descendants of Louis XIII, namely Axel, Prince of Bourbon-Parma; Henri, Prince of Bourbon-Parma, and João Henrique, Prince of Orléans-Braganza. The former 2 are documented male line descendants of Philip V of Spain, who was a grandson of Louis XIV. The latter is a direct male line descendant of Philip I, Duke of Orleans - a younger brother of Louis XIV and the ancestor of Louise Henriette's husband. This study established that no non-paternity event happened along the three studied in-depth paternal lineages of these living donors, thus discounting rumors that the branch of Bourbon-Orleans could be illegitimate.
Madame Royale
It was similar to the style "Monsieur", which was typically used by the King's second son. Just as Gaston, duc d'Orléans (1608–1660), the second son of King Henry IV of France (1553–1610), was known as " Monsieur", Elisabeth of Bourbon (1602–1644), the eldest daughter of Henry, was known before her marriage to King Philip IV of Spain (1605–1665) as "Madame Royale". After her death, the title was borne by her younger sister, Christine Marie of France (1606–1663), until her marriage to Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (1587–1637).
The most famous holder of this honorific was King Louis XVI of France's eldest daughter, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (1778–1851), the only one of his immediate family to survive the French Revolution. She later married her cousin, Louis-Antoine, duc d'Angoulême (1775–1844), and played a prominent role during the Bourbon Restoration.
Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon
Jean-Christophe is the great-great-great-great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon I (who has no legitimate direct descendants) through the emperor's younger brother, Jérôme, King of Westphalia. Through his mother, he is a descendant of King Louis XV of France and through his great-grandmother, Princess Clémentine of Belgium, he descends from William IV, Prince of Orange, Charles III of Spain, Frederick William I of Prussia, George II of Great Britain and Louis Philippe I, King of the French, who was the last king to rule France, although Emperor Napoleon III would serve as its last monarch to date.
Monarchism in France
Monarchism in France is the advocacy of restoring the monarchy (mostly constitutional monarchy) in France, which was abolished after the 1870 defeat by Prussia, arguably before that in 1848 with the establishment of the French Second Republic.
The French monarchist movements are roughly divided today in three groups: the Legitimists for the royal House of Bourbon, the Orléanists for the cadet branch of the House of Orleans and the Bonapartists for the imperial House of Bonaparte.
French Crown Jewels
The French Crown Jewels () comprise the crowns, orb, sceptres, diadems and jewels that were symbols of Royal power between 752 and 1825. These were worn by many Kings and Queens of France. The set was finally broken up, with most of it sold off in 1885 by the Third French Republic. The surviving French Crown Jewels, principally a set of historic crowns, diadems and parures, are mainly on display in the "Galerie d'Apollon" of the Louvre, France's premier museum and former royal palace, together with the Regent Diamond, the Sancy Diamond and the "Côte-de-Bretagne" red spinel, carved into the form of a dragon. In addition, some gemstones and jewels (including the Emerald of Saint Louis, the 'Ruspoli' sapphire and the diamond pins of Queen Marie Antoinette) are on display in the Treasury vault of the Mineralogy gallery in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.
Princess Hélène of Orléans
In 1883 the last legitimate prince in the male-line of Louis XV, Henri, Count of Chambord, died childless leaving, in the eyes of French royalists excepting recalcitrant legitimists, the Count of Paris as heir to the Bourbon crown of France. However, celebrations in Paris in the spring of 1886 prior to the marriage in Lisbon of Hélène's eldest sister Amélie to Carlos of Braganza-Coburg, Prince Royal of Portugal, evoked such clear expressions of monarchist support for the House of Orléans that on 22 July the French Republic took the precaution of banishing the heads of France's former ruling dynasties, the Orléans and Bonapartes, from the country. Nearly all of the Orléans promptly left France, with Hélène and her parents going on to visit Tunbridge Wells in England and then travelling to Scotland before taking up residence in October at Sheen House in East Sheen, England. In 1890 they moved on to Stowe House in Buckingham, England.
