Prince Promoted

Ferdinand Francois Philippe Marie Laurent d'Orleans, Duc de Montpensier, is brother of Duc d'Orleans, pretender to the throne of France. Nevertheless, the French Republic last week promoted Ferdinand from a chevalier to an officier of the Legion of Honor.

The Duc de Montpensier was a famed traveler before his marriage to Isabella, Vizcondensa de los Antrines, of the Valdeterrazzo family. His services to France in Africa and the Far East were recognized by the French Government when he was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. In most of his adventures he was alone and unidentified except for his inseparable and remarkable clothes.

In 1913 he landed at Valona and offered himself as King of Albania, saying: " I have toured the world many times, killing lions, tigers and hippopotami. I will kill your enemies just as willingly." He was forced by Germany and Austria to withdraw his offer. In the war he "offered his sword " to the Allies in turn, but without success. He even offered his steam yacht, the Mekong, to the French Government, but they refused it; the British Navy, however, accepted it. He turned his residence, the Chateau de Randan, into a hospital for wounded soldiers.

The Duc is popular with almost all Frenchmen, except the Royalists. They are rather divided about him. One group says he has become republicanized; another that he is disqualified for succession to the throne by marrying a commoner; a third that there have been certain amours which are not comme il faut for a royal prince. This party is not reputed to be serious in its contentions. As brother of the Duc d'Orleans he is, of course, heir-apparent to the non-existent French throne. If he tries to sit on this hallucinatory chair, the French will have great respect for his royal dignity by removing him from such temptation under the law of 1886, which prescribes banishment for life for a Pretender to the throne of France. In this event Monsieur F. F. P. M. L. of Orleans will lose his chateau at Randan, his magnificent hotel in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, his chocolate factory at Passy.