Duke of Orléans
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox nobility title Duke of Orléans (Template:Langx) was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King Philip VI for his younger son Philip,<ref>{{#if: |
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}}{{#ifeq: ||}}</ref> the title was recreated by King Charles VI for his younger brother Louis, who passed the title on to his son and then to his grandson, the latter becoming King Louis XII. The title was created and recreated six times in total, until 1661, when Louis XIV bestowed it upon his younger brother Philippe, who passed it on to his male descendants, who became known as the "Orléans branch" of the Bourbons.
Based at the Palais-Royal, the Duke of Orléans Louis-Philippe II contested the authority of his cousin Louis XVI in the adjacent Louvre. His son would eventually ascend to the throne in 1830 as Louis-Philippe I, King of the French. The descendants of the family are the Orléanist pretenders to the French throne.
Île d'Orléans, in Canada, is named after Duke of Orléans Henri II, and the city of New Orleans in the United States is named after Duke of Orléans Philippe II.
The holder of the title held the style of Serene Highness.
House of Valois
The first Dukedom of Orléans was created for Philip of Valois, seventh son of Philip VI of France and younger brother of John the Good, in 1344.<ref>Amédée René, Les princes militaires de la maison de France, Paris, 1848, p. 49</ref> This appanage merged the appanages of Touraine and Valois. However, the first ducal line ended with Philip, who died without legitimate children.
| Duke | Birth | Tenure | Death | Marriage(s) Issue |
Claim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Philip Other titles Template:Collapsible list |
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1 July 1336 Château de Vincennes Son of Philip VI of France and Joan of Burgundy |
1344 Template:Ndash 1 September 1375 |
1 September 1375 Orléans Died by natural causes (aged 39) |
Blanche of France (Template:Tooltip 1345; Template:Tooltip 1375) Template:Small |
Created duke by Philip VI |
House of Valois-Orléans
The second dukedom of Orléans was created in 1392 by Charles VI of France for his younger brother Louis. His role as leading figure in court, regent for his brother during his madness and wealthy landlord, as well as head of the Armagnac party, permitted his descendant to maintain a prominent role in French politics. His grandson Louis XII became king after the extinction of the direct Valois in 1498,<ref>Didier Le Fur, Louis XII : un autre César, Perrin, 2001 p. 40.</ref> while his great-grandson Francis I succeeded the last in 1515.<ref>Auguste Bailly, François Ier : restaurateur des lettres et des arts, Livre club du librairie, 1961, p. 9.</ref> The direct line of Valois-Orléans became extinct with the death of Louis XII in 1515, although the dukedom of Orléans was integrated among the crown's properties after his ascent to the throne in 1495.
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House of Valois-Angoulême
The third dukedom of Orléans was created by Francis I for his second son Henry at his birth. When Henry's elder brother and Dauphin, Francis, Duke of Brittany, died childless in 1536, Henry substituted him as Dauphin and ceded the title to his younger brother Charles, Duke of Angoulême, who died childless in 1545.
| Duke | Birth | Tenure | Death | Marriage(s) Issue |
Claim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg) Henry I Other titles Template:Collapsible list |
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31 March 1519 Saint-Germain-en-Laye Son of Francis I of France and Claude of France |
31 March 1519 Template:Ndash 10 August 1536 (Renounced the title to become Dauphin) |
10 July 1559 Place des Vosges, Paris Accidentally killed in a joust (aged 40) |
Catherine de' Medici (Template:Tooltip 1533; Template:Tooltip 1559) Template:Small |
Created duke by Francis I |
Charles II Other titles Template:Collapsible list |
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22 January 1522 Saint-Germain-en-Laye Son of Francis I of France and Claude of France |
10 August 1536 Template:Ndash 9 September 1545 |
9 September 1545 Forest-Montiers Died by influenza (aged 23) |
Unmarried | Brother of Henry I (Elevated by Francis I) |
The fourth dukedom was created by Henry II for his son Louis at his birth. The child duke, however, died one year later, and the title passed to his recently born brother Charles, who became King of France in 1560.<ref>Jean Heritier, Catherine de Medici. George Allen and Unwin, 1963, p. 69.</ref> The title passed to Charles' brother, Henry, Duke of Angoulême, who six years later exchanged the appanages of Orléans for the Dukedom of Anjou, becoming the heir in pectore of the Crown.<ref>Nicolas Le Roux, «La cour dans l'espace du palais: l'exemple de Henri III», Palais et pouvoir, de Constantinople à Versailles, Presses universitaires de Vincennes, 2003, pp. 106-108.</ref>
House of Medici
After Henry's exchange of appanages, Charles IX gave the Orléanais to his mother Catherine, former Queen of France, as reward for her role as regent, mainly about toleration politics. She was the only suo jure Duchess of Orléans, so is included among the ruling dukes.<ref>Knecht, R. J. Catherine de' Medici. London and New York: Longman, 1998, 104-108.</ref>
| Duke | Birth | Tenure | Death | Marriage(s) Issue |
Claim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Catherine (suo jure) Other titles Template:Collapsible list |
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13 April 1519 Palazzo Pitti, Florence Daughter of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne |
8 February 1566 Template:Ndash 5 January 1589 |
5 January 1589 Château de Blois Died by pleurisy (aged 69) |
Henry II of France (Template:Tooltip 1533; Template:Tooltip 1559) Template:Small |
Created duchess by Charles IX |
First House of Bourbon-Orléans
The fifth dukedom was created in 1626 by Louis XIII for his younger brother Gaston, Duke of Anjou.<ref>A.L. Moote, Louis XIII, The Just p 192. University of California Press, 1991, p. 192.</ref> Gaston became a libertine and scheming figure at court, plotting the assassination of Cardinal Richelieu and later joining the Fronde, a coalition of nobles who opposed the royal centralisation. Finally forgiven by Louis XIII, he died without male heirs, extinguishing the first Bourbon House of Orléans.
Notes: the Monsieur d'Orléans, second son of Henry IV isn't included in the list due to his short life (4 years) and lack of official baptism or name.<ref>François de Malherbe, Lettres à Peiresc, éd. La Pléiade, p. 378.</ref>
| Duke | Birth | Tenure | Death | Marriage(s) Issue |
Claim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gaston Other titles Template:Collapsible list |
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24 April 1608 Château of Fontainebleau Son of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici |
6 August 1626 Template:Ndash 2 February 1660 |
2 February 1660 Château de Blois Died by natural causes (aged 51) |
Template:Grey Marie of Bourbon (Template:Tooltip 1626; Template:Tooltip 1627) Template:Small Template:Grey Marguerite of Lorraine (Template:Tooltip 1632; Template:Tooltip 1660) Template:Small |
Created duke by Henry IV |
Second House of Bourbon-Orléans
Template:Main The sixth and final creation was for Philip, Duke of Anjou, who received the Orléanais by his brother Louis XIV. Through his marriage with Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, he established a long dynasty that finally arose to the throne in 1830, with the deposition of Charles X and the proclamation of Louis Philippe I.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Louis Philippe passed his title to his son and dauphin, Ferdinand, who died in a carriage accident in 1842.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
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Current use
- Legitimists recognize Jean, Count of Paris, Head of the House of Orléans, as Duke of Orléans, inheriting the title as the heir male of Philip I, Duke of Orléans.
- Orleanists recognize Jacques d'Orléans, uncle of the Count of Paris, as Duke of Orléans. Per Orleanist-Unionist reckoning, the title merged with the crown in 1883 and was subsequently granted to Jacques upon his marriage in 1969.