Did any of the French nobility survive the French Revolution?

Question

And if so, do their descendants live in France today? Do they retain any titles or inheritance?

Answer 1

the simple answer is yes. many were able to escape. the history of whom and where is of no consequence to real life and the future of France.

Answer 2

Rachelle,

your right as usual.

Answer 3

Yes a lot off the french nobility survived the French Revelation. They escaped to Belgium and Great Britten and lived there as nobility.

Answer 4

Actually, Rachelle is wrong. The question was about *nobility*. There are hundreds of extant (the opposite of extinct) noble families in France today. The are princes, dukes, marquises, counts, barons, etc.

There aren't three people claiming to be head of *the* French Royal Family. There are the Bonapartes, who form the French Imperial Family, who are separate from the French Royal Family which is split between the Legitimists (Bourbon senior line) and the Orléanists (Bourbon-Orléans junior line).

Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou is the Legitimist pretender. He is a male-line descendant of Louis XIV.

Henry, Count of Paris and Duke of France is the Orléanist pretender. He is a male-line descendant of Louis XIV's younger brother, Monsieur the Duke of Orléans.

Louis Alphonse and Henry (Henry) are the ones disputing the headship of the French Royal Family which is entirely different from the Bonaparte French Imperial Family.

Answer 5

Some did not all of them many people associated with the king died.Servants,Nobles,Children,Friends,an... people who helped the king.

Answer 6

Despite the abolition of nobility at the French Revolution and the loss of their privileged juridical status ("all men are equal citizens"), the nobility continued to exist throughout the 19th century. There were 239 remaining families holding First Empire titles in 1975. Of those, perhaps 130-140 were titled. Only one title of prince and seven titles of duke remain.) Napoleon also established a new knightly order in 1802, the Légion d'honneur, which is still in existence today.

Titles were abolished by the Revolutions of 1789 and 1848, and restored by decree in 1852 (and never officially abolished since) and now can only be lawfully used and given to their bearers in official acts with a decree by the Minister of Justice. Anyone who has a legitimate claim to a title can ask the Minister of Justice to confirm this claim, the bearer can then legally use the title in legal documents such as birth certificates (about 400 such confirmations were made since 1872).

Note: The Association d'entraide de la Noblesse Française ("Association for the mutual assistance of French nobility", or "ANF") exists today; it is open exclusively to French nobles.