Henri, Count of Chambord

Henri was born on 29 September 1820, seven months after his father Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, was assassinated. His mother was Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily. As the younger son's only son, he became the last hope of the senior Bourbon line when his grandfather Charles X was overthrown in 1830. He lived the rest of his life in exile, first as a child symbol, then as the Legitimist pretender from 1844 onward — recognized by royalists, ignored by the state. France flirted with restoration in the 1870s, but Henri refused to accept the tricolour flag, and the chance died with the ne…