If France Became A Monarchy?

[JR76]

If France were still a monarchy, I think it would be the most well-known monarchy in the world next to the British one.
Perhaps it was the Orleans who were on the throne and the Palace of Versailles was the palace most used by the royal family.

I don't think that the palace of Versailles itself would ever be lived in by the Royal family again. It's such a divisive symbol of l'ancien regime. The family of King Louis Philippe used Grand Trianon in the palace park as a getaway and I can see that having continued under a modern day monarchy, but Versailles itself would have only been used for limited representation like it is today.

 

[An Ard Ri]

If France were still a monarchy, I think it would be the most well-known monarchy in the world next to the British one.
Perhaps it was the Orleans who were on the throne and the Palace of Versailles was the palace most used by the royal family.

It was the House of Orléans that restored the Palace to its former glory but was only used for hosting as did Napoleon III with Queen Victoria in 1855.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Versailles would have been the same as Hampton Court in London or the Neues Palais in Potsdam or Schönbrunn in Vienna: historic sites attracting lots of tourists.

My guess is that the royal family would live in Fontainebleau, Rambouillet or Marly and not in those massive palaces.

 

[Denville]

Versailles? wasn't that a very uncomfortable palace.

 

[Marengo]

There is still Compiègne that was used by Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III. Not in the best state at the moment but had they continued as monarchs I am sure it would have looked better.

Another option would have been the châteaux de Neuilly and Saint-Cloud. Had France remained an Orleans monarchy these castles would probably not have been demolished/abandoned but restaured. Especially the first was a great favourite of Louis Philippe. The same goes for the demolished Tuileries in Paris.

Had the duke of Bordeaux/count of chambord managed to get to the throne I imagine he would have used Chambord castle frequently. t might have turned out to be the Windsor of a French monarchy.

As it is it is a great pity that the Orléans family did not keep some rights for the head of the family to live in Château d'Amboise - as the Duke of Bavaria does in Nymphenburg. The castle and town are lovely, in a wonderful part of France and it is a very historic place.

 

[SirGyamfi1]

Versailles would have been the same as Hampton Court in London or the Neues Palais in Potsdam or Schönbrunn in Vienna: historic sites attracting lots of tourists.

My guess is that the royal family would live in Fontainebleau, Rambouillet or Marly and not in those massive palaces.

Sorry to ask about a different monarchy, but didn’t the Habsburgs technically own Schönbrunn until the Lex Habsburg law? I think that yes those palaces you listed would be touristy but the functions would be slightly different. I would also say for other residences Chateau de Chambord, Chateau de Chantilly, Chateau d’eu, could also be hideouts for the family.

 

[SirGyamfi1]

The Count wanted to be king and it was planned for him to become king with the Count of Paris as his heir, but the flag was to much of an issue for him to overlook. In the end after two serious attempts had been made the by royalists dominated parliament had enough of his antics and reluctantly declared that the temporary republic under Adolphe Thiers would continue under the even more reluctant and royalist Duke of Magenta as president while waiting for the Count of Paris to be able to ascend the throne on the death of the Count of Chambord. When that finally happened in 1883 the support for the monarchy was waining as the French people's support for the at the time stable and prosperous Third Republic had grown.
In the words of Pope Pius XI - "And all that, all that for a napkin!"

That last line is so funny to me. “All that for a napkin”?

 

[SirGyamfi1]

There was also an attempt to restore the Monarchy in 1873 but the Count of Chambord did not accept the tricolore and wanted the lilies flag so it fell.

Some people don’t learn from events and are very stubborn.

 

[JR76]

That last line is so funny to me. “All that for a napkin”[emoji38]?

The way I screamed when I read it.

 

[An Ard Ri]

In 1887 the Third Republic began to sell off the French Crown jewels and treasures .These were 19th century jewels as the original French Crown Jewels were kept at the Garde Meuble de la Couronne (Royal Treasury) but this was ransacked and pillaged in 1792. The other Funerary Crowns and jewels at St Denis too were pillaged.

 

[Curryong]

This sort of thing always appears to me to be just sheer vandalism. Surely to goodness there were museums in Paris in the 1880s where such treasures could be kept for the public to admire, or not? You can sort of understand, if not excuse, Crown Jewels being pillaged in the midst of a violent revolution, but not sell such things for profit at a time of peace.

