legitimists

Legitimists, or légitimistes, is a term used to describe monarchists who contend that the French throne should be inherited through the senior male line of the House of Bourbon. The designation arose from the dynastic disputes that followed the 1830 Revolution, when the throne passed to the Orleans cadet branch rather than the senior Bourbon line.

Historically, Legitimists opposed the July Monarchy and the Orléans’ claim, arguing that the legitimate monarch should be the direct male-line descendant of Louis XIV. The movement’s height came in the aftermath of the 1830 shift, with Henry, Count of Chambord (a grandson of Charles X) identified by many Legitimists as the rightful king. The crisis over Chambord’s acceptance of the tricolor and his death in 1883 without an heir tempered the prospect of restoration, and the Third Republic ultimately became permanent. Nevertheless, Legitimists persisted as a dynastic faction within French monarchism.

In modern usage, Legitimists maintain that the senior Bourbon line remains the rightful royal house of France. The contemporary figure commonly identified as the Legitimist claimant is Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, who is regarded by Legitimists as Louis XX, though he holds no official status or political power in France. The Legitimist position exists alongside other monarchist currents, notably the Orleanists, and has influenced related cultural and political currents at various times, including 20th-century royalist movements. While the French state is a republic, Legitimists continue to discuss and preserve the historical principles of dynastic legitimacy within monarchist circles.