Louis-Philippe I

(1773-1850)

   king of the French, first of the House of Orléans

   King of the French from 1830 to 1848, Louis-Philippe I was the son of Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duke of orléans (known as Philippe égalité), and Louise-Marie de Bourbon-Penthièvre. He bore the titles successively of duke of Valois, of Chartres (1785), and of Orléans (on the death of his father in 1793). Raised with his sister, the future Madame Adélaïde, by Mme de Genlis, he was, like his father, a fervent supporter of revolutionary ideas. A member of the jacobins (see revolution of 1789), he distinguished himself as an officer at the Battles of Valmy and Jemappes (1792). After the execution of his father, Louis-Philippe remained in exile, traveling and teaching mathematics and languages in Germany, Scandinavia, the United States, and England. In 1809, he married his cousin, Marie-Amélie, who was King Ferdinand IV of Naples's daughter. They had eight children. He returned to France after the abdication of napoléon i and was welcomed by louis XV III, who restored him to the Orléans estates. As the son of a former regicide, however, he was kept out of the court and out of political life. In the late 1820s, he became the favorite of the middle and lower classes, who had grown restive under the reactionary rule of charles x. In the july revolution of 1830, which overthrew Charles, Louis-Philippe, brought to power by the wealthy bourgeoisie, was proclaimed king of the French by the Chamber of Deputies. At first content to rule as a "citizen-king," he conciliated the republicans who brought him to power, and dispensed with many royal privileges, beginning what is known as the july monarchy. He had also supported, more or less, such liberal newspapers as Le Constitutionnel and later Le National. Gradually, however, he became more authoritarian and sought to rule as well as to reign (see François guizot). The last years of his monarchy were marked by corruption and failures in both domestic and foreign affairs, and he was eventually deserted by both the democratic and the authoritarian elements. He was deposed by the revolution of 1848 and, after his abdication, went into exile in England, where he died two years later.