Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais

Louis Charles
Count of Beaujolais
Portrait by Charles-François Phelippes. c.1838, Palace of Versailles
Born	(1779-10-17)17 October 1779 Palais-Royal, Paris, France
Died	Malta
Burial	St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta
Full name Louis Charles Alphonse Léodgard d'Orléans
House	House of Orléans
Father	Philippe d'Orléans
Mother	Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Louis Charles Alphonse Léodgard d'Orléans, Count of Beaujolais (17 October 1779 – 30 May 1808) was a French prince of the blood, son of Philippe Égalité and the younger brother of King Louis-Philippe I of the French.

Biography

Louis Charles was born at the Palais-Royal in Paris. He was the third and youngest son of Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, later Duke of Orléans as Philippe Égalité, and of his wife, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang.

His mother was the greatest heiress of the age as the only surviving child of the vastly wealthy duc de Penthièvre. She was also the sister in law of the famous princesse de Lamballe.

In 1781 the Countess of Genlis was appointed to be the governess to Louis-Charles and to his two older brothers Louis-Philippe and Antoine. Two years later the abbé Mariottini, nephew of the apostolic nuncio to France was made his tutor, but he resigned in 1786 after a conflict with Madame de Genlis. Louis Charles was then tutored by the first chamberlain Barrois, before being assigned to the under-governor Lebrun in 1789.

In April 1793 Louis Charles was arrested with his father and imprisoned at Fort-Saint-Jean in Marseille. During his imprisonment he contracted tuberculosis, a condition which eventually caused his death. His father was executed in November 1793 but Louis Charles remained imprisoned until August 1796 when the Directory decided to exile him and his brother Antoine to Philadelphia. The French chargé d'affaires in Philadelphia settled upon Louis-Charles an annual pension of 15,000 francs.

In February 1797 Louis Charles and Antoine were joined in Philadelphia by their older brother Louis Philippe. Together they travelled to New York City and Boston, and as far north as Maine and as far south as Nashville.

In September 1797 Louis Charles and his brothers learnt that their mother had gone into exile in Spain, and so they decided to return to Europe. They went to New Orleans, planning to sail to Cuba and from there to Spain. The ship they took from New Orleans, however, was captured by a British warship in the Gulf of Mexico.

The British seized the three brothers, but took them to Havana anyway. Unable to find passage to Europe, the three brothers spent a year in Cuba, until they were unexpectedly expelled by the Spanish authorities. They sailed via the Bahamas to Nova Scotia. Eventually, the brothers sailed back to New York, and in January 1800, they arrived in England, where they settled at Twickenham outside London.

In September 1804 Louis Charles entered the Royal Navy, but his health did not allow him to continue a military career. In October he and his brothers went on a brief expedition to the French coast. They were fired upon by the French batteries at Boulogne but escaped without harm.

In 1808, in an attempt to improve Louis Charles' health, his older brother Louis Philippe accompanied him on a voyage to Gibraltar, Sicily and Malta.

Louis Charles, however, continued to deteriorate; he died of tuberculosis a fortnight after his arrival on the island. His funeral took place on June 3. Ten years later his body was buried on April 10, 1818 in St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. James Pradier designed and sculpted his tomb, a replica of which is at Dreux.

Louis Charles' portrait was painted posthumously in 1818 by Albert Gregorius (now in the Palais Royal) and by Charles-Francois Phelippes (now in the Palais-Royal). Another portrait was painted in 1835 by Amédée Fauré (now at the Château d'Eu). There are copies of all three portraits in the Palace of Versailles.

Ancestors

Family of Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais

16. Philippe II, Duke of Orléans               8. Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans                       17. Françoise-Marie de Bourbon               4. Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans                             18. Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden               9. Margravine Auguste Marie Johanna of Baden-Baden                       19. Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg               2. Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans                                   20. Louis III, Prince of Condé               10. Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon                       21. Louise-Françoise de Bourbon               5. Louise Henriette de Bourbon                             22. François Louis, Prince of Conti               11. Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti                       23. Marie Thérèse de Bourbon               1. Louis Charles d'Orléans                                         24. Louis XIV of France               12. Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse                       25. Françoise-Athénaïs de Montespan, Marchioness of Montespan               6. Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre                             26. Anne-Jules de Noailles, Duke of Noailles               13. Marie Victoire de Noailles                       27. Marie-Françoise de Bournonville               3. Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon                                   28. Rinaldo III, Duke of Modena               14. Francesco III, Duke of Modena                       29. Princess Charlotte Felicity of Brunswick-Lüneburg               7. Princess Maria Teresa Felicity of Modena                             30. Philippe II, Duke of Orléans =16               15. Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans                       31. Françoise-Marie de Bourbon =17

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 17 October 1779 – 30 May 1808 His Serene Highness the Count of Beaujolais

Bibliography

• The Adami Collection - collection of Parish records of Marriages, legacy and nobility, National Library of Malta, vol 10, pp 1838.
• Abela, A.E. A Nation's Praise - Malta: People, Places and Events. Historical Sketches. Progress Press, 1994. ISBN 99909-3-038-4