Can France return to a monarchy be it bonapartist or royalist during the 2Oth century?

[Ciniad]

Is a return of a monarchy in France during the 20 century possible and plausible if so why and how could this new monarchy develop?

 

[fhaessig]

Not without ASB intervention.

The last chance of monarchy in France was in 1873, and even that was a long shot.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

The zero....the zero....

 

[Ciniad]

Ok thanks for your answer.
But maybe with the instability of the third republic there could be a movement to restore the monarchy maybe if France lose the WW1 the restoration of the monarchy could be made a clause in a Treaty?

 

[Gukpard]

Ok thanks for your answer.
But maybe with the instability of the third republic there could be a movement to restore the monarchy maybe if France lose the WW1 the restoration of the monarchy could be made a clause in a Treaty?

I believe that in such scenario it would be way more likely to have a fascist France, a communist france or a french dictatorship that later democratizes

 

[torten]

Short of the Germans putting them on the throne at gunpoint after WW1, very very unlikely.

 

[Alexander the Average]

Well maybe if France had a socialist revolution and the government fled to their colonies and- no wait, that's Kaiserreich.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

I used to think this was possible, but discussion in the thread
AHC restore the French monarchy (constitutional figurehead only)
convinced me otherwise. E.g.

For the Orléanist:

I'm not sure if they personally were (Henri 'VI' was in the Foreign Legion during WWII, but I'm not sure if he went Vichy or Free). The main Orleanist and Unionist factions were pretty ultra-right and were highly involved with Vichy, though.

This is accurate. The Orleans were never supporters of Vichy publicly, but guilt by association with plenty of monarchists being the types who ended up joining the Milice and such made monarchism a socially unacceptable political ideology after WWII.

For the Légitimist:

The other issue being that Montizon was also the pretender to Spain, which might strain relations somewhat, and he was living with a Protestant Englishwoman who he had several kids with. Hardly the sort that the psycho ultra-Catholic right, who would otherwise form his natural base, would want.

 

[Bregil]

At least as far as the Bonapartist option goes, there's the slight problem of not having a viable candidate after the Anglo-Zulu War. That aside, the only semi-plausible way that I could see someone re-establishing a French monarchy of some kind (short of being installed as a foreign puppet) would be to take the "de Gaulle" route and even then it would be extremely difficult to transition that into a monarchy. The French populace was simply too wedded to the idea of the Republic by the time you get to the 20th Century.

 

[da Racontor]

Both the Bonapartist and Orléansit claimants fought against the Nazis and Vichy under false names (though as Bregil mentioned the Bonapartist didn't have much support) de Gaulle was also from a very Orléanist family. So if Henri VI becomes a war hero, and then reveals himself, de Gaulle just might be able to pull together a constitutional monarchy after the war.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Short of the Germans putting them on the throne at gunpoint after WW1, very very unlikely.

Wut? The Germans lost WW1. What power or influence do they have in France after 1918?

 

[Johnrankins]

Wut? The Germans lost WW1. What power or influence do they have in France after 1918?

Obviously the French lose in the speculated timeline.

 

[fhaessig]

France already had a King coming 'dans les fourgeons de l'ennemi'.

It will not work in the XXth century. As soon as the occupation forces leave, out comes the guillotine.

 

[Cook]

Is a return of a monarchy in France during the 20 century possible and plausible if so why and how could this new monarchy develop?

Yes, the Third Republic was never popular; it was founded as an unpopular compromise and it remained one all the way through until the Germans marched down the Champse-Élysées in 1940. The principal obstacle to a restoration of the monarchy during the period of the Third Republic was simply which monarchy would you be restoring? Monarchists were divided between those wishing to restore the Bourbon dynasty and those who supported the Orléanist line; as long as that division existed, not restoration was ever going to get up.

 

[Magnum]

POD has to be after January 1st, 1900?

Maybe with Nappy IIIs son not killed in Africa, and some serious shit happening in the following 20 years?

 

[emaV]

 

[Ciniad]

POD has to be after January 1st, 1900?

Maybe with Nappy IIIs son not killed in Africa, and some serious shit happening in the following 20 years?

Thanks to everyone for your answers.
I would prefers for the POD to Happen after 1st january, 1900 the objective is to have a monarchy in France for most of the 20th century so I guess a POD in the late 19th century is possible.

 

[David T]

Years ago, some people in soc.history.what-if suggested that de Gaulle at least toyed with the idea of eventual restoration of the monarchy under the Comte de Paris. For why I think this was at best wishful thinking by the Comte, see https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/soc.history.what-if/13FIJY9k0hc/eU6gUIji2-QJ
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/soc.history.what-if/13FIJY9k0hc/1rgQ2Yfmz_MJ

It's not very likely the Comte could have been a serious prospect at an earlier time, either. See Maurice Larkin, *France since the Popular Front: Government and People 1936-1996 (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997), p. 106:
"As for the royalist pretender, the Comte de Paris, he alternately offered his services to Petain in August 1942 and then to the Allies a few months later, but neither side was interested in a restoration."