DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45257#0192
124 DUC D’AUMALE OWNER OF CHANTILLY
Due de Chartres, made a lengthy stay at Chantilly;
and not long afterwards Princess Marie Amalie,
daughter of the Comte de Paris, was betrothed here
to the Duke of Braganza, afterwards King of Portu-
gal. But in that same year Republican France
suddenly pronounced a further sentence of banish-
ment upon all claimants to the French Throne—
Royalist and Imperialist; in which order the
Due d’Aumale was included. In his quality of a
General in the French Army, he protested against
this, but without avail; and once more Chantilly
was deserted. But this time it was not for
long; for on returning with a heavy heart to his
English home at Woodnorton and feeling his end
drawing near the Duke resolved to make known
immediately the act of munificence upon which he
had so long decided. He therefore made public
his intention of leaving Chantilly with all its forests,
parks and lakes, and all its art-treasures to the care
of the Members of the Institut de France, in trust
for the French Nation. This was his dignified
answer to the French Republic; and it made a
deep and lasting impression in France. Nor
was this act of generosity without immediate
consequences, for shortly after a Decree signed
by President Carnot was sent to the Duke with
the assurance that France would welcome him
back.
On March 9, 1889 he returned to Paris, and
his first act was to present his thanks to the
President, who seemed much touched by the words
Due de Chartres, made a lengthy stay at Chantilly;
and not long afterwards Princess Marie Amalie,
daughter of the Comte de Paris, was betrothed here
to the Duke of Braganza, afterwards King of Portu-
gal. But in that same year Republican France
suddenly pronounced a further sentence of banish-
ment upon all claimants to the French Throne—
Royalist and Imperialist; in which order the
Due d’Aumale was included. In his quality of a
General in the French Army, he protested against
this, but without avail; and once more Chantilly
was deserted. But this time it was not for
long; for on returning with a heavy heart to his
English home at Woodnorton and feeling his end
drawing near the Duke resolved to make known
immediately the act of munificence upon which he
had so long decided. He therefore made public
his intention of leaving Chantilly with all its forests,
parks and lakes, and all its art-treasures to the care
of the Members of the Institut de France, in trust
for the French Nation. This was his dignified
answer to the French Republic; and it made a
deep and lasting impression in France. Nor
was this act of generosity without immediate
consequences, for shortly after a Decree signed
by President Carnot was sent to the Duke with
the assurance that France would welcome him
back.
On March 9, 1889 he returned to Paris, and
his first act was to present his thanks to the
President, who seemed much touched by the words