The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-10-23
EXCHANGED BABIES.
The Chiappini Story as to the
Origin Of Louis Philippe.
Serious Doubts Entertained by tho Royal
lists of France Regarding the
o igin of the Count
of Paris.


mini, with the blood of q base=born
italian iailer," were the words used by
Count Maurice d'Antigne, the favOrite
and confidential secretary of the late
compt de Cham bord, to stigmatize the
compt de Paris at the banquet held the
other day in the French capital by that
section of the royalist party which de-
MES the pretensions Of the cOmpt de
Paris, and which regards Don Carlos as
the rightful heir to the claims of the
compt de ChambOrd.
Inasmuch as but few people outside
of France are aware of the very serious
doubts which e1ist as to the royal char
acter of the comte de Paris descent, it
NAV be of interest, says the marquis dc
Fontenoy In the New York Recorder, to
give a brief outline of the so-called
Chiappini story.
l will begin by stating that the latter
is strongly Endorsed by Sir Bernard
Burke, Ulster king-at-arms, and the
greatest of genealogists, who, after
careful researches extending over a
number of years, publicly proclalms
that neither the comte de Paris nor any
of his children and unclcs have drop
OF Orleans or bourbon blood in their
veins.
According to documentary evidence
of the most complete nature King Louis
Philippe, who taught school in this
country at the beginning of the present
century, and who subsequently reigned
from 1910 to 1S4S as sovereign OF France,
was a changeling. He was not the son
of the regicide Duke Philippe dOrleans,
surnamed "Egalite," but was the Off
spring of the Florentine jailer, Chap
PM.
The documentary evidence which !
have referred TO above, and OF when
the originals are preserved among the
archives of Lord NewbOrOugh's family,
90 to show that in 1888 the duke and
duchess of Orleans, travelling under the
very transparent incOgnito of Comte
and Comtesse de Joinville, arrived at a
small town. forget at this moment
the name thereof, but it is somewhere
near Florence-and took up their resi-
dence at the leading inn of the place.
Twenty-four hours later the duchess
gave birth to n daughter, who was en-
tered upon the local parish register as
the female child of the "Comte and
Comtesse de JOinville."
Both the duke and the duchess dis
played signs of disappointment at the
sex of the child, and learning that the
wife of the local jailer, Chiappini by
name, had a fine healthy boy, they in
duced the parents of the latter by means
of a large bride to consent to an eX-
change of children.
The iailer's son, Chiappini, therefore
grew up to consider the duke and
duchess of Orleans as his parents, and
eventually assembled the throne OF
France as King Louis Philippe, while
the authentic child of the duke and
duchess was taught to believe that she
was the daughter of the Chiappinis.
She grew up to be beautiful girl,
figured for time under the name OF
Maria Stella Chiappini as leading dams
euse of the opera of Florence, and final
| ly became the wife of an Irish peer, the
first Lord Marlborough, to whom she
bore two sons, the younger of whom,
born in 1905, is the present bearer Of
| the title.
On Jailer Chiappini's deathbed he
made last confession in writing, duly
attested by witnesses, of the change OF
| children that had taken place at the
time of Lady Newborough's birth, and
other evidences in support of the state
ments contained in this dying confess
sion were duly legaliZed copies of the
entries in the (since mutilated) parish
| register of the town where she was
born, and a sworn statement of the old
! chief steward of the duke and duchess
| of Orleans, who had accompanied them
during their momentous journey to
Italy.
| Lady Marlborough sacrificed both her
peace of mind and the major part OF the
Immense fortune bequeathed to her by
her husband in her vain efforts to get
the French courts to recognize her
claims to royal rank. an obviously hope
less task, since Chiappini's son, Louis
Philippe, was on the throne of France
at the time.
When she died her son, the present
Lord Marlborough, determined to waste
no further trouble or money in prose
cutting claims that could lead to but
barren honors, and made up his mind
that the position of an English peer and
landowner was after all superior to that
of French pretender.
It is a fact that Gear Nicholas was so
firmly convinced of the truth of Lady
Newborough's claims and Of the falsity
| of Louis Philippe's pretensions to royal
parentage that in order to publicly man
ifest his sentiments on the subject he
declined during the entire eight years
of Louis Philippe's reign to eccredit Q
Russian ambassador to the French
l court.