Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
Duel of the Bourbons...!
The French officer Antoine-Marie-Philippe-Louis d'Orléans, Duc de Montpensier...
...is the sixth and youngest son of the Duke of Orléans and later French "Citizen King" Louis-Philippe (1773–1850)...
...and Maria Amalia of Naples-Sicily (1782–1866)...:
This makes him a "real" Bourbone and related to the former French kings; the brother of the respective king bore the title of Duke of Orleans during the "Ancien Régime".
Son-Man has no intention of remaining "just" an officer forever and is striving for higher things - which coincides with his father's intentions.
So the young man has to get married first!
On October 10, 1846 he was married to the Spanish Infanta Maria Luisa Ferdinanda (1832–1897)..:
With this marriage, both father and son believe, and not entirely wrongly, that they have secured a right to the Spanish throne.
Father "Citizen King", however, is overthrown by the French people in February 1848...
...and has to flee into exile in England. He is succeeded by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, initially as President...
...and from 1851 after a putsch then as Emperor Napoleon III.
Now the hopes of those from Orleans depend entirely on Son-Man!
During the February Revolution, he also had to flee France in a hurry - but he went to Spain, where he and his wife moved into an opulent residence in Seville.
The Spaniards are generous towards the fugitive, who after all is married to a Spanish princess!
On October 10, 1859, the government not only appointed Son-Man General Capitàn (Commander-in-Chief) of the Spanish army...
...but at the same time to the Infante (Prince) of Spain!
Son-Man and his father (who is still stewing in exile in England) believe they are almost there!
But the General Capitàn is just too impatient!
Instead of calmly waiting for the death of the childless Spanish Queen Isabella II.
...to wait, he instigates a conspiracy: he wants to depose and inherit the monarch during her lifetime - with the help of the military, which he commands.
Well, the matter gets out - and Son-Man has to hurry off again - this time fleeing to Lisbon.
But chance, a veritable revolution, comes to his aid again:
During the September revolution of 1868, called "La Gloriosa" in Spain, the queen is overthrown in Spain and a very short-lived (it only existed for one year!) republic is proclaimed...:
Good news for Son-Man - so he saddles his horse and travels back to Madrid, where he smiles politely and presents himself as the new King of Spain.
However, he failed to consider two things:
First of all, he is terribly unpopular and, as General Capitàn and pretender to the throne, with his arrogant and brusque manner, has made enemies of just about every important person of influence.
Second, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, now Napoleon III, has no intention of seeing the son of the man he overthrew as King of Spain!
So Mr. Kaiser spreads a lot of gold among the members of the Spanish estate assembly "Cortès", who are allowed to elect the king...:
Result: Son-Man fails not only once in the election in the Cortès 1870, but twice!
Instead, Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón, who was known as Alfonso XII. ascends the throne...:
The royal game is over - and Son-Man mustmoving back to Seville. He can't go to France, the ground there is still too hot for him...
But his wife, who is also thoroughly fed up with his son, is going to France.
As bad luck would have it, another man of royal blood also resides in Seville, namely Enrique, Duke of Seville, also a Bourbon (there must have been a plethora of them in Europe at the time!) and a distant cousin - and with the new one at that Spanish king related...:
Infant Enrique must have been a real loose-mouthed gossip as he never misses an opportunity to taunt and insult his ambitious (and failed) son!
This doesn't just happen "in the back", but also en face - because you often meet at social events in Seville.
And at some point, Son-Man has had enough of the poisonous mockery that Enrique constantly empties out over him - and calls for guns!
On March 12, 1870, the two face each other at the gates of Seville - and Son-Man, learned is learned, knocks the Spanish prince over his head...:
Enrique dies from his gunshot wound.
A Bourbon killed another Bourbon - that hasn't happened that terribly often in history!
And now the Spaniards, very politely but no less firmly, are asking the wayward ex-General Capitàn and heir to the throne to go where the pepper grows! Only away from Spain, but subito!
What luck that General Moltke with the Prussian-Bavarian-Saxon-German army just chopped the Armée Francaise into small slices and subsequently Napoleon III. is only an ex-Kaiser and is a prisoner of war in Wilhelmshöhe Castle in Kassel.
With a sigh of relief, Son-Man packs his toiletry bag and the family purse and heads back to France.
There he is said to have reconciled with his wife and lived with her for another 20 years until he passed away on February 4, 1890.
His marble likeness on the sarcophagus at Saint Denis may wear a crown, but it is only that of a duke...
Boy Boy! Moving times back then! One almost regrets that there weren't any "colorful sheets" like the ones so numerous in doctor's waiting rooms!
