Years of marriage, years of exile - portraits of the duc and duchesse d'Aumale

The duchesse d'Aumale, by James Sant, circa 1855.

The duc d'Aumale, by James Sant, circa 1855.

Henri Eugène Philippe Louis d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale (16 January 1822, Paris - 7 May 1897, Lo Zucco, Sicily), fifth son of King Louis-Philippe I of the French and Queen Marie Amélie. At the age of eight years old, only three weeks after his father was proclaimed king, he inherited a vast fortune, including the Château de Chantilly and other estates, from his godfather, Louis Henri de Bourbon, the last prince de Condé. At the age of seventeen he entered the army with the rank of a captain of infantry, and later distinguished himself during the French invasion of Algeria; in 1847 he became lieutenant-general and was appointed Governor-General of Algeria, a position he held until his father's abdication the following February.

Detail of above.

By Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, 1831.

By Winterhalter, 1840.

Miniature by François Meuret, after Winterhalter, after circa 1840.

On 25 November 1844, in Naples, he married Maria Carolina Auguste di Borbone, principessa delle Due Sicilie (26 April 1822, Vienna - 6 December 1869, Twickenham), the only surviving child of Prince Leopold of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Prince of Salerno and his wife (and niece) Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. The bride and groom were first cousins; her father was the brother of Queen Marie Amélie. There was a shortage of marriageable Catholic princesses at the time, and Maria Carolina - called "Lina" from birth - had had several suitors. Typically, the union wasn't a love match; the groom was unenthusiastic, but his parents forced the issue. The couple would nonetheless form a bond of mutual respect, and by her kindness and charm, she would gain the love of her adopted family.

Detail of above.

The duchesse as an infant, unknown miniaturist, circa 1822.

Watercolor by Josef Kriehuber, 1842.

By Franz Schrotzberg, 1842.

Miniature by François Meuret, circa 1845.

The miniature by Meuret has been set into a fabric and gilt metal casket.

Miniature by John Simpson, after Meuret, 1849.

Miniature by François Meuret, 1846.

Miniature of the duchesse with the prince de Condé and with the duc de Guise on her lap, by Sir William Ross, circa 1854-55.

The duchesse d'Aumale would give birth seven times, but the story of her children is a tragic one. A daughter and two sons were stillborn, another son would only live for a month, a fourth son would only live for three months. Her eldest son, Louis, prince de Condé, having been in ill-health, began a long sea voyage in 1866, at the age of twenty. At first, the journey - through Egypt, to Ceylon, and on to Australia - produced the hoped for improvement in his health but, later, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he died in Sydney. At the news, his mother plunged into a deep depression from which she never fully recovered. After a long illness, she died of tuberculosis three years later at the age of forty-seven. Finally, three years after that, the couple's only surviving child, François, duc de Guise, died at the age of eighteen.

Detail of above.

Studio of Winterhalter, after circa 1843. Winterhalter painted many portraits of the French Royal family, of which numerous copies were made.

Studio of Winterhalter, after circa 1845.

Half-length variant of the above, studio of Winterhalter, after circa 1843.

Half-length variant of the above, studio of Winterhalter, after circa 1845.

Miniature by Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Duchesne (aka Duchesne de Gisors),
after Winterhalter, after circa 1843.

Miniature by Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Duchesne (aka Duchesne de Gisors), after Winterhalter, circa 1845.

An overdoor with a portrait of the duchesse, by Eugène Lami, circa 1846.

At the fall of his father's so-called "July Monarchy" in 1848, the duc d'Aumale and the extended Orléans family had fled to England. The deposed King and his relatives had many connections there, not least due to a previous exile; the house in Twickenham, London which Louis-Philippe rented for a few years during the Napoléonic régime had been renamed Orléans House. They also had close family ties to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The former now lent them Claremont House and, four years later, the duc and duchesse d'Aumale purchased Orléans House as their residence in exile.

Drawing of the duchesse by her brother-in-law, the prince de Joinville, 1850.

By Victor Mottez, 1853.

The duchesse and her son, Louis, prince de Condé, by Victor Mottez, 1851.

By Charles François Jalabert, 1866.

By Charles François Jalabert, 1866.

Seven months after the death of the duchesse d'Aumale, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, her husband volunteered for service in the French army; his offer was, unsurprisingly, declined. After the fall of the Second Empire, the duc d'Aumale and his surviving son were allowed to return to France, where the duke was soon elected deputy for the Oise département. The following year he was reinstated in the army; his military career continued until 1879, at which point he was made Inspector General of the Army. Royal princes were banned from positions in the military in 1883, and he retired from public life. And in 1886, due to continuing worries about pro-monarchist elements, the government decided to expel from French territory the heads of former reigning families and declared that all members of those families should be disqualified for any public position or election to any public body. He protested, but was expelled to Belgium. Ironically, in that same year, as a widower with no living heirs, he rewrote his will leaving Chantilly and his quite remarkable collection to the French state; today, is is one of France's most important palace art museums.

By Léon Bonnat, 1880.

Studio of Bonnat, after 1880.

By Léon Bonnat, 1890.

By Henri Cain, 1893.

By Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (aka Benjamin Constant), 1896, the year before his death.

Three years after the commencement of his second exile, he was allowed to return to France, where he resumed his scholarly and benevolent pursuits. He died eight years later, at the age of seventy-five. Today, his remains rest with those of his parents, his wife, his children, among many others in the Chapelle royale de Dreux, the necropolis of the Orléans royal family.

The tombs of the duc and duchesse in the Orléans' Chapelle royale at Dreux.

The duc d'Aumale's eye, unknown miniaturist, date unknown.

The duchesse d'Aumale's eye, unknown miniaturist, date unknown.

Crown in a box - and the coronation of Charles X by Gérard.

Detail of Baron Gérard's coronation  portrait of Charles X.

The French crown jewels having been stolen during the Revolution, a new crown had to be made for Louis XVIII. Napoléon had finally left the stage - again - and the Bourbon Restoration was successfully established, but Louis still thought it politically imprudent to go through with a coronation. So, after modifications, the crown was used for the first and last time at the coronation of his brother and successor, Charles X, at Reims in 1825. The crown went into storage at the fall of Charles in 1830; his cousin, the new "Citizen King", Louis-Philippe, also thought that a coronation would set the wrong tone with the French populace. After he was overthrown, eighteen years later, the Bonapartes came back to power, and Napoléon III - who would also eschew a coronation - had the crown dismantled in 1854, the stones re-used in new jewelry. Then, sixteen years after the collapse of the Second Empire, the frame itself was melted down. A year later came the famous sale of the French Crown Jewels; republican France would never again have use for a crown.

The écrin-couronne; made of stamped and gilded Morocco leather on a wooden base, the crown's fitted case survives.

Gérard's scene of the coronation of Charles X, circa 1827.

Detail of above.

There are many copies and variations of Gérard's coronation portrait, circa 1825.

Detail of above.

A large-scale miniature of Gérard's portrait, the work of Henry Bone, 1829.

Detail of above.

Detail of the Bone miniature.

***

Lastly, a plaster cast of the crown; casts of finished work were very frequently made by jewelers, especially in the case of important commissions. The crown was originally executed and later adapted by Christophe-Frédéric Bapst to the design of his uncle, Evrard Bapst. The base is in the shape of a band surmounted by sixteen fleur-de-lys alternating in size, the eight largest of which form the bases of arches which gather in the center and are surmounted by a finial in the shape of a fleur-de-lys. The entire surface of the crown was set with diamonds and sapphires - while the surface of the plaster cast is still covered in pencil markings, notes to specify the location of each particular stone.