Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné (1820–1883) was the son of Charles Ferdinand, Duc de Berry, and Maria Carolina (Marie Caroline), Princess of Naples and Sicily. Duc de Bordeaux at birth, in 1830 he was titular King of France (Henri V) in the brief period between the abdication of his grandfather and uncle and the National Assembly’s decree that the throne should pass to Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orléans (1773–1850), head of the junior branch of the Bourbons. His supporters, known as Legitimists, as opposed to the Orléanist supporters of Louis Philippe, continued to champion his cause. After the fall of the Second Empire in 1870 there arose a possibility of Henri being reinstated, but his insistence that the tricolour be replaced by the historic white fleur-de-lys as the national flag led plans to falter. His death in exile, with no issue from his marriage to Marie Theresia, Archduchess of Austria-Este (1817–1886), marked the end of the male line of the senior branch of the Bourbon dynasty in France.

minimize...