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Kingdom of France: 1830-1848

Monarchie de Juillet

French national flag - Image by Željko Heimer

The return of the Tricolore flag

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The return of the Tricolore flag

During the street insurrections in Paris still known as Les Trois Glorieuses (The Three Glorious [Days]) that caused the abdication of King Charles X (27-28-29 July 1830), the Tricolor flag reappeared after having been banned since 1815 (fall and exile of Napoléon I).

On 30 July 1830, on the balcony of the city hall of Paris, the old Lafayette gave Louis-Philippe, Duke d' Orléans, both a kiss and a Tricolor flag.
On 1st August, the Duke, then Lieutenant-Général of the Kingdom, ordered that France took back "its national colours" (ses couleurs nationales).

Louis-Philippe became later "King of the French" (Rois des Français), as opposed to the former "Kings of France and Navarre" (Rois de France et de Navarre), and similarly to Napoléon I, "Emperor of the French" (Empereur des Français). He promoted important constitutional reforms, such as the suppression of censorship and catholicism as the State religion, changed to "religion of the majority" (religion de la majorité). Louis-Philippe was later nicknamed the "king-citizen" (le roi-citoyen).

Louis-Philippe had always had bad relationships with the Bourbon family, and the controversy still remains in the monarchic circles between the Orléanistes and the Légitimistes. This is of course nothing but theoretical because the probability of a monarchic restoration in France is close to zero.

Louis-Philippe and his family members were not buried in the "royal necropolis" (nécropole royale) of Saint-Denis basilica, but in the familial royal chapel (chapelle royale) of Dreux, built in 1816.

Ivan Sache, 4 September 2000

There was a brief period (13 August 1830 - 16 February 1831) when Louis-Philippe used a coat of arms with fleurs-de-lis but then had to desist under pressure. The King's great seal had the Royal arms (differentiated for Orléans of course) till this last date but before that, many items and emblems had already been modified (e.g., coins, the Legion of Honour...) often to the advantage of the Tricolour.
Besides which, three Tricolours were already present on each side of the arms of Orléans, crossed behind it in fact.

Source: Jacques Bernard. 1954. Le dernier sceau fleurdelisé de France. Recueil de l'Office Généalogique et Héraldique de Belgique, 3:83-85

Jan Mertens, 18 July 2003