Kings of France
Henry III, r. 1574 to 1589 (House of Valois-Angouleme)
Henry IV, r. 1589 to 1646 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (1)
Henry V, r. 1647 to 1655 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (3)
Rene "The Usurper", r. (1646 to) 1655 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (2)
Henry V, r. 1655 to 1678 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (3)
Francis III, r. 1678 to 1722 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (4)
Pierre I, r. 1722 to 1747 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (5)
Phillipe VII, r. 1747 to 1764 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (6)
Jean III, r. 1764 to 1800 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (7)
Phillipe VIII, r. 1800 to 1813 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (8)
Gaston I regent 1800 to 1813, r. 1813 to 1820 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (9)
Pierre II, r.1820 to 1859 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (10)
Guillaume I, r. 1859 to 1879 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (11)
Lèopold I, r.1879 to 1897 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (12)
Henry VI, r. 1897 to 1913 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (13)
Gaston II, r. 1913 to 1920 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (14)
(1) After the death of the King of Navarre, Henry IV became heir to the throne of France (Henry III having disinherited the Archbishop of Rouen upon the death of the King of Navarre, the Archbishop would die shortly after, before any attempt to oust the child King could be formulated) at the age of one whilst the throne of Navarre passed to Henry of Navarre's sister, Catherine II. Catherine II would die in 1604, to be succeeded by Henri de Rohan as Henri IV of Navarre, until 1638.
Henry IV of France would marry Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James VI and I of England in 1613 when she was 17 and Henry was 25. The couple would have 13 children from 1614 to 1632, out of which 8 were boys. Only 4 of these children predeceased their father (compared to 6 who predeceased their mother). Despite his father and cousin having been lead Huegenot figures, Pope Clement insisted that the young King be raised as a devout Roman Catholic which avoided the War of Religion that had been threatened when Henry III of Navarre had been heir.
Until 1614 (for 24 years), the Premiere Prince Du Sang was the Kings uncle, the Prince of Conti (who also acted as Regent until 1606), and subsequently his ten year old cousin, Louis. Henry would later raise the countship to a dukedom upon Louis' marriage.
Henry would die in 1646 in Paris, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, to be succeeded by his son , Rene I
(2) Rene was never meant to be King. As the legitimate heir, his nephew was still to young to rule Rene was named Regent until His Highness could ascend to the throne. However Rene abused his position to make himself the real power behind the throne ruling in all but name. His rule was fraught with challenges from backers of the heir who grew into a seemingly promising ruler, yet was continuously shut out of decision making by Rene. As a devoted Catholic Rene encouraged repression against the French Huguenots which led to the bloody Nevers Revolt in 1652. While the revolt was ultimately destroyed the Regents authority was shaken and he had to rely increasingly on various local landowners to shore up support giving them large concessions. These concessions, known to history as the Renian Concessions, would haunt his successors. In 1655 Rene would finally outmaneuver the Heir's supporters in court and force him to flee to Savoy. He was crowned King Rene I of France soon after to little fanfare and much anger among the nobility. When offers of increased privileges didn't satisfy their anger Rene resorted to military action. The resulting years of intermittent conflict saw the balance of power see-saw between the King and the nobility who largely supported the legitimate heir. In the end however Rene, never the master military strategist was killed in battle during the Battle of Calais. The crown was left to his nephew, Henry
(3) Henry V reign had effectively begun in 1646 with the death of his grandfather, following the death of his father, Le Grand Dauphin, three years earlier. Aged only 6 at the point of his succession, his uncle, the Duke of Vendome, had taken control of court, sideload Henry and eventually taken the throne himself. In 1655, with the young King nearly of age, he fled to Savoy where he regrouped with the Duke of Soissons, and two of his other uncles, the Dukes of Orleans and Anjou, and marshalled an army that defeated the royal forces of Rene The Usurper. By Christmas of 1655, Henry V had regained his rightful place on the throne and was recrowned in a ceremony witnessed by all three of his surviving uncles, including the Duke of Orleans who had been made Regent for the next 3 year's until Henry reached 18.
He would subsequently marry Jeanne of Savoy in 1663, daughter of Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to further cement the friendship and alliance after sheltering him in 1655. The marriage would not be as fruitful as that of his grandfather, providing only three children, of whom two were daughters, named Jeanne and Christine.
After the Reneian Concessions had fielded power to the local landowners, much of Henry's reign was spent attempting to appease them. Whilst Henry V was not an adherent to the concept of the divine right of kings, having been somewhat humbled in the fight for his crown, he did believe that a strong centralised seat of government was the best option for France. Therefore, Henry considered the creation of a Parliament Francais, inspired by the English model of his Stuart relations, was the avenue to explore. Thus the remains of his reign were spent ingratiating himself with the nobility that would sit within the Parliament, and the composition would impact numerous national military and agricultural decisions that were made from 1670 to 1678.
Jeanne, Madame Royale, his eldest child, would only be 14 when her father passed away in 1678 of a heart attack. This meant that the throne passed to Dauphin Francis, his 12 year old son.
(4) Francis III was born on 4th October 1665, Feast of St Francis of Assisi, being named in honour of the saint and his great-uncle Francis, Duke of Orleans, who was also his god father, along with King Charles II of England. His god mothers were Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans (Wife of Francis and sister of Charles II) and Mariana of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain (to support a special relationship between Spain and Holy Roman Empire)
The first 12 years of Francis’s life was happy with his parents being very involved with their children’s upbringings. He was initially under the care of royal governesses, among them being Claire, Duchess of Berry and Maria, wife ofMarshal Jean d'Estrées, Count of Estrées (1624–1707).
When Francis reached the age of seven, he was removed from the care of women and placed in the society of men. He received Francis, Duke of Orleans as his governor and was tutored by Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris.
It was during a tutorial about French history, that Dauphin Francis received the news of his future, with his father dying of a heart attack.
Francis, Duke of Orleans, quickly transported his great-nephew to Reims Cathedral, where Charles-Maurice Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, crowned the 12 year old king, with 57 year old Duke, declared himself regent for the second time, but starting the new tradition of declaring his support to the king, kneeling in front of his king saying:
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the King of France against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Kingthat I take this obligation freely. So help me God.
For the next five years, known commonly as the “Reign of two Francises” the elder Francis would include the younger on all political matters, teaching the way of ruling as they went along.
During his sixteenth birthday, a grand party was held, in his honour. The party was also used as a match making, with nobilities of all ranks, from Viscomte to Emperors, such as Maria Antonia of Austria, daughter of Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Anne Marie d'Orléans, a cousin as the daughter of Francis, Duke of Orléans and of Henrietta of England.
His eyes through the night were drawn to an unlikely match, King Charles II of England had relished in being invited to a party bringing along with him, his niece, Her Highness The Lady Anne of York, second daughter of the Duke of York, and his first wife, Anne Hyde.
King Charles II was over the moon that his niece was picked as a bride for the King of France. The wedding was planned for two years later when both bride and groom turned 18, allowing the wedding to coinciding with his full coronation.
