Two 'princes' locked in battle to succeed Henri d’Orleans as 'official' pretender to French throne

Henri d’Orléans never achieved his goal of ascending the throne of France, but the presence of Prince Albert of Monaco and other royals lent his funeral the solemn pomp of a state occasion.

Queen Sofia of Spain, the mother of King Felipe VI, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan of Morocco and a host of European aristocrats paid their respects to Henri, Count of Paris, at the Royal Chapel of Dreux on Saturday.

Their attendance seemed to signal their assent to his claim to the now defunct French crown, but the death of the 85-year-old count has revived a bitter centuries-old succession dispute.

His son, Jean d’Orleans, is a descendant of France’s last king, Louis-Philippe, and the Duke of Orléans, the brother of Louis XIV, the Sun King. But his legitimacy is contested by the rival House of Bourbon.

Their pretender to the throne, which was abolished in the 19th century, is Louis de Bourbon, a direct descendant of Louis XIV. Another of his ancestors is Queen Victoria.

Jean d’Orléans, 53, a fervent Catholic and former banker, manages a vast forest inherited from his grandmother. He claims France is “monarchist at heart” and argues that the French long for a figurehead above the political fray. He has sought to cast himself as a man of the people, expressing support for the gilets jaunes protesters.

Louis de Bourbon, 44, known as the Duke of Anjou, is a polo-playing financier with movie-star looks. He was brought up partly in Spain and dreams of a Spanish-style constitutional monarchy, but is mocked by supporters of Jean d’Orléans for his Spanish accent.

France’s most active royalist movement, Action Française, supports Jean d’Orléans, but there is also a third pretender, which further divides the small monarchist movement.

Jean-Christophe Napoléon, also known as Prince Napoléon, is the Bonapartist claimant. A descendant of Emperor Napoléon I, he works as a banker in London and tries to stay out of the heated succession battle.

Jean d’Orléans, however, remains ever hopeful of a restoration of the monarchy. In a statement released at the weekend, he said: “If the French so wish, we will renew the historic and necessary pact between the Nation and the Royal Family.”