Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres (Robert Philippe Louis Eugène Ferdinand; 9 November 1840 – 5 December 1910), was the son of
Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
, and thus grandson of King
Louis-Philippe of France. He fought for the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''U ...
in the
American Civil War, and then for France in the 1870
Franco-Prussian War. In 1863 he married his cousin
Princess Françoise of Orléans, the daughter of
François, Prince of Joinville. In 1886, he was exiled from France.
Life
Born in 1840, the duke was very soon orphaned – his father died in a
carriage accident in 1842 and his mother of the flu in 1858. Thus, during their childhood and adolescence, he and his elder brother,
Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, were mainly looked after by their grandparents, King Louis-Philippe and Queen Marie-Amélie.
During the
French Revolution of 1848, Louis-Philippe refused to fire upon the revolutionaries, instead abdicating his throne in favour of his grandson Philippe on February 24. Subsequently, the boys' mother presented herself before the chamber of deputies to proclaim her elder son king of the French and to have herself named regent, accompanied by her brother-in-law, the
Duke of Nemours Duke of Nemours was a title in the Peerage of France. The name refers to Nemours in the Île-de-France region of north-central France.
History
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Lordship of Nemours, in the Gatinais, France, was a possession of ...
, and his children. However, the assembly, led by
Ledru-Rollin
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848.
Youth
The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known ...
,
Crémieux and
Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
, frustrated her plans and proclaimed the
Second French Republic.
Helene and her children then left France for Germany, whilst Louis-Philippe and the rest of the royal family moved to the United Kingdom. There they set up home in
Claremont, which was lent to them by the owner, King
Leopold I of Belgium, Louis-Philippe's son-in-law. Whilst in England in 1858, Helene died of influenza.
Sent to Turin for military training shortly after his mother's death, the Duke of Chartres became an officer in the Piedmontese dragoons and fought in the
Wars of Italian Unification on the side of France and the
House of Savoy from 1859 onwards. He notably fought at the
Battle of Palestro
The Battle of Palestro was fought on 30–31 May 1859 between the Austrian Empire and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and France. The Franco-Piedmontese forces were victorious. It was fought just south to Palestro, a tow ...
, for which he was decorated by King
Victor Emmanuel II
en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas
, house = Savoy
, father = Charles Albert of Sardinia
, mother = Maria Theresa of Austria
, religion = Roman Catholicism
, image_size = 252px
, succession ...
.
With the outbreak of the
American Civil War in April 1861, Chartres and his brother,
Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, travelled to the United States to support the Union cause. On September 24, 1861, Chartres was commissioned a captain in the United States Army. He served as an assistant adjutant general on the staff of the commander of the
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...
, Major General
George B. McClellan. He served in the
Battle of Gaines's Mill
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...
on June 27, 1862 and resigned from the Union Army on July 15, 1862.
During their stay in the United States, the princes were accompanied by their uncle, the
Prince of Joinville, who painted many watercolours of their stay. Although eligible for membership, Chartres did not join (as his brother had) the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or simply the Loyal Legion is a United States patriotic order, organized April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Army. The original membership was composed of members ...
– an organization of Union officers who had served during the American Civil War.
Returning to Europe, the Duke of Chartres decided to marry but, as an exiled member of a royal house considered illegitimate by most of the reigning dynasties of the continent, found he would be unable to marry a foreign princess. He thus asked for the hand of his first cousin Françoise d'Orléans-Joinville, whom he married on June 11, 1863, at
St Raphael's Church in
Kingston upon Thames, England. They bought and lived in a house in
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term " ...
(now the site of the
Cassel Hospital
The Cassel Hospital is a psychiatric facility in a Grade II listed building at 1 Ham Common, Richmond, Ham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is run by the West London NHS Trust.
History
The hospital
The hospital was founded ...
).
