Charles-Joseph, comte Bresson (27 March 1798 in Epinal – 2 November 1847 in Naples) was a French diplomat. He gained the confidence of King

Louis-Philippe of France Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

by successfully arranging the marriages of three of his children: the Prince Royal, Princess Louise d'Orléans and the

Duke of Montpensier The French lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordshi ...

. Count Bresson committed suicide in 1847 following family and political pressures.

Life

The son of a chef de division in the ministry of foreign affairs, Bresson soon became destined for a diplomatic career. Hyde de Neuville, ministre de la Marine under

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Lou ...

, put him in charge of a mission to Colombia. In 1830 he was ordered to notify Switzerland of Louis-Philippe's accession to the French throne, before becoming first secretary to the French embassy in London under Talleyrand. He was one of two diplomats given the task of forcing the Belgian government to accept the decisions of the London Conference, a task he acquitted well. To the king's satisfaction, he then led the marriage negotiations as to a match between the new king of Belgium Leopold I with princess Louise d'Orléans. That success brought him to the height of favour with Louis-Philippe. During this era he also became the lover of the Belgian ambassador's wife, the comtesse Le Hon, allegedly fathering her son Léopold (born 1832).Source : Jean-Marie Rouart, ''Morny. Un voluptueux au pouvoir'', Paris, Gallimard, coll. Folio, 1997, p. 114 In 1833, he was made chargé d'affaires in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

with the title of

minister plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

. He re-established relations (with strong compromises) between France and

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, ensuring the latter did not undertake any closer rapprochement with Russia. On 10 November 1834 he was appointed France's Foreign Minister in the temporary Hugues-Bernard Maret ministry, but he did not even have the time to reach Paris before that ministry fell. He thus remained in Berlin to arrange the 1837 marriage of the Prince royal to princess Helen of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, of a family allied to the Prussian royal family. After this diplomatic success, Louis-Philippe made him a peer of France on 6 May 1839. In the Chambre des pairs Bresson strongly defended the Paris fortifications project of 1841 in which the king took particular interest. He was then made ambassador to Madrid and played a major role in the difficult marriage negotiations to marry

Isabella II of Spain Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successi ...

to her cousin the duke of Cadiz (which occurred on 10 October 1846) and the

duke of Montpensier The French lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordshi ...

to princess

Luisa Fernanda Luisa (Italian and Spanish), Luísa ( Portuguese) or Louise (French) is a feminine given name; it is the feminine form of the given name Louis (Luis), the French form of the Frankish Chlodowig (German Ludwig), from the Germanic elements ''hlo ...

, a sister of Isabella II. During these negotiations France's interests were vigorously opposed to those of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...

's erstwhile ally the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and so count Bresson had to thwart sometimes disloyal manoeuvres by Sir Henry Bulwer, the British ambassador to Spain. In reward for this success, Bresson's son was made a

grandee of Spain Grandee (; es, Grande de España, ) is an official aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...

, 1st class, with the title of 'duke of Sainte-Isabelle'. Bresson himself was recalled to France in 1847, spending a few weeks in London before being appointed ambassador to Naples, a post he had only just taken up when he cut his throat with a razor and died, probably due to domestic troubles.

Sources

* Adolphe Robert & Gaston Cougny, ''Dictionnaire des Parlementaires français'', Paris, Dourloton, 1889

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bresson 1798 births 1847 deaths People from Épinal Counts of France Politicians from Grand Est French Foreign Ministers Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy Ambassadors of France to the Kingdom of Naples Ambassadors of France to Spain Ambassadors of France to Prussia 19th-century French diplomats Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur French politicians who committed suicide Suicides by sharp instrument in Italy 1840s suicides

Life

See also

Sources

References