Orléans is the name used by several branches of the
Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the
dynasty's founder,
Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's
ancien régime for the
duchy of Orléans to be granted as an
appanage to a younger (usually the second surviving) son of the king. While each of the Orléans branches thus descended from a junior prince, they were always among the king's nearest relations in the male line, sometimes aspiring and sometimes succeeding to the throne itself.