Rothschild banking family of France
The Rothschild banking family of France is a French banking dynasty founded in 1812 in Paris by James Mayer de Rothschild (1792–1868). James was sent there from his home in Frankfurt, Germany, by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Endogamy within the family was an essential part of the Rothschild strategy in order to ensure control of their wealth remained in family hands.
Descendants of Louis XIV of France
However, if a non-Salic primogeniture is followed, the eldest surviving descendant, in other words, the heir-general of Louis XIV is the present Duke of Calabria. With the death of the Madame Royale, daughter of Louis XVI, the direct line of the French royal family became extinct. At her death, the heir-general of Louix XIV was also its heir-male – Henri, Count of Chambord ("Henri V"), who was the nephew of her husband and first cousin, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. However, with his death, the titles split, with the French succession rights passing to the descendants of Philip V of Spain and the status of heir-general passing to his sister, Louise Marie Thérèse d'Artois, who married Charles III, Duke of Parma, himself a direct descendant of Philip V of Spain. It is through this descent that the Duke of Calabria holds the designation of heir-general of Louis XIV.
Legitimists
Legitimists hold that the king of France must be according to the traditional rules of succession based on the Salic law. When the direct line of Charles X became extinct in 1883 with the death of his grandson Henri, Count of Chambord, the most senior heir to the throne under these traditional rules was Juan, Count of Montizón, a descendant of Louis XIV through his grandson Philip V of Spain. The fact that all French Legitimist claimants since 1883 have been members of the Spanish royal dynasty remains irrelevant to Legitimism, but it has prompted other French monarchists to pivot to support of the Orléans line.
Henri, Count of Chambord
In November 1846, the "comte de Chambord" married his second cousin Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, daughter of Duke Francis IV of Modena and Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy. The couple had no children.
In the early 1870s, as the Second Empire collapsed following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War at the battle of Sedan on 1 September 1870, the royalists became a majority in the National Assembly. The Orléanists agreed to support the aging "comte de Chambord"'s claim to the throne, with the expectation that at his childless death he would be succeeded by their own claimant, Philippe d'Orléans, comte de Paris. Henri was then pretender for both Legitimists and Orléanists, and the restoration of monarchy in France seemed a close possibility. However, Henri insisted that he would accept the crown only on condition that France abandon its tricolour flag and return to the use of the white "fleur de lys" flag. He rejected a compromise, whereby the "fleur-de-lys" would be the new king's personal standard, and the tricolour would remain the national flag.
Louis Philippe I
Many remaining French monarchists regard the descendants of Louis Philippe's grandson, who hold the title "Count of Paris", as the rightful pretenders to the French throne; others, the Legitimists, consider Don Luis-Alfonso de Borbón, Duke of Anjou (to his supporters, "Louis XX") to be the rightful heir. Head of the Royal House of Bourbon, Louis is descended in the male line from Philippe, Duke of Anjou, the second grandson of the Sun-King, Louis XIV. Philippe (King Philip V of Spain), however, had renounced his rights to the throne of France to prevent the much-feared union of France and Spain.
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Duchess of Orléans (13 March 1753 – 23 June 1821), was the daughter of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and of Princess Maria Theresa Felicitas of Modena. At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon-Penthièvre, "prince de Lamballe", she became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution. She married Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the "regicide" "Philippe Égalité", and was the mother of France's last king, Louis Philippe I, King of the French. She was sister-in-law to "the princesse de Lamballe", and was the last member of the "Bourbon-Penthièvre" family.
Collège Royal (Rabat)
The Collège Royal was created in 1942 by Mohammed V under the French protectorate. This came after, the monarch initially tried to send his son Hassan II to the Ecole des Roches in France but couldn't because of World War II. The school opens a class for each senior member of the Alaouite Royal family. It previously opened classes for Hassan II, Mohammed VI, Prince Moulay Rachid, Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco, the daughters of Hassan II, Prince Moulay Ismail and Lalla Soukaina.
