WI : Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Lafayette died in the American Revolutionary War?

Meordal

The part Philippe d'Orléans played during the summer of 1789 is one of the most debated points in the history of the French Revolution.

Louis Philippe, a member of the Jacobin club and highest ranked Freemason in France, used his wealth and family connections to help spread the revolutionary ideas of Jean-Jacques was Rousseau and Montesquieu. Cousin to King Louis XVI and thus a member of the Bourbon family line, Philippe opened the Palais-Royal to the Jacobins as a refuge from royalist censors. This palace, which was exempt from government censorship, allowed Jacobins to meet in Paris not only to discuss and debate revolutionary principles but also to print and distribute pamphlets to other Parisians. Louis Philippe was able to create a center for revolutionary ideology that played a large part in the undermining of the crown.

The royal court accused him of being at the bottom of every popular movement, and saw the "gold of Orléans" as the cause of the Réveillon riot and the storming of the Bastille (mirroring the subsequent belief held by the Jacobins that everything opposing them relied on the "gold of Pitt the Younger"). His hatred of Marie Antoinette, his previous disgrace at court, and his liberalism (alongside his friendship with Duport and Choderlos de Laclos), all seem to point towards his involvement. The Duke is also alleged to have deliberately withheld grain from the people of Paris, being a direct cause of the October march on Versailles. The Duke is also thought to have lied about his whereabouts when the Palace at Versailles was stormed in the early hours of the morning on the 6th of October, having stated he was at the General Assembly in Paris, yet several witnesses (including the Marquise de la Tour du Pin) saw him lead the bloodthirsty mob to a staircase leading to the Queen's bedroom, protected by Swiss Guards. The mob cried "Long live our King d'Orléans" during the raid.

Grace Elliott, who was one of Philippe's mistresses at the time, attested to the fact that during the riot of 14 July, the duke was on a fishing excursion, and that he was rudely treated by the king the next day when the duke went to offer his cousin his services. Supposedly, the duke was so disgusted by the accusation that he was seeking the crown, that he wanted to go to the United States. His favourite lover, the Countess of Buffon, however, would not go with him, so he decided to remain in Paris.

He would later change his name to Philippe Égalité and vote in favor of the death sentence for his cousin, Louis XVI (decisive vote). During the Reign of Terror, he was himself arrested, and effectively tried then guillotined in the space of one day on 6 November 1793.
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In OTL, Louis Philippe II d’Orléans repeatedly asked the King (his cousin) to permit him to be part of Rochambeau's expeditionary force on its way to America. This demand was denied by the King for multiple reasons (including his naval actions during the Battle of Ouessant) and probably because he was a notorious womanizer and gambler, whose scandalous reputation and ambition were well-known.

What if Louis XVI chose to accept his cousin pleas and sent him to AmericaIn order to keep him away from the court.

On arrival, a royal order is transmitted by General Rochambeau to Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. He is now in charge of protecting (babysitting) le Prince de sang who will temporarily fight incognito alongside him.

During the Siege of Yorktown, Lafayette is mortally wounded after ordering a reckless Louis Phillippe not to get closer to the British lines. Louis Philippe himself was later bayoneted while protecting the wounded Marquis from Hessian troops.

What will happen now?


EDIT : thanks to Decatur for correcting my mistake.
 
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Decatur

The Battle of Brandywine was fought on 11 Sept. 1777. Rochembeau and the Special Expedition didn't reach the United States until August 1780, and didn't see any real combat until the siege of Yorktown.

Maybe Louis-Phillipe attaches himself to the French troops storming Redoubt 10 and ends up on the wrong end of a Hessian bayonet that way.
 

Meordal

Alex Zetsu said:
Make it a Lüneburg one to be more interesting
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The five battalions of auxiliaries from the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) were sent to Gibraltar and Menorca to relieve the British soldiers stationed there, They were defenders during the Great Siege of Gibraltar the largest and longest battle of the war, and in the defense of Menorca. They later served against France in India.

Unfortunately, they never fought in America.
 
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Alex Zetsu

Meordal said:
The five battalions of auxiliaries from the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) were sent to Gibraltar and Menorca to relieve the British soldiers stationed there, They were defenders during the Great Siege of Gibraltar the largest and longest battle of the war, and in the defense of Menorca.
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Poopy... could Louis Philippe go to Gibraltar? Or would that be too far from the OP's idea? Also, while there were individual actions like a sally from a garrison, I'm not sure you can call the siege itself a battle.
 
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