François Joseph, Duke of Guise

Born at the Hôtel de Guise[1] in Paris to the daughter of Gaston d'Orléans and the head of the Princely House of Guise, Francis Joseph would be their only child. He was a first cousin of the last Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany Gian Gastone de' Medici; he was also of second cousin of Louis XIV and nephew of the famous La Grande Mademoiselle.

He was also a double descendant of Catherine de' Medici and her husband Henry II.

Upon the premature death of his father in 1671, he became Duke of Guise and Joyeuse, but was styled the Duke of Alençon, in right of his mother.

At the death of his maternal grandmother Marguerite of Lorraine in 1672 Francis Joseph and his mother moved into the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.

The last male of the senior line of the House of Guise, he was unfortunately sickly. Still unable to walk unaided at age four, he was dropped by his nurse and died from a head injury in 1675. He died at the Luxembourg Palace.[2] He was succeeded by his great-aunt Marie de Lorraine.