The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) 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 The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first in 1789. It led to ...

. They reject the claim of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 ...

of 1830–1848 which placed Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans, head of the

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, t ...

of the Bourbon dynasty, on the throne until he too was dethroned and driven with his family into exile. Following the movement of

Ultra-royalist The Ultra-royalists (french: ultraroyalistes, collectively Ultras) were a French political faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported Roman Cathol ...

s during the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

of 1814, Legitimists came to form one of the three main

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

factions in France, which was principally characterized by its

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revolu ...

views. According to historian

René Rémond René Rémond (; 30 September 1918 – 14 April 2007) was a French historian, political scientist and political economist. Born in Lons-le-Saunier, Rémond was the Secretary General of Jeunesses étudiantes Catholiques (JEC France in 1943) and ...

, the other two right-wing factions were the Orléanists and the Bonapartists. Legitimists believe that the traditional rules of succession, based on the Salic law, determine the rightful

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the fir ...

. The last ruling king whom legitimists acknowledge as legitimate was Charles X, and when the line of his heirs 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 Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mo ...

. The fact that all French Legitimist claimants since 1883 have been members of the Spanish royal dynasty, that their patrilineal descent from

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

has been in question since 1936, and that Philip V renounced claims to the French throne for himself and his heirs-male in the Treaty of Utrecht, is irrelevant to Legitimism; however, these facts have prompted other French monarchists to pivot to support of the Orléans line, who would be next in the traditional line of succession if Philip's heirs were excluded, or support to the Bonaparte family. The current Legitimist pretender is

Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou Louis Alphonse de BourbonHis name is given as "Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon and Martínez-Bordiú, Duke of Anjou" by Olga S. Opfell in ''Royalty who Wait: The 21 Heads of Formerly Regnant Houses of Europe'' (2001), p. 11. ( es, Luis Alfonso ...

, the senior great-grandson of

Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alf ...

by male primogeniture, whose line was excluded from the Spanish succession.

History

Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830)

Following the

in 1814, a strongly restricted

census suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to ...

sent to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

majority in 1815–1816 (''la Chambre introuvable'') and from 1824 to 1827. Called as such because they were more royalist than the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

(''plus royalistes que le roi''), the Ultras were thus the dominant political faction under

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

(1815–1824) and Charles X (1824–1830). Opposed to the

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

of Louis XVIII and to the limitation of the

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

's power, they hoped to restore the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

and cancel the rupture created by the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

. By the same token, Ultras opposed all liberal, republican and democratic ideas. While Louis XVIII hoped to moderate the restoration of the Ancien Régime in order to make it acceptable to the population, the Ultras would never abandon the dream of an integral restoration even after the 1830

which set the Orléanist branch on the throne and sent the Ultras back to their castles in the countryside and to private life. Their importance during the Restoration was in part due to electoral laws which largely favored them (on one hand a Chamber of Peers composed of hereditary members and on the other a Chamber of Deputies elected under a heavily restricted census suffrage which permitted approximately 100,000 Frenchmen to vote). Louis XVIII's first ministers, who included Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu and Élie, duc Decazes, were replaced by the ''Chambre introuvable'' dominated by the Ultras. Louis XVIII finally decided to dissolve this chaotic assembly, but the new liberals who replaced them were no easier to govern. After the 1820 assassination of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, the ultra-

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the '' status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abs ...

son of the comte d'Artois (Louis XVIII's brother and future Charles X) and a short interval during which Richelieu governed, the Ultras were back in government headed by the

Jean-Baptiste de Villèle Jean-Baptiste is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was King ...

. The death in 1824 of the moderate Louis XVIII emboldened the Ultra faction. In January 1825, Villèle's government passed the

Anti-Sacrilege Act The Anti-Sacrilege Act (1825–1830) was a French law against blasphemy and sacrilege passed in April 1825 under King Charles X. The death penalty provision of the law was never applied, but a man named François Bourquin was sentenced to perpet ...

which punished by

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

the theft of sacred vessels (with or without consecrated hosts). This anachronistic law ( Jean-Noël Jeanneney) was in the end never applied (except on a minor point) and repealed in the first months of Louis Philippe I's reign (1830–1848). The Ultras also wanted to create courts to punish

radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

and passed laws restricting

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

. After the 1830 July Revolution replaced the Bourbons with the more liberal Orléanist branch, the Ultras' influence declined, although it survived until at least the 16 May 1877 crisis and 1879 and perhaps even longer. They softened their views and made the restoration of the

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spani ...

their main aim. From 1830 on, they became known as Legitimists.