The pair were happily married, however their marriage was plagued by miscarriages and stillborns, with only 5 of the 17 pregnancies seeing the babies born healthy, it is said Francis’s love grew for his wife with each pregnancy and he shared her grief, pushing away all attempts at mistresses coming on to him.
On 6 February 1685, Charles II died without legitimate issue, leading to Anne’s father, James to inherited the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland.
On 10 June 1688, James saw the birth of a son and heir, Prince James Francis Edward, with Francis being his middle namesake as well as his brother-in-law’s Godfather.
French spies in England, found evidence that some members of the English court were trying to take away the Divine Right of Prince James of Wales, and invite his older sister, Anglican Mary and her Protestant husband, William of Orange.
In response, Francis requested the French navy to keep an eye on the Dutch port of Hellevoetsluis, by early October, news of nearly 500 ships being organised reached France and so the great Battle of the English Channel began with Anglo-French navy defeating the Dutch fleet, killing William of Orange.
This next eight years, saw a new religious war engulf Europe, between Catholics and Protestants. The alliance between France and England grew with Francis and his father-in-law, arranging a trade agreement between the neighbouring nations, assisting each other in putting down Protestant protest as well as blockading thechannel from enemy nations.
In 1701, when news of King James II’s death reached France, Francis was publicly more affected than his wife, the daughter. Francis and Anne attended the coronation of her brother King James III.
For the last 21 years of his reign Francis saw the expansion of land in the colonies including Nova Frankia (OT Louisiana) assist his country’s economy.
However is death at the age of 57, came following a sickness he hid from the public, many modern doctors to be cancer, with a dramatic weight loss being the hardest to hide. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son.
His majesty Francois III reviewing the artillery upon the field of Versailles, 1686.
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(5) Pierre had been Duke of Normandy at birth whilst his elder brother Francis had been Dauphin. Francis had died in a horse riding accident at 16, celebrating the fact that his bride was on the way to Paris. This meant that 13 year old Pierre was now Dauphin, his brothers betrothal to Magdalena of Soissons, daughter of the Premiere Prince Du Sang, now hinged upon him. Magdalena was 15, only two years older so the pair were not officially married until 1710. They reportedly had a happy marriage and produced several children children who survived infancy.
A big change in France occurred only one year after Pierre had ascended the throne. The Premiere Prince Du Sang, a role which had been held by his wife's family for about 130 years, held by the senior most male line descendant of a monarch who wasn't a son or grandson, shifted to the Dukes of Orleans. Francois of Orleans (son of Henry IV) had been incredibly long lived, but in 1723 his own grandson, Jean Robert, had become Duke and Premiere Prince Du Sang. This meant that any influence the Dukes of Soissons had hoped to wield through the marriage of the Queen and their role had largely evaporated.
Shortly after this transfer of position, Europe fell into the War of the Spanish Infantas. Charles III of Spain (son of Charles II and Maria Anna of Neuberg) died childless after his wife died in childbirth with their son.
Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire was the male line heir to Spain, but this would increase the Habsburg domains and influence of the HRE to a worrying level. And nobody wanted that.
But the Spanish crown could pass through a female line, and both of Charles III's sisters had male heirs - the eldest Mariana (after her grandmother) was married to James III of England and Scotland which meant that James, the Prince of Wales, was the rightful heir.
However, Louise was the wife of the Duke of Beja, brother of Joao V, King of Portugal, and she pushed for her own son as a compromise candidate to become King of Spain.
And nobody wanted either of those either. Hostilities would continue for a decade, with France backing the English candidate (Pierre and James were cousins, after all), the Holy Roman Empire pushing the Emperor and Portugal pulling together a coalition of minor nations, alongside the Russians.
In the end, the Treaty of the Hague saw Spain partitioned, with the north handed to England, and the south handed to Portugal. Nobody particularly liked it, but a decade of war had made Europe weary of the succession.
The remaining ten years of Pierres reign were peaceful, and the King died in 1747 with his wife at his side, she would survive him by 13 years, seeing his nephew, Phillipe, Duke of Anjou become King of France.
Pierre of France, exhibiting his skill at sculpting, 1746.
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(6) The final years of Pierre's reign, albeit peaceful, were full of heartache as the House of Bourbon suffered losses. From Orleans to the surviving sons of the King, it ended with the succession pointing at Stanislas-Phillipe, Duke of Anjou. The Bourbon-Anjou began with Robert, Duke of Anjou who after his marriage into the Cröy inherited the county of Fontenoy within the Imperial Duchy of Lorraine in 1645, and so as an Imperial Prince sought to make his own glory. His son; Louis-Jean, would eventually become a general of great renown, firstly serving his cousins in France, and then moving on to serve the Imperial armies in the early 1680s, the Kings of Spain later that decade, and lastly the Polish King; Jakob I Wisnowiecki, and became such a fixture of the polish court, he would marry the eldest daughter of the King; Karolina of Poland, with his son being born a full year after their wedding. That son; Stanislas-Jean, was even considered a candidate for the Polish throne in 1696 as the eldest grandson of Jakob I, but lost to his maternal cousin; Wilhelm of Teschen. Stanislas-Jean, Duke of Anjou would return to France in 1708, bringing the so-called "Angevin Treasure" with him. A year later, he would marry the daughter of his majesty; Francis III, giving the king a grandson; Stanislas-Phillipe of Anjou.
Inheriting the throne of France at the age of 37, Stanislas-Phillipe chose the regal name of Phillipe VII for himself, and would continue his uncle's policies of Peace and the endearing will to protect that Peace. Remarkably little would threaten that Peace aside from the war of the Polish succession, where France would support the Kings cousin; Zygmunt, Prince Wisnowiecki, the grandson of Jakob I of Poland, as opposed to Frederick of Hohenzollern, elected by rebel members of the Sejm.
Phillipe VII would pass after a stroke in 1764, and the French throne would pass to Jean III.
Phillipe VII in Hunting clothes, 1748.
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(7) Jean was the second son of Phillipe VII, born Duke of Normandy, becoming Dauphin upon the death of his elder brother in 1750. After the Orleans line had been cut short, Phillipe VII had briefly been First Prince of the Blood, but upon his coronation that became the duty of the Dukes of Berry.
The male line of the Duke of Berry extended back to the youngest son of Henry IV, Charles. The Duke for much of Jean III's reign was Gaston, 5th Duke of Orleans, great great grandson of Charles. Gaston had married Yolande of Beja, daughter of the then present Duke of Beja, who also acted as Governor of Portuguese Spain.
When it came to the question of who Jean might marry, that question was answered with Gaston's daughter, Isabeau of Berry, only a year younger than the Dauphin. They married in 1761 and by the time of Jean becoming King of France, they already had a son and a daughter, and would go on to have four more children.
