WI King Henri V of France

In the early 1870s, as the Second Empire collapsed following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War at the battle of Sedan, on 1 September 1870, the royalists became a majority in the National Assembly. The Orléanists agreed to support the comte de Chambord's claim to the throne, with the hope that at his death he would be succeeded by their own claimant, the nine-year-old Count of Paris, Philippe d'Orléans. Henri was then pretender for both legitimists and Orléanists and the restoration of Monarchy in France seemed to be a close possibility. However, Henri insisted that he would only accept the crown on condition that France abandon its tricolour flag and return to the use of the white fleur-de-lis flag. Even a compromise, whereby the fleur-de-lis would be the new king's personal standard, and the tricolour would remain the national flag, was rejected.

from wikipedia

Suppose that Henri,Comte de Chambord, hadn't insisted on the abandoning if the tricolour in favour of the fleur-de-lis and had just accepted that it as his personal standard and had become King of France in the 1870s. What kind of effects would a monarchist France have with him as Henri V? He didn't have any children and his successor would likely have been a Legitimist (if it was up to them). Perhaps a victory in another Carlist war?

Thoughts? Discuss. :)
 

Susano

Banned
Uh, actually, his sucessor would have been the Orleans pretender. That was the historic compromise between Legitimists and Orleanists, which is why you cant really speak of Legitimists since then anymore - either you have unionists (supporting the unified claim of the Orleans branch) or ultralegitimists (supporting the Anjou branch, i.e. the most senior male of the Spanish line). That compromise is why the arrangment coulkd have worked.

For a time, anyways. Seems in teh 19th centruy the French were quick to change state forms, and with a Third Kingdom, this could stay this way. After all, the King only needs to do a single thing to really offend the people...
 
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