A SENTIMENTAL FAMILY IN TUMULTUOUS TIMES: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF A LIBERAL KING OF FRANCE 1750-1850 (VOLUME II, 1830-1850) Hardcover – February 28, 2026

This book is the second of a two-volume series about the last king of France, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, who came to the throne in 1830 as a constitutional monarch after a popular revolution had overthrown a Bourbon monarch for the second time since 1792. Another popular revolution ended Louis Philippe's reign in 1848. That tumultuous political history has never been approached from the perspective of the Orléans' own intimate family life, which reflected a fundamental reconfiguration of domesticity among the propertied elite. Together with a meritocratic military culture, this reorientation undermined dynastic monarchy in France.This second volume (1830-1850) consists of parts IV and V and an epilogue.Part IV begins with Louis-Philippe’s successful effort to win popular support throughout France by establishing a National Guard that his two eldest sons, the duc d’Orléans and the duc de Nemours joined and by visiting provincial towns or by sending the duc d’Orléans to represent him. The entire family’s heroic response to a cholera epidemic in 1832 earned still more respect. However, caricatures of a greedy king began to circulate after the discoverry by the National Assembly that before accepting the throne, Louis-Philippe had placed all his properties in a trust for his children with the revenue reserved to himself. The transformation at great expense of the ancient Tuileries palace into a magnificent modern home seemed to confirm polemical exaggerations of his wealth in the opposition press. Nonetheless, after a mass assassination in 1835 from which the King and three princes miraculously escaped, Louis Philippe’s popularity increased, and the duc d’Orléans decided that he had to marry quickly and provide an heir. Aided by the King of Prussia, he married Hélène of Mecklemboug. Their wedding promised a new beginning as a royal dynasty.Part V begins with a chapter on Louis-Philippe’s sons and daughters that highlights their unity and the role of his eldest son and heir to the throne, the duc d’Orléans, in the French conquest of Algeria. The next chapter begins with a description of his accidental death in 1842 that would eventually have disastrous consequences because the duc d’Orléans was the only son who had any influence over Louis-Philippe, and the heir to the throne was now a five-year-old child. Nonetheless, Louis-Philippe and his chief minister François Guizot succeeded in strengthening France’s position internationally and gaining control of the National Assembly until a severe economic crisis in 1847 created substantial popular discontent in Paris. Louis-Philippe then disregarded repeated warnings of Guizot’s unpopularity until an insurrection erupted in February 1848. Forced to abdicate, the king refused to recognize a regency under the mother of his heir instead of his unpopular uncle. Patriarchy had triumphed, the dynasty fell, and the Orléans fled in disguise from France.An epilogue describes how Louis Philippe, Marie-Amélie, and three of their married sons with families succeeded in finding a refuge in a single household near London with the help of their son-in-law, the Belgian King, and Queen Victoria. It ends with Louis-Philippe’s death and final wish. Read more