Charles, Prince of Soubise
Charles de Rohan | |
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Duke of Rohan-Rohan, Duke of Ventadour, 4th Prince of Soubise, Prince of Épinoy, Marquis of Roubaix, and Count of Saint-Pol | |
Governor of Flanders and Hainaut | |
Tenure | 26 September 1751 – 1 July 1787 |
Predecessor | Charles Joseph Marie de Boufflers |
Successor | Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix |
Monarch | Louis XVI |
Born | Palace of Versailles, Kingdom of France | 16 July 1715
Died | 1 July 1787 Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, Kingdom of France | (aged 71)
Spouse | Princess Anne Thérèse of Savoy (m. 1741; died 1745)Landgravine Victoria of Hesse-Rotenburg (m. 1745) |
Issue Detail | |
Jules, Prince of Soubise | |
Mother | Anne Julie de Melun |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Kingdom of France |
Service/ | French Royal Army |
Years of service | 1732–1762 |
Rank | Marshal of France |
Battles/wars | Seven Years' War |
Charles de Rohan, 4th Prince of Soubise (16 July 1715 – 1 July 1787), Prince of Soubise, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, Seigneur of Roberval, and Marshal of France from 1758, was a soldier, and minister to kings Louis XV and Louis XVI. He was the last male of his branch of the House of Rohan, and was great-grandfather to the Duke of Enghien, executed by Napoleon in 1804. Styled Prince d'Epinoy at birth, he became the Prince of Soubise after 1749.
Biography
The prince was born at the
His parents died in Paris of smallpox in 1724, remaining his siblings, including Marie Louise, making them orphans. His sister lost her husband to smallpox in 1743.
He was entrusted to his grandfather Hercule Mériadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, who raised Soubise to the court, where he became the companion of Louis XV, who was the same age as he. One of his great grandmothers was Madame de Ventadour, via his paternal grandmother Anne Geneviève de Lévis; Madame de Ventadour, who died in 1744, was close to her great grandson.
He accompanied
Soon after the beginning of the Seven Years' War, through the influence of Madame de Pompadour, he was put in command of a corps of 24,000 men, and in November 1757 he sustained the crushing defeat of Rossbach.[1] Along with the failure to hold Hanover following the Invasion of Hanover (1757) this marked a dramatic turnaround for French fortunes as just months before they had seemed on the brink of victory in Europe.
He was more fortunate, however, in his later military career, and continued in the service until the general peace of 1763, after which he lived the life of an ordinary courtier and man of fashion in Paris.[1]
Marriages and issue
Charles married three times. His first marriage was in 1734 to Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (1722–1739), daughter of Emmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne and a granddaughter of the famous Marie Anne Mancini; Anne Marie Louise died in 1739 giving birth to a son, who died in 1742. They had one surviving child:
- Madame de Montespan. Charlotte was the paternal grandmother of the murdered Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien.
In 1741, he married
- Henri Louis Marie de Rohan, Prince of Guéménée, who was a cousin. Victoire was later the governess to the daughter of Marie Antoinette.
After Anne Thérèse died in 1745, Charles married that same year
Charles also notably had relationships with
Legacy
Soubise sauce, based on onion and béchamel, is said to have been named after him.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Charles, Prince of Soubise | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References
- ^ a b c public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Soubise, Benjamin de Rohan, Duc de s.v. Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 436. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ "DERVIEUX Anne Victoire (1752-1829)". www.appl-lachaise.net (in French). 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.