Charles-Jean-Marie-Félix, ''
marquis
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
'' de La Valette (25 November 1806 – 2 May 1881) was a French politician and diplomat.
Career
Charles de La Valette was
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
and
of Foreign Affairs in the government of
Emperor Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
.
He was
French Ambassador to Constantinople from 1851-53, before the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, then served as a
government minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, â ...
, before a posting to
the Vatican (an ancestral family member
Jean Parisot de Valette
Fra' Jean "Parisot" de la Valette (4 February 1495 – 21 August 1568) was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 21 August 1557 to his death in 1568. As a Knight Hospitaller, joining the order in the ''Langue de P ...
had been Grand Master of the
Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
).
An
Anglophile
An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...
, he finally returned to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in an official capacity as
French Ambassador from 1869 to 1870.
Personal life
The
Marquis
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
married firstly Maria Garrow Birkett at London in 1828. Maria, a daughter of the late Daniel Birkett, Esq., of
Isleworth
Isleworth ( ) is a town located within the London Borough of Hounslow in West London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's or ...
, died in 1831, aged 24.
In 1842, he married secondly to
Adeline Fowle Welles (1799–1869), the widow of a Boston banker Samuel Welles, who died in 1841.
After twenty-seven years of marriage,
Adeline died in 1869.
He married thirdly, in 1871,
Georgiana-Gabrielle de Flahaut, ''
marquise douairière de La Valette'', who died in 1907; she was sister of Emily, Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne.
Honours
*
Marquis de France
*
Grand-croix,
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
*
Chevalier de Malte
See also
*
Famille de La Valette-Parisot
References
External links
www.landrucimetieres.frwww.vam.ac.ukwww.interieur.gouv.frwww.burkespeerage.comBust of la Marquise de la Valetteat the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
1806 births
1881 deaths
People from Oise
French marquesses
Orléanists
Bonapartists
French Foreign Ministers
French interior ministers
Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy
French Senators of the Second Empire
Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom
19th-century French diplomats
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Knights of Malta
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