The continued "Age of Anjou" saw the relative peace of his father's reign continue into Jean's. Of course, there were minor skirmishes and a few colonies swapped hands in compensation or as countries needed funds. But nothing escalated to the level of the War of the Spanish Infantas, or the Battle of the Channel. Even difficulties with the colonies in Nueva Frankia were minimal, with the territories under the day to day supervsion of the Duke of Soissons as Viceroy.
This would continue to 1800 when Jean died after a bridge he was riding over collapsed and he fell into a freezing river. Although he survived, he would later die of hypothermia and be succeeded by his eldest son; Phillipe, Dauphin of France.
(9)
His eldest brother Phillipe, Dauphin of France, died aged 9, after a severe seizure, caused him to bite his tongue and bleed to death.
Without a male heir, Jean III was desperate for a son, a second son also called Phillipe was born 1772 and Gaston was born in 1775, the last child of Isabeau of Berry and named after her father, Gaston of Berry. Unlike any of his older siblings, he was born with no physical or mental disability.
While his older brother was not expected to last long, Gaston was raised and tutored in the way of running the State.
Gaston was 25 when his father died and some nobility, wished for him to claim the throne over his older brother, however Gaston believed that God had seen fit to keep Phillipe alive, only he will sit on the throne as king, while Gaston acted as his unofficial Head of Regency council.
No marriages were arranged for Phillipe as he never called for a female companion, preferring to watch soldiers parade.
As the heir to his brother Gaston was seen as the most eligible bachelor in Europe, he married in 1802, Charlotte, Princess Royal of Britain, the British isles becoming a United Kingdom under the reign of her father, Charles V.
As regent to his brother, Gaston found that trying to keep all the power under the rule of a single person, was time consuming and lead to unpopular actions being blamed solely on that person.
Over the 13 years as regent, Gaston was able to reform the political part of the monarchy to form a Constitutional Monarchy with a Bicameral system mirroring that of Britain, which over numerous kings has seen power devolved to the people.
Gaston was deeply saddened when he heard that his brother had choked upon his own spittle and presided over a funeral fit for his brother.
With the crown now on 38 year old, King Gaston, many expected for the constitution to be altered to fit him, however Gaston explained that “the office of government is for the people to decide, I will work with the government to assist in the interior politics of France but I believe I am better suited concentrating on religious matters and foreign affairs.”
In 1814, Gaston saw his country hold its first election, with property owning men vote for their Chancellor, as well as county representatives. This election saw retired General, Jean-de-Dieu Soult, elected Chancellor and leading a traditionalist nationalist party to the majority.
While political harmony was being felt in the West, the rest of European, were seeing unrest and revolts as more and more citizens were calling for Revolution,
This resulted in an Austrian monarchist, Johann Georg Hiedler, aged 30, assassinating the 45 year old King, as he rode in his open carriage, while screaming “I killed one king to save a hundred others”
(10) Pierre was the eldest child of Gaston I and his wife, and was taught from early in his life, that the ideal monarch was a figurehead as opposed to a russian style autocrat, and did his best to fulfil this statement. Before He took the throne, as a young man, he would attempt to bring a number of Parisian prostitutes into the palace, and when the King did find out, he took a horsecrop to his son, reminding his son of his duties and of the Press.
When his father died, and Pierre, Dauphin of France became Pierre II, King of France, France was entering a truly golden age, with her empire spanning the globe and nearly half of all humanity speaking French. At the age of 23, Pierre would marry Euphemia of the Netherlands, and the pair would have three children; two sons and a Daughter. It would be in 1824, when Pierre would negotiate for his younger brother; Charles, Duke of Orleans to marry the heiress of Cosimo V, Grand Duke of Tuscany and with the death of Cosimo in 1830, Charles and his wife would be crowned as Grand Duke and Duchess of Tuscany.
The thirty nine year rule of Pierre saw major expansion of the French Empire, particularly in South East Asia, and it would be in 1859 that Pierre II would pass and the throne of France would pass to his son, Guillaume.
(11) Guillaume was born in 1835, during the reign of his father, named after his maternal grandfather, William of the Netherlands. He was the second son, created Duke of Orleans at birth, and married to Princess Militza of Montenegro, a distant cousin through the Bourbon-Soissons line, of the House of Petrović-Njegoš. They were married in 1855, and by the time of both his elder brother and father's death four years later, had produced only a daughter, Vjera.
In the time since the likely union of France and Navarre almost three centuries earlier, Navarre had flourished under the House of Albert. Despite the impact of the War of the Spanish Infantas, Navarre enjoyed a happy trading partnership with their neighbours, both France and English Spain.
However, through a fluke of marriage and succession, Navarre became part of the United Kingdom of Portugal (alongside Brazil, the Algarve and Portuguese Spain) which put England and France in the peculiar position that they effectively controlled access to Navarre by both land and sea. And they took advantage of this, essentially holding the tiny nation hostage in order to acquire preferential trade partnerships.
Guillaume went to lengths to stress behind closed doors that this was the will of the Parliament Francis, the newer bicameral version rather than the older version established by Henry V, now known as the Parliament de L'Ancien Regime, filled with members of the nobility.
Guillaume only ruled for 20 years, but continued the expansion into South East Asia, renaming Timor in honour of his wife on their twentieth wedding anniversary. He would die a few years later of a stroke, to be succeeded by his Cousin; Lèopold, Duke of Anjou.
(12) At the death of Guillaume I, the throne would pass to another grandson of Gaston I; the Duke of Anjou. Born in 1839 and baptised as Lèopold Stanislas Phillipe of Anjou, there was little chance of him ever receiving the throne of France, apart from a series of events; firstly Guillaume of France only produced a daughter, and then the declaration of 1843 came, in which Carlo I of Tuscany and his descendents forfeited their right to the French Throne as forced by the Parliament of Tuscany in order to retain their throne, and lastly the death of his elder brother in 1870 not only made Lèopold the duke of Anjou, but unannounced heir to the throne of France. Lèopold had married his distant cousin in 1860, and by the time of being made Duke, had 5 children, with his eldest son; _________, becoming Dauphin of France.
during the 1880s, The French Empire was eclipsed industrially and militarily by the newly formed German Empire; a colossal industrial power stretching from the Adriatic to the North and Baltic seas. The French parliament was gripped by fear of invasion, and in an attempt to assuage fears, began a wholesale military expansion, so much so that by 1893, the military was some three times the size of was a decade earlier. The King was present at many parades in this period, as a symbol of nationalism and pride in the French Empire.
In 1897, the King would fall from his horse at one such parade, and dragged across the sand of the parade ground, and would pass a week later, succeeded by Henry.
(13) Henry VI was planned from birth to marry Vjera of France and Montenegro, and this happened when he was 18 and she was 19. The first of three children followed shortly after.
Whilst Germany had become a military colossus during his father's reign, the realisation dawned that a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the House of Soissons, now occupied the thrones of Portugal (and thus Navarre, the problem of which remained unsolved), England, the Netherlands and Italy. This meant that France was surrounded, and despite the occasional marriage between the main Soissons line and the Bourbon-Conde one, the House of Soissons was far enough removed that no real loyalty existed between them.
