House of Orleans - Appanages

Appanages

Throughout the years of the ancien régime, the Orléans household received vast riches in terms of wealth and property. Philippe de France obtained for the House of Bourbon-Orléans, during the rule of his brother Louis XIV, the following:

• The ducal titles of Orléans, Valois, Chartres and the lordship of Montargis. This occurred in 1660, shortly after the death of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, who had no male descendants. The family might also have obtained the county of Blois and with it the Château de Blois, Château de Chambord and also the governorship of Languedoc but Philippe de France was refused these by his brother.
• In 1672 Louis XIV added the duchy of Nemours, the countships of Dourdan and Romorantin, and the marquisates of Coucy and Folembray.
• In 1692, Philippe's son and heir, Philippe II, married Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, a legitimated daughter of Louis XIV by his liaison with Madame de Montespan. In order to convince his brother to allow his son to marry one of his illegitimate daughters, the king gave him the Palais-Royal and promised him a dowry of two million livres. This palace became the Paris residence of the Dukes of Orléans until 1792.
• The Orléans canal, built by Philippe de France, was used by the family to transport their timber from the Orléans forest to the capital where it was sold. The canal was nationalised during the revolution.

Under the regent, Philippe II, d'Orléans:

• He quietly increased his wife's annual allowance to 400,000 livres while he was in power. He also bought many buildings around Paris, although many were sold by his grandson. It was also he who bought the Regent diamond (also known as Le Régent), which was kept at the Louvre in Paris.

Under Louis d'Orléans:

• In 1740, Louis XV added the Hôtel de Grand-Ferrare at Fontainebleau
• The king added the countship of Soissons in 1751 and the lordships of Laon, Crépy and Noyon.
• By 1734, the family's income exceeded one million livres annually in rents due from the ducal domains of Orléans, Valois, Chartres, and the lordship of Montargis. Sales of timber from such vast tracts as the Orléans forest, added 500,000 livres.

Under Louis Philippe I d'Orléans:

• Rents came in from the towns of La Fère, Marle, Ham, Saint-Gobain, the Hôtel Duplessis-Châtillon and from the Ourcq canal.

Because the Dukes of Orléans were also the premier princes du sang, the kingdom's treasury paid for their personal household of 265 staff and officers. Along with towns and buildings, the family derived income from its forests on the ducal lands at Orléans, Beaugency, Montargis, Romorantin, Dourdan, Bruadan, Villers-Cotterêts (at which they had a château), Laigne, Coucy, La Fère, Marle, and Saint-Gobin.

• The original apanage was returned to the Orléans family in May, 1814 by Louis XVIII. It was united with the domain of the Crown upon Louis-Philippe d'Orléans' accession to the throne in 1830, at which time it was worth about 2.5 million francs in annual income.