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Silverfoxesclub-digest In this issue: -Lilies, Berrys, and a Pansy
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Many thanks to Richard in DC for offering the clue which enabled me to answer my own question about the present French royal family. He wrote: "I've been reading with interest the pieces about the French 'nobility,' particularly back when it meant something. Currently the pretender to the French throne is styled the 'Comte de Paris' and is of the Bourbon line, I believe, though whose descendant he is, I'm not so sure." Richard, thanks to your naming the Count of Paris, I was able to find a lot of other information as well. Surely I must have known about him when I was a journalist in Paris, but like so many things, I find that being older now, I believe that I have forgotten more than I ever knew! The current Count of Paris is 68 this year; his father, the previous "Monsieur le Comte," died in 1999 at the age of 91. "The Institute of the Royal House of France" even has a beautiful Web site at http://www.royaute-france.com/royaute/ in French. I shall be offering more information about them and their line of descent in this posting because I made another discovery in my research last night which connects them to our series on gay history. So we will be talking about these royal "lilies," the fleurs-de-lys (pron. flur-duh-leez in the plural, or fleur-de-lys, singular, pron. flur-duh-lee), the heraldic symbol of French royalty, resembling a lily or iris. We will also be talking about berries---oops!---make that the Berrys, the Dukes of Berry, that is, from whom one of our list members may be descended. We appear to have our own French royalty right here on the list! This posting is both fruity and floral. We shall talk, too, about a pansy---no, not the retiring little flower, but a certain outrageous fairy queen...oops!...make that a royal gay person of the masculine sex who was but one step removed from really being a queen...oops!...make that king!
Even so, they had been married for nearly eleven years before they produced their first child, a boy named Joe, and then they had another boy named Charlie, and then two girls, Charlotte and Sophie. Tragedy struck when poor Sophie died after only a few months of life, to be joined by her brother, Joe, a couple of years later when he was eight. That left Charlie and Charlotte. Along came the French Revolution shortly after Joe's death, then prison and trials, then the beheading of King Lou and the same for Queen Toinette, aka Toni. The children were separated in jail, and it has been widely assumed, although never definitively proved, that Little Charlie, who had become the uncrowned Louis XVII (pronounced "lu-ee-dees-set") upon his father's death, died in ghastly circumstances at the prison. A poignant note about Marie Antoinette: While she waited in her cell for her execution, her nerves gave way, and she hemorrhaged badly from her vagina, bloodying her undergarments. Only 38, the frightening situation, which had already turned her hair grey, had also thrust her into early menopause. Proud to the end, she removed them and wadded them into cracks in the stone wall so as not to be embarrassed in front of her crass captors. The undies were not found in the wall until a hundred-and-fifty years later. (A note for the list member descended from the Dukes of Berry---les ducs de Berry: King Louis XVI, above, was titled the duc de Berry as a child. So when your mother's DeBerry family legend tells you that you were related to the "last' King of France, it is probably true. There was a long succession of French royals who took the title, which derived from shared bloodlines and property interests with the DeBerry family. Charles, a son of Louis XIV, the great Sun King of France in the 17th century, was also a Duke of Berry. The last one I have found is Charles-Ferdinand d'Artois (1778-1820), duc de Berry, the son of Charles X who was the penultimate French king among the last three, which I talk about in the following paragraph.) Now on to the truly "last" kings of France. They were Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814 and his exile to the Isle of Elba, royalty was reestablished in France. Louis XVIII, the brother of the unfortunate husband of Marie Antoinette, came to power in 1814. His reign, interrupted by the 100 Days (the period between the return of Napoleon from Elba and his final defeat at Waterloo) endured for nine years from 1815 to 1824. Louis XVIII was 69 when he became king. Most of the French didn't like him very much. He was not an absolute ruler, like the Sun King, Louis XIV, but a constitutional monarch who governed through his ministers and the Chamber of Deputies, which was mostly elected by rich property holders. At his death in 1824 at age 79, Louis XVIII was succeeded by his brother Charles X who was, of course, the last surviving brother of Louis XVI. Charles wanted to restore the ruinous