The senior most Soissons was 27th in line to the French throne, after the lines of the Dukes of Normandy and Chartres who had four sons each. Still, the German Kaiser forced the hand of the Parliament Francais and Henry by forcing them to sign a law that removed the male line of Charles, Count of Soissons, from the line of succession. Despite the fact that the current Duke was unlikely to ascend to the French throne, this still caused some diplomatic problems with the various monarchs descended from the Count making land grabs to German and French colonial assets.
This meant that the French Navy was deployed to protect those assets, leading to conflicts, led in South East Asia by the Soissons Powers by James, Duke of Porto. This culminates in the Battle of Kowloon, in which the German vessel Ingelfingen sank the Portuguese ship, Queen Victoria.
By the time news of this reached Paris, Henry was dead, leaving the whole mess for his successor, Gaston , his oldest child to steer France through.
(14) Gaston was born in 1877 before his grandfather became King, but after it was clear he was next inline, making Gaston at his birth third inline behind his father and grandfather, so he was raised to someday be King. Early in his life the German Empire was an antagonist of France as the two powerful nations armed themselves against each other and pursed colonial Empires as rivals.
The old Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved when the electors in 1848 had failed to agree on a new Emperor, with a split between Wilhelm Hohenzoller, the King of Prussia and the heir of the just passed Joseph Michael Hapsburg of Austria through his mother Maria of Hapsburg, and a third cousin, Grigori Kovács, descended from the Hapsburg through his grandmother, an aunt of Joseph Michael. The result was the two new Empires, the German and the Hungarian, which had the eastern regions that had been part of the Hapsburg realm.
It was the next German Kaiser, Wilhem I's son, Frederick I, that was the Emperor of the rising German Empire during Gaston's youth. By the time Gaston's father was King, France had forged a wary truce with Germany as the two recognized their various colonial holdings. This was cemented with two marriages as Gaston's sister, the Princess Louisa, in 1900 married the Kaiser's heir, Prince Frederick, who beame Kaiser Frederick II in 1905, and the Dauphin Gaston married the Kaiser's daughter, Camila, in 1901. It was Frederick II who impacted the French to disinherit the Soissons cadet branch.
Added to the alliance between France and Germany was the other rival of Germany's enemy Hungary, the Ottoman Empire. This resulted in Hungary's ally and Germany's main enemy to the East, the Russian Empire, to ally with Hungary, Portugal, England, and Italy.
As Gaston took the throne, it was hoped that the conflict in Asia would remain a limited colonial war. But that was not to be when Hungarian forces marched on Vienna, the secondary capital of the German Empire.
As the war was fought not only on four fronts in Europe, but throughout the colonial empires in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, this was called the War of the Global Empires or the Imperial War. (Later the First Imperial War.)
At home the main fighting for the French was the northern front with the English who were allied with Holland and the southern front with Portugal. Sporadic fighting took place on the Italian frontier, but the Alps limited the fighting and Italy focused on fighting the Germans to the east.
It was a terrible war unlike any before as the new machine guns made the land combat become trench warfare that turned into a stalemate. At sea the fighting was in giant coal driven iron clad battleships and submarines. Meanwhile airships dropped bombs and, as the war continued, more and more machine gun armed Aeroplanes fought each other in dog fights as they escorted or attacked the fleet of bomber airships. This meant that cities behind the lines were bombed.
Millions of the French died in the war, an entire generation of young men decimated. As the stalemate turned from months into years in Europe, the battles in the colonial empires went back and forth. In 1917 Japan joined the French alliance and Russia now had a two front war. Then the Chinese Empire joined on the side of Russia and invaded Indochina.
But the worst part was the spread of disease. In late 1918 a new Influenza known as the Portugueese Flu, swept like a plague through the Continent. In January of 1920, without any end of the stalemate in Europe in sight and the colonial fortunes of the French alliance not going well, the King contracted the virus and died.
The House of Bourbon-Conde
Phillipe VII, King of France (also Premiere Prince Du Sang 1742 to 1747) b. 1710, r. 1747 to 1764, m. Claudia of Savoy
Henry III, r. 1574 to 1589 (House of Valois-Angouleme)
Henry IV, r. 1589 to 1646 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (1)
Henry V, r. 1647 to 1655 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (3)
Rene "The Usurper", r. (1646 to) 1655 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (2)
Henry V, r. 1655 to 1678 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (3)
Francis III, r. 1678 to 1722 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (4)
Pierre I, r. 1722 to 1747 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (5)
Phillipe VII, r. 1747 to 1764 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (6)
Jean III, r. 1764 to 1800 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (7)
Phillipe VIII, r. 1800 to 1813 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (8)
Gaston I regent 1800 to 1813, r. 1813 to 1820 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (9)
Pierre II, r.1820 to 1859 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (10)
Guillaume I, r. 1859 to 1879 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (11)
Lèopold I, r.1879 to 1897 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (12)
Henry VI, r. 1897 to 1913 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (13)
Gaston II, r. 1913 to 1920 (House of Bourbon-Conde) (14)
(1) After the death of the King of Navarre, Henry IV became heir to the throne of France (Henry III having disinherited the Archbishop of Rouen upon the death of the King of Navarre, the Archbishop would die shortly after, before any attempt to oust the child King could be formulated) at the age of one whilst the throne of Navarre passed to Henry of Navarre's sister, Catherine II. Catherine II would die in 1604, to be succeeded by Henri de Rohan as Henri IV of Navarre, until 1638.
Henry IV of France would marry Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James VI and I of England in 1613 when she was 17 and Henry was 25. The couple would have 13 children from 1614 to 1632, out of which 8 were boys. Only 4 of these children predeceased their father (compared to 6 who predeceased their mother). Despite his father and cousin having been lead Huegenot figures, Pope Clement insisted that the young King be raised as a devout Roman Catholic which avoided the War of Religion that had been threatened when Henry III of Navarre had been heir.
Until 1614 (for 24 years), the Premiere Prince Du Sang was the Kings uncle, the Prince of Conti (who also acted as Regent until 1606), and subsequently his ten year old cousin, Louis. Henry would later raise the countship to a dukedom upon Louis' marriage.
