Talk:BL: Part 11

From Alternative History

"In 1808, sick Louis Bourbon relinquishes his pretensions and any pretension from his heirs, to the throne of France.

Interesting thing about that. According to the Salic law (which govern the succession of kings in french), a monarch cannot reliquish his right to the throne (nor that of his decendants). It doesn't mean, obviously, that a king wouldn't try but just that hardcore monarchist would not recognise it. I wonder if some in modern days *there* have used that to try and justify a monarchist return.--Marc pasquin 19:34, 27 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Of course, the Salic law is in no effect during the French Republic ;) based on the principle that the people is souvereing and that the state comes from the people, for the people and by the people.

BTW, what happened *here*?

-- Carlos Th

You ended up with 2 camps of french monarchists: the "orleanists" who support the descendant of Louis-Philippe I and the "legitimists" who support the descendant of Philipe V (of spain) who renounced the french throne to rule in spain.

Going for them, the orleanists say that their pretender (Henri Philippe Pierre Marie d'Orléans AKA Henri VII) is the eldest descendant of the last king of france. The down side is that the king in question only reigned due to the abdication of his predescessor and that he is not the most direct descendant of the capetian line (thus it violate the salic law). The fact that he is linked with some right wings elements doesn't help either. This camp however is probably the better known in france through the effort of some of its leaders who sometime manage to get the ear of the politicians.

As for the legitimists, their pretender (Louis Alphonse Gonzalve Victor Emmanuel de Bourbon AKA Louis XX) is indeed the one who should reign according to the salic law (eldest son in the most direct line of the capetian line of kings) though the subtlety of it is lost on most people and in any case the person in question is (and will probably always be) seen as a foreigner (he was born in spain of a spanish mother). Even though there is no serious consideration to return to the monarchy in france, this camp did receive a recognisance of sort by the french government who gave him the right to use the old arms of france and the title "his royal highness" on his ID (he has dual french-spanish citizenship)

As a side note, even though I am through and through a social democratic republican, I cannot help but follow the whole thing. Its like some sort of soap opera where the characters are completely disconected from reality and current events and instead of cat fight you get pretentious letters where people talk in the third person.--Marc pasquin 15:04, 28 Feb 2005 (GMT)