In fact, the main line of conflict in France during the 19th century was between monarchist opponents of the Republic ( mainly Legitimists and Orleanists, but also Bonapartists ) and supporters of the Republic ( Radical-Socialists, " Opportunist Republicans ", and later Socialists ).

Legitimists returned to prominence during Vichy France, according to historian René Rémond's studies of the right-wing factions in France.

Famous historian René Rémond has identified the Legitimists as the first ' right-wing family ' in France, followed by the Orleanists and the Bonapartists.

Initially identifying itself as a far left party opposed to the right-wing parties ; the Orleanists, the Legitimists and the Bonapartists in France in the nineteenth century, the Republican, Radical and Radical ‐ Socialist Party progressively became the most important party of the Third Republic ( 1871 – 1940 ).

According to René Rémond's famous classification of the various right-wing families in France, the Orleanists became the second right-wing tradition to emerge after the Legitimists, a term used to refer to the Ultras after the July Revolution.

It has been suggested that since in the original form of the legend this would have been the vial containing the Oil of the Catechumens and that the French coronation ordinals prescribe the Oil of the Catechumens, rather than Chrism, for the anointing of queens, it was subsequently used for anointing the queens of France and it is possible that a vial currently identified by some of the Bourbon Legitimists as the Sainte Ampoulle is actually this second vial.

Louis-Philippe had established the July Monarchy in 1830, and was confronted with opposition from the Legitimists, the Independents, and the Bonapartists ( he had especially angered the Bonapartists by confiscating all the remaining family assets in France ).

This was accepted by many Legitimists, and was the default on legal grounds ; the only surviving Bourbon line more senior was the Spanish branch, which had renounced its right to inherit the throne of France as a condition of the Treaty of Utrecht.

Legitimists are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution.

Legitimists hold that the king of France must be chosen according to the traditional rules of succession based in the Salic Law.

However, Legitimists joined Maurras in celebrating the fall of the Third Republic after the 1940 Battle of France as a " divine surprise ", and many of them entered Pétain's Vichy administration as a golden opportunity to impose a reactionary program in occupied France.

Such Legitimists are strongly opposed to the proposed European Constitution and anything else perceived as threatening the independence of France.

After Louis-Philippe's ousting and subsequent exile to Britain, the liberal Orleanist faction ( opposed by the counter-revolutionary Legitimists ) continued to support a return of the House of Orléans to the throne, but the July Monarchy proved to be the last monarchy of France.

This policy was viewed as a capitulation by the Legitimists, and most notably by Jean Maximilien Lamarque, who, while deploring the separation of French people and Walloons, accused Sébastiani of having obtained the destruction of fortifications in Belgium not as concession from other states, but rather because " the allied powers want to set aside the means of entering France without running into obstacles ".

** pretenders to the throne of the kingdom of France ( Legitimists ) ( 1789-1815 and from 1830 until today )

His supporters were called Legitimists to distinguish them from the Orléanists, the supporters of the family of Louis Philippe.

His most notable writings during these years were his political papers that attacked and revealed the confederacy of the Orléanists and Legitimists against the Republic ; his re-editions of many of his old articles and books, among others the Conservation, révolution et positivisme of 1852 ( which he reprinted word for word, appending a formal, categorical renunciation of many of the Comtist doctrines therein contained ); and a little tract, Pour la dernière fois, in which he maintained his unalterable belief in the philosophy of Materialism.

In this body, the Orléanists again exercised a kind of leadership by virtue of individual capacity, but they were counterbalanced by the Legitimists.

During the July Monarchy of 1830 to 1848, when the junior Orleanist branch held the throne, the Legitimists were politically marginalized, many withdrawing from active participation in political life.

This time, the Legitimists were able to agree with the Orleanists on a program of fusion, largely because of the growing likelihood that the count of Chambord would die without children.

Although the Action française remained an influential movement throughout the 1930s, its motivations for the restoration of monarchy were quite distinct from older Legitimists ' views, and Maurras ' instrumental use of Catholicism set them at odds.

