Charles-Philippe d'Orléans

Prince Charles-Philippe
File:Prince d'Orléans.png
Duke of Anjou (Disputed)
Tenure	8 December 2004 – present
Born	(1973-03-03) 3 March 1973 Paris
Spouse	Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo, 11th Duchess of Cadaval
House	House of Orléans
Father	Michel, comte d'Evreux
Mother	Béatrice Pasquier de Franclieu
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Prince Charles-Philippe Marie Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Anjou (born 3 March 1973) is a member of the House of Orléans.

Born in Paris, he is the eldest of two sons of Prince Michel d'Orléans, comte d'Evreux, and his wife the former Béatrice Pasquier de Franclieu. His paternal grandfather was Henri, Count of Paris, the Orléanist pretender to the French throne. As such, Charles-Philippe takes the traditional royal rank of petit-fils de France with the style of Royal Highness.

Title controversy

On 8 December 2004, he received the title duc d'Anjou (Duke of Anjou in English) from his uncle Henri, Count of Paris and Duke of France, head of the House of Orléans, with the agreement of HM King Juan Carlos of Spain. There is some controversy in the use of this title by an Orléans prince. It had traditionally been borne by or associated with the heads of the branch of the House of Bourbon which reigns in Spain, in their capacity as Legitimist pretenders to the French throne since 1883—in rivalry to the claim asserted by the House of Orléans. In that year Henri, comte de Chambord, last patrilineal descendant of Louis XV, died childless. The Legitimist legacy was claimed by the next senior branch of the Bourbons, descended from a younger grandson of Louis XIV, Philippe, Duke of Anjou. Although Philippe ceased use of the Anjou title upon becoming King Philip V of Spain in 1700, and renounced his succession rights to the French throne in exchange for retention of his Spanish crown, some Legitimists maintained that neither of these acts was binding. Therefore, they still uphold the senior agnatic descendant of Philippe d'Anjou as rightful claimant to the French crown. Although Philippe ceased use of the Anjou title upon becoming King Philip V of Spain in 1700, and renounced his succession rights to the French throne in exchange for retention of his Spanish crown.

In 1986 Louis Alphonse de Bourbon became the senior agnate of the House of Bourbon, claimed the Legitimist succession as had his father, and was immediately accorded the title Duke of Anjou by Legitimists. He does not claim that Duke of Anjou is an inherited legal title, since it was never officially conferred upon his ancestor Philippe d'Anjou; it was, in fact, subsequently given by French kings to other cadets of the dynasty domiciled in France. Rather, it is explicitly a title of pretense, associated historically, politically and symbolically with French Legitimism. The House of Orléans never possessed or used the Anjou ducal title during the ancien régime, being the most junior branch of the House of Bourbon, but naturally claims the right de jure to dispose of it as of all titles traditional in France's royal house. So, too does the Legitimist claimant. Thus, Charles-Philippe, Duke of Anjou and Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou are contemporaries and cousins—both reared in Spain, as it happens—but nominally represent different and competing rationales about the French monarchy.

Order of St. Lazarus

In 2004, Prince Charles-Philippe was elected Grand Master of a branch of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, an Order of Chivalry that claims to date back to the 11th century Crusades. Prince Charles-Philippe’s acceptance of this role placed the Order under the sanction of a dynastic prince of the House of Orléans, in what is to be a continuation of a tradition established since the 13th century when The Order of St. Lazarus came under the protection of King Philippe le Bel. This affiliation continued over the ensuing centuries ended with the deposition of King Charles X, when a decree of King Louis-Philippe revoked royal protection of the diminishing remnant of the Order and made it illegal to wear the Order's decorations.

Prince Charles-Philippe's designation as "Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus" was disputed by those Knights who remained loyal to his distant cousins, Francisco de Borbón y Escasany, Duke of Seville, and subsequently to Don Carlos Gereda de Borbón, Marquis de Almazàn, and the Melchite Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham, protector of the Order.

Charles-Philippe recently founded the St. Lazare Foundation, which has been financed by the World Society, an international think tank whose mission, inspired by the Count of Paris, is to explore solutions to the planet's future needs for potable water.

For personal reasons, Prince Charles-Phillippe has decided in March 2010 to step down from his position as Grand Master but to maintain his participation in the Order’s activities in the capacity of Grand Master Emeritus, Grand Prior of France and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Order.

Marriage and issue

On 21 June 2008, Charles-Philippe married Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo, 11th Duchess of Cadaval. The ceremony took place in the Cathedral of Évora, a monument declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Both husband and wife are Capetians, descending in unbroken male line from King Robert II of France (972 - 1031), Charles-Philippe through the elder son, King Henry I of France, via the cadet branch of the House of Bourbon-Orléans, and Diana from his younger son Robert I, Duke of Burgundy through the royal (though illegitimate) Portuguese branch of the House of Braganza. The couple are also fifth cousins once-removed through shared descent from King Francis I of the Two Sicilies.

Charles-Philippe's children by Diana will inherit the title Prince/Princess d'Orléans and the style of Royal Highness from their father. The couple's sons will, by tradition, also receive individual noble titles derived from the historical appanages of the French royal family. Prince Charles Philippe is also Duke of Cadaval, iure uxoris. Their first child, HRH princess Isabelle of Orléans, was born on February 22, 2012 in Lisbon, Portugal. The princess is named after her great-grandmother, the countess of Paris, born princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza .

See also

Members of the French Royal Families

External links

• http://www.ducdanjou.com Website of the duc d'Anjou
• Henri, comte de Paris, duc de France's official website: Institut de la Maison Royale de France
• http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2007/09/10/french-royals-engage/