ORLÉANS, HOUSE OF. — In French history there are four distinct groups of persons successively invested with the ducal crown of Orléans.
The first was Philip, grandson of King Philip of Valois, in 1344, who retained it only until 1375, when he died without legitimate issue. In 1392, King Charles VI invested the duchy of Orléans to Louis, second son of King Charles V. He was succeeded by his son Charles (1394–1465), who had to wage two wars against the House of Burgundy; in 1414 he entered Paris with the Dauphin; at the Battle of Agincourt he was taken prisoner by the English; in 1440 he was able to return to France. He was a refined poet of exquisite melancholy. The title passed from him by legitimate descent to Prince Louis, who, upon the death of Charles VIII (1498), ascended the French throne as Louis XII (v.).
The duchy of Orléans became an appanage of Gaston of France (1608–60), younger son of Henry IV and Marie de’ Medici. He was a typical representative of the old aristocracy in conflict with monarchical absolutism. Upon his death without male descendants, the duchy reverted to the crown. The following year, the duchy of Orléans was granted by Louis XIV to his brother Philip (1640–1701), one of the claimants to the Spanish throne after the death of Charles II, but who vainly protested against the testamentary dispositions that made Philip of Anjou the heir. His son Philip (1674–1723) became regent of France upon the death of Louis XIV and remained so until nearly his own death, when Louis XV reached the age of majority. Among the descendants of this house are remembered Louis Philippe Joseph (1747–93), of democratic sentiments, who during the French Revolution assumed the name of Philippe Égalité, deputy to the Convention, voted for the death sentence of Louis XVI, but was later suspected of treason and himself guillotined; and his son Louis Philippe (v.), who became king in 1830. The supporters of the Orléans constituted, after the abdication of Louis Philippe, alongside the legitimists and Bonapartists, the third monarchist party in France, and after the death of Henry V, Count of Chambord, in 1883, they merged with the legitimists. The last to bear the title of Duke of Orléans was Louis Philippe Robert (1869–1926).