Monarchism in France
Encyclopedia
Monarchism in France is the advocacy of restoring the monarchy
(mostly constitutional monarchy
) in France
, which was abolished after the 1870 defeat against Prussia
, arguably before that in 1848 with the establishment of the French Second Republic
.
The French monarchist movements are roughly divided today in three groups:
abdicated on February 24, 1848, opening the way to the Second Republic
(1848–52), which lasted until Napoleon III's December 2, 1851 coup d'état
and the establishment of the Second Empire (1852–1870). The monarchist movement came back into force only after the 1870 defeat against Prussia
and the crushing of the 1871 Paris Commune
by Orleanist Adolphe Thiers. Legitimists and Orleanist
s controlled the majority of the Assemblies, and supported Patrice de Mac-Mahon, Duke of Magenta, as president of the Ordre moral government.
But the intransigeance of the comte de Chambord
, who refused to abandon the white flag
and its fleur-de-lys against the republican tricolore, and the May 16, 1877 crisis forced the legitimists to abandon the political arena, while some of the more liberal
Orleanists "rallied" throughout the years to the Third Republic
(1870–1945). However, since the monarchy and Catholicism
were long entangled ("the alliance of the Throne and the Altar"), republican ideas were often tinged with anti-clericalism
, which led to some turmoil during Radical
Emile Combes
' cabinet in the beginning of the 20th century.
The Action Française
, founded in 1898 during the Dreyfus affair
, remained an influential far right
movement throughout the 1930s, taking part in the February 6, 1934 riots. Some monarchists, such as Georges Valois
who founded the Faisceau
, became involved in fascism
after the 1926 Papal condemnation of the Action Française by Pius XI
.
Monarchists were then active under the Vichy regime
, with the leader of the Action Française Charles Maurras
qualifying as "divine surprise" the overthrow of the Republic and the arrival to power of Marshal Pétain
. A few of them, such as Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie
, took part in the Resistance
out of patriotic
concerns. The Action Française was then dissolved after the war
, but Maurice Pujo
founded it again in 1947.
Some legitimists had become involved in the traditionalist Catholic
movement which arose in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council
and some ultimately followed the 1970 foundation of the traditionalist Catholic Society of St. Pius X
by Marcel Lefebvre
. Bertrand Renouvin
made a breakaway movement from the Action Française in 1971, the Nouvelle Action Française which became the Nouvelle Action Royaliste
, while some legitimists joined Jean-Marie Le Pen
's Front National, founded in 1972.
for the Legitimists, and Jean Christophe, Prince Napoléon for the Bonapartists.
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
(mostly constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
) in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, which was abolished after the 1870 defeat against Prussia
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, arguably before that in 1848 with the establishment of the French Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
.
The French monarchist movements are roughly divided today in three groups:
- The LegitimistsLegitimistsLegitimists are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of the July Monarchy of 1830–1848, whose kings were members of the junior...
for the royal House of Bourbon, - the OrléanistOrléanistThe Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
s for the cadet branch of the House of Orleans, and - the Bonapartists for the imperial House of Bonaparte
History
In France, Louis-PhilippeLouis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
abdicated on February 24, 1848, opening the way to the Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
(1848–52), which lasted until Napoleon III's December 2, 1851 coup d'état
French coup of 1851
The French coup d'état on 2 December 1851, staged by Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte , ended in the successful dissolution of the French National Assembly, as well as the subsequent re-establishment of the French Empire the next year...
and the establishment of the Second Empire (1852–1870). The monarchist movement came back into force only after the 1870 defeat against Prussia
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
and the crushing of the 1871 Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
by Orleanist Adolphe Thiers. Legitimists and Orleanist
Orléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
s controlled the majority of the Assemblies, and supported Patrice de Mac-Mahon, Duke of Magenta, as president of the Ordre moral government.
But the intransigeance of the comte de Chambord
Henri, comte de Chambord
Henri, comte de Chambord was disputedly King of France from 2 to 9 August 1830 as Henry V, although he was never officially proclaimed as such...
, who refused to abandon the white flag
White flag
White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.-Flag of temporary truce in order to parley :...
and its fleur-de-lys against the republican tricolore, and the May 16, 1877 crisis forced the legitimists to abandon the political arena, while some of the more liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Orleanists "rallied" throughout the years to the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
(1870–1945). However, since the monarchy and Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
were long entangled ("the alliance of the Throne and the Altar"), republican ideas were often tinged with anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
, which led to some turmoil during Radical
Radical-Socialist Party (France)
The Radical Party , is a liberal and centrist political party in France. The Radicals are currently the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly, with 21 seats...
