Albert de Broglie, 4th Duke of Broglie (; 13 June 182119 January 1901) was a French

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

politician, diplomat and writer (of historical works and translations). Broglie twice served as

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

, first from May 1873 to May 1874, and again from May to November 1877.

Biography

Jacques Victor Albert de Broglie was born in Paris, France, the eldest son of Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie, a liberal statesman of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

, and Albertine, baroness Staël von Holstein, the fourth child of

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

. He was therefore the great-grandson of

Jacques Necker Jacques Necker (; 30 September 1732 – 9 April 1804) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan banker and statesman who served as List of Finance Ministers of France, finance minister for Louis XVI of France, Louis XVI. He was a reformer, but his innov ...

. After a brief diplomatic career at

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and Rome, upon the

revolution of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

Albert de Broglie withdrew from public life and devoted himself to literature. He had already published a translation of the religious system of

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...

(1846). He now at once made his mark by his contributions to the '' Revue des deux mondes'' and the Orleanist and clerical organ '' Le Correspondant''. These, and other contributions, brought him the succession to Lacordaire's seat in the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1862, joining his father in this august society. In 1870 he succeeded his father as the 4th duc de Broglie, having previously been styled ''prince de Broglie''. In the following year he was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the ''département'' of the Eure, and a few days later (on 19 February) was appointed French Ambassador to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After his negotiations concerning the commercial treaties between Britain and France were met with criticism he resigned as ambassador in March 1872 and took his seat in the Assembly, where he became the leader of the royalist campaign against President Thiers. When Thiers was replaced by Marshal Mac-Mahon, Broglie was appointed

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in May 1873. On 26 November, after the passing of the Septennate, the government was restructured and Broglie exchanged the Foreign with the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. His conservative policies roused the bitter hatred of the Republicans, while his attempts to reach a compromise between the rival claimants to the monarchy alienated both the

Legitimists The Legitimists () are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject ...

and the

Bonapartists Bonapartism () is the political ideology supervening from Napoleon Bonaparte and his followers and successors. The term was used in the narrow sense to refer to people who hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. In ...

. The result was the fall of the cabinet on 16 May 1874. Three years later (on 16 May 1877) he was entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet, with the object of appealing to the country and securing a conservative majority in the chamber. While the conservatives increased their share of the vote, the election nevertheless confirmed a decisive Republican majority. De Broglie was defeated in his own constituency and resigned on 20 November. Defeated again in 1885, he abandoned politics and reverted to his historical work, publishing a series of historical studies and biographies. He died in Paris on 19 January 1901, aged 79.

1st Ministry (25 May – 26 November 1873)

2nd Ministry (26 November 1873 – 22 May 1874)

3rd Ministry (17 May – 23 November 1877)

Bibliography

De Broglie edited: *The ''Souvenirs'' of his father (1886, etc.) *The ''Mémoires de Talleyrand'' (1891, etc.) *''Letters of the Duchess Albertine de Broglie'' (1896) He published: *' (1878) *''Frédéric II et Marie Thérèse'' (1883) *''Frédéric II et Louis XV'' (1885) *''Marie Thérèse Impératrice'' (1888) *''Le Père Lacordaire'' (1889) *''Maurice de Saxe et le marquis d'Argenson'' (1891) *''La Paix d'Aix-la-Chapelle'' (1892) *''L'Alliance autrichienne'' (1895) *''La Mission de M. de Gontaut-Biron à Berlin'' (1896) *''Voltaire avant et pendant la Guerre de Sept Ans'' (1898) *''Saint Ambroise'' (trans., Margaret Maitland in the series, ''The Saints'') (1899) He wrote

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

around 1895, which were published in instalments in the between 1925 and 1929, and collected in book format in 1938, with a postface by his grandson the 6th Duke:

Family

On 18 June 1845, styled ''Prince de Broglie'', he married Joséphine-Eléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860). They had the following children: * Louis-Alphonse-Victor, 5th duc de Broglie (1846 – 1906) father of the scientist brothers including the 7th Duke, the

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

. * Maurice (1848 – 1862) * Henri-Amédée (1849 – 1917) * François-Marie-Albert (1851 – 1939) great-grandfather of the 8th duke, Victor-François, 8th duc de Broglie (1949 – 2012). * César-Paul-Emmanuel (1854 – 1926)

Honours and titles

Duke of France (''succeeded as 4th Duke of Broglie'' 1870) * Legion Honneur Chevalier ribbon

Chevalier,

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(1845)

Notes

References

;Attribution *

External links

www.academie-francaise.fr
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Broglie, Albert, 4th Duc De 1821 births 1901 deaths Politicians from Paris Albert Orléanists Prime ministers of France French interior ministers Government ministers of France Members of the National Assembly (1871) French senators of the Third Republic Senators of Eure Members of the Ligue de la patrie française 19th-century French historians Members of the Académie Française Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Knights of the Legion of Honour Children of prime ministers of France