privileges to the noblemen who had fled the country during the Revolution. He wanted to pay them large sums of money as indemnities and take away many of the hard-won rights of French citizens. The Bourbon clan appeared to have learned nothing from their hard times of the previous forty years. The people revolted against them in 1830, in an uprising that lasted three "glorious" days, the "July Revolution." Charles X was obliged to abdicate and took refuge in England. Allow me to digress here to tell what I consider one of the great "side" stories of history, which is very little known except to the most meticulous and erudite of scholars, and often not even to them! The above material has prepped you for it, so perhaps it will give you pleasure. People who hate this kind of posting have already ignored or deleted it anyway, so I know that those of you who are still here probably groove on this stuff the way I do. Did you know that Marie Antoinette's daughter Charlotte, aka Marie Therese, survived her terrible imprisonment during the French Revolution? If so, did you also know that when she died in 1851 (just ten years before the American Civil War!) that her title at burial was "Dowager Queen of France?" WHAT? When was little Charlotte ever the Queen of France? She was only the Duchess of Angoulême, so why did her household always call her "Your Majesty"! You read above about the "July Revolution" of 1830 when, after three "glorious" days of fighting in the streets of Paris, the French, who were establishing another republic, demanded the abdication of Charles X (youngest brother of the late Louis XVI and, therefore, Charlotte's uncle). What the street fighters did on July 31, 1830, was to send a delegation over to the royal residence at the Tuileries Palace to see that he did it. He did, but the kingship, at the moment Charlie signed the document of abdication for himself, fell to his heir and son, the Duke of Angouleme, who was married to Marie Antoinette's daughter Charlotte! Her husband, now styled King Louis XIX of France, was then required also to sign away HIS rights to the throne as had his father, Charles X, a few moments before, but he delayed the signing for ten minutes, listening to his wife beg him NOT to do so. It would seem that Charlotte, made bitter and humorless by the loss of her entire immediate family during the Revolution, saw her sudden and surprising elevation to the throne as divine vindication for her murdered family. During the time she argued vehemently against her husband's signing the document of abdication, her father-in-law and uncle, now the former King Charles X, sat in his chair weeping and bewailing (literally) the loss of his throne. All the while he blubbered, there she stood, the bona-fide Queen of France! It may have been the high point of the poor woman's tragic life. Her efforts (and tears) notwithstanding, her husband signed his proclamation of abdication. Marie Therese, Charlotte, forever afterward hated the idea of the French republic and was so insecure that she always hung a bag of big diamonds on the back of her chair "for an emergency"---like escaping to another country, which is what she seemed to be doing all her life. (End of digression.) Following the abdication of Charles X, the deputies then chose his cousin as successor, Louis-Philippe, whom the people called "the Citizen King." Unlike his foolish cousins Louis XVIII and Charles X, he led a simple life without pretentious. His title was "King of the French," not "King of France," so, in that sense, Charles X, the duc de Berry, actually WAS the last "King of France"! (Will the DeBerry family legend please take note?) Louis-Philippe was very popular at the beginning of his reign, but the honeymoon didn't last, chiefly because he refused to modify the electoral law decreeing that citizens who did not or could not pay the poll tax were not allowed to vote. That put them back to the bad old days before the Revolution, when big money controlled the country, much like the United States has become today, at the expense of the common man. Unlike contemporary Americans, however, the dynamic French stood up for their rights and forced the government and the corporate interests to back down and change their ways. In 1848, the Parisians marched into revolt and forced Louis-Philippe to abdicate. He joined his cousin, Charles X, in England, where they nursed each other's wounds.
From that time, France has never been governed by a king, but the royal pretenders are still standing in line, as are the descendants of the first Naopleon Bonaparte's family. I am not sure and, again, maybe someone on the list knows for sure, but the current Bonaparte pretender may be a descendant of Plon-Plon, the son of Napoleon's brother Jerome.
The Republic was proclaimed a second time, and the right to vote (Florida take note) was given to every citizen at age 21. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I, was elected president of the Second Republic.