Legitimists under the July Monarchy (1830–1848)

During the

of 1830 to 1848, when the junior Orléanist branch held the throne, the Legitimists were politically

marginalized Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

, many withdrawing from active participation in political life. The situation was complicated before 1844 by debate as to who the legitimate

was, as Charles X and his son Louis-Antoine the Dauphin had both abdicated during the 1830 Revolution in favor of Charles's young grandson, Henri, Count of Chambord. Until the deaths of Charles X and his son in 1836 and 1844, respectively, many Legitimists continued to recognize each of them in turn as the rightful king, ahead of Chambord.

Legitimists under the Second Republic and the Second Empire (1848–1871)

The fall of King Louis Philippe I in 1848 led to a strengthening of the Legitimist position. Although the childlessness of Chambord weakened the hand of the Legitimists, they came back into political prominence during the Second Republic. Legitimists joined with Orleanists to form the

Party of Order The Rue de Poitiers Committee (), best known as Party of Order (), was a political group formed by monarchists and conservatives in the French Parliament during the French Second Republic. It included monarchist members from both the Orléanist an ...

which dominated parliament from the elections of May 1849 until Bonaparte's coup on 2 December 1851. They formed a prominent part of

Odilon Barrot Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Barrot (; 19 July 1791 – 6 August 1873) was a French politician who was briefly head of the council of ministers under President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1848–49. Early life Barrot was born at Villefort, Lozè ...

's ministry from December 1848 to November 1849 and in 1850 were successful in passing the Falloux Law which brought the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

back into secondary education. Through much of this time there was discussion of fusion with the Orléanist party so that the two could effect a monarchical restoration. This prospect prompted several sons of Louis Philippe to declare their support for Chambord, but fusion was not actually achieved, and after 1850 the two parties again diverged. The most committed Orléanists supported the candidacy of Louis Philippe's third son, François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville, for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by ...

while the Legitimists largely supported allowing Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to run for a second term. In spite of this support for Bonaparte's ambitions, they opposed his scheme to restore universal suffrage in the last months of 1851, and their leaders, like those of the Orléanists, were arrested during Bonaparte's coup. The period of the Second Empire saw the Legitimists once again cast out of active political life.

Legitimists under the Third Republic (1871–1940)

Nevertheless, the Legitimists remained a significant party within

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. ...

opinion, attracting support of the larger part of the

aristocracy. After the Siege of Paris in 1870 and the 1871

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

, the Legitimists returned for one final time to political prominence. The 8 February 1871 election, held under

universal manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slo ...

, gave the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

a royalist majority supported by the provinces while all the Parisian deputies were republican. This time the Legitimists were able to agree with the Orléanists on a program of fusion largely because of the growing likelihood that the Chambord would die without children. The liberal Orléanists agreed to recognize Chambord as king and the Orléanists claimant himself Prince Philippe, Count of Paris (1838–1894) recognized Chambord as head of the French royal house. In return, Legitimists in the Assembly agreed that should Chambord die childless, Philippe d'Orléans would succeed him as king. Unfortunately for French monarchism, Chambord's refusal to accept the tricolor as the flag of France and to abandon the '' fleur-de-lys'', symbol of the Ancien Régime, made restoration impossible until after his death in 1883, by which time the monarchists had long since lost their parliamentary majority due to the 16 May 1877 crisis. The death of Chambord effectively dissolved the Legitimists as a political force in France. Affected by sinistrisme, few conservatives explicitly called themselves

during the Third Republic as it became a term associated with the counter-revolution and anti-republican feelings and by the 1900s was reserved for

groups. Those Legitimists who had rallied to the Republic in 1893, after Chambord's death ten years before still called themselves ''Droite constitutionnelle'' or ''républicaine'' (Constitutional or Republican Right). However, they changed their name in 1899 and entered the 1902 elections under the name '' Action libérale'' (Liberal Action). By 1910, the only group which openly claimed descent from the right-wing gathered only nostalgic royalists and from 1924 on the term right-wing practically vanished from the parliamentary right's glossary. By this time, the vast majority of Legitimists had retired to their country chateaux and abandoned the political arena. Although the '' Action française'' (French Action) remained an influential movement throughout the 1930s, its motivations for the restoration of monarchy were quite distinct from older Legitimists' views and

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...

' instrumental use of Catholicism set them at odds. Thus, Legitimists participated little in the political events of the 1920s and 1930s, in particular in the

6 February 1934 riots 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second smal ...

organized by

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

leagues. The royalist aristocrats clearly distinguished themselves from the new ultra right which was influenced by the emerging movements of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...

and

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

. However, Legitimists joined Maurras in celebrating the fall of the Third Republic after the 1940

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

as a divine surprise and many of them entered Philippe Pétain's

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

administration, seeing a golden opportunity to impose a reactionary program in occupied France.

