Count of Paris

Count of Paris (French: Comte de Paris) was a title for the local magnate of the district around Paris in Carolingian times. Eventually, the count of Paris was elected to the French throne. The title died out with Paris a royal city, but it was revived later by the Orléanist pretenders to the French throne in a gesture of connection to the ancient Capetian family.

A fictional Count of Paris is a character in William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Pippinids

* Grifo (751-753), son of Charles Martel and his second wife, Swanahild

Girardids

* Gerard I (752-778)
* Stephen (778-811), son of previous
* Beggo (or Begon) (815-816), brother of previous
* Leuthard I (816), brother of previous and also count of Fézensac
* Gerard II (816), called Girard de Roussillon, son of previous and brother of Alard the Seneschal, also duke of Viennois
* Leuthard II (from 816), son of Beggo
* Adalard (877), count palatine, father of Adelaide, wife of Louis II of France

Welfs

* Conrad (858-859)
* Joseph (902-906)

Robertians

* Odo, also king of France (until 888)
* Robert, also count of Blois, Anjou, Tours, and Orléans, margrave of Neustria, and king of France (888-923)
* Hugh the Great (923-956)
* Hugh Capet (956-996)

Bouchardids

* Bouchard I the Venerable (1005), also count of Vendôme, Corbeil, and Melun
* Reginald, also bishop of Paris

Orléanists

The title was revived much later and was used by three claimants to the French throne:
* Louis-Philippe, Comte de Paris (1838-1894): French Orléanist monarchists referred to him as "Louis-Philippe II", and then later when Henri, comte de Chambord died, he was recognized as the royalist heir by almost all French monarchists, and was occasionally known as Philippe VII.
* Henri, Comte de Paris (1908-1999)
* Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France (born 1933)

The title was given by Louis-Philippe I to his grandson Philippe, as show of gratitude towards the City of Paris and in reference to the early ancestors of the Capetians.

Since 1830, there had been high controversy amongst French royalists. One group, called legitimists, recognised the older branch of the family as heirs to the monarchy, while another group, the Orléanists, recognised Louis-Philippe and his heirs. In 1883, with the death of the Comte de Chambord, the older branch of the family died out. His genealogical heir was Juan, Conde de Montizon, but most legitimists recognised Philippe, Comte de Paris as heir to the Comte de Chambord, because Philip V of Spain, ancestor of the Conde de Montizon, had renounced his rights to the French throne. A minority group of royalists refused to recognise the validity of these renunciations. Nowadays, they recognise Don Luís Alfonso Gonzalo Victor Manuel Marco de Borbón y Martínez-Bordiú as heir to the French throne.

Thus, the Comte de Paris is presently the Orléanist pretender to the French throne.

See also

* List of French monarchs
* Siege of Paris (885-886)
* Capetians
* Orléanists