Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Charles Eugène
Prince of Lambesc
Duke of Elbeuf
Born(1751-09-25)25 September 1751
Palace of Versailles, France
Died2 November 1825(1825-11-02) (aged 74)
Vienna, Austria
Names
Charles Eugène de Lorraine
HouseHouse of Lorraine
FatherLouis de Lorraine
MotherLouise de Rohan

Charles Eugène of Lorraine (25 September 1751 – 2 November 1825) was the head of and last male member of the

court throughout the ancien régime, and participated in the émigré efforts to restore the Bourbons to the throne. He was an officer in the French and Habsburg militaries during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic
wars.

Biography

His wife Anna Cetner (Zetzner) by Pietro Labruzzi.

Born on 25 September 1751 in

Versailles, France, to Louis, Prince of Brionne and his third wife, Princess Louise of Rohan (1734-1815). Charles Eugène was a peer of France and Prince of Lorraine, styled as the Prince of Lambesc. One of four children, he had a younger brother and two younger sisters. Through his sister, Princess Joséphine of Lorraine, he was an uncle of Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignano and great uncle of the future King Charles Albert of Sardinia.[1]

First marriage

He married twice; firstly to a rich

Potocka
(1744-1800). The couple had no issue.

Second marriage

After the death of his first wife, he married again to

Colloredo-Wallsee. Again, the couple had no children and they divorced in 1817.[2]

Military career

Charles Eugène
Allegiance
Colonel-Proprietor
– 5th Chevauxleger Regiment: 20 February 1804 – 10 June 1819
Rank• Grand Equerry for Louis XVI, 1775–1791
• General of Cavalry
• Colonel and
Proprietor 21st/7th Cuirassier Regiment 22 June 1794 – 21 November 1825
• Captain of the First Arcièren Life Guard: 31 December 1806 – 21 November 1825
Battles/warsFrench Revolutionary Wars
Awards• Order of the Holy Spirit 1776
• Commanders Cross, Order of Saint Louis <1791
• Commander's Cross, Military Order of Maria Theresa
• Order of the Golden Fleece 1808

French military service

The eldest of House of Lothringen-Lambesc served as the King of France's

Royal Allemand-Dragoons in 1778 and was promoted to Marshal of the Camp in the French Army on 9 March 1788. He received the Commanders Cross of the Order of Saint Louis.[citation needed
]

Charles Eugène leading the Allemand Dragoons against the mob, 12 July 1789, Musée de la Révolution française.

In the early days of the

Tuileries Gardens, against a mob that had gathered there and forced the group out of the garden.[citation needed
]

In the course of the attack, many were injured, and Charles Eugène was held popularly responsible, although no charges were filed.[4]

He defended the royal palace in the riot at the

Tuileries Gardens
in July 1789. Initially he served in the French army, but at the outset of France's wars with Austria, he picked up the Bourbon cause in Germany.

When hostilities between France and the Habsburgs reached a crisis point in 1791, he left his Allemand Dragoons and followed the Bourbon cause with his younger brother, Joseph, Prince of Vaudémont.[5]

Habsburg military service

On 18 June 1791, the prince was appointed major general in the Austrian army. In October 1791, he was given command of a brigade composed of the Freikorps (volunteers) "Degelmann" and 37th Dragoon Regiment in Flanders.[6]

On 1 February 1793, his regiment, the 37th Dragoons, was taken into Habsburg service and in 1798, it was united with the 10th Cuirassier Regiment. At the

Proprietor of the 21st of Cuirassier Regiment in recognition of his actions. In the Battle of Fleurus, on 26 June 1794, he charged with four squadrons of 5th Carabiners Albert to rescue part of Campaign Marshal Prince von Kaunitz's infantry, which had been surrounded by three French cavalry regiments.[5] This unlikely charge against another cavalry force more than five times its size took the French by surprise; the French cavalry scattered, giving Kaunitz to organize an orderly withdrawal of his own force from the field.[7]

On 4 March 1796, Charles Eugène was promoted to

Order of Maria Theresa Order. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Amberg on 24 August and in the Battle of Würzburg on 2 September, commanding a brigade of cavalry.[7]

In the

Galicia, where he was governor general. On 3 December 1806, he was promoted to General of Cavalry and a few weeks later, captain of the First Arcièren Life Guard in Vienna; he was also awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1808.[7]

Bourbon restoration

After the restoration of Louis XVIII, he was created again Peer of France, and his dignities further enhanced by the title

Duke of Elbeuf.[5] Louis XVIII furthermore appointed him as a Marshal of France. Because of the popular hostility against him in France, relating to the incident in the Tuileries in July 1789, he never exercised these privileges and he died at the age of 74 in Vienna on 21 November 1825. As he had no children, and with his death, and his brother's, the male line of old Lothringen lines of Elbœuf, Harcourt, and Armagnac ended.[7]

Ancestry

Sources

Notes and citations

  1. ^ "Charles de Lorraine, Prince de Lambesc, Duc d'Elbeuf : Genealogics". www.genealogics.org.
  2. ^ "Comtesse Marie Victoire Pauline Adrienne Pierrette von Colloredo-Wallsee". 14 August 1766.
  3. ISBN 978-0-312-35785-6
    p. 157.
  4. ^ (in German) Jens Ebert. "Lothringen". Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. Napoleon Online.DE. Accessed 23 January 2010.
  5. ^ a b c (in German) Ebert. "Lothringen".
  6. ^ Digby Smith, Lothringen-Lambesc. Leopold Kudrna and Digby Smith (compilers). A biographical dictionary of all Austrian Generals in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. The Napoleon Series, Robert Burnham, editor in chief. April 2008 version. Accessed 23 January 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d Smith, Lothringen-Lambesc. Accessed 23 January 2010.

Bibliography

  • (in German) Ebert, Jens-Florian. "Lothringen". Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. Napoleon Online.DE. Accessed 23 January 2010.
  • Smith, Digby. Lothringen-Lambesc. Leopold Kudrna and Digby Smith (compilers). A biographical dictionary of all Austrian Generals in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. The Napoleon Series, Robert Burnham, editor in chief. April 2008 version. Accessed 23 January 2010.
  • Spawforth, Antony. Versailles: a biography of a palace. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008,
    ISBN 9780312357856
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Eugene,_Prince_of_Lambesc&oldid=1199377989"