Fleur-de-lis
While the fleur-de-lis has appeared on countless European coats of arms and flags over the centuries, it is particularly associated with the French monarchy in a historical context, and continues to appear in the arms of the King of Spain (from the French House of Bourbon) and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and members of the House of Bourbon. It remains an enduring symbol of France which appears on French postage stamps, although it has never been adopted officially by any of the French republics. According to French historian Georges Duby, the three petals represent the three medieval social estates: the commoners, the nobility, and the clergy.
Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France
Louis Joseph de France (Louis Joseph Xavier François; 22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789) was the second child and elder son of King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette. As son of a king of France, he was a "fils de France" ("Son of France"), and as the eldest son and heir apparent, he was Dauphin of France, (the twenty-sixth "crown prince" of the Valois and Bourbon monarchies).
Louis XV of France
The war with England continued, despite the death of King George II on 25 October 1760; the British Prime Minister William Pitt rejected French proposals for suggestions for negotiations. On 15 August 1761, France, Spain, Naples and Parma, all ruled by monarchs of the Bourbon family, signed the first "Family Pact" with a system of reciprocal guarantees of support if one or the other were attacked. At the same time, they signed a secret treaty with Charles III of Spain engaging Spain to declare war on England if the war was not over by May 1762. Learning of this pact, William Pitt wanted to declare an immediate war on Spain, but the new British King, George III, rejected the idea. The military forces of Frederick the Great in Prussia had been nearly exhausted in the long war against the combined forces of Austria and Russia; but Frederick was saved by the sudden death of the Tsarina Elizabeth in 1762, and her replacement by Peter III of Russia, a fervent admirer of the Prussian King.
House of Guise
Their principal title, Duke de Guise in 1688 was awarded to a branch of the House of Bourbon and afterwards to the House of Orléans. The title, with one exception, was not used by pretenders to throne of France (that is, French throne but-for-the-French Revolution of 1848). One of its heads, Prince Jean, Duke of Guise (1874 – 1940) nonetheless took it as his title of pretence to the former crown of France, supported by some of the 19th century Orleanist activists. These formed for at the time the junior set of Legitimists – claimants to be senior, rightful descendants of the pre-1848 French Royal Family and supported by restorative movements before, during and after the Second French Empire of Emperor Napoleon III, the last undoubted monarch of France. By the end of the 1880s, a series of republican Presidents during the relatively young French Third Republic largely ended any hope of a restored monarchy.
Monarchism in France
For Orleanists, the Royal House of France is not international. The Head of the House of France is not the eldest of the Bourbons of the world, but the eldest of the national dynasty, which had been in France since the death of the Count of Chambord in 1883, the Bourbon House of Orleans. From Louis XV to Charles X, the respective Dukes of Orleans were the First Princes of the Blood, and thus the presumptive heirs in the absence of a direct heir. The nationality of the prince is the guarantor of the independence of the Crown, the strength and pride of France in Europe, that the French throne was never occupied by a foreigner, unlike most of the other monarchies and principalities of Europe.
Imperial Highness
Today, the style has mainly fallen from use with the exception of the . In the past, the style has been applied to more senior members of imperial dynasties, including the French, Turkish, Russian, and Ethiopian imperial houses, among many others. Archdukes of Austria from the Habsburg dynasty traditionally hold the style of Imperial and Royal Highness (), with the "Royal" signifying their status as Princes of Hungary. These styles have been abrogated but are often given out of courtesy. Some members of the royal family of Belgium descending from the Habsburgs do hold it as an official style (the "and Royal" might here possibly be read as referring as well to Belgium). Members of the British Royal Family, theoretically, as the Imperial Family of British India, could have used the title, but did not.
Bourgeoisie
These families exude an aura of nobility, which prevents them from certain marriages or occupations. They only differ from nobility in that due to circumstances, the lack of opportunity, and/or political regime, they have not been ennobled. These people nevertheless live a lavish lifestyle, enjoying the company of the great artists of the time. In France, the families of the "haute bourgeoisie" are also referred to as "les 200 familles", a term coined in the first half of the 20th century. Michel Pinçon and Monique Pinçon-Charlot studied the lifestyle of the French bourgeoisie, and how they boldly guard their world from the "nouveau riche", or newly rich.