So who is the present "pretender" to the dust-gathering throne of France? He heads the House of Bourbon-Orléans. Where does he fit into the line of descent? Louis-Philippe I, the "Citizen King" mentioned above, died in exile in England in 1850. His second son, Robert, was born in 1840 and died in 1910. Robert had a son named John (Jean), born in 1874, died in 1940. John had become the head of the Bourbon-Orléans family of pretenders to the throne. John, in turn had a son named Henri, born in 1908. John's son, Henri-Pierre, born in 1933, took the titles "comte de Paris" and "duc de France" when his father, Henri, died on 19 June 1999 at the age of 91.
Thus, the present head of the "Royal House of France" is a 68-year-old whose picture is attached to this posting. He was born on 14 June 1933, in Belgium. His family had not been permitted to live in France since the "exile law" was promulgated in 1886, forbidding entry into the country of any descendant of a former ruler of France; therefore, little Prince Henri d'Orléans spent his childhood living in exile in Brazil (where a branch of the family used to rule), in Morocco, in Spain, and in Portugal. The exile law was abrogated in 1950, after the Prince was authorized, by special favor of President Vincent Auriol, to come to France in 1948. The above partially answers my original question: Who is "the royal family of France," and why were they present at the funeral of the young Iranian princess (daughter of the late ex-Shah of Iran) who died mysteriously in London last week? Now we know who they are, I can only conjecture that they may (1) have been invited to the funeral as representatives of France, having been also a royal family in exile; (2) be personal friends of ex-Empress Farah of Iran who has lived in Paris since 1979 and thus may have known the daughter; (3) may be very good customers for the Count of Paris' perfume! Who knows? If I find out, I will let you know. Having talked about lilies (the French royals), and the royal, but not razz, Berrys (our list member who is disguised among us as an ordinary mortal), now let's talk about our pansy. No, not you...nor me, either. I mean the one who is hiding out in the bloodline, i.e. the DNA, of the French royals and in most of the royal families of Europe. I have already written briefly about this gentleman in Digest 163, March 2001, but to refresh your memory, let's go back to the time of the Sun King, Louis XIV (pron. lou-ee catorze) and his only brother, Philippe (1640-1701), duc d'Orléans. It was King Louis' custom to fill his carriage with ladies of the court whenever he traveled from one place to the other. He refused to allow them to alight to perform any natural function, even if the trip took all day. They carried chamber pots under their multiple layers of skirts (an excellent device, one presumes, for muffling farts, excuse my language) and pooped and peed at will along the merry way. Henry's point was two-fold: (1) NEVER to open up a space in the carriage for a MAN to jump in and seat himself in the king's presence---men always wanted something---money or rank or position; (2) PLUS, and perhaps more important, Louis was embarrassed to elevate or show favor to any male for fear that he might cause excessive friction at court, and that his behavior might be interpreted by malicious gossipers as homosexual. Louis XIV had good reason for fearing the latter. Homosexuality was a well-known factor in his family history. His father, Louis XIII, had first built Versailles as a hunting lodge, but it also served as a trysting place for his hot romance with France's leading cardinal, Richelieu. Louis and the cardinal, whom some suspected of also bopping the queen, Anne of Austria, had adjoining bedrooms at Versailles. There was NO bedroom for Annie. SHE stayed in Paris. However, Louis and Annie managed to have two adorable sons, the elder of whom would become Louis XIV, "the Sun King," and the younger of whom, Philippe, would be known as Monsieur, the Duke of Orleans. His only brother was another reason Louis XIV had to watch his reputation. You see, Philippe was a "flaming queen" (of the unroyal variety). He conducted a "gay" court at his own establishment, which parodied the "straight" court of his elder brother at Versailles. Philippe loathed women, although he spent most of his time pretending to be one, being heavily rouged and powdered and overdressed and bejeweled even when he got on a horse in wartime. But he loved war, and distinguished himself as a warrior, earning great credit for himself as a man among men. His troops loved him, most of them in the ordinary sense, but not all. The greatest love of his life was the devastatingly handsome Chevalier of Lorraine, a fine soldier, but a political intriguer whom Louis XIV exiled as an upstart. But little Philippe nearly died of a broken heart, and even his first wife, Henrietta, interceded in his behalf with Louis who eventually relented and allowed the Chevalier to return. One suspects that Henrietta relied on the Chevalier's