... was the last King of France. He was a cousin of Louis XVI (they were both descended from Louis XIV). His father, the Duke of Orléans, was executed during the French Revolution; following the July Revolution of 1830, Charles X (another cousin) was forced to abdicate, and Louis-Philippe was proclaimed as King.
His popularity declined as working class conditions deteriorated and his government came to be seen as conservative. He unexpectedly abdicated in 1848 and fled to England under the name "Mr. Smith". The National Assembly originally planned to accept his nominated heir, his young grandson Prince Philippe d'Orléans, Count of Paris, as king; but public opinion favoured a Second Republic and Prince Louis Napoleon was elected as President.
Note that Louis Napoleon later declared himself as Emperor Napoleon III. He was therefore the last monarch of France, but Louis-Philippe was the last to be styled as King.
Louis-Philippe lived out his final years at Claremont (a.k.a. Clermont), a house near Esher, Surrey, which was lent to him by Queen Victoria. He died there in 1850.
Claremont actually belonged to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who had married Victoria's cousin, Princess Charlotte (daughter of George IV and his legal wife, Caroline of Brunswick). Charlotte died in 1817, and the house was left vacant in 1831 when Leopold became King of the Belgians.
© Haydn Thompson 2017