HRH, Prince Louis d’Orleans, Comte de
Beaujolais
Reference: “ A Nation’s Praise-Malta: People, Places and Events” by A.E.
Abela, Progress Press, Valletta, 1994. pp106-113.
HRH, Prince Louis d’Orleans, Comte de Beaujolais’ last resting place in St John’s Cathedral could never be described as humble. The Count’s funeral procession through Valletta and the service in the Cathedral in June 1808 lacked none of the trappings of a great and solemn state occasion. It was not, however, until 1843 – 35 years after his death – that the magnificent monument in St John’s, which we know and admire today, was erected.
The ailing Count of Beaujolais
originally arrived in Malta on May 16, 1808. An intimation of his arrival was
contained in a despatch dated April 5, 1808, from the Secretary of State for
the Colonial and War Department, Lord Castlereagh, to the Civil Commissioner,
Sir Alexander Ball. Lord Castlereagh wrote: “The health of the Count Beaujolais
requiring the assistance of a warm climate, His Majesty has graciously
permitted him to repair to Malta and has allowed his brother, the Duke of
Orleans, who is most affectionately anxious for his recovery, to accompany him
in his voyage.
“I am therefore to express my desire
that as soon as these illustrious personages arrive at Malta, you will pay them
every mark of attention in your power and procure for them the best accommodation
which circumstances will allow.”
The accommodation, which Sir
Alexander Ball decided to put at the royal brothers’ disposal, was the handsome
building in South Street, Valletta, which now houses the National Museum of
Fine Arts. The building was then known as “ Don Raimondo’s House”.
On the royal brothers’ arrival in
Grand Harbour (on May 16, 1808), they were given a 15 – gun salute, to be
followed, when they stepped ashore, by a further salute of 21 guns. Ball
accompanied the royal party to the Palace, Valletta, and three days later, on
May 19, the Count and his brother moved into South Street.
Louis-Charles de Orleans, Comte de Beaujolais, was born in the
Royal Palace in Paris on October 7, 1779. He was the youngest son of
Louis-Philippe-Joseph, Duc d’Orleans, better known as Philippe-Egalite.
(Philip-Egalite was the cousin of King Louis XVI of France. During the French
Revolution he voted for the execution of the King and was himself guillotined
as well.)
Young Louis-Charles, Comte de
Beaujolais, had two brothers and a sister. His elder brother, the Duc
d’Orleans, who now accompanied him to Malta, was later to be crowned King
Louis-Philippe I of France, though he preferred to be known as le roi
citoyen . The Counts second brother, Antoine-Philippe Duc de Montpensier,
died of consumption the year before the Count came to Malta. His sister,
Adelaide, better known as Mademoiselle d’Orleans, who was non stranger to Malta
was to die in 1847. (A memorial service was held for her in January 1848 at the
Carmelite Church, Valletta. A kinsman, the Prince of Capua, then in exile in
Malta, was invited to the service but did not attend).
The Count has been in Sicily with
the Duc d’Orleans before they arrived in Malta in 1808. The Counts health was
fast deteriorating and he died of consumption on the morning of May 30, 1808, a
fortnight after his arrival on the island. He was only 19 years old. He
received the Last Sacraments the day before, administered by the vice-parish
priest of Porto Salvo church. On May 31, the Counts body was embalmed and then
lay in state in a large hall of the house. The funeral took place with the
greatest magnificence – as befitted royalty – on June3. Flags were flown at
half-mast and troops lined the streets as the cortège followed a seemingly
circuitous route to St John’s Cathedral. Processing in a long train were the
clergy, the cathedral chapter, the nobility, judges, members of the
vice-admiralty court and members of the business community.
In the cathedral a cappella
ardente was set up with hundreds of candles, which produced a dazzling
illumination. Dirges were intoned, and the Bishop of Malta, Mgr. Ferdinando
Mattei, celebrated High Mass. Fra read the funeral oration. Prospero Xuereb,
Conventual Chaplain.
The remains of the Young Count were
sealed within three boxes and the catafalque was draped with black velvet edged
with gold tassels. On the coffin was placed the Count’s insignia as Grand Cross
of the Order of St Louis. His heart was preserved in a special box with an
inscription in silver. This was later to be deposited in the church of our Lady
of Liesse in Valletta.
Ten years were to pass before the
Count was finally laid to rest. On April 10, 1818 his remains were buried in
the chapel of St Paul of the former Langue of France in St John’s Catheral. The
Malta Government Gazette of April 15, 1818, reported on its front page: “Since
the decease in this island of … Count de Beaujolais … during which period his
body, already embalmed, had laid unburied in the Co-Cathedral of St John, the
Court of France deemed it proper to direct the burial of the same, with the
solemnities due to so high a Prince..”
The report continued: “The
Co-Cathedral Church of St John was decorated with black hangings, in the most
elegant manner, and in the nave a magnificent bier and canopy were displayed,
surrounded by numerous lighted candles and adorned with the arms of the family
of Orleans. The coffin contained the remains of the illustrious deceased,
covered with red velvet and decorated with various emblems in solver, was
placed on the bier.”
Archbishop Mattei celebrated High
Mass, after which a procession took placed within the cathedral. Two of the
pallbearers were Maltese noblemen – the Marquis Giovanni Niccolo Testaferrata and
the Marquis Giovanni Antonio Apap.
A fine neo-classical memorial plaque
marked the Count’s burial place in the chapel of St Paul. Augustin-Felix Fortin
sculptured it in Paris in 1819.
In 1843 King Louis-Philippe I of
France presented the famous marble monument in memory of his beloved brother,
the Comte de Beaujolais, to St John’s Cathedral. The celebrated sculptor
Jean-Jacques Pradier executed the work. The monument was brought to Malta in
October 1843 in the French steam frigate Veloce. On its unpacking, the Malta
Mail of October 27, 1843, commented: “It is a beautifully chaste piece of
sculpture from the chisel of Pradier and reflects the highest honour on the
talented artist.” We learn that it cost 20,000 francs.
The consecration of the moniment took
place on December 5, 1843. Describing the ceremony in St John’s, il
Mediterraneo of December 6 wrote: “The church was hung throughout with
deep black tapestry. In the centre a catafalco was raised, illuminated by
numberless wax lights… Two ranks of French seaman belonging to the French
steamer in port flanked the cataflaco.” The Archdeacon, Mgr Salvatore
Lanzon, conducted the funeral service. The orchestra was described as “very
numerous”. The Governor, Sir Patrick Stuart, was present with his staff and
with members of the Council of Government. Attending the ceremony were the
French consul and other foreign consuls as well as Baron Taylor, French naval
officers and all French subjects residing in Malta. Twenty –nine minute guns
were fired during the service. National flags were flown at half-mast and
church bells tolled.
After the consecration ceremony, the
monument was on public exhibition. The Daily Mail of December 8, 1843 describes
its beauty and again its “chasteness”.
The Duc d’Aumale, son of King
Louis-Philippe and nephew of the late Comte de Beaujolais, was on a short visit
to Malta in November 1843 when the monument was being erected and he made it a
point of calling at St John’s to inspect the work in progress in the chapel of
St Paul.
For over a century and a half
Pradier’s reclining status of the Comte de Beaujolais has added noble lustre to
the chapel of St Paul’s in St John’s Cathedral
Genealogy of the Comte’ de Beaujolais and his
descendants