William Tyler
Three Returning Bourbons and One Bonaparte: 1814-1871
Summary
After the abdication of Napoleon, Louis XVI’s two younger brothers (Louis XVIII and Charles X) returned to the throne of France. After the revolution, Louis XVIII was forced to accept adopting a constitution. When his brother Charles X tried to back out, he was deposed in 1830. Further efforts to seed a constitutional monarchy in France gained some traction under Charles’ cousin, Louis-Philippe.
Yet even the placid Louis-Philippe could not withstand the tensions within Europe in 1848. His regime was followed by the Second Republic, headed by Napoleon’s nephew Louis Napoleon. In 1851, Louis Napoleon became Emperor of the French (known as Napoleon III) via a coup d'etat emulating his uncle’s career. Napoleon III saw his Army defeated in autumn 1870 at Sedan, after which he too found exile in England. It was with him that the French monarchical tradition finally ended. A Third Republic was then proclaimed in the aftermath of the Prussian/German defeat.
Further Reading: The Bourbons Kings of France, Chs 7 & 8 by Desmond Seward Louis XVIII by Philip Mansel Citizen King by TEB Howarth History of Louis-Philippe by John SC Abbott The Shadow Emperor by Alan Strauss-Schom Napoleon III by Fenton Bresler The Franco-Prussian War by Stephen Badsey
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
Right, the republic means that it is a constitution with a president and parliament and not a democratic president and parliament and not a king. So it’s not an absolute monarchy nor is it a constitutional monarchy, it’s a republic. The first, second, third, fourth, fifth republics, the first republic was named afterwards, obviously, ‘cause they didn’t know it was going to be the first at the time of the revolution.
Well, he fled northwards to Brussels. He then fled to England. And then he was peripatetic around Europe. Louis the 18th, when he came to England for a time, stayed in a country house, Gosfield Hall, near where I used to live in the east of England in Essex, at a town called Braintree. And it strikes me as, well, an extraordinary place for an absolutist Bourbon to land up. Braintree, and I hope no one from Braintree is listening. Braintree is a dump now, and it was a dump then. And Louis the 18th lands, oh, well, only because he was offered this house free. But I love that story, that he should have land up in Braintree. You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.
Well, the French view of the English is much like the English view of the French. Both countries think themselves superior to the other. Both countries think their language is superior. And the French rightly think their food is superior, and think their culture is superior. Yeah, it is.