Emile Combes
Émile Combes
Émile Combes was a French statesman who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.-Biography:Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a...
' cabinet in the beginning of the 20th century.
The Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, founded in 1898 during the Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
, remained an influential far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
movement throughout the 1930s, taking part in the February 6, 1934 riots. Some monarchists, such as Georges Valois
Georges Valois
Georges Valois was a French journalist and politician.-Life and career:Born in a working-class and peasant family, Georges Valois went to Singapore at the age of 17, returning to Paris in 1898. In his early years he was an Anarcho-syndicalist...
who founded the Faisceau
Faisceau
Le Faisceau was a short-lived French Fascist political party. It was founded on November 11, 1925 as a far right league by Georges Valois. It was preceded by its newspaper, Le Nouveau Siècle - founded as a weekly on February 26, it became a daily after the party's creation.-Creation:Contributors...
, became involved in fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
after the 1926 Papal condemnation of the Action Française by Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
.
Monarchists were then active under the Vichy regime
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, with the leader of the Action Française Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
qualifying as "divine surprise" the overthrow of the Republic and the arrival to power of Marshal Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
. A few of them, such as Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie
Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie
Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie was a French soldier, Résistance member, and conservative politician.-Life:Henri d'Astier was born in Villedieu-sur-Indre, a small village in the Indre département of central France...
, took part in the Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
out of patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
concerns. The Action Française was then dissolved after the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but Maurice Pujo
Maurice Pujo
Maurice Pujo was a French journalist and co-founder, with Henri Vaugeois in 1898, of the Comité d'Action Française, which subsequently became the nationalist and monarchist Action Française movement.His son, Pierre Pujo led Action Française until his death on 10 November 2007....
founded it again in 1947.
Some legitimists had become involved in the traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...
movement which arose in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
and some ultimately followed the 1970 foundation of the traditionalist Catholic Society of St. Pius X
Society of St. Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X is an international Traditionalist Catholic organisation, founded in 1970 by the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...
by Marcel Lefebvre
Marcel Lefebvre
Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre was a French Roman Catholic archbishop. Following a career as an Apostolic Delegate for West Africa and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, he took the lead in opposing the changes within the Church associated with the Second Vatican Council.In 1970,...
. Bertrand Renouvin
Bertrand Renouvin
Bertrand Renouvin, born in Paris, is the founder and president of French political movement Nouvelle Action Royaliste, a monarchist group which aims at restoring constitutional monarchy in France. One may say his orientation is now close to the original Gaullism which originated from the...
made a breakaway movement from the Action Française in 1971, the Nouvelle Action Française which became the Nouvelle Action Royaliste
Nouvelle Action Royaliste
The Nouvelle Action Royaliste , is a monarchist political movement marked by a will to found a constitutional monarchy in France.-History:...
, while some legitimists joined Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
's Front National, founded in 1972.
Current pretenders
The most recognised pretenders to the French throne are Prince Henri, Count of Paris, Duke of France for the Orleanists, Louis Alphonse, Duke of AnjouLouis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou was not originally among his given names ; born 25 April 1974, Madrid) is a member of the historically royal dynasty of the House of Bourbon, and one of the current pretenders to the defunct crown of France...
for the Legitimists, and Jean Christophe, Prince Napoléon for the Bonapartists.
Monarchist groups
Falling into one of the to the three main monarchist streams, some of the active groups in France today are:- Action FrançaiseAction FrançaiseThe Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
- Alliance RoyaleAlliance RoyaleAlliance Royale is a French political party dedicated to the restoration of the monarchy in France and to increasing debate about the monarchy amongst the general public. The party was established in 2001 using the French symbol of the Fleur-de-lis as a logo, which was originally used by the...
- Rassemblement démocrateRassemblement démocrateDemocratic Rally is a monarchist political group established in 2004. It aims at converging all those who are attached to the conceptions of modern monarchy and remain faithful to the Capetian dynasty. RD tries to promote a new democracy. The movement is led by souverainist Philippe Cartellier....
- Nouvelle Action RoyalisteNouvelle Action RoyalisteThe Nouvelle Action Royaliste , is a monarchist political movement marked by a will to found a constitutional monarchy in France.-History:...