Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou

Prince Charles-Philippe Marie Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Anjou (born 3 March 1973) is a French prince.

Born in Paris, he is the eldest of two sons of Prince Michel d'Orléans, comte d'Evreux, and his wife the former Béatrice Pasquier de Franclieu. His paternal grandfather was Henri, Count of Paris, the Orléanist pretender to the French throne. As such, Charles-Philippe takes the traditional royal rank of petit-fils de France with the style of Royal Highness.

Title

On 8 December 2004, he received the title duc d'Anjou (Duke of Anjou in English) from his uncle Henri, Count of Paris and Duke of France, head of the House of Orléans, with the agreement of HM King Juan Carlos of Spain. There is some controversy in the use of this title by an Orléans prince. It had traditionally been borne by or associated with the heads of the branch of the House of Bourbon which reigns in Spain, in their capacity as Legitimist pretenders to the French throne since 1883—in rivalry to the claim asserted by the House of Orléans. In that year Henri, comte de Chambord, last patrilineal descendant of Louis XV, died childless. The Legitimist legacy was claimed by the next senior branch of the Bourbons, descended from a younger grandson of Louis XIV, Philippe, Duke of Anjou. Although Philippe ceased use of the Anjou title upon becoming King Philip V of Spain in 1700, and renounced his succession rights to the French throne in exchange for retention of his Spanish crown, some Legitimists maintained...
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