The French tricolore with the royal crown and fleur-de-lys was possibly designed by Henri, comte de Chambord in his younger years as a compromise[1]
But the intransigence of the Count of Chambord, who refused to abandon the white flag and its fleur-de-lis against the republican tricolore, and the 16 May 1877 crisis forced the legitimists to abandon the political arena, while some of the more liberal Orléanists "rallied" throughout years to the Third Republic (1870–1940). However, since the monarchy and Catholicism were long entangled ("the alliance of the Throne and the Altar"), republican ideas were often tinged with anti-clericalism, which led to some turmoil during RadicalÉmile Combes' cabinet in the beginning of the 20th century.
Monarchists were then active under the Vichy regime, with the leader of the Action FrançaiseCharles Maurras qualifying as "divine surprise" the overthrow of the Republic and the arrival to power of Marshal Pétain. A few of them, such as Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie, took part in the Resistance out of patriotic concerns. The Action Française was then dissolved after the war, but Maurice Pujo founded it again in 1947.
Monarchism continues to exist in France. The historian Julian T. Jackson wrote in 2001 that "Indeed in the Vendée there are still families today who will not receive descendants of people who bought biens nationaux during the Revolution."[2] Falling into one of the three main monarchist streams, some of the active groups in France today are:
The only entrenched clause in the Constitution of France, carried on from an 1884 addition to the Constitutional Laws of the Third Republic, prevents any amendment on "the republican form of government" (art. 89), therefore a restoration of the monarchy. As this provision is not itself entrenched, a restoration would be possible within the present legal framework in two stages, the first to remove the entrenchment, the second to alter the form of government.[3]
However, a little-known, non-sovereign form of monarchy remains in France, with the three traditional kings of Wallis and Futuna, a small Pacific archipelago organized as three kingdoms, who are granted recognition under article 75 of the Constitution.[4] It became French under colonial status in 1917, from an earlier control as a protectorate, before being incorporated in 1946.
Occasional references to the king or the emperor remain in French law, although they are interpreted as going for the president, who has replaced them under the present constitution. One famous example used to be article 1 of the Civil Code, which provides for the entry into force of laws: until 2004, it had remained as last amended at the start of the Restoration in 1816, with updated mentions in brackets in most editions: “Laws are enforceable throughout the French territory by virtue of the promulgation made thereof by the King (the President of the Republic). They shall be executed in each part of the Kingdom (of the Republic) from the moment when their promulgation can be known.”[5] It was rewritten in 2004.[6]
In addition, a local civil servant of the French government carries the additional responsibility of "viceroy of Pheasant Island", a small, uninhabited island on the border with Spain organized as a condominium of the two countries, six months a year. The French authories have stated that this is in a parallel with Spain, which has a monarch.[7] The president of France is also ex officioco-prince of Andorra, a sovereign Pyrenean microstate; the position was passed on from the last French kings, who held it since Henry IV, who upon his French accession was already co-prince as Count of Foix.[8]
References
^Whitney Smith. Flags through the ages and cross the world. McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1975. p. 75[ISBN missing]
^Armengol Aleix, Ester (2009). Andorra: un profund i llarg viatge (in Catalan). Andorra la Vella: Government of Andorra. pp. 172, 342–343. ISBN978-99920-0-549-1.
