Louis Philippe

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Louis Philippe (1773-1850) was king of the French from 1830 to 1848. Although his authoritarian regime was overthrown by the February Revolution, his reign was marked by domestic prosperity, stability, and intellectual fecundity.

Born in Paris on Oct. 6, 1773, Louis Philippe was the eldest son of Philippe égalité, Duc d'Orléans. From 1785 until his father's execution (Nov. 6, 1793), he was known as the Duc de Chartres, thereafter as the Duc d'Orléans and the leader of the cadet branch of the Bourbon family.

In 1790 the duke joined the Jacobin Club and after 1792 posed as a republican. A lieutenant general at 18, he fought at Valmy, Jemappes, and Neerwinden. But, alienated by the Terror, he joined Charles François Dumouriez in a plot to overthrow the Republic. The army, however, refused to follow them, and on April 5, 1793, they deserted.

For the next 2 decades the duke sojourned in Switzerland, America, England, and Malta before repairing in 1809 to Sicily, where he remained until Napoleon's abdication. Meanwhile, the juste milieu (middle course) became the maxim which guided his political actions: he cautiously refrained from committing himself to Dumouriez's intrigues; and he remained apart from the émigrés while he and his cousin Louis XVIII became reconciled.

When Louis Philippe returned to France in 1814, Louis XVIII elevated him to the peerage, appointed him colonel general of Hussars, and restored to him all of the family's sequestered estates that had not been sold - a restitution which made him rich. But his attacks upon the ultraroyalists led in 1815 to a 2-year exile in England. After his return, he cultivated popularity by making the Palais-Royal the foyer of liberals, dressing en bourgeois (wearing long trousers instead of knee breeches), and sending his sons to a public school. He even strolled the streets of the working-class sections of Paris and stopped frequently to chat with workers. Thus, when the Revolution of 1830 overthrew Charles X, both classes were willing to raise the duke to the vacant throne. On August 7 the rump Chamber of Deputies proclaimed him "King of the French."

While the "citizen king" consolidated his position, he liberalized the Charter of 1814 and increased the electorate from 90, 000 to 170, 000. But for all Louis Philippe's astuteness, he loved personal power as much as the Bourbons had; he wanted to rule as well as reign and would not compromise to meet the needs of a changing society. In September 1835 he muzzled the press and refused to broaden the suffrage. Liberals and nationalists alike were also dissatisfied with his noninterventionist foreign policy. After 1840, moreover, the King and his conservative premier, François Guizot, resorted to corruption to defeat mounting opposition in the Chambers. But it was Louis Philippe's stubborn refusal to sponsor electoral reforms that precipitated the February Revolution. Paris rose against him on Feb. 22, 1848, and 2 days later drove him again into English exile. He lived at Claremont until his death on Aug. 26, 1850.

Further Reading

The best biography of Louis Philippe in English is Thomas E. B. Howarth, Citizen-King: The Life of Louis-Philippe, King of the French (1961). For a scholarly, up-to-date synthesis of the Orleanist era see Paul H. Beik, Louis Philippe and the July Monarchy (1965). David O. Evans gives an excellent analysis of the intellectual movements of the reign in his Social Romanticism in France, 1830-1848: With a Selective Critical Bibliography (1951).

Louis-Philippe, King (1773-1850). A member of the Orléans dynasty. For his reign, see July Monarchy.

Louis Philippe (lwē fēlēp'), 1773-1850, king of the French (1830-48), known before his accession as Louis Philippe, duc d'Orléans. The son of Philippe Égalité (see Orléans, Louis Philippe Joseph, duc d'), he joined the army of the French Revolution, but deserted (1793) with Gen. Charles François Dumouriez. Although in exile for the next 20 years, he did not collaborate with France's enemies. Reconciled with the Bourbons, he returned to France after their restoration and soon recovered his huge fortune. He figured in the liberal opposition to kings Louis XVIII and Charles X and was supported by the discontented upper bourgeoisie and by the liberal journalists.

In the July Revolution of 1830, Louis Philippe was made lieutenant general of the realm and, with the support of the marquis de Lafayette, was chosen "king of the French." His reign, known as the July Monarchy, marked the triumph of the wealthy bourgeoisie and a return to influence of many former Napoleonic officials. Although the constitutional charter of 1814 was revised (1830) in a liberal direction, the new legislature was unresponsive to the economic needs and political desires of the lower classes.

In the early years of his reign, Louis Philippe's basically conservative outlook was strengthened by a number of workers' demonstrations and by several attempts on his life, notably that of Giuseppe Fieschi (1835). Although the king was a constitutional monarch, he gained considerable personal power by splitting the liberal movement and appointing weak ministers, such as Louis Molé. Eventually a conservative ministry, dominated (1840-48) by François Guizot, who had the king's confidence, came to power.

In foreign policy, Louis Philippe promoted Anglo-French friendship and supported colonial expansion; Algeria was conquered in his reign. He cooperated with England in support (1831) of Belgian independence and in the Quadruple Alliance of 1834. The Franco-British rapprochement was ended (1846), however, by the Spanish marriages (see Isabella II), which violated a previous Franco-British agreement.

In France, Louis Philippe became increasingly unpopular. On the right he was opposed by the legitimists (who supported the senior Bourbon line) and by the Bonapartists. The leftist elements organized numerous secret revolutionary societies. The opposition to the government undertook (1847-48) a banquet campaign to propagate the demand for electoral reform. The campaign led to the February Revolution of 1848. Louis Philippe abdicated in favor of his grandson (see Orléans, family), but a republic was set up. The king fled to England, where he died. Louis Philippe was known as the "citizen king" because of his bourgeois manner and dress, and he and his regime were satirized by Honoré Daumier.

Bibliography

See J. Lucas-Dubreton, The Restoration and the July Monarchy (tr. 1929); biographies by J. S. C. Abbott (1902), C. Gavin (1933), A. de Stoeckl (1958), T. E. Howarth (1961), and P. H. Beik (1965).

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