Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans

Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans was the son of Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Henriette de Bourbon.  This made him a member of the Orléans family a cadet (junior) part of the French Royal family.  He married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon who happened to be the daughter of a very rich Admiral of France.  His incoming wealth and royal connections meant he was able to ingratiate himself with the court at Versailles.

He was famed however for his independent some would say anti royalist thought.  He opposed Louis XV’s actions against the Paris Parlement and was punished by being sent into exile.  He would rise to the position of Duc d’Orléans on the death of his father and quickly become one of the wealthiest men in France in Louis XVI reign.  If anything should happen to Louis however Phillippe would inherit the throne.  This became more pressing as Phillippe’s marriage so saw several male children born before Louis’ first son was born in 1781.  However Phillippe would be exiled again when he spoke out against the treatments of Paris parlement only to be told, “it is legal because I will it.”

When he returned from exile he turned his wealth towards assisting the revolutionary cause.  He allowed the grounds of his Paris residence known as the Palais-Royal to become a centre of uncensored discussion and pamphlet dispersion.  At the calling of the Estates General he was elected as a Second Estate deputy in 1789.  He was more than content to cross the floor and to side with the third estate.

As the revolution escalated so Phillippe’s position became more radical.  He became a member of the Jacobin Club and friends with Danton it was believed he helped support the petition to remove the monarchy.  He became known as Philippe Egalité and was elected to the National Convention.  He would in turn vote for the execution of King Louis XVI and voted against any suspension of the execution or appeal the people.  His conversion to the cause did not convince everyone.  When his son defected to the Austrians alongside Dumouriez, Phillippe was arrested in March 1793.  He would be sent to the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed on November 6th 1793.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on D’Orleans.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library, Teddington (2007) p155

The rapidly increasing distrust of the King and Queen shown by the populace was greatly attributable to incessant corruption by English gold, and the projects, either of revenge or of ambition, of the Duc D’Orleans.  Let it not be thought that this accusation is founded on what has been often repeated by the heads of the French government since the Revolution.  Twice between the 14th of July and the 6th of October 1789, the day which the Court was dragged to Paris, the Queen prevented me from making little excursions thither of business or pleasure, saying to me, “Do not go on such a day to Paris; the English have been scattering gold, we shall have some disturbance.” The repeated visits of the Duc d’Orleans to England had excited the Anglomania to such a pitch that Paris was no longer distinguishable from London.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on the Duc D’Orleans and his supposed role in the events of the 5th of October 1789.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library, Teddington (2007) p174

Many have asserted that they recognised the Duc D’Orleans in a greatcoat and slouched hat, at half past four in the morning, at the top of the marble staircase, pointing out with his hand the guard room, which led to the Queen’s apartments.  This fact was deposed to at the Chatelet by several individuals in the course of the inquiry instituted respecting the transactions of the 5th and 6th of October.

The Marquis de Bouille on the events of 5th to the 6th October 1789 and the role he believed Duke D’Orleans played .  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p129

On the 5th of October the sans culottes  in the pay of the duke of Orleans, taking with them the whole populace of Paris proceeded to Versailles for the purpose of massacring the king and royal family, and placing that prince on the bloody throne.

The duke of Orleans was the most atrocious, and at the same time the meanest of villains ; he had all the cunning necessary to put in motion a great party.... Defeated in his hopes of ascending the throne by the murder of the king, whose life, though they destroyed his power, was protected by La Fayette and the constitutionalists, he formed the project: of exciting a civil war in France, in which, that he might more certainly succeed, he wished to destroy all subordination in the army, and in some degree to disband it; to unite the soldiers with the people , having first persuaded them to renounce all obedience to the established authorities ; and to employ both against the king and the aflembly, for the purpose of placing himself at the head of the nation. In all the garrisons he had agents, whose object was to seduce the soldiers by inciting them to licentious and excess, and holding out to them the prospect of pillage.