Henry would die in 1646 in Paris, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, to be succeeded by his son , Rene I
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(2) Rene was never meant to be King. As the legitimate heir, his nephew was still to young to rule Rene was named Regent until His Highness could ascend to the throne. However Rene abused his position to make himself the real power behind the throne ruling in all but name. His rule was fraught with challenges from backers of the heir who grew into a seemingly promising ruler, yet was continuously shut out of decision making by Rene. As a devoted Catholic Rene encouraged repression against the French Huguenots which led to the bloody Nevers Revolt in 1652. While the revolt was ultimately destroyed the Regents authority was shaken and he had to rely increasingly on various local landowners to shore up support giving them large concessions. These concessions, known to history as the Renian Concessions, would haunt his successors. In 1655 Rene would finally outmaneuver the Heir's supporters in court and force him to flee to Savoy. He was crowned King Rene I of France soon after to little fanfare and much anger among the nobility. When offers of increased privileges didn't satisfy their anger Rene resorted to military action. The resulting years of intermittent conflict saw the balance of power see-saw between the King and the nobility who largely supported the legitimate heir. In the end however Rene, never the master military strategist was killed in battle during the Battle of Calais. The crown was left to his nephew, Henry
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(3) Henry V reign had effectively begun in 1646 with the death of his grandfather, following the death of his father, Le Grand Dauphin, three years earlier. Aged only 6 at the point of his succession, his uncle, the Duke of Vendome, had taken control of court, sideload Henry and eventually taken the throne himself. In 1655, with the young King nearly of age, he fled to Savoy where he regrouped with the Duke of Soissons, and two of his other uncles, the Dukes of Orleans and Anjou, and marshalled an army that defeated the royal forces of Rene The Usurper. By Christmas of 1655, Henry V had regained his rightful place on the throne and was recrowned in a ceremony witnessed by all three of his surviving uncles, including the Duke of Orleans who had been made Regent for the next 3 year's until Henry reached 18.
He would subsequently marry Jeanne of Savoy in 1663, daughter of Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to further cement the friendship and alliance after sheltering him in 1655. The marriage would not be as fruitful as that of his grandfather, providing only three children, of whom two were daughters, named Jeanne and Christine.
After the Reneian Concessions had fielded power to the local landowners, much of Henry's reign was spent attempting to appease them. Whilst Henry V was not an adherent to the concept of the divine right of kings, having been somewhat humbled in the fight for his crown, he did believe that a strong centralised seat of government was the best option for France. Therefore, Henry considered the creation of a Parliament Francais, inspired by the English model of his Stuart relations, was the avenue to explore. Thus the remains of his reign were spent ingratiating himself with the nobility that would sit within the Parliament, and the composition would impact numerous national military and agricultural decisions that were made from 1670 to 1678.
Jeanne, Madame Royale, his eldest child, would only be 14 when her father passed away in 1678 of a heart attack. This meant that the throne passed to Dauphin Francis, his 12 year old son.
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(4) Francis III was born on 4th October 1665, Feast of St Francis of Assisi, being named in honour of the saint and his great-uncle Francis, Duke of Orleans, who was also his god father, along with King Charles II of England. His god mothers were Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans (Wife of Francis and sister of Charles II) and Mariana of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain (to support a special relationship between Spain and Holy Roman Empire)
The first 12 years of Francis’s life was happy with his parents being very involved with their children’s upbringings. He was initially under the care of royal governesses, among them being Claire, Duchess of Berry and Maria, wife ofMarshal Jean d'Estrées, Count of Estrées (1624–1707).
When Francis reached the age of seven, he was removed from the care of women and placed in the society of men. He received Francis, Duke of Orleans as his governor and was tutored by Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris.
It was during a tutorial about French history, that Dauphin Francis received the news of his future, with his father dying of a heart attack.
Francis, Duke of Orleans, quickly transported his great-nephew to Reims Cathedral, where Charles-Maurice Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, crowned the 12 year old king, with 57 year old Duke, declared himself regent for the second time, but starting the new tradition of declaring his support to the king, kneeling in front of his king saying:
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the King of France against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Kingthat I take this obligation freely. So help me God.
For the next five years, known commonly as the “Reign of two Francises” the elder Francis would include the younger on all political matters, teaching the way of ruling as they went along.
During his sixteenth birthday, a grand party was held, in his honour. The party was also used as a match making, with nobilities of all ranks, from Viscomte to Emperors, such as Maria Antonia of Austria, daughter of Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Anne Marie d'Orléans, a cousin as the daughter of Francis, Duke of Orléans and of Henrietta of England.
His eyes through the night were drawn to an unlikely match, King Charles II of England had relished in being invited to a party bringing along with him, his niece, Her Highness The Lady Anne of York, second daughter of the Duke of York, and his first wife, Anne Hyde.
King Charles II was over the moon that his niece was picked as a bride for the King of France. The wedding was planned for two years later when both bride and groom turned 18, allowing the wedding to coinciding with his full coronation.
The pair were happily married, however their marriage was plagued by miscarriages and stillborns, with only 5 of the 17 pregnancies seeing the babies born healthy, it is said Francis’s love grew for his wife with each pregnancy and he shared her grief, pushing away all attempts at mistresses coming on to him.
On 6 February 1685, Charles II died without legitimate issue, leading to Anne’s father, James to inherited the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland.
On 10 June 1688, James saw the birth of a son and heir, Prince James Francis Edward, with Francis being his middle namesake as well as his brother-in-law’s Godfather.
French spies in England, found evidence that some members of the English court were trying to take away the Divine Right of Prince James of Wales, and invite his older sister, Anglican Mary and her Protestant husband, William of Orange.
In response, Francis requested the French navy to keep an eye on the Dutch port of Hellevoetsluis, by early October, news of nearly 500 ships being organised reached France and so the great Battle of the English Channel began with Anglo-French navy defeating the Dutch fleet, killing William of Orange.
This next eight years, saw a new religious war engulf Europe, between Catholics and Protestants. The alliance between France and England grew with Francis and his father-in-law, arranging a trade agreement between the neighbouring nations, assisting each other in putting down Protestant protest as well as blockading thechannel from enemy nations.
In 1701, when news of King James II’s death reached France, Francis was publicly more affected than his wife, the daughter. Francis and Anne attended the coronation of her brother King James III.
For the last 21 years of his reign Francis saw the expansion of land in the colonies including Nova Frankia (OT Louisiana) assist his country’s economy.
However is death at the age of 57, came following a sickness he hid from the public, many modern doctors to be cancer, with a dramatic weight loss being the hardest to hide. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son.
His majesty Francois III reviewing the artillery upon the field of Versailles, 1686.
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(5) Pierre had been Duke of Normandy at birth whilst his elder brother Francis had been Dauphin. Francis had died in a horse riding accident at 16, celebrating the fact that his bride was on the way to Paris. This meant that 13 year old Pierre was now Dauphin, his brothers betrothal to Magdalena of Soissons, daughter of the Premiere Prince Du Sang, now hinged upon him. Magdalena was 15, only two years older so the pair were not officially married until 1710. They reportedly had a happy marriage and produced several children children who survived infancy.
A big change in France occurred only one year after Pierre had ascended the throne. The Premiere Prince Du Sang, a role which had been held by his wife's family for about 130 years, held by the senior most male line descendant of a monarch who wasn't a son or grandson, shifted to the Dukes of Orleans. Francois of Orleans (son of Henry IV) had been incredibly long lived, but in 1723 his own grandson, Jean Robert, had become Duke and Premiere Prince Du Sang. This meant that any influence the Dukes of Soissons had hoped to wield through the marriage of the Queen and their role had largely evaporated.
