Victoire de Rohan

Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan, Princess of Guéméné^[1] (28 December 1743 – 20 September 1807) was a French noblewoman and court official. She was the governess of the children of Louis XVI of France. She is known better as Madame de Guéméné, and was Lady of Clisson in her own right.

Biography

Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan was the second daughter of

As the

Marriage

At the age of seventeen, Victoire married her cousin,

Upon the death of his father in 1788, the Duke inherited the title of Prince de Guéméné. Afterwards, Victoire was known at court as Madame de Guéméné. At the death of her father, her spouse became heir to the title Prince de Soubise. She and her family lived lavishly in Paris at the Hôtel de Rohan-Guéméné, located on the famous Place des Vosges.

Courtier

In 1775,

During her tenure as royal governess, she was in accordance with her position not allowed to leave court except with a written permission from the monarch, a permission she asked only to attend the parties of the Archbishop of Narbonne at Hautefontaine.^[2] She became an influential personal friend of Marie Antoinette, and was alleged to have had a bad influence upon her, mainly by introducing her to wasteful and expensive habits such as arranging illegal games with high stakes, particularly Pharaoh, which she introduced in her salon at Versailles, and the new English fashion of horse races, interests which made the Queen acquire huge debts.^[3]

She had a relationship with Augustin Gabriel de Franquetot de Coigny (1740–1817), the father of one of her charges,

She was described as intelligent and with an interest in spiritualism: "though endowed with considerable intellectual power, spent her time in pursuing the follies of spiritualism",[2] and in possession of a large collection of famous jewels, which she seldom wore but regularly lent to others and were therefore frequently seen at formal occasions.^[2]

Later life

In 1782, Victoire was forced to resign her post due to a scandal created by her husband's mounting debt of 33 million livres, a debt that eventually, in 1787, led to the sale of the Hôtel de Rohan-Guémené. Marie Antoinette did secure a pension for Victoire for her service at court, but the couple was banned, and the friendship between the Queen and Victoire was discontinued.^[3]

After the bankruptcy, which was viewed as a scandal, the couple was ostracized from society, and Victoire took residence in a palace provided by her father; she was regarded to bear the scandal with dignity.^[2]

Victoire and her spouse lived to see the French Revolution in 1789, later fleeing to Austria. They eventually settled in Bohemia, living at Sychrov Castle, and it was here that the Rohan family remained for 125 years.

Victoire died in Paris in September 1807 at the age of sixty-three. Her widower surviving her by two years.

Issue

• Charlotte Victoire Joséphe Henriette de Rohan (17 November 1761 – 15 December 1771)
• Duke of Montbazon, Rohan and Guéméné; Prince of Guéméné
  (Versailles, 18 January 1764 – Paris, 24 April 1836); married in 1781 Louise Aglae de Conflans d'Armentieres (1763 – 1819) and had issue.
• Marie Louise Joséphine de Rohan (13 April 1765 – Paris, 21 September 1839); married in 1780 her cousin, Charles Louis Gaspard de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon (1765 – 1843) and had issue.
• Louis Victor Meriadec de Rohan, Duke of Rohan and Bouillon (Paris, 20 July 1766 – Czech Republic, 10 December 1846); married in 1800 his niece, Berthe de Rohan (1782 – 1841) and had no issue.
• Jules Armand Louis de Rohan (Versailles, 20 October 1768 – Czech republic, 13 January 1836); married in 1800 the wealthy heiress, Princess Wilhelmine Catherine Frédérique Biron von Kurland, Duchess of Sagan (1781 – 1839) and had no issue.