Background
Charles d'Orléans was born at the Palais Royal in Paris, the official city residence of the Orléans family since 1692.
Duke of Penthièvre Duchess of Orléans
Charles d'Orléans was born at the Palais Royal in Paris, the official city residence of the Orléans family since 1692.
Inside his family, he was nicknamed Pimpin. He was the fourth of six sons born to the Orléans. Ferdinand Philippe born in 1810.
The Duke of Nemours born in 1814. The Prince of Joinville born in 1818 who was followed by Charles. His younger brother's were the Duke of Aumale and the Duke of Montpensier.
Another sister Clémentine was the mother of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. He was born one month premature and it was believed he would not live. Although he lived, he remained both physically weak and mentally retarded.
He was cared by a servant named Joseph Uginet, who loved him greatly. Charles was given the title of Duke of Penthièvre, which had passed to the House of Orléans by inheritance. Charles paternal grandmother Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, wife of Philippe Égalité, was a great heiress and inherited the Penthièvre fortune from her father prior to the Revolution.
As such, the Orléans family were one of the wealthiest in Europe rivalling that of the mainline in the previous century. It was not till September, 1824, when the then King Charles X, gave the Duke of Orléans and his family the style of Royal Highness. He died at the Château de Neuilly on the outskirts of Paris in 1828 aged 8.
Uginet wrote: "Pimpin dies from horrible spasms, July 25, 1828". Under two years after his death, his father became the King of the French on 9 August 1830. Titles and styles
1 January 1820 – 21 September 1824 His Serene Highness the Duke of Penthièvre (Son Altesse sérénissime le duc de Penthièvre)
21 September 1824 – 25 July 1828 His Royal Highness the Duke of Penthièvre (Son Altesse Royal le duc de Penthièvre).
As a member of the House of Orléans, he was a prince of the Blood by birth and this entitled him to the style of His Serene Highness.