A pretender to the French throne is demanding the return of numerous properties, along with €1m and the right to live rent free.
Jean d’Orléans, the Count of Paris, has filed a lawsuit insisting that the Saint-Louis Foundation hand over the Chateau d’Amboise in the Loire Valley along with other properties including the Royal Chapel of Dreux, west of Paris.
He claims the foundation is failing to fulfil its obligation to uphold the memory of his ancestors, the Capetian dynasty, which ruled France from 987 to 1848 (with a small gap owing to the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte).
Commentators say that the lawsuit appears to be a riposte after the foundation told the count to pay rent for the château in Dreux where he and his family have lived since 2011. The demand followed a note from the republic’s officials saying that it was illegal for the family to live there free. The count denies this.