Finding himself in Brussels, with his uncles Prince François and
Prince Henri, Duke of Aumale, in 1870 on the declaration of the
Franco-Prussian War, the Duke of Chartres immediately requested
Napoleon III's government for authorisation to fight in the conflict. However, the minister of war opposed Robert's participation in the war and he was thus unable to enroll in the French army until after the fall of the Empire. He then fought in the war under the pseudonym Robert Le Fort and was made head of a squadron in the
Armée de la Loire
The Armée de la Loire was a French army of the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed in October 1870 by Léon Gambetta, interior minister and minister for war in the Government of National Defence, then taking refuge in Tours after the French d ...
, fighting with such distinction he was made a Chevalier (knight) of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
once the war was over. The provisional government kept him at that rank and in 1871 sent him to
Algeria
)
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, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
to put down a native revolt.
In 1881, the Republican regime, more and more hostile to members of former ruling families such as the Orléans and Bonaparte, removed him from his post as colonel of the 19th Mounted
Chasseur
''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action.
History
This branch of the French Army or ...
Regiment. Then, in 1886, the law of exile allowed the Republican government to remove the prince from the Army list of officers and to exile him from France. Robert was eventually allowed to return to France and he died in
Saint-Firmin in 1910.
Issue
Robert and Françoise had 5 children:
*
Princess Marie of Orléans (13 January 1865 – 4 December 1909), who in 1885 married
Prince Valdemar of Denmark, son of King
Christian IX of Denmark
Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein- ...
.
*Prince Robert d'Orléans (11 January 1866 – 30 May 1885).
*
Prince Henri of Orléans
Prince Henri of Orléans (16 October 1867 – 9 August 1901) was the son of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres, and Princess Françoise of Orléans.
Biography
Henri, the second eldest son and third child of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres, was ...
(16 October 1867 – 9 August 1901).
*
Princess Marguerite d'Orléans (25 January 1869 – 31 January 1940), who in 1896 married
Marie Armand Patrice de Mac Mahon
Marie Armand Patrice de Mac Mahon, known as Patrice de Mac Mahon (10 June 1855, Outreau – 23 May 1927, Paris), 2nd Duke of Magenta and 6th Marquis d'Éguilly in 1893, was a French soldier and aristocrat.
Life
The eldest son of Pa ...
,
Duke of Magenta, son of
Patrice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta.
*
Prince Jean d'Orléans (4 September 1874 – 25 August 1940), "Duke of Guise" and Orléanist pretender to the throne of France as "Jean III", who in 1899 married his first cousin
Princess Isabelle d'Orléans (1878–1961), daughter of
Prince Philippe, Count of Paris.
Honours
* : Knight of the
Legion of Honour, ''14 November 1871''
* : Knight of the
Order of the Elephant
The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...
, ''14 September 1885'' – as the father-in-law of a Danish Prince
* : Grand Cross of the
Order of the White Falcon
Order of the White Falcon (german: Hausorden vom Weißen Falken) is a grand-ducal order of Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, founded by Duke Ernest Augustus on 2 August 1732, and renewed in 1815 by Charles Augustus.
Description
In the early 2 ...
, ''20 August 1861''
* : Grand Cross of the
Order of Charles III, ''5 March 1886''
* : Grand Cross of the
Order of the Tower and Sword
The Ancient and Most Noble Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of the Valour, Loyalty and Merit ( pt, Antiga e Muito Nobre Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada, do Valor, Lealdade e Mérito), before 1910 Royal Military Order of the Tower an ...
, ''22 May 1886''
[Marquis de Flers, ''The Count of Paris'', quoted in ''Moi Amélie, Last Queen of Portugal'' by Stéphane Bern, pp. 112-113]
Works
* ''Histoire de la guerre civile en Amérique'' – 7 Bände. Paris: 1874–87
Ancestry
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chartres, Robert Philippe Louis Eugene Ferdinand Of Orleans, Duke Of
1840 births
1910 deaths
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
Union Army officers
People of the Italian unification
French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Burials at the Chapelle royale de Dreux