Legitimists, the successor of the Ultras


The 1830 July Revolution replaced the Bourbons with the more liberal Orléanist branch and planned the Ultras back to private life in their country chateaux. However, they retained some influence until at least the 16 May 1877 crisis and even further. Their views softened, their principal aim became the restoration of the group of Bourbon and they became call from 1830 on as Legitimists. The historian René Rémond has identified the Legitimists as the number one of the "right-wing families" of French politics, followed by the Orléanist and the Bonapartists. According to him, many contemporary far-right movements, including parts of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front and Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's Society of St. Pius X, should be considered as parts of the Legitimist family.