Imagine what they would have done with this story...
The French officer Antoine-Marie-Philippe-Louis d'Orléans, Duc de Montpensier...
...is the sixth and youngest son of the Duke of Orléans and later French "Citizen King" Louis-Philippe (1773–1850)...
...and Maria Amalia of Naples-Sicily (1782–1866)...:
This makes him a "real" Bourbone and related to the former French kings; the brother of the respective king bore the title of Duke of Orleans during the "Ancien Régime".
Son-Man has no intention of remaining "just" an officer forever and is striving for higher things - which coincides with his father's intentions.
So the young man has to get married first!
On October 10, 1846 he was married to the Spanish Infanta Maria Luisa Ferdinanda (1832–1897)..:
With this marriage, both father and son believe, and not entirely wrongly, that they have secured a right to the Spanish throne.
Father "Citizen King", however, is overthrown by the French people in February 1848...
...and has to flee into exile in England. He is succeeded by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, initially as President...
...and from 1851 after a putsch then as Emperor Napoleon III.
Now the hopes of those from Orleans depend entirely on Son-Man!
During the February Revolution, he also had to flee France in a hurry - but he went to Spain, where he and his wife moved into an opulent residence in Seville.
The Spaniards are generous towards the fugitive, who after all is married to a Spanish princess!
On October 10, 1859, the government not only appointed Son-Man General Capitàn (Commander-in-Chief) of the Spanish army...
...but at the same time to the Infante (Prince) of Spain!
Son-Man and his father (who is still stewing in exile in England) believe they are almost there!
But the General Capitàn is just too impatient!
Instead of calmly waiting for the death of the childless Spanish Queen Isabella II.
...to wait, he instigates a conspiracy: he wants to depose and inherit the monarch during her lifetime - with the help of the military, which he commands.
Well, the matter gets out - and Son-Man has to hurry off again - this time fleeing to Lisbon.
But chance, a veritable revolution, comes to his aid again:
During the September revolution of 1868, called "La Gloriosa" in Spain, the queen is overthrown in Spain and a very short-lived (it only existed for one year!) republic is proclaimed...:
Good news for Son-Man - so he saddles his horse and travels back to Madrid, where he smiles politely and presents himself as the new King of Spain.
However, he failed to consider two things:
First of all, he is terribly unpopular and, as General Capitàn and pretender to the throne, with his arrogant and brusque manner, has made enemies of just about every important person of influence.
Second, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, now Napoleon III, has no intention of seeing the son of the man he overthrew as King of Spain!
So Mr. Kaiser spreads a lot of gold among the members of the Spanish estate assembly "Cortès", who are allowed to elect the king...:
Result: Son-Man fails not only once in the election in the Cortès 1870, but twice!
Instead, Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón, who was known as Alfonso XII. ascends the throne...:
The royal game is over - and Son-Man mustmoving back to Seville. He can't go to France, the ground there is still too hot for him...
But his wife, who is also thoroughly fed up with his son, is going to France.
As bad luck would have it, another man of royal blood also resides in Seville, namely Enrique, Duke of Seville, also a Bourbon (there must have been a plethora of them in Europe at the time!) and a distant cousin - and with the new one at that Spanish king related...:
Infant Enrique must have been a real loose-mouthed gossip as he never misses an opportunity to taunt and insult his ambitious (and failed) son!
This doesn't just happen "in the back", but also en face - because you often meet at social events in Seville.
And at some point, Son-Man has had enough of the poisonous mockery that Enrique constantly empties out over him - and calls for guns!
On March 12, 1870, the two face each other at the gates of Seville - and Son-Man, learned is learned, knocks the Spanish prince over his head...:
Enrique dies from his gunshot wound.
A Bourbon killed another Bourbon - that hasn't happened that terribly often in history!
And now the Spaniards, very politely but no less firmly, are asking the wayward ex-General Capitàn and heir to the throne to go where the pepper grows! Only away from Spain, but subito!
What luck that General Moltke with the Prussian-Bavarian-Saxon-German army just chopped the Armée Francaise into small slices and subsequently Napoleon III. is only an ex-Kaiser and is a prisoner of war in Wilhelmshöhe Castle in Kassel.
With a sigh of relief, Son-Man packs his toiletry bag and the family purse and heads back to France.
There he is said to have reconciled with his wife and lived with her for another 20 years until he passed away on February 4, 1890.
His marble likeness on the sarcophagus at Saint Denis may wear a crown, but it is only that of a duke...
Boy Boy! Moving times back then! One almost regrets that there weren't any "colorful sheets" like the ones so numerous in doctor's waiting rooms!
Imagine what they would have done with this story...
