Louis Philippe I (1773.1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848. He took the throne after the July Revolution of 1830, forcing Charles X to abdicate. He was also Duke of Orleans from 1793. Louis Philippe was born on October 6, 1773, in the Palais Royal, Paris. As the eldest son of Louis Philippe Joseph de Bourbon-Orleans, he descended from Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, who was the brother of Louis XIV, King of France.
At the beginning of the French Revolution, Louis Philippe became a revolutionary himself, joining the Jacobins, the left wing group in the National Convention, which, along with the Cordeliers, had abolished the monarchy and founded the French First Republic in 1793. However, during the Reign of Terror, Louis Philippe fled the country to save his life as his father had been executed by guillotine. In 1809, he married Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, with whom he would have ten children. In 1815, after the definite imprisonment of Napoleon in Saint Helena, Louis Philippe returned to France.
Louis Philippe I foreign policy was harmonious as he pursued a friendly relations with the powerful European countries and did not interfere when the Russians attacked the Poles. Nevertheless, during his reign, the conditions of the working classes in France worsened and voting was not yet allowed to the lower classes. Although he was supported by the wealthy bourgeoisie, he could not avoid the 1848 Revolution, headed by the Parisians, which forced him to abdicate. He spent the last two years of his life in exile.