The July Monarchy ( 1830 – 1848 ) is generally seen as a period during which the haute bourgeoisie was dominant, and marked the shift from the counter-revolutionary Legitimists to the Orleanists, who were willing to make some compromises with the changes brought by the 1789 Revolution.

The July Monarchy ( 1830 – 1848 ) is generally seen as a period during which the haute bourgeoisie was dominant, and marked the shift from the counter-revolutionary Legitimists to the Orleanists, who were willing to make some compromises with the changes brought by the 1789 Revolution.

Both the Legitimists ( embodied in the person of Henri, Count of Chambord, grandson of Charles X ) and the Orleanist royalists rejected republicanism, which they saw as an extension of modernity and atheism, breaking with France's traditions.

His failure to secure re-election to the legislature in 1866, 1869, 1870 and 1871 was due to the opposition of the stricter Legitimists, who viewed with suspicion his attempts to reconcile the Orléans princes with Henri, comte de Chambord.

After this, the Orléanists sought a fusion with the Legitimists to strengthen the royalist cause.

He formulated an aggressive political strategy, which contrasted with the Legitimists ' apathy for political action.

Legitimists joined with Orleanists to form the Party of Order which dominated parliament from the elections of May 1849 until Bonaparte's coup on December 2, 1851.

However, from 1871 forward, they competed with Monarchist groups that favoured the restoration of the family of Louis-Philippe, King of the French ( 1830 – 1848 ) ( the Orléanists ), and with those who favoured the restoration of the House of Bourbon, the traditional French royal family ( Legitimists ).

On the right, the Legitimists and Ultra-royalists held counter-revolutionary views, while the Orléanists hoped to create a constitutional monarchy under their preferred branch of the royal family, a brief reality after the 1830 July Revolution.

Those Legitimists who had rallied to the Republic in 1893, after the comte de Chambord's death ten years before, still called themselves Droite constitutionnelle or républicaine ( Constitutional or Republican Right ).

This group was initially minuscule, but began to grow larger after World War II due both to the political leftism of the Orleanist Pretender, Henri, comte de Paris, and to the active efforts of the claimants of the elder line — Jaime, Duke of Segovia, the disinherited second son of Alfonso XIII of Spain, and his son, Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz — to secure legitimist support, such that by the 1980s, the elder line had fully reclaimed for its supporters the political title of " Legitimists ".

From 1830 on they became known as Legitimists.

From 1830 on, they became known as Legitimists.

After the revolution of July, when the Legitimists withdrew in a body, Berryer alone retained his seat as deputy.

The opposition formed an increasingly powerful coalition, ranging from Catholics outraged by the Papal policies to Legitimists, Orleanists, protectionists and even some republicans.

Thus, Legitimists participated little in the political events of the 1920s and 1930s, in particular in the 6 February 1934 riots organized by far right leagues.

* Mary, Queen of Scots ( 1542 – 1587 ), recognized as Mary II of England by English Legitimists

The Third Republic ( 1871 – 1940 ), dominated the nation until the 16 May 1877 crisis by the Catholic Legitimists who dreamed of a return to the Ancien Régime.

In 1986 Louis Alphonse de Bourbon became the senior agnate of the House of Bourbon, claimed the Legitimist succession as had his father, and was immediately accorded the title Duke of Anjou by Legitimists.

Thus, Henri's own short-sightedness in this regard jeopardized the alliance between Legitimists ( Bourbons ) and Orleanists.

The Legitimists withdrew from the political stage to their castles, leaving the stage opened for the struggle between the Orleanists and the Republicans.

The death of Henri, comte de Chambord in 1883, who, as the grandson of Charles X, had refused to abandon the fleur-de-lys and the white flag, thus jeopardizing the alliance between Legitimists and Orleanists, convinced many of the remaining Orleanists to rally themselves to the Republic, as Adolphe Thiers had already done.