Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Flags: The Lilies vs. the Tricolor

From The Mad Monarchist:
I think I understand why the count was so unwilling to compromise and it is why I cannot have that negative a view of the man in spite of him allowing the opportunity for a royal restoration to slip through his fingers. The reason is because, I think for the Count of Chambord, the issue was not the French flag really but rather what the flag had come to represent, at least in his own mind and probably a great many others as well. It was also under the tricolor that King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had been murdered and it was under the tricolor that the revolutionary regime in France had embraced every kind of outrage, cruelty, sacrilege and depravity. To the count, the tricolor represented the Revolution and in their reluctance to do away with the tricolor, the count saw a reluctance to do away with the ideas of the Revolution. The monarchy had been restored under King Louis XVIII only to be brought down again. King Charles X had tried to set things back to the way they had been under the traditional Kingdom of France and the people had turned against him in the end. King Louis Philippe had tried to steer a middle course between traditional France and revolutionary France and had failed to please either side of the political divide. The Count of Chambord was trying to keep things simple and clear-cut. In forcing the government to choose between the tricolor and the fleur-de-lis he was really asking them to choose between the revolutionary republic and the traditional Catholic monarchy. The two could not exist side by side and France had to decide which sort of country it wanted to be. If they chose the traditional Kingdom of France and the Bourbon flag, he would happily preside over it but if they were not prepared to finally turn their back on the monstrous crimes of the Revolution, he wanted no part of it. (Read more.)
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2 comments:

lara77 said...

Of course though the gold lilies on the white flag is much more beautiful than the three rag flag of France(tricolor); my all time favorite French flag is the deep blue background flag with the white cross of Christianity emblazoned across it; the flag of Quebec. THAT is ancient, Royal and Christian France.

May said...

I've always thought highly of Henri for turning down the tricolor compromise. He was certainly principled, and the family had already suffered enough from trying to put conflicting principles together. I also suspect that, had there been another royal restoration under Henri, he would have been thrown out later on anyway, just adding more trauma to the history of France and the royal house. Then there is the whole issue of Henri not having heirs and the resulting succession problems.