Prince Jean d’Orléans

Jean d'Orléans (Jean Pierre Clément Marie; 4 September 1874 – 25 August 1940) was Orléanist pretender to the defunct French throne as Jean III. He used the courtesy title of Duke of Guise.

He was the third son and youngest child of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres (1840–1910), and grandson of Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans and great-grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French. His mother was Princess Françoise of Orléans, daughter of François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville and Princess Francisca of Brazil.

Biography In 1892, Jean passed the entrance exam for the Royal Danish Military Academy and joined the Royal Life Guards. He continued to serve in the Royal Danish Army until 1899, where he was made captain .

In 1926 at the death of his cousin and brother-in-law Philippe, Duke of Orléans, claimant to the defunct throne of France as "Philip VIII", Jean was recognised by his Orléanist supporters as titular king of France with the name "Jean III".

Jean was an amateur historian and archeologist, who lived with his family in a large farm near Rabat, Morocco. Following his "ascension" as Orléanist pretender, he and his eldest son were legally forbidden from ever entering France again, due to an 1886 edict which condemned the heads of the Bourbon and Bonaparte dynasties, as well as their heirs apparent, to exile.

Jean died in Larache, Morocco, in 1940. He was succeeded as Orléanist claimant to the defunct French throne by his only son, Henri d' Orléans, Count of Paris.

Marriage and issue Left to right (standing): Bruno, Count of Harcourt, Princess Françoise of Orléans, Princess Anne of Orléans, & Princess Isabelle of Orléans. Left to right (seated): Henri, Count of Paris, Princess Isabelle of Orléans, & Prince Jean, Duke of Guise. In 1899, Jean married his first cousin, Isabelle d'Orléans (1878–1961). She was the younger sister of Philip VIII, and the daughter of Philip VII and Marie Isabelle d'Orléans.

They had four children:

Isabelle d'Orléans (1900–1983). First married in 1923 to Marie Hervé Jean Bruno, Count of Harcourt (1899–1930) and then to Prince Pierre Murat in 1934. Françoise d'Orléans (1902–1953). Married to Christopher of Greece and Denmark in 1929. He was a son of George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. They were parents of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark. Anne d'Orléans (1906–1986). She married Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta in 1927. Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris (1908–1999). Married to Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza.

Ancestry