Philippe Boiry - obituary
The Telegraph - 28 Mar 2014
Philippe Boiry was a French PR guru who claimed the throne of the South American 'kingdom’ of Araucania and Patagonia
Philippe Boiry
Philippe Boiry, who has died aged 86, was a French public relations entrepreneur who doubled as the pretender to the throne of Araucania and Patagonia, rejoicing in the title HRH Prince Philippe of Araucania.
The “kingdom” of Araucania and Patagonia was a state declared in 1860 by a French adventurer named Orelie-Antoine de Tounens in territory now part of the republics of Chile and Argentina. For centuries the indigenous people of the region, the Mapuche Indians, had successfully defended their sovereign rights against the colonising ambitions of the Spanish, both on the battlefield and through treaties. But in the mid-19th century they faced a new threat from the young and assertive republics of Chile and Argentina, and by the 1850s were involved in a desperate struggle to retain their autonomy.
Orelie-Antoine de Tounens
In 1860 they apparently agreed to de Tounens’s suggestion that they should establish a Western-style constitutional monarchy in Araucania, a part of what is now Chile south of the Biobio river. It is disputed whether de Tounens declared himself king or was elected. In any case, in good comic opera style, he proceeded to furnish his new kingdom with all the necessary accoutrements – national anthem; blue, white and green flag; royal coat of arms; constitution; coinage; and various orders and medals. He established his capital at the town of Perquenco. Subsequently, following an approach by another tribal leader, Patagonia was annexed by the fledgling state.
King Orllie-Antoine (he changed his first name on assuming the throne) sought international recognition by sending copies of his constitution to Chilean newspapers, and travelled to Valparaiso to hold talks with the Chilean government. But the government ignored him — as did the French consul, who concluded that he was probably mad. In 1862, after he was betrayed by a servant, King Orllie-Antoine was kidnapped by Chilean soldiers. Deemed insane by both the Chilean and Argentine authorities, he was committed to an asylum. However, the French consul intervened and he was deported to France.
Map of the lost kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia
King Orllie-Antoine mounted three “expeditions” to reclaim his throne – the last in 1876, when local settlers robbed him as he made his way to Patagonia and handed him over to the authorities. He died penniless in France two years later. Since then the “royal house” of Araucania and Patagonia has remained in exile in France, its claims nurtured by enthusiasts in France and the United States.
Conveniently, since King Orllie-Antoine was unmarried and had no children, the constitution of the kingdom provided for the reigning monarch to name his own successor in the event of having no natural heirs. He chose a French champagne salesman, Gustave Laviarde, who became King Aquiles I after Orllie-Antoine’s death.
Philippe Boiry in Freemasonic regalia
Philippe Boiry became the sixth claimant to the throne in similar circumstances in 1951, when the previous incumbent, King Antonio III, abdicated in his favour. Some accounts suggest that he purchased the title and, as “Prince Philippe”, Boiry’s precise constitutional position remained a little unclear.
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He was described as a “pretender to the throne” of the “Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia” and used his full title on his French passport. Yet he was also reported to have renounced his predecessor’s claims and never styled himself “King”. Whatever his status, Boiry gave active support to the Mapuche Indians, who currently number about one million, in their continued campaign for self-determination, doling out medals, minting commemorative coins and even addressing the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples. But he was said to have been cold-shouldered by Mapuche organisations when he visited South America in 1989. ___________________________ Medal created by Prince Philippe in 2011 |
It is unclear whether he was involved when, in 1984, his kingdom briefly regained physical form after Jean Raspail — a French novelist, philosopher and self-styled “Consul of the Kingdom of Patagonia” — with a seven-strong force of “volunteer navy fusiliers” hoisted the Royal Araucania-Patagonian flag over the largest of the Les Minquiers, a group of barren rocks and islands that is part of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The move was in “retaliation” for Britain’s “occupation” of the Falklands, which Raspail claimed as Araucanian-Patagonian territory. The flag fluttered for only a few hours before the invaders were seen off by a picnicking British yachtsman.
Philippe Boiry with a bust of Orelie Antoine de Tounens (CREDIT: Rev. Daniel Paul Morrison)
Boiry was twice married, first to Jacqueline-Dominique Marquain and then to Elisabeth de Chavigny. Both predeceased him, and there were no children of either marriage.
According to the website of North American Araucanian Royalist Society, Prince Philippe had “named his successor as Head of the Royal House of Araucania and Patagonia in a written act known to his Council of the Kingdom and Council of State”.
Philippe Boiry, born February 19 1927, died January 5 2014
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Source: The Telegraph