Louis Philippe in the Vendee

[Polish Eagle]

This idea was prompted by something Napoleon said, when royalist agents approached the then-consul asking whether he could be brought to support a Bourbon restoration a la General Monck in England. Napoleon answered that, despite his own preference for rule by one man, he could not respect any of the Bourbon princes because they relaxed in exile while others fought for them. He said that, if a Bourbon prince were actually fighting in France, he might be inclined to be a royalist, and dismissed them.

Which brings us to Louis Philippe, the Citizen-King. He was, by many accounts, quite a skilled soldier and unafraid of getting his hands dirty in combat himself. At age 19, he left France after being implicated in Dumouriez's coup attempt; of all the Bourbon princes, he seems the one most likely to actually stay in France to fight for a royalist cause. The War in the Vendee was beginning at that same time.

So, what if Louis Philippe, instead of leaving France, goes to the Vendee and joins the insurrectionists (perhaps only after his father, Philippe Egalite, is guillotined)? An actual Bourbon prince, who had earned his rank of general, would lend them a measure of credibility, and might help morale. Would this actually bring about a restoration, or just a total breakdown of French society between royalist and republican elements?

 

[DrakeRlugia]

It's a bit of a misnomer to state that other Bourbons relaxed in exile while Louis Philippe got his hands dirty. Both the Duke of Angoulême and the Duke of Berri fought in the Armée de Condé, with Berri serving in the Rhine campaign in 1796. Angoulême had pretty extensive service too, he commanded a cavalry regiment under the Bavarians at Hohenlinden. Angoulême and Berri fought for France: just not Napoleon's version of France.

As for Louis-Philippe and the Vendeans... they were very comparable to the Chouannerie in Brittany and Maine, in that their politics were heavily counter-revolutionary, both pro-royalist and pro-Catholic. Louis-Philippe as the eldest son as Philippe Égalite isn't going to get much traction with them, I'm afraid. I can't posit much on Louis-Philippe's political views c. 1794, but he was held in disdain by both the Republicans and the Royalist factions. There's a reason why compared to some of the other French princes, he had to settle for a time in Switzerland: to put it simply, he wasn't welcome in Austria or in some of the major émigré centers in Germany.