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Description
[Royal Family]
Jules Favre (1809–1880), lawyer to the impostor Louis XVII
Set of 6 autograph letters, 12 pp., in-8, 1840–1841, addressed to Modeste Gruau de la Barre, former King’s Prosecutor, the faithful lieutenant and most devoted disciple of Karl-Wilhelm Naundorff or Charles-Louis, Duke of Normandy, the impostor Dauphin Louis XVII
Gruau de la Barre organised the legal and media defence of the pretender, publishing several works to prove the Dauphin’s survival. He managed Naundorff’s ‘household’ in France, whilst Naundorff had gone into exile in London after being expelled from France in 1836.
Jules Favre was chosen by Gruau de la Barre to represent Naundorff’s interests before the French courts. During the trial of 1840, Naundorff, through Favre, sought the return of his property and recognition of his civil status. Although a staunch republican, Favre defended the case with remarkable eloquence. He did not necessarily comment on the historical ‘truth’ of royal blood, but he attacked the injustice of the forced exile without trial that Naundorff had suffered in 1836. Despite Jules Favre’s talent, the French courts declared themselves without jurisdiction to rule on Naundorff’s royal lineage. Gruau de la Barre continued to support the pretender until the latter’s death in 1845, and remained loyal to the Naundorff family throughout his life.
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