Louis Philippe I, in 1792

Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 as the leader of the Orléanist party. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans had supported the Revolution of 1789 but was guillotined during the Reign of Terror. Louis Philippe spent 21 years in exile. He was proclaimed king in 1830 after Charles X was forced to abdicate. His reign, known as the July Monarchy, was dominated by wealthy elite. He followed conservative policies in 1840–48. He promoted friendship with Britain and sponsored colonial expansion, notably the conquest of Algeria. His popularity faded and he was forced to abdicate in 1848; he lived out his life in exile in Great Britain.

Quotes

• Le juste milieu.
  • The proper mean.
  • Used in an address to the deputies of Gaillac. First occurs in a letter of Voltaire's to Count d'Argental (Nov. 29, 1765). Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations Also in Pascal—Pensées. (see Moderation)

• La charte sera désormais une vérité.
  • The charter will henceforth be a reality.
  • Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (see Law)

• Entente cordiale
• The cordial agreement
  • Used by Louis-Philippe in a speech (Jan., 1843) to express friendly relations between France and England (see article Entente cordiale on Wikipedia). "Entente cordiale," Littré (Dict.) dates its use to speech in The Chamber of Deputies, 1840–41. Phrase in a letter written by the Dutch Governor-General at Batavia to the Bewinikebbers (directors) at Amsterdam (Dec. 15, 1657). Queen Victoria used it in the letter to Lord John Russell (Sept. 7, 1848). Richard Cobden used it in the letter to M. Michel Chevalier (Sept., 1859). See Notes and Queries (Sept. 11, 1909), p. 216. Early examples given in Stanford Dictionary. Cobden probably first user to make the phrase popular. Quoted also by Lord Aberdeen. Phrase appeared in the Foreign Quarterly Review (Oct., 1844).

Quotes about Louis-Philippe

• Under a cabinet constitution at a sudden emergency this people can choose a ruler for the occasion. It is quite possible and even likely that he would not be ruler before the occasion. The great qualities, the imperious will, the rapid energy, the eager nature fit for a great crisis are not required—are impediments—in common times. A Lord Liverpool is better in everyday politics than a Chatham—a Louis Philippe far better than a Napoleon. By the structure of the world we want, at the sudden occurrence of a grave tempest, to change the helmsman—to replace the pilot of the calm by the pilot of the storm.
  • Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (1867) No. I, "The Cabinet", p. 29

• King Louis Philippe once said to me that he attributed the great success of the British nation in political life to their talking politics after dinner.
  • Benjamin Disraeli, Letter to Lord Grey de Wilton (3 October 1873), cited in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, Vol. 5 (1920), p. 262.