The special royal story of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris

On 24 August 1838, Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, was born at the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

As the eldest son of Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and Duchess Hélène of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he was born into the heart of the French royal family. His grandfather was King Louis Philippe I of the French, who had been on the throne since 1830.

A French prince with Belgian family ties

Philippe's father, Ferdinand Philippe, was the eldest son of King Louis Philippe and Queen Marie Amélie.

His younger sister Louise Marie of Orléans had married Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, in 1832. Belgium's first queen was therefore Philippe's aunt.

This also made Philippe a first cousin of Louise's children, including the future King Leopold II, Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and Princess Charlotte, who would later become Empress of Mexico.

The French and Belgian royal families were not simply neighbouring dynasties. They were close family.

Philippe's future changed when his father died following a carriage accident in 1842. At just four years old, he became heir to his grandfather's throne.

Revolution in Paris

In February 1848, revolution broke out in Paris. King Louis Philippe abdicated on 24 February, hoping  that his grandson would succeed him. Philippe was only nine years old, and his mother Hélène hoped to act as regent until he was old enough to rule.

She took Philippe and his younger brother Robert to the Chamber of Deputies in an attempt to have her son's succession recognised.

It was not meant to be. The monarchy collapsed and the Second French Republic was proclaimed. The young prince who had stood so close to the French throne was now a royal child in exile.

A new home in England

Like other members of the Orléans family, Philippe found refuge in England. And there was another connection with Belgian royal history. 

The family settled at Claremont in Surrey, a house already closely associated with King Leopold I of Belgium.

Long before he became Belgium's first king, Leopold had lived at Claremont with his first wife, Princess Charlotte of Wales. Their marriage ended tragically when Charlotte died in 1817 after giving birth to a stillborn son.

Years later, the same house became a home in exile for members of the family of Leopold's second wife, Queen Louise.

Philippe spent part of his youth in Britain, but his life would eventually take him much further away from France.

United States of America

During the American Civil War, Philippe and his younger brother Robert travelled to the United States and served on the Union side. Philippe joined the staff of General George B. McClellan.

It was an unexpected chapter in the life of a French prince who had once been expected to inherit a throne.

Marriage and family

In 1864, Philippe married Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans. 

Marie Isabelle was also a member of the extended Orléans family. She was the daughter of Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Philippe and Marie Isabelle had eight children.

Returning to France

After the fall of the Second French Empire, circumstances changed once again. The law that had kept the Orléans family in exile was repealed in 1871, allowing Philippe to return to France after more than two decades away. The possibility of restoring the French monarchy had not completely disappeared.

Henri, Count of Chambord, from the senior Bourbon line, was regarded by Legitimists as the rightful heir to the throne. Philippe eventually recognised him as head of the French royal house. As Chambord had no children, Philippe could eventually inherit the royal claim.

For a time, a restoration of the monarchy seemed possible. It never happened.

When the Count of Chambord died childless in 1883, Philippe became the Orléanist claimant to the French throne. His supporters regarded him as Philippe VII.

France, however, remained a republic.

Royal connections continue

Philippe's own hopes of becoming king faded, but the next generation of his family continued to make royal history elsewhere in Europe.

In 1886, his eldest daughter Amélie married Carlos, heir to the Portuguese throne. Three years later, Carlos became King Carlos I of Portugal and Amélie became Queen of Portugal.

There is something fascinating about that twist in the family story. Philippe had spent much of his life connected to a crown he would never wear, while his daughter eventually became a queen in another country.

Philippe spent his final years once again outside France. He died at Stowe House in England on 8 September 1894, aged 56.

His life had begun at the Tuileries Palace during the reign of his grandfather and ended in England, far from the French throne he had once been expected to inherit.

A changing royal world

Philippe's life reflects a century in which royal fortunes could change remarkably quickly. A revolution had taken away the future once planned for him, while family ties continued to connect the Orléans with royal courts across Europe.

Philippe never became King of the French, but his story remains a fascinating part of nineteenth-century royal history.

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Source pictures Wikipedia