Shortly after this transfer of position, Europe fell into the War of the Spanish Infantas. Charles III of Spain (son of Charles II and Maria Anna of Neuberg) died childless after his wife died in childbirth with their son.
Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire was the male line heir to Spain, but this would increase the Habsburg domains and influence of the HRE to a worrying level. And nobody wanted that.
But the Spanish crown could pass through a female line, and both of Charles III's sisters had male heirs - the eldest Mariana (after her grandmother) was married to James III of England and Scotland which meant that James, the Prince of Wales, was the rightful heir.
However, Louise was the wife of the Duke of Beja, brother of Joao V, King of Portugal, and she pushed for her own son as a compromise candidate to become King of Spain.
And nobody wanted either of those either. Hostilities would continue for a decade, with France backing the English candidate (Pierre and James were cousins, after all), the Holy Roman Empire pushing the Emperor and Portugal pulling together a coalition of minor nations, alongside the Russians.
In the end, the Treaty of the Hague saw Spain partitioned, with the north handed to England, and the south handed to Portugal. Nobody particularly liked it, but a decade of war had made Europe weary of the succession.
The remaining ten years of Pierres reign were peaceful, and the King died in 1747 with his wife at his side, she would survive him by 13 years, seeing his nephew, Phillipe, Duke of Anjou become King of France.
Pierre of France, exhibiting his skill at sculpting, 1746.
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(6) The final years of Pierre's reign, albeit peaceful, were full of heartache as the House of Bourbon suffered losses. From Orleans to the surviving sons of the King, it ended with the succession pointing at Stanislas-Phillipe, Duke of Anjou. The Bourbon-Anjou began with Robert, Duke of Anjou who after his marriage into the Cröy inherited the county of Fontenoy within the Imperial Duchy of Lorraine in 1645, and so as an Imperial Prince sought to make his own glory. His son; Louis-Jean, would eventually become a general of great renown, firstly serving his cousins in France, and then moving on to serve the Imperial armies in the early 1680s, the Kings of Spain later that decade, and lastly the Polish King; Jakob I Wisnowiecki, and became such a fixture of the polish court, he would marry the eldest daughter of the King; Karolina of Poland, with his son being born a full year after their wedding. That son; Stanislas-Jean, was even considered a candidate for the Polish throne in 1696 as the eldest grandson of Jakob I, but lost to his maternal cousin; Wilhelm of Teschen. Stanislas-Jean, Duke of Anjou would return to France in 1708, bringing the so-called "Angevin Treasure" with him. A year later, he would marry the daughter of his majesty; Francis III, giving the king a grandson; Stanislas-Phillipe of Anjou.
Inheriting the throne of France at the age of 37, Stanislas-Phillipe chose the regal name of Phillipe VII for himself, and would continue his uncle's policies of Peace and the endearing will to protect that Peace. Remarkably little would threaten that Peace aside from the war of the Polish succession, where France would support the Kings cousin; Zygmunt, Prince Wisnowiecki, the grandson of Jakob I of Poland, as opposed to Frederick of Hohenzollern, elected by rebel members of the Sejm.
Phillipe VII would pass after a stroke in 1764, and the French throne would pass to Jean III.
Phillipe VII in Hunting clothes, 1748.
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(7) Jean was the second son of Phillipe VII, born Duke of Normandy, becoming Dauphin upon the death of his elder brother in 1750. After the Orleans line had been cut short, Phillipe VII had briefly been First Prince of the Blood, but upon his coronation that became the duty of the Dukes of Berry.
The male line of the Duke of Berry extended back to the youngest son of Henry IV, Charles. The Duke for much of Jean III's reign was Gaston, 5th Duke of Orleans, great great grandson of Charles. Gaston had married Yolande of Beja, daughter of the then present Duke of Beja, who also acted as Governor of Portuguese Spain.
When it came to the question of who Jean might marry, that question was answered with Gaston's daughter, Isabeau of Berry, only a year younger than the Dauphin. They married in 1761 and by the time of Jean becoming King of France, they already had a son and a daughter, and would go on to have four more children.
The continued "Age of Anjou" saw the relative peace of his father's reign continue into Jean's. Of course, there were minor skirmishes and a few colonies swapped hands in compensation or as countries needed funds. But nothing escalated to the level of the War of the Spanish Infantas, or the Battle of the Channel. Even difficulties with the colonies in Nueva Frankia were minimal, with the territories under the day to day supervsion of the Duke of Soissons as Viceroy.
This would continue to 1800 when Jean died after a bridge he was riding over collapsed and he fell into a freezing river. Although he survived, he would later die of hypothermia and be succeeded by his eldest son; Phillipe, Dauphin of France.
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(8) The Eldest of the two surviving sons of Jean III, and named for his decade older sibling; Phillippe, Dauphin of France, Phillipe inherited throne at the age of twenty eight, and despite his years, is said to have remained a child throughout. Obsessed by the French army, Phillipe VIII would often gather two or three regiments in Parade purely for his own amusement, and delight in their uniforms and drill.
Plagued by a lack of Mental capability, it could be said that Phillipe VIII was the best king for the times, as it was the unofficial Regency council, headed by the Kings brother that slowly ushered in the Constitutional Monarchy of France, with a Bicameral system mirroring that of Britain.
A.sidenote of Phillipes reign would be the death of Antoine, Duke of Berry and thus the extinction of the other lines of the house of Bourbon, aside from the Conti and the Bourbon-Soissons.
At the age of 40, the now powerless King would pass, and it was determined that the king had choked upon his own spittle, and was succeeded by his brother; Gaston
View attachment 589537(9)
His eldest brother Phillipe, Dauphin of France, died aged 9, after a severe seizure, caused him to bite his tongue and bleed to death.
Without a male heir, Jean III was desperate for a son, a second son also called Phillipe was born 1772 and Gaston was born in 1775, the last child of Isabeau of Berry and named after her father, Gaston of Berry. Unlike any of his older siblings, he was born with no physical or mental disability.
While his older brother was not expected to last long, Gaston was raised and tutored in the way of running the State.
Gaston was 25 when his father died and some nobility, wished for him to claim the throne over his older brother, however Gaston believed that God had seen fit to keep Phillipe alive, only he will sit on the throne as king, while Gaston acted as his unofficial Head of Regency council.
No marriages were arranged for Phillipe as he never called for a female companion, preferring to watch soldiers parade.
As the heir to his brother Gaston was seen as the most eligible bachelor in Europe, he married in 1802, Charlotte, Princess Royal of Britain, the British isles becoming a United Kingdom under the reign of her father, Charles V.
As regent to his brother, Gaston found that trying to keep all the power under the rule of a single person, was time consuming and lead to unpopular actions being blamed solely on that person.
Over the 13 years as regent, Gaston was able to reform the political part of the monarchy to form a Constitutional Monarchy with a Bicameral system mirroring that of Britain, which over numerous kings has seen power devolved to the people.
