French Royalists gather each January 21st, the date King Louis XVI was beheaded. For 1600 years, France had a Catholic monarchy (remember the Avignon Papacy). His death marked the end of the French monarchy and beginning of the French Republics.
Royalists like to point out that the French president is a political figure and believe that as a result, doesn’t represent all the citizens. According to them, only a king could represent all French and unify the country. I find it hard to understand how a king that involves himself with the running of the country wouldn’t become a political figure? I freely admit that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around concepts associated with modern monarchies. To repeat, I’m American and so its a really foreign concept for me.
At present, Royalists don’t have any real political power (the Alliance Royale, a group that wants to choose a king by referendum, got just 0.031% of the vote in the 2004 European elections). Nevertheless, they disagree over who is the rightful successor to the French throne. The two most often named potential kings of France are Prince Jean d’Orléans the Duke of Vendôme, Prince Louis Alphonse Duke of Anjou, who is a descendent of the Bourbon dynasty.
Not surprisingly, there’s bad blood between these rivals and it goes back generations. It’s good to be king and, well, there’s only one king. Also not surprisingly, there’s a third claimant, Napoléon VII, Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Napoléon, who descends from Emperor Napoléon I.
schwingeninswitzerland 
Interesting article. I seem to remember that before the French revolution there were something like 200,000 noble families all over France. I wonder if there is much of a dynastic claim to aristocracy amongst any of the descendants of these families, or perhaps the revolution really did a solid job at uprooting them.
Cheers.
Intriguing internet site, i read it but i still have a couple
of questions. shoot me an email and we will speak a lot more becasue i may possibly have an
intriguing thought for you.
The French word for “cake” is “gâteau”, …although in the sub-language known as Franconian-Lorraine, the word is “quiche”.
~ 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
~ 12 slices bacon
~ 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
~ 1/3 cup minced onion
~ 4 eggs, beaten
~ 2 cups light cream
~ 3/4 teaspoon salt
~ 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
~ 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Place bacon in a large skillet, and fry over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then chop coarsely. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion into pastry shell.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, sugar and cayenne pepper. Pour mixture into pastry shell.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Allow quiche to sit 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.