The Princes Étrangers

One of the most ambiguous ranks at court was that of prince étranger or foreign prince. Hierarchically, they followed immediately behind the legitimate royal family. The rule of thumb was that a prince étranger only had precedence over a member of the royal family if that member was an illegitimate child of the king - however, if the member had been officially recognised the prince étranger ranked below them.

The problems arose when it came to the French peerage. Generally, the Parlament de Paris was reluctant to make a firm stance and it consequently became unclear exactly who had precedence. Naturally, this led to countless squabbles and infighting between the families. Unlike the dukes, the prince étranger had no right to have his legal cases heard by his peers in the Parlament de Paris, unless they also held a French peerage. It became a sore spot for years to come and one that Louis XIV himself had to weigh in on on numerous occasions - for once, the dukes were not willing to submit to the king's order.

In certain specific cases, it would seem that the prince étranger outranked the duke. For instance, while a duchess was infamously entitled to her tabouret, the same could not be said for the duke's sisters or daughters. In contrast, a prince étranger could proudly watch his wife, sisters and daughters take a seat in the chair. 

Yet, the prince étranger was entirely dependent on the king as much as the duke was. While certain privileges were immediately granted as a matter of right, other more contested rights were entirely depending on whether the king gave his permission or not.

Those categorised as princes étrangère usually fell under one of three categories: 

1. They descended from a younger branch of a foreign, ruling house - this meant that their relatives were the rulers of a foreign state but because they were born from a younger member of that family they had no hope of gaining that throne
2. They ruled their own, small principality - in this case it was traditionally added that the family must have made the French court a "second home"; they had to have stayed there for extended periods
3. They were descendants from either a foreign throne but through the female line or from a dynasty that was formerly sovereigns 

With that many conditions, it is hardly surprising that only six families qualified as being princes étranger at Versailles during Louis XIV:

House of Rohan

As the descendants of the former dukes of Brittany, the Rohan-family could rightly claim to be the descendants of a former sovereign family - or could they? Historically, there has been quite a lot of debate as to whether the Rohan-family truly did descend from the sovereigns of Brittany, as little evidence can be found for it.

Yet, the family was determined to achieve the rank of prince étranger and focused the bulk of their increasing power at court on just that. Besides numerous marriages to other families of this rank, they would raise their lands into distinct principalities - for instance Soubise or Guéméné - and used their close links to both Louis XV and Louis XVI to achieve their goal. For instance, they managed to fill the post of governess to the Children of France which meant that it was a Rohan who raised both Louis XVI and his children - until the Prince de Guéméné had to withdraw from court due to bankruptcy. 

House of Guise

As a younger branch of the House of Lorraine, the Guise-family had played a significant role in French politics in the 16th century. They continued marrying across various borders which left a family tree that spanned wide and made inheritances a nightmare - on a more practical level, it also made Louis XIV suspicious of them as they had relations at the court of Vienna.

The last Guise - Marie de Lorraine - died in 1688 after which their substantial titles, lands and benefits were divided amongst her many heirs, including the Princesse de Condé.

House of La Tour d'Auvergne

Officially recognised as princes étrangers in 1652, it was not until 1678 that the Duc de La Tour d'Auvergne could finally claim physical possession of his own dukedom, that of Bouillon. They therefore fell under the second category above.

They had originally thrown their lot with Mazarin during the Fronde which earned them numerous substantial rewards in both lands and titles. Their status was largely derived from the ownership of the Dukedom of Bouillon as well as the principality of Sedan. 

House of Grimaldi

As the ruling family of Monaco, the family of Grimaldi also qualified as princes étrangère by the second category. Acknowledged as princes étrangers by Louis XIV in 1688, the relationship between France and the small principality had been forged during Louis XIII. Placing his duchy under French protection, the then-reigning Duc de Monaco served the French king on the battlefield, thus cementing a firm and mutually beneficial relationship.

House of La Trémoïlle 

The descendants of the then-deposed kings of Naples (the Trastámara-family), the family could trace their ancestry to Charlotte of Aragon, the daughter of the King Frederick of Naples. The family laid claim to the principality of Taranto which was held by the Duc de Thouars - and he had been confirmed as a prince étranger in 1651. 

While the family did not succeed in taking the title from the Ducs de Thouars, they did manage to get officially recognised as foreign princes in 1621 by Louis XIII. They would continue to contest their rights well into the 18th century.

House of Savoy-Carignano

The younger line of the Savoyard royal family, the House of Savoy-Carignano had a somewhat troubled history with the French crown during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. When the young Eugene-Maurice came of age and offered his services in the army to Louis XIV, he was refused due to his mother's fall from grace which led him to serve the Holy Roman Emperor - he would become one of the greatest generals of his age.

This goes to show the level of distrust often shown to these quasi-French families whose loyalties could easily be spread over both national borders and across family lines.

With such a complicated place on the hierarchical ladder it is hardly surprising that the etiquette and privileges accorded to these foreign princes were highly contested. Through the age of Versailles, the foreign princes would be in constant battle with the dukes and peers when it came to which class could claim which privileges. While the foreign princes made several attempts at gaining the upper hand they never succeeded at establishing themselves above the dukes. 

At court, a prince étranger was entitled to specific status symbols such as keeping their hats on during the king's audiences and being addressed as "Royal Highness" - in a more obscure twist, they also held the coveted honour of being betrothed in the king's own cabinet.