Madame Roland shows tolerance to d’Orléans.  Taken from The Memoirs of Madame Roland a Heroine of the French Revolution, Barrie & Jenkins, London (1989) p83

In isolation d’Orléans presented no threat, but his name, his connections and his wealth gave him great influence.  There is no doubt he was secretly encouraging much of the popular agitation.  Genuine democrats suspected this but considered it to be part of the leverage necessary to shift the inert mass of the Ancien Régime.  They thought that so long as they themselves took no part in his intrigues they could safely make use of them in the public interest.  They also imagined that d’Orléans was more interested in humiliating the Court that had spurned him that in seeking power for himself.  

Gouverneur Morris on the Duke D’Orleans. Witnesses to the Revolution American and British Commentators in France 1788-1794, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London (1989) p78-79

The lees too of the patriotic party, of wicked principles and desperate fortunes, hoping to pillage something in the wreck of their country, are attaching themselves to the faction of the Duke of Orleans, that faction is caballing with the populace, and intriguing at London, the Hague and Berlin and have evidently in view the transfer of the crown to the D. of Orleans.  He is a man of moderate understanding, of no principle, absorbed in low vice, and incapable of abstracting himself from the fifth of that to direct anything else.  His name and his money therefore are mere tools in the hands of those who are duping him.  Mirabeau is their chief.  They may produce a temporary confusion, and even a temporary civil war, supported as they will be by the money of England: but cannot have success ultimately.   

Barère on spending time with the Duke D’Orleans.  Taken from Memoirs of Bertrand Barère Volume 1, H. S. Nichols, London (1896) p250

Sometimes on these evenings I met the Duke of Orleans, whose colleague I was in the Constitutional Assembly. He amused himself by chatting to me on the course of public affairs, and more often on the policy of England, with which he was intimately acquainted, as he was with the character of the French and the manners of the English. The Duke of Orleans concealed under an appearance of levity and recklessness the power of deep thought and sensible conclusions. They said he was far more fitted for company than politics; but he was misunderstood. He was timid, although a great personage ; he was a citizen, though a prince ; and had he been able to conquer his natural indecision and his political fears, that were taken as flaws in his character, he might have proved fit to reign, and redoubled the part of Louis XII., also once Duke of Orleans, who had been calumniated, misunderstood and persecuted at Court as he was.

The Marquis de Bouille’s opinions on the Duke D’Orleans and his supposed leadership of the Jacobins.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies London (1797) p299-300

The duke of Orleans had. leaders and secret agents dispersed over every part of France. The Jacobin club at Paris, whose operations he directed, kept up a correspondence with all the rest in the kingdom; there was not a town in France, however small, which did not contain these societies, presided over or led by men of the boldest and most enterprising characters, consummate in crime and villainy. Jacobinism was a monster whose head was at Paris, and whose arms extended over all France; the means its partisans made use of to effect their destructive purposes were alternately force and artifice. They pretended favourable dispositions towards the constitutionalists, whilst meditating the ruin of La Fayette, their chief, whom they pursued rather to gratify the personal vengeance of the duke of Orleans, than from any apprehensions of his power they associated themselves with the friends of the constitution, made the constitution itself subservient to their views, and at the same time waited only till the royal authority should be completely annihilated, to destroy it. If ever there was a conspiracy of greater extent than this, none was ever conducted with more method and ability, nor ever displayed more boldness and energy in its operations.

Abbe Edgeworth who attended to the King in his last hours including the scaffold.  Before he is taken to his execution he reports on a discussion he had with the King over who is responsible for the King’s pleasant plight. As published in A Journal of the Terror, The Folio Society, London (1955) p147

The conversation then changed to the subject of the Duke of Orléans.  “What have I ever done to my cousin” , said the King to me, “that he should seek my downfall? … But after all, he is more to be pitied than I.  My position is tragic, no doubt, but most certainly I would not change it for his.”