LouisPhilippe

Louis-Philippe I, commonly known as Louis-Philippe, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 and a member of the House of Orléans. He came to be known as the “Citizen King” for presenting himself as a constitutional monarch supported by the middle classes after the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled Charles X and ended the Bourbon Restoration.

Born on November 6, 1773, in Paris, he was the son of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité) and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. His father was executed in 1793 during the French Revolution, and Louis-Philippe spent years in exile. He returned to France after the Revolution of 1814 and became a leading liberal figure among the royalist opposition to the ruling regimes of the Restoration.

Rise to the throne: In 1830, amid popular unrest and political compromise, Louis-Philippe was proclaimed King of the French. He accepted the Charter of 1814 as the constitutional framework, expanding the authority of parliament and limiting the powers of the crown while promoting a government aligned with the interests of the rising bourgeoisie.

Reign and policy: His era, known as the July Monarchy, pursued moderate liberal reforms, economic modernization, and infrastructure development, including railways and industrial growth. He favored a constitutional balance that gave substantial influence to the middle class while suppressing more radical movements. His government faced opposition from both republicans and socialists and grappled with social tensions accompanying rapid modernization.

abdication and exile: The Revolutions of 1848 forced him to abdicate on February 24, 1848, in favor of his grandson, Louis-Philippe, the Count of Paris. He died in exile in 1850 in England.

Legacy: Louis-Philippe's reign shaped 19th-century French constitutional monarchy and remains a subject of debate regarding liberal reform versus autocratic tendencies, influencing later debates over suffrage and governance in France.