17,000 people

4, 1958

The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic, of 1946….

Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire.

The Republic thus enables unity to be combined with diversity, the “me” with the “we”. The two resulting principles are those of national sovereignty (top-down sovereignty, that of the nation-states) and popular sovereignty (bottom-up sovereignty, that of the people).

Louis XVI

Because the powers of King Louis XVI were reduced, he asked for help from the Prussian and Austrian monarchies. However, the revolutionaries in France formed a large army and declared a war against Prussia and Austria. Monarchy was abolished and France became a republic.

France is a Republic, and there’s no current royal family recognized by the French state. Still, there are thousands of French citizens who have titles and can trace their lineage back to the French Royal Family and nobility.

The current Bourbon pretender is Louis de Bourbon as Head of the House of Bourbon since 1989. The current Orléans pretender is Henri d’Orléans as the head of the House of Orléans; although his son and heir, Jean d’Orléans, Dauphin de France and Duc de Vendôme is quite well-known.

Louis Alphonse de Bourbon