Legitimists under Vichy and after World War II (1940–present)

French royalism largely receded to irrelevance in World War II and beyond. While before World War II, many French conservatives and other members of the right also harbored royalist aspirations, conservative movements dropped this platform during and after the war. Charles de Gaulle's center-rightist

Gaullism Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...

explicitly repudiated monarchism, and far-right organizations disdained the old aristocratic elite. According to historian

's studies of right-wing factions in France, Legitimists strongly supported the Vichy regime; nevertheless, they received little from the Vichy government, and the regime emphasized Catholic traditionalism rather than a return to aristocracy. According to Rémond,

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

Society of Saint Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the S ...

, founded in 1970, shares aspects with the Legitimist movement. Nevertheless, Legitimism is a largely spent force.

Spanish Bourbons

A remnant of Legitimists, known as the ''

blancs d'Espagne Blancs d'Espagne ("Spanish Whites") was a term used to refer to those legitimists in France who, following the death of the Comte de Chambord in 1883, supported the Spanish Carlist claimant rather than the Orleanist candidate, who was supported ...

'' (Whites of Spain), by repudiating Philip V's renunciation of the French throne as '' ultra vires'' and contrary to the fundamental French monarchical law, upheld the rights of the eldest branch of the Bourbons, represented as of 1883 by the

Carlist Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty – one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855) – o ...

pretender to the Spanish throne. This group was initially minuscule, but it began to grow larger after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

due both to the political leftism of the Orléanist pretender Henri, Count of Paris and to the active efforts of the claimants of the elder line after extinction of the Carlist male-line— Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia, the disinherited second son of

; and his son Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz—to secure Legitimist support, such that by the 1980s the elder line had fully reclaimed for its supporters the political title of Legitimists. The Spanish-born Louis-Alphonse de Bourbon is the Bourbon whom the French Legitimists consider to be the ''de jure'' king of France under the name Louis XX. A 1987 attempt by the Orléanist heir (and other Bourbons, none of the elder branch) to contest Louis-Alphonse's use of the Anjou title and to deny him use of the plain

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of France was dismissed by the French courts in March 1989 for lack of jurisdiction (the courts did not address the merits of the claims). He is a French citizen through his paternal grandmother and is generally recognised as the senior legitimate representative of the House of Capet.

Dynastic arguments

Legitimists consider the valid rationale for restoration and the order of succession to the French throne derives from fundamental laws of the

, which were formed in the early centuries of the Capetian monarchy. According to these rules, monarchy is the basic form of government and the monarch the indispensable executive of government, succession to the throne being hereditary and passing by Salic primogeniture. Thus, females and any male who is not the ''premier né'' (i.e. the legitimate eldest descendant of the most senior Capetian line) are excluded from the throne. The king must also be Catholic. Other tenets of the legitimist position are the following: * Continuity (or immediacy) of the crown as upon the death of a monarch his heir automatically and immediately becomes king without the need of any formal act of investiture and even if political circumstances would not allow him to actually take power. * Unavailability (or inalienability) of the crown as it is not the personal property of the king, therefore nobody, not even the king himself, can alter the line of succession by abdication, renunciation, or appointment of an heir of his own choosing. This argument is crucial for Legitimists regarding the continuing validity of the rights of succession of the Spanish line of Philip V and his descendants. According to this view, Philip's renunciation of his rights of succession to the French throne in the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 was null and void and therefore his descendants still retain their claim to the French throne ahead of the Orléans line. It has been a point of contention within the Legitimist camp to what extent French nationality constitutes a precondition for royal succession. While adherents of the Spanish Anjou line argue that princes of foreign nationality can still succeed to the French crown, others hold that French nationality of both the claimant and his ancestors is a requirement.''Revue d'Histoire Diplomatique''
(1889). Volume 3. Éditions A. Pedone. Société d'Histoire Générale et d'Histoire Diplomatique: Société d'Histoire Diplomatique. Paris (in French). p. 190. Retrieved 11 October 2011.Velde, François (31 December 2004)

Heraldica.org. Retrieved 11 October 2011.

List of Legitimist claimants to the French throne

In the 1870s the rival Legitimist and Orléanist claimants agreed for the sake of restoration of the monarchy in France to end their rivalry. Philippe d'Orléans, Count of Paris and grandson of Louis Philippe I, accepted the prior claim to the throne of Chambord, who remained childless; Chambord in turn acknowledged that Philippe would claim the right to succeed him as heir, and after his death many Legitimists accepted the descendants of Philippe as the rightful pretenders and became known as Unionists. Those Legitimists who did not accept the Orléanist line as the successors of Chambord argued that the renunciation of the French throne by Philip V of Spain, second grandson of Louis XIV, was invalid and that in 1883 (when Chambord died childless) the throne passed by right to Philip V's heirs in the male-line. In 1883, the senior male of the Spanish branch of Bourbons was Infante Juan, Count of Montizón. His father, Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina (second son of Charles IV: grandson of Philip V), had lost Spain's throne in favor of his niece, the non-Salic heiress of his elder brother,

Isabella II Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successi ...

and his lineage became known as the

pretenders in Spain. When the Carlist branch died out in 1936, the French claim was reunited with that of the Isabelline Spanish line through her grandson

, who was also (officially) the grandson of her consort

Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz (Francisco de Asís María Fernando de Borbón; 13 May 1822 – 17 April 1902), sometimes anglicised Francis of Assisi, was King consort of Spain as the husband of Queen Isabella II of Spain from their marriag ...