Gaston was deeply saddened when he heard that his brother had choked upon his own spittle and presided over a funeral fit for his brother.
With the crown now on 38 year old, King Gaston, many expected for the constitution to be altered to fit him, however Gaston explained that “the office of government is for the people to decide, I will work with the government to assist in the interior politics of France but I believe I am better suited concentrating on religious matters and foreign affairs.”
In 1814, Gaston saw his country hold its first election, with property owning men vote for their Chancellor, as well as county representatives. This election saw retired General, Jean-de-Dieu Soult, elected Chancellor and leading a traditionalist nationalist party to the majority.
While political harmony was being felt in the West, the rest of European, were seeing unrest and revolts as more and more citizens were calling for Revolution,
This resulted in an Austrian monarchist, Johann Georg Hiedler, aged 30, assassinating the 45 year old King, as he rode in his open carriage, while screaming “I killed one king to save a hundred others”
When his father died, and Pierre, Dauphin of France became Pierre II, King of France, France was entering a truly golden age, with her empire spanning the globe and nearly half of all humanity speaking French. At the age of 23, Pierre would marry Euphemia of the Netherlands, and the pair would have three children; two sons and a Daughter. It would be in 1824, when Pierre would negotiate for his younger brother; Charles, Duke of Orleans to marry the heiress of Cosimo V, Grand Duke of Tuscany and with the death of Cosimo in 1830, Charles and his wife would be crowned as Grand Duke and Duchess of Tuscany.
The thirty nine year rule of Pierre saw major expansion of the French Empire, particularly in South East Asia, and it would be in 1859 that Pierre II would pass and the throne of France would pass to his son, Guillaume.
(11) Guillaume was born in 1835, during the reign of his father, named after his maternal grandfather, William of the Netherlands. He was the second son, created Duke of Orleans at birth, and married to Princess Militza of Montenegro, a distant cousin through the Bourbon-Soissons line, of the House of Petrović-Njegoš. They were married in 1855, and by the time of both his elder brother and father's death four years later, had produced only a daughter, Vjera.
In the time since the likely union of France and Navarre almost three centuries earlier, Navarre had flourished under the House of Albert. Despite the impact of the War of the Spanish Infantas, Navarre enjoyed a happy trading partnership with their neighbours, both France and English Spain.
However, through a fluke of marriage and succession, Navarre became part of the United Kingdom of Portugal (alongside Brazil, the Algarve and Portuguese Spain) which put England and France in the peculiar position that they effectively controlled access to Navarre by both land and sea. And they took advantage of this, essentially holding the tiny nation hostage in order to acquire preferential trade partnerships.
Guillaume went to lengths to stress behind closed doors that this was the will of the Parliament Francis, the newer bicameral version rather than the older version established by Henry V, now known as the Parliament de L'Ancien Regime, filled with members of the nobility.
Guillaume only ruled for 20 years, but continued the expansion into South East Asia, renaming Timor in honour of his wife on their twentieth wedding anniversary. He would die a few years later of a stroke, to be succeeded by his Cousin; Lèopold, Duke of Anjou.
during the 1880s, The French Empire was eclipsed industrially and militarily by the newly formed German Empire; a colossal industrial power stretching from the Adriatic to the North and Baltic seas. The French parliament was gripped by fear of invasion, and in an attempt to assuage fears, began a wholesale military expansion, so much so that by 1893, the military was some three times the size of was a decade earlier. The King was present at many parades in this period, as a symbol of nationalism and pride in the French Empire.
In 1897, the King would fall from his horse at one such parade, and dragged across the sand of the parade ground, and would pass a week later, succeeded by Henry.
(13) Henry VI was planned from birth to marry Vjera of France and Montenegro, and this happened when he was 18 and she was 19. The first of three children followed shortly after.
Whilst Germany had become a military colossus during his father's reign, the realisation dawned that a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the House of Soissons, now occupied the thrones of Portugal (and thus Navarre, the problem of which remained unsolved), England, the Netherlands and Italy. This meant that France was surrounded, and despite the occasional marriage between the main Soissons line and the Bourbon-Conde one, the House of Soissons was far enough removed that no real loyalty existed between them.
The senior most Soissons was 27th in line to the French throne, after the lines of the Dukes of Normandy and Chartres who had four sons each. Still, the German Kaiser forced the hand of the Parliament Francais and Henry by forcing them to sign a law that removed the male line of Charles, Count of Soissons, from the line of succession. Despite the fact that the current Duke was unlikely to ascend to the French throne, this still caused some diplomatic problems with the various monarchs descended from the Count making land grabs to German and French colonial assets.
This meant that the French Navy was deployed to protect those assets, leading to conflicts, led in South East Asia by the Soissons Powers by James, Duke of Porto. This culminates in the Battle of Kowloon, in which the German vessel Ingelfingen sank the Portuguese ship, Queen Victoria.
By the time news of this reached Paris, Henry was dead, leaving the whole mess for his successor, Gaston , his oldest child to steer France through.
The old Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved when the electors in 1848 had failed to agree on a new Emperor, with a split between Wilhelm Hohenzoller, the King of Prussia and the heir of the just passed Joseph Michael Hapsburg of Austria through his mother Maria of Hapsburg, and a third cousin, Grigori Kovács, descended from the Hapsburg through his grandmother, an aunt of Joseph Michael. The result was the two new Empires, the German and the Hungarian, which had the eastern regions that had been part of the Hapsburg realm.
It was the next German Kaiser, Wilhem I's son, Frederick I, that was the Emperor of the rising German Empire during Gaston's youth. By the time Gaston's father was King, France had forged a wary truce with Germany as the two recognized their various colonial holdings. This was cemented with two marriages as Gaston's sister, the Princess Louisa, in 1900 married the Kaiser's heir, Prince Frederick, who beame Kaiser Frederick II in 1905, and the Dauphin Gaston married the Kaiser's daughter, Camila, in 1901. It was Frederick II who impacted the French to disinherit the Soissons cadet branch.
Added to the alliance between France and Germany was the other rival of Germany's enemy Hungary, the Ottoman Empire. This resulted in Hungary's ally and Germany's main enemy to the East, the Russian Empire, to ally with Hungary, Portugal, England, and Italy.
As Gaston took the throne, it was hoped that the conflict in Asia would remain a limited colonial war. But that was not to be when Hungarian forces marched on Vienna, the secondary capital of the German Empire.
As the war was fought not only on four fronts in Europe, but throughout the colonial empires in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, this was called the War of the Global Empires or the Imperial War. (Later the First Imperial War.)
At home the main fighting for the French was the northern front with the English who were allied with Holland and the southern front with Portugal. Sporadic fighting took place on the Italian frontier, but the Alps limited the fighting and Italy focused on fighting the Germans to the east.
