Commemorating King Louis XVI

Since I posted about the Solemn Requiem celebrated fo King Louis XVI on the anniversary of his death and linked to the video of the Mass I have found some other related videos that may be of interest. They represent both the Orleanist and the Legitimist traditions within French Royalism.

From the Orleanist side there is film of the Count of Paris - King Jean IV - attending a Mass on the anniversary at Le comte de Paris commémore le roi Louis XVI | 21 janvier 2025

His wife, the Countess of Paris, is seen in another video attending Mass elsewhere and being interviewed about King Louis XVI. That can be seen at La comtesse de Paris rend hommage au roi Louis XVI

Meanwhile on the Legitimist front there is a longer video covering a march by young French Royalists in Paris on, I assume, one evening before the anniversary, and on the Sunday beforehand a Mass at the Chapelle Expiatoire erected on the site of the original burial place of the murdered King and his Queen. This was attended by the Duke of Anjou - King Louis XX - and can be seen at Marche pour Louis XVI et commémoration du Roy Martyr en à la Chapelle Expiatoire and at Louik XX commémore Louis XVI à Paris - 19 janvier 2025

Another commemorative event in what is now the Place de la Concorde ( formerly the Place Louis XV, and then the Place de la Revolution ) where the King was killed is covered at Commémoration: 232 ans de la décapitation de Louis XVI - 21 janvier 2025

Now I would not go so far as to predict an imminent restoration, but the presence of so many young people for what many might dismiss ae a minority interest, is striking. Nevertheless given the mess the current government(s) and, indeed, present constitution has got France into the French could certainly do a lot worse than restoring the monarchy - though that would require deciding which of the two claimants to recognise as the undoubted King.

Vive Le Roi!

DNA and King Henri's head

Like that of King Charles the head of King Henri IV of France keeps cropping up. My previous posts about it can be seen at King Henri's head and Uneasy lies the head.

The identification of the head as that of the first Bourbon King of France and its potential reburial at St Denis, whence it was disinterred, along with the other royal remains in 1793, is of genuine if slightly macabre interest. Such a return to St Denis would be one way of the French atoning for the sacrilege of the revolution, and King Henri remains one of their most popular monarchs 

However having been the victim of assassination, disinterment and separation from its body and turnedinto a museum object the royal head is now at the mercy of experts in DNA, as is reported in this article from the Spanish newspaper El Tempo, which a friend has kindly forwarded to me, and which can be seen here. I must warn readers that it has, rather like the royal head, suffered in the process of transmission, having been put through the Yahoo automatic translation system and coming out in particularly bad Spanglish - which is probably worse to read than battling through the original with little or no knowledge of Spanish.

Nonetheless the article is interesting. It points out how the Bourbon-Orleanist claimant to the throne of France, the Count of paris  -the de jure  King Henri VII has remained somewhat aloof from the controveries around the head, other than wishing for its honourable reburial at St Denis.  DNA tests from members of the Bourbon family, including the Queen of Romania, have established genetic identity between the head and known descendents of King Henri IV.

The article gets very confusing for the unwary when it moves on to the other claimannt to the French throne, the Duke of Anjou-Segovia, who claims as the de jure King Louis XX. When the article writes of "Queen Elizabeth II" and her husband it does not mean those whom you might think, but is a literal Anglicisation of the name of Queen Isabella II, born in 1830 and who died in 1904, having reigned as Queen of Spain from 1833 until 1868/70.

The point here is that the Anjou claim to the throne of France come sthrough that Queen's marriage to her cousin and consort King Francis, whose father was her father's younger brother. Both their parents were siblings, which affects the DNA count, but it is widely believed that none of the children borne by Queen Isabella were actually fathered by her husband (who is thought not to have been able or willing to do that sort of thing if you understand my coyness in such delicate matters), although he recognised them as his progeny.

If the Duke of Anjou-Segovia is not descended from from King Francis d'Asis and the uninterrupted male line of the Bourbons  then he would have no claim to the French throne as King Louis XX - and never mind the treaty of Utrecht's provisions about not conjoining the thrones of France and Spain. 
Hence the article's query as to whether of not the Duke would undergo DNA matching himself.