sexual relationship with her husband to keep Philippe in anybody's bedroom but hers! Believe me, there were reasons why! Philippe, for the usual reasons of state, had been married off to Princess Henrietta of England. Life wasn't easy for her. She despised her husband; she preferred his brother, the king. Louis XIV also liked HER and appears to have gone to bed with her from time to time, which must surely have afflicted her Christian conscience, although her confessor probably loved hearing all about it. But the heaviest cross she had to bear was the conjugal requirement of her marriage. One is inclined to sympathize with the lady. It seems that Philippe hung holy medals on his erect member before proceeding to make love, WITHOUT REMOVING THEM! Blessed by a cardinal to insure fertility, the medals were supposed to oversee Henrietta's getting pregnant quickly so Philippe would have an excuse to stay away from her for a few months. It worked. She had three children in fairly rapid succession, and obligingly died. Royal personages have always been bartered in exchange for alliances, etc., so Philippe had to marry again, but the second time he lucked out with a Bavarian wife, Elizabeth Charlotte, who only owned two kinds of garments: hunting clothes and ball gowns. Somewhat macho and, perhaps, a lesbian, she spent most of her time on horseback, leaving Philippe free to spend more of his time with his boyfriends, of which there quite a few. Elizabeth Charlotte didn't even mind the chains and medals on his dick when he paid his respects to their marriage in bed. A stout German woman, she may have been a glutton for punishment, or a dominatrix into the hard stuff of bondage. Today, Philippe's medals would be called "sex toys." She gave him three more children. She actually seemed to adore him, treating him like an adorable, albeit errant, kitten. She was a smart lady. Philippe, in retrospect, is more important to European history than his brother, Louis XIV. His descendants, with one exception, were female, and would eventually supplant those of Louis. They married into most of the royal houses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This accounts, of course, apropos the genetic transmission of homosexuality, for the random appearance of so many gay men (and women) in royal families, right down to present times. One has but to listen to the gossip about the families presently on the thrones of England, Spain, and Belgium, and others---all of them bearers of the blood of dear Philippe---to realize that the bluest blood often runs pink. Summary of the background of the present royal family of France:
Philippe (1640-1701), duke of Orléans, only brother of Louis XIV, founded the House of
Orléans, who had the title of first princes (and princesses) of the blood in France.
The only male descendant was Louis-Philippe (1773-1850), who
became King of the French after the revolution of 1830, which
overthrew Charles X. Louis-Philippe was himself overthrown in
1848. Louis-Philippe had several sons: the first, duc d'Orléans in
1830, is now represented by Henri, count of Paris (b. 1933) and
pretender to the throne of France. The second son of
Louis-Philippe, the duc de Nemours, gave the lines of
Orléans-Bragance, now Brazilians. Another son, the duc de
Montpensier, gave the line of the dukes of Galliera, in Spain.
The line of succession after Louis-Philippe is as follows: his
grandson Philippe, comte de Paris (1838-94), who reconciled with
the elder Bourbon branch in the 1870s, had two children,
Louis-Philippe duc d'Orléans (1869-1926) and Ferdinand, duc de
Montpensier (1884-1924), both childless. A younger brother of
the comte de Paris, Robert duc de Chartres (1840-1910), had one
son, called the duc de Guise (1874-1940), who succeeded the duc
d'Orléans as head of the family in 1926. The duc de Guise's only
son was Henri (1908-99), comte de Paris and longtime pretender
to the throne. The current heir is Henri (b. 1933), comte de Paris;
he has two sons, and several of his brothers have male issue. The
comte de Paris is the head of the only branch of the Orléans
family who could claim the throne, since the Orléans-Bragance
and the Galliera branches are not French citizens. A family
agreement earlier in this century laid down that they would not
claim the throne, unless the elder branch died out and they acted
to regain citizenship. LOL,,if it is to me that you are refering by the above,,just know that i sit on the "throne" as often as I need to and ruminate about the life I could be living,,lol,,and on occasion, even air the family jewels as did my forbears. The Berry region of France was just the land that was given to provide a livelihood to one of the royal family, usually one of the son of the then king. So even tho DeBerry is one of my family names, I seriously doubt the assertion of my "royal" bloodlines. Most of my family, and probably me too, only like to think we are "royal", lol. Jerry End of silverfoxesclub-digest V1 #277
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