(grandson Charles IV via his third son,

Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = , birth_place = Aranjuez, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_place = El Escorial Infante F ...

) and thus the most senior male-line descendant of Philip V (although by that time Alfonso had been dethroned by the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

). The French and Spanish claims separated again at Alfonso's death as his eldest surviving son Infante Jaime renounced his claim to the Spanish throne due to physical disability and some years later asserted a claim to the French succession based on Legitimist principles. The present French Legitimist claimant descends from Jaime while the present king of Spain descends from his younger brother Don Juan. There are however some legitimists who have questioned the claims of all pretenders from Alfonso XIII onward, as it is commonly believed that his father, Alfonso XII, was not the biological son of the Duke of Cadiz.Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón, Isabel II: Los Espejos de la Reina (2004) If true, this would mean that

Francisco de Borbón y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville Francisco de Paula Enrique de Borbón y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville, Grandee of Spain (born 16 November 1943), is the current Duke of Seville and a distant relative of the Spanish royal family.Enache, Nicolas. ''La Descendance de Marie-Therese ...

(great-great grandson of Cádiz's younger brother) is currently the true legitimist heir to the French throne.

Line of Succession

The annotated list below covers the first part of this line of succession, being limited to

List of descendants of Louis XIV Louis XIV (1638–1715), was the son of Louis XIII, King Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria, Queen Anne, and the House of Bourbon, Bourbon monarch of the Kingdom of France. The descendants of Louis XIV are numerous. Although only one of hi ...

. People named in italics are unnumbered because they are deceased. * ''

King Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

'' ** '' Louis, Grand Dauphin'' *** ''

Louis, Duke of Burgundy Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (16 August 1682 – 18 February 1712), was the eldest son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria and grandson of the reigning French king, Louis XIV. He was known as the "Pet ...

'' **** ''King Louis XV of France'' ***** '' Louis, Dauphin of France'' ****** ''

King Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

'' ******* '' Louis, Dauphin of France'' ****** '' King Louis XVIII of France'' ****** ''

King Charles X of France Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...

'' ******* ''

Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême Louis Antoine of France, Duke of Angoulême (6 August 1775 – 3 June 1844) was the elder son of Charles X of France and the last Dauphin of France from 1824 to 1830. He was disputedly King of France and Navarre for less than 20 minutes before ...

'' ******* '' Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry'' ******** '' Henri, Count of Chambord'' *** ''King Philip V of Spain'' **** ''King Louis I of Spain'' **** ''King Ferdinand VI of Spain'' **** ''King Charles III of Spain'' ***** ''King Charles IV of Spain'' ****** ''

King Ferdinand VII of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

'' ****** ''Infante Carlos, Count of Molina'' ******* '' Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin'' ******* '' Infante Juan, Count of Montizón'' ******** ''

Infante Carlos, Duke of Madrid ''Don'' Carlos de Borbón y Austria-Este (Spanish: ''Carlos María de los Dolores Juan Isidro José Francisco Quirico Antonio Miguel Gabriel Rafael''; French: ''Charles Marie des Douleurs Jean Isidore Joseph François Cyr Antoine Michel Gabriel R ...

'' ********* ''

Infante Jaime, Duke of Madrid Jaime de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma, known as Duke of Madrid and as Jacques de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou in France (27 June 1870 – 2 October 1931), was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Jaime III and the Legitimist ...

'' ******** '' Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime'' ****** ''Infante Francisco de Paula'' ******* ''Francis, Duke of Cádiz'' ******** ''

King Alfonso XII of Spain Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo; 28 November 185725 November 1885), also known as El Pacificador or the Peacemaker, was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885 ...

'' ********* '' King Alfonso XIII of Spain'' ********** ''Alfonso, Prince of Asturias'' ********** ''Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia'' *********** '' Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz'' ************

************* (1) Louis ************* (2) Alphonse ************* (3) Henri *********** '' Gonzalo, Duke of Aquitaine'' ********** ''Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona'' *********** (4) King Juan Carlos I of Spain ************ (5) King Felipe VI of Spain

Electoral results

These are the results for broadly Legitimist parties in French national elections.

References

External links

{{Authority control Political parties established in 1814 Reactionary French counter-revolutionaries Conservatism in France Monarchism in France Rival successions 1814 establishments in France Pretenders to the French throne Conservative parties in France Monarchist parties in France Right-wing ideologies Right-wing parties in France Far-right politics in France Catholic political parties Political parties of the French Empire