However, to complicate matters further DNA testing is not quite that simple, as is conveniently explained in the biographical article about King Francis here.

Uneasy lies the head

Following on from my recent posts about the positive identification of the skeleton of King Richard III and about the drawing of the skull of King Richard II a German friend has pointed out to me an online article about what is thought or claimed to be the head of King Henri IV of France. The article can be viewed here. 

I have posted about this particular royal body part before in December 2010 in King Henri's head.

King Henri IV

Image: Bookstove.com

The King's body was, like that of the other Kings of France sacrilegiously disinterred from St Denis in 1793, and when it was reburied in 1817 in the abbey the head was found to be missing. This head would appear to be that of the King. From what I have read the identification looks very probable, and it is unfortunate that the matter has now been caught up in controversy over the veracity of a book about the discovery, and indeed in differing responses from the rival claimants to the French throne, who would be King Henri VII or King Louis XX. 

If it is adjudged to be in truth the head of the first Bourbon King of France then it would indeed be right and proper for it to be reburied at St Denis. Until then, like the bones of St Edward the Martyr did for so many years in this country, it remains in a bank vault.

The Orders worn by King Louis XVI

After writing my post last week about King Louis XVI it occurred to me that I could, and indeed should have said something about the Orders the King is wearing in the two portraits I included in my text.

In both paintings the King is wearing the premier Order of the French Crown, the Order of the Saint-Esprit (usually rendered in English as the Order of the Holy Ghost). It was founded in 1578 by KIng Henri III, and superceded the Order of St Michael, created by King Louis XI in 1469, as the most senior Order: thereafter Knights of the Saint-Esprit automatically received the Order of St Michael. There is a website about the Saint- Esprit here It has a few unfortunate mistranslations - such as rendering the 'Order of St Michael' as 'Michaelmas' produced by the automated system used - but is illustrated and informative.

There is another site which deals with all the French royal orders here.

In the portraits the King can clearly be seen wearing the sky blue moiree riband of the Order and the breast star with its motif of the Dove. The riband was the first to be prescribed in the statutes of an order, and is the origin of the term 'cordon bleu' as asign of honour. The Order specifically commemorated King Henri's accession to the thrones of Poland on Whitsunday 1573, and to that of France on Whitsunday 1574, and hence the use of the Dove as a symbol. It also served to recall the account of the Holy Dove bringing the Sainte-Ampoulle at the baptism of Clovis in 496, and the source of the Holy Oil used at the Sacre of the King at Rheims. The design of the breast star and badge of the Order was to be copied and adapted by nmany other orders in Spain, Sicily, Sweden and Great Britain with the badge of the Military Division of the Order of the Bath, with lions and unicorns replacing the fleur-de-lys.

Examples of the black mantles embroidered with flames worn by knights of the Order on ceremonial occasions can be seen in the Louvre. In Bernard Fay's biography Louis XVI there is a reproduction of a painting of the knights paying homage to the King. It was in his reign, in 1778, that the bicentenary of the Order was celebrated and a commemorative medallion in silver produced by P.A.F. Tardieu.

H

King Louis XVI aged 20 in 1775

King Louis XVI in 1786

In both portraits the king is wearing on his jacket the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece. I assume this is from the Austrian branch of the Order, through his marriage into the Habsburg dynasty. In the second
portrait he is wearing with it the French Military Order of St Louis, founded in 1693. The red riband of that order was copied for the Napoloeonic and later Legion d'Honneur.

The chivalric orders of the monarchy were abolished by the revolution, but restored by King Louis XVIII. Amongst the recipients in those years were Britons such as King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. After 1830 the historic Orders were not retained under the Orleanist monarchy, although ocasionally worn and bestowed by the heirs of King Charles X.

In recent decades the Order has been revived, worn and bestowed by the Dukes of Anjou in respect of their claim through descent from King Philip V of Spain. In the photograph below, which shows him and his wife the present Duke of Anjou of that line, Louis Alphonse, who would claim to be King Louis XX can be seen wearing the riband and star of the Order, as well as a collar of the Order of Malta.

Tke Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duche

In

Prince Louis Alphonse and Princess Maria Margarita, Duke and Duchess of Anjou