 

[An Ard Ri]

This sort of thing always appears to me to be just sheer vandalism. Surely to goodness there were museums in Paris in the 1880s where such treasures could be kept for the public to admire, or not? You can sort of understand, if not excuse, Crown Jewels being pillaged in the midst of a violent revolution, but not sell such things for profit at a time of peace.

There was an excess of vandalism and sheer lawlessness during the Terror with Chateaux,Abbey's and churches being pillaged and ransacked.Nothing was sacred not even burials .The Coffins of Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin were smashed open and their bones were dumped in the street for dogs.


The Holy Ampulla used at Coronations was broken and destroyed in October 1793.

The French Coronation Sword survived the Revolution and Napoleon had the Fleur de Lys removed and replaced with gold laurel leaves. During the Bourbon restoration the Napoleonic additions were removed and the Fleur de Lys replaced.
Today its housed in the Lourve.

 

[Marengo]

When were the jewels of the Empress sold? Just after the war I imagine the French needed money to pay of the 5 billion francs of war indemnities to the Prussians.

 

[An Ard Ri]

When were the jewels of the Empress sold? Just after the war I imagine the French needed money to pay of the 5 billion francs of war indemnities to the Prussians.

The Empress managed to take a lot of her jewels to England and sold some off herself.
The ones's that were left in France were catalogued and sold off in 1887.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/s...istie-auction-eugenie-last-empress-of-france/

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Some people don’t learn from events and are very stubborn.

It is alike "Let them eat cake": a popularised myth to explain à la méthode de "For Dummies" why France did not become a monarchy. It is really not because of that little textile after all Protestant Henri IV gave the example: "Paris is well worth a Mass" (he converted to Catholicism to obtain that throne of France).

Henri d'Artois, the Comte de Chambord, saw insufficient support and momentum for a succesful and lasting restoration. And he was right. The first Elections for the Third Republic unexpectedly gave a majority for the monarchists.

But the monarchists themselves were hopelessly divided. The Chambre des Députés had 650 members. With 396 members the monarchists had the majority. However: 182 of them did support Henri d'Artois (the Legitimists) and 214 did support Louis-Philippe, the Comte de Chambord (the Orléanists).

And in the best tradition of sectionalism, see the Carlist Wars in Spain, both factions were hostile. This insufficient support, the factionalism and the waning momentum were the real reasons why the monarchy was not restored.

Was there really a chance on a lasting and succesful new monarchy, the Comte de Chambord would not have fallen for a piece of textile: "Paris is well worth a tricolore". But the old man saw that his own support base was smaller than those of Orléans and that the majority of the two combined was not convincing, neither in numbers nor in geographical spreading of the supporting constituencies.

 

[SirGyamfi1]

The Empress managed to take a lot of her jewels to England and sold some off herself.
The ones's that were left in France were catalogued and sold off in 1887.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/s...istie-auction-eugenie-last-empress-of-france/

What she left behind were the Crown Jewels, her own personal jewels she took away with her. Some of her jewels were given to her goddaughters.

 

[SirGyamfi1]

When were the jewels of the Empress sold? Just after the war I imagine the French needed money to pay of the 5 billion francs of war indemnities to the Prussians.

The sale of the jewels had nothing to do with paying off the indemnity on France. It was simply because they were tired of monarchy symbols so sold off the jewels. I think some of the Orleans family members even came to the auction to buy some jewels, but they couldn’t compete with the buyers. The state kept a few important pieces but sold a good portion. There was a fear of a royalist coup and because of agitations of extreme right wing royalists radicals deputies who were against a restoration hoped that the sale would undermine the royalist cause. I think around that time too, the Bonaparte and Orleans families were expelled from France.

 

[An Ard Ri]

The Empress managed to take a lot of her jewels to England and sold some off herself.
The ones's that were left in France were catalogued and sold off in 1887.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/s...istie-auction-eugenie-last-empress-of-france/

Her goddaughter,Queen Ena of Spain was left her emeralds and were hidden inside a fan!
Queen Ena sold the emeralds in the early 60's to finance the wedding of her grandson,Don Juan Carlos.
https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2018/10/empress-eugenies-emerald-tiara.html