Orléans (French dynasties)

Orléans (French dynasties), name of two branches of the Valois and Bourbon royal dynasties of France. In 1344 the Valois king Philip VI created the title duc d'Orléans for his son, Philippe, and it was thereafter frequently used by members of the royal family. Among the more prominent from the branch Valois-Orléans were Charles d'Orléans, a distinguished poet, and his son King Louis XII. The Bourbon-Orléans branch included Gaston d'Orléans, brother of King Louis XIII; Philippe I d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIV; Philippe II d’Orléans, regent during the minority of Louis XV; Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, a cousin of Louis XVI who supported the French Revolution and was known as Philippe Égalité; and Louis Philippe, son of Philippe Égalité, proclaimed king of France by the Orleanists, who supported the claims of the House of Orléans to the throne when Charles X, the last of the Bourbon monarchs, was deposed by the Revolution of 1830. Louis Philippe was himself overthrown by the Revolution of 1848.