English claims to the French throne English claims to the French throne From the 1340s to the 19th century, excluding two brief intervals in the 1360s and the 1420s, the kings and queens of England (and, later, of Great Britain) also claimed the throne of France. The claim dates from Edward III, who claimed the French throne in 1340 as the sororal nephew of the last direct Capetian, Charles IV. Edward and his heirs fought the Hundred Years' War to enforce this claim, and were briefly successful in the 1420s under Henry V and Henry VI, but the House of Valois, a cadet branch of the
Line of succession to the former throne of Baden In the event that the male line died out the throne would pass to King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. The only alternative to this was for the grand duke to recognise his morganatic uncles Leopold, William and Maximilian, the Counts von Hochberg as dynastic members of the grand ducal family. On 4 October 1817 Grand Duke Charles took this step issuing a new house law recognising his uncles as Princes of Baden. The Hochberg's right of succession was recognised by the Great Powers on 10 July 1819. The former Count Leopold von Hochberg succeeded as Grand Duke in 1830