On Monday, May 16, 1808, Civil Commissioner of Malta, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander J. Ball, accompanied by Brigadier-General Thilson and his staff, welcomed to the Maltese islands a royal guest, the 29-year-old Prince Louis Charles d’Orléans, Count de Beaujolais. He was a son of the late Duke of Orléans, Louis Philippe Joseph (1747-93) and his consort Louise Marie Adèlaide de Bourbon (1753-1821). His father was better known as Philippe Egalitè, a cousin of the French King Louis XVI. Both were executed in 1793 during the French Revolution.

The royal visitor was received with full honours, including gun salutes and a guard of honour on the quay. The count was then taken to the Palace at Valletta and, three days later, he took up residence at the Casa di Don Raimondo (also known as Casa Miari) – later known as Admiralty House and then used for a number of years as the National Museum of Fine Arts – in South Street, Valletta. At the count’s request, no permanent guard was stationed outside the house.

The prince was not destined to live long after his arrival in Malta. When he arrived, his health was already in bad shape. He was suffering from consumption and he had journeyed to Malta in the hope that the local climate would be more congenial to his health. This was not to be, because he passed away a few days later on Tuesday, May 30.

On May 29, the vice-parish priest of the parish of Our Lady of Porto Salvo (more popularly known as St Dominic’s) administered extreme unction to the ailing count, who expired the next morning. On the following day, the royal corpse was embalmed and his body then lay in state in one of the large halls of the premises until the day of the funeral, which was held on June 3, 1808.

The funeral  cortège proceeded to St John’s church (now the co-cathedral) through South Street, Kingsway (now Republic Street) up to the Palace, Archbishop Street, to St John’s Square. It was headed by two officers on horseback followed by 25 ranks of four soldiers each, of the Reggimento Sicilia, with their regimental colours. An artillery contingent, complete with brass band, preceded various religious communities, the mace-bearer, and Bishop Mgr Ferdinando Mattei with his retinue.

The coffin was carried by 12 naval rankers, while the six distinguished pall-bearers included Barons Sceberras and Testaferrata. The cortège included Civil Commissioner Ball, Brigadier Thilson, contingents from various regiments and naval staff, local nobility and merchants, judges and the Mdina tribunals. It was probably one of the most majestic and impressive funeral cortèges ever seen in the Maltese islands.

The funeral service was celebrated by Bishop Mattei and the oration was delivered by a conventual chaplain, Fra Prospero Xuereb. The ceremony resembled one usually accorded to a grand master of the Order of St John in the previous century. The prince’s remains had been placed inside three coffins with the last one covered in black velvet with silver refinements, including a coronet, the French coat-of-arms and an inscription identifying the prince. It was not interred but the prince’s heart was buried in the church of Our Lady of Liesse, Valletta, as he himself had willed before passing away.

King of France, Louis-Philippe, was Beaujolais’s brother who had succeeded to the throne after the July Revolution of 1830

Ten years later, on April 10, 1818, the body of Count Beaujolais was interred in the chapel of St Paul, formerly belonging to the Order of St John’s Langue of France. A special funeral service was led by Bishop Mattei after the coffin(s) containing the royal corpse had lain in state in the oratory. This was to be the count’s final resting place.

As was the case in 1808, distinguished people, including members of the nobility and high-rankers of the British services, took part, together with the consuls of the various European powers. For the occasion, the church was draped in black. In 1819, a segmental-headed memorial tablet in white marble was placed on the wall next to the grave. It is a pseudo-Grecian sepulchral stele – sculpted in Paris by Augustin-Felix Forbin (1763-1836) – that includes the coat-of-arms of the House of Orléans and a female figure mourning the ashes of the deceased in an urn.

Another funeral ceremony for Count Beaujolais was held on Tuesday, December 5, 1843, at St John’s, by now a co-cathedral. This time, the occasion was the blessing of the new mausoleum erected on the prince’s tomb and which had been sent to Malta by the King of France, Louis-Philippe. The king was Beaujolais’s brother who had succeeded to the throne as “King of the French” after the July Revolution of 1830. The monument arrived at Grand Harbour on September 19, 1843, on board the frigate Veloce. In 1839, Louis-Philippe had ordered an effigy of his brother for the Chapelle Royale de Dreux, Versailles, and, in 1842, ordered a replica for the tomb at Malta at a cost of 20,000 francs.

The monument is the work of Geneva-born sculptor James Pradier (1792-1852), a member of the French Academy and a popular sculptor in his time. Some of his works are at the Louvre in Paris. The Beaujolais monument itself is quite beautiful and imposing. It is chiselled out of white marble and represents the count, in full uniform, recumbent with his head resting on his left hand, over which flows his hair. It shows a certain amount of tranquillity, though the idea of suffering is also present. On either side of the pedestal, it includes the French fleur-de-lis, together with a commemorative text in Latin on the pedestal’s front.

Bishop Mgr Francesco Saverio Caruana was willing to have High Mass sung in order to meet with the wishes of the French sovereign. The French consul, on behalf of King Louis-Philippe, contributed towards the expenses by donating 480 scudi, half of which were to be distributed to the poor.

For the occasion, the church was draped in black (as on the two previous occasions) and a cappella ardente was erected, naturally with the Orléans coat-of-arms, and with two rows of French seamen flanking it. The cappella ardente of the Grand Masters was thus described by Sir Hannibal Scicluna:

“[It] is constructed in walnut, with designs in other rich woods. In form, it resembles the tribunes in the principal basilicas of Rome. A royal crown, symbol of the sovereignty of the Order [of St John], surmounts its top with a winged essedra and, at the apex, a Maltese cross. It is constructed with certain blank spaces for the attachment of escutcheons and inscriptions, suitable to the differing funeral occasions. Sconces for 230 candles are so arranged that when they are all lit, the chapel becomes truly ardente and looks like a huge bonfire.”

Bishop Caruana was ill at the time, so the service was conducted by the archdeacon of the cathedral, Mgr Salvatore Lanzon. The congregation included Governor Sir Patrick Stuart, the French consul, and the French community in Malta and various leading personalities, including the local services hierarchy and heads of department. During the service, a 29-gun salvo (one for every year the count had lived) was fired from St John’s Cavalier in Valletta, together with a 21-gun salute accorded from the French frigate Veloce, which was in harbour for the occasion.

Joseph F. Grima, retired casual history lecturer and Asst Director of Education