Biography of Louis Philippe Albert of Orléans

Destined to reign

24 August 1838
8 September 1894
The revolution of July 1830, Charles X and not in Paris, lays, considering his abdication in favour of his grandson Henri d'Artois, Duke of Burgundy (Henry V), the main branch of the Bourbons of France, proclaimed King of the French Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans of the cadet branch of the House. But also the reign of Louis-Philippe I will end up with an insurrection of 1848, and again the insurgents won't hold any account the King's abdication in favor of his nephew namesake Louis Philippe Albert, Comte de Paris (eldest son of the late Ferdinand, son of the King), and proclaim the Republic. The young Louis-Philippe Albert, who has just ten years and that he appears to have reigned under the Regency of his mother, will stay pretender to the throne as Louis Philippe II which, as we shall see, will be transformed into Philip VII.
Born in Paris on 24 August 1838, therefore, by Ferdinand Philippe d'Orleans and the Duchess Helen of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Louis Philippe Albert fully represents the Orleanist dynasty. He is an intellectual, historian and journalist: having to stay away from the country after the events of 1848, those passions lead him in Germany, England and then, after 1861, to take part in the American civil war: here fights with the rank of captain in the Union army, under the command of General George McClellan.
On 30 May 1864 takes to wife Maria Isabel of Orléans, daughter of Antonio of Orléans and of Bourbon of Spain, Luisa Fernanda with whom he had eight children: Amelia, in 1865, who married King Charles I of Portugal; Philip VIII, in 1869, the Duke of Orléans and later count of Paris, who married Archduchess Maria Dorothea von Habsburg; Elena, in 1871, to be the wife of Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta; Carl Philip, who will live only a few months, from 21 January to 8 June 1875; Isabel, in 1878, who married her cousin John III; Giacomo Maria Clemente, born on 5 April 1880 and he died a few months later, on 22 January 1881; Luisa, in 1882, married to Carlos of the two Sicilies, infante of Spain and finally Ferdinand, Duke of Montpensier, in 1884, who married the Marchioness Maria Isabella Gonzalez de Olaneta and Ibarreta, grandee of Spain.
Meanwhile, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, elected President of the Republic in 1848 and proclaimed emperor in 1852 under the name of Napoleon III in 1870 sees collapse their empires. The following year he was proclaimed the third Republic. Back at home, the Comte de Paris reaches an agreement with Henry V to end the conflict between the two main branches and Cadet (legitimists and orléanists): the agreement recognizes him, after the death of Henry V and in the absence of sons, the only pretender, which happens in 1883. But the third Republic does not intend to tolerate the presence of a would-be monarch ejects him from France in 1886, and, together with the entire family. Philip VII repairs in England where he remained for eight years: he died in Stowehouse the 8 September 1894, only 56 years old.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.