Legitimists

Legitimists were supporters of the senior Bourbon line’s claim to the French throne after the July Revolution of 1830. They rejected the Orléans monarchy established under Louis-Philippe.

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House of Bourbon: A European royal dynasty that ruled France and several other kingdoms. The French Legitimist claim rested on succession within its senior branch.
Charles X: King of France from 1824 until his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830. His reign and departure made him the movement’s former sovereign and dynastic anchor.
Orléanism: A French monarchist movement supporting the House of Orléans and constitutional monarchy. It backed the dynasty installed in 1830, which Legitimists rejected.
Fusionism: A French monarchist effort to unite Legitimists and Orléanists around a common royal restoration. Henri’s relationship with the Orléanist heir made dynastic reconciliation a central possibility.
House of Orléans: A French royal branch descended from Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, brother of Louis XIV. Its accession under Louis-Philippe was rejected by senior-line Bourbon supporters.
Henri, Count of Chambord: The grandson of Charles X and Bourbon claimant known to Legitimists as Henry V. His refusal to accept the tricolor became a defining obstacle to monarchist unity.
Bonapartism: A French political movement supporting the Bonaparte dynasty and its model of executive rule. It offered a rival hereditary claim and a different basis for political authority.
French monarchist movement: The political tradition seeking to restore or preserve monarchy in France after the Revolution. Legitimists formed one of its enduring factions alongside Orléanists and Bonapartists.
Salic law: A legal tradition invoked in France to exclude women and succession through women from the crown. It shaped arguments about which male Bourbon descendants could inherit the throne.
Joseph de Villèle: A French statesman who served as prime minister under Louis XVIII and Charles X. His royalist ministry embodied the conservative political tradition from which Legitimism emerged.