It was a terrible war unlike any before as the new machine guns made the land combat become trench warfare that turned into a stalemate. At sea the fighting was in giant coal driven iron clad battleships and submarines. Meanwhile airships dropped bombs and, as the war continued, more and more machine gun armed Aeroplanes fought each other in dog fights as they escorted or attacked the fleet of bomber airships. This meant that cities behind the lines were bombed.
Millions of the French died in the war, an entire generation of young men decimated. As the stalemate turned from months into years in Europe, the battles in the colonial empires went back and forth. In 1917 Japan joined the French alliance and Russia now had a two front war. Then the Chinese Empire joined on the side of Russia and invaded Indochina.
But the worst part was the spread of disease. In late 1918 a new Influenza known as the Portugueese Flu, swept like a plague through the Continent. In January of 1920, without any end of the stalemate in Europe in sight and the colonial fortunes of the French alliance not going well, the King contracted the virus and died.
The House of Bourbon-Conde
Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendome, b. 1489, d. 1537
a) Antoine, King of Navarre, b. 1518, r. 1537 to 1562
1) Henri III, King of Navarre, b. 1553, r. 1572 to 1589
2) Catherine II, Queen of Navarre, b. 1559, r. 1589 to 1604
b) Louis, Prince of Conde, b. 1530, d. 1569
1) Henri I, Prince of Conde, b. 1552, d. 1588
a) Henry IV of France, b. 1588, r. 1589 to 1646, m. Elizabeth Stuart (1596 to 1662)
2) Francois, Prince of Conti, b. 1558, d. 1614
3) Charles, Count of Soissons, b. 1566, d. 1612
a) Louis, Count/Duke of Soissons, b. 1604, d. 1641
1) line continues
Henry IV of France, b. 1588, r. 1589 to 1646, m. Elizabeth Stuart (1596 to 1662)
1) Henry, Dauphin of France, b. 1616, d. 1643
a) Henry V of France, prev. Duke of Burgundy, b. 1640, r 1646 to 1655, then 1655 to 1678, m. Jeanne of Savoy (1645 to 1703)
1) Jeanne of France, Madame Royale, b. 1664
2) Francis III of France b. 1665, r. 1678 to 1722 m. 168, Anne of England (1665–1714)
b) Jeanne b. 1685 D.1711, m. Stanislas-Jean, Duke of Anjou
c) Anne b. 1686
g) Francis, Dauphin of France, b. 1689, d. 1705
h) Maria b. 1690
i) Pierre I of France, prev. Duke of Normandy, b. 1692, r. 1722 to 1747, m. 1710, Magdalena of Soissons (1690 to 1760)
1) Pierre, Dauphin of France b.1712 d.1719
2) Louis, Duke of Normandy b.1712 d.1719
3) Charles, Dauphin of France b.1715 d.1731
4) Jeanne of France b.1713 d.1762
5) Isabeau of France b. 1714 d.1781
3) Christine of France
2) Rene I of France, prev. Duke of Vendome, b. 1618, r. 1655
3) Francis, Duke of Orleans, b. 1621, Regent 1655 to 1658, then 1678 to 1683, d. 1705 m. Henrietta of England (1644–1670)
a) Francis II, Duke of Orleans, b. 1665, d. 1723
1) Jean Robert, Duke of Orleans, Premiere Prince Du Sang, b. 1690 d.1742
4) Robert, Duke of Anjou b. 1624 d.1690, m. Marie-Alexandrine de Cröy
a) Louis-Jean, Duke of Anjou b.1650 d.1698, m. Karolina Wisnowiecki, Princess of Poland
1) Louis-Jean, Duke of Anjou b.1650 d.1698, m. Karolina Wisnowiecki, Princess of Poland
a) Stanislas-Jean, Duke of Anjou b.1681 d.1740, m. Jeanne of France
1) Phillipe VII, King of France (also Premiere Prince Du Sang 1742 to 1747) b. 1710, r. 1747 to 1764, m. Claudia of Savoy
5) Charles, Duke of Berry b. 1625, d. 1687, m. Claire Clémence de Maillé (1628-1694)
a) several generations
a) Gaston, 5th Duke of Berry, b. 1710, d. 1790, Premiere Prince du Sang 1760 to 1790, m. Yolande of Beja (1712 to 1772)
1) Gaston b. 1735, d. 1755
2) Isabeau of Berry, b. 1743, m. Jean III, King of France
3) Antoine, 6th Duke of Berry, b. 1745, D.1810, Premiere Prince Du Sang 1790 to 1810
Phillipe VII, King of France (also Premiere Prince Du Sang 1742 to 1747) b. 1710, r. 1747 to 1764, m. Claudia of Savoy
1l Phillipe, Dauphin of France, b. 1740, d. 1750
2) Jean III, King of France, b. 1742, r. 1764 to 1800, m. Isabeau of Berry (1743 to 1810)
a) Phillipe, Daupin of France, b.1762 d.1769
b) Magdalene of France, b.1765
c) Phillipotte of France, b.1767
d) Sophia of France, b.1770
e) Phillipe VIII, King of France, b.1772, r. 1800 to.1813, unmarried
f) Gaston I, King of France, b.1775, regent 1800 to 1813, r.1813 to 1820, m. Princess Charlotte of the United Kingdom b.1781 d.1856
1) Pierre II, King of France b. 1802, r.1820 to 1859, m. Princess Euphemia of the Netherlands b.1810 d.1871
a) Pierre, Dauphin of France, b. 1830, d. 1858
b) Guillaume I, King of France, prev. Duke of Orleans, b. 1835, r. 1859 to 1879, m Militzia of Montenegro
1) Vjera of France & Montenegro, b. 1857
c) Euphemia, Madame Royale, b. 1836, d. 1920, never married
2) Carlo, Grand Duke of Tuscany b.1805 D.1872, m. Clementine d'Medici, Grand Duchess of Tuscany b.1802 D.1870
a) line of Bourbon-Tuscany
3) Henri, Duke of Anjou b.1807 D.1854, m. Teresa, Princess Wisnowiecki b.1810 D.1880
a) Amèdèè, Duke of Anjou, b.1836 D.1870, never married.
b) Lèopold I, King of France, previously Duke of Anjou, b. 1839 d.1897, m. Louise of Soissons b.1840 d.1906
1) Henry VI, King of France, b. 1858, r. 1897 to 1913, m. Vjera of France and Montenegro (1857 to 1935)
--a) Gaston II, King of France, b.1877, r. 1913-1920, m. Princess Camila Hohenzollern of Berlin (1883 to 1962)
--b) Princess Louisa, b. 1881, d. 1919, m. Kaiser Frederick II Hohenzollern (1875. r. 1905-1933)
--c) Lèopold b. 1886. d. 1895.
2) 4 other children
4) Gaston, Duke of Normandy
a) 4 sons, 6 grandsons
5) Jean, Duke of Chartres
a) 4 sons, 10 grandsons
3) Juliette of France, B.1743
4) Charles, Duke of Orleans, b.1744 d.1750
5) Claudia of France, b. 1745
6) Caroline of France, b. 1745
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