Auguste Louis Albéric, Prince of Arenberg

GCSI The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, GCSI) # K ...

(15 September 1837 – 24 January 1924) was a French

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

and

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 A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, 2nd (French) Duke of Arenberg. He was noted for his great wealth and extensive properties throughout France, in particular at Menetou-Salon (

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

Early life

The Prince of Arenberg was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 15 September 1837. He was the third son of Pierre d'Alcantara Charles Marie, duc d'Arenberg (1790–1877) and Alix Marie Charlotte de Talleyrand-Périgord (1808–1842). His father was made a

peer of France The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the Fr ...

in 1827 and became a naturalized French subject by order of King

Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...

in 1828.Charles Emmanuel Joseph Poplimont (1863), ''La Belgique héraldique'', Typ. de G. Adriaens, 1863.
p. 205
/ref> Because both of his older brothers died prematurely, he inherited his father's title. His elder sister Marie Nicolette was married to Charles de Mérode, 10th Marquess of Westerloo. After his mother's death in 1842, his father remarried to Caroline Léopoldine Jeanne, Princess of Kaunitz-Rietberg-Questenberg, in 1860. His paternal grandfather was

Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg Louis Engelbert of Arenberg (3 August 1750 in Brussels – 7 March 1820 in Brussels), nicknamed ''the blind duke'', was between 1778 and 1801 the sixth Duke of Arenberg and 12th Duke of Aarschot. Between 1803 and 1810 he ruled a Duchy in No ...

and his uncle was Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg.

Career

Arenberg served in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

from 1877 to 1881. He was elected as the official candidate of the MacMahon government, winning the poll due to the abstention of republican voters disenchanted with his predecessor. In the Chamber, he voted consistently with the monarchist

Right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

and conservatives. He voted against the legalization of

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

.Robert, Adolphe, Edgar Bourloton, and Gaston Cougny, dirs. ''Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, comprennant tous les membres des assemblées françaises et tous les ministres français depuis le 1^er mai 1789 jusqu'au 1^er mai 1889, avec leurs noms, état civil, état de services, actes politiques, votes parlementaires, etc.'' 5 vols. Paris: Bourloton, Éditeur, 1891. Returned to parliament as a monarchist candidate again in 1889, Arenberg continued his opposition to republican government. After

Rerum novarum ''Rerum novarum'', or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, passed to all Catholic patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, which addressed the condi ...

and

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

's recognition of the Third Republic, however, Arenberg changed his rhetoric, campaigning in 1893 as a " liberal republican". In the Chamber, he concentrated on colonial issues, in particular those concerning Africa; among his projects were securing free navigation of the

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and delineating Anglo-French colonial boundaries. Defeated in the 1902 elections and failing to secure reelection again in 1906, Arenberg retired from politics, but remained active in public life. He was the first president of the procolonial Comité de l'Afrique française and remained active with the organization until his death.

Later life

A convinced

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himself, during 1895 he was one of the organizers of a failed attempt to build a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in Paris through private donations. From 1896 he was also president of the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez, and he was a member of the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

(

Académie des beaux-arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

) from 1897.Jolly, Jean, dir. ''Dictionnaire des parlementaires français: Notices biographiques sur les ministres, députés et sénateurs français de 1889 à 1940.'' Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1960–70.

Personal life

On 18 June 1868, Arenberg was married to Jeanne Marie Louise de Greffulhe (1850–1891). She was a daughter of Count Louis-Charles Greffulhe and Félicité Pauline de La Rochefoucauld and sister of Henry Greffulhe (a personal friend of author

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

). They were the parents of four children: * Alix Jeanne Marie d'Arenberg (1869–1924), who married Pierre Adolphe, Marquis de Laguiche, a descendant of Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon. * Charles-Louis Pierre d'Arenberg (1871–1919), who married Antoinette Hélène Emma Louise de Gramont de Lesparre (1883–1958), a granddaughter of Agénor, 10th Duke of Gramont and cousin of Armand de Gramont, 12th Duke of Gramont. * Louise Marie Charlotte d'Arenberg (1872–1958), who married Louis Antoine Melchior, Marquis de Vogüé. * Ernest Hélie Charles Marie (1886–1915), who died during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The Prince died on 24 January 1924.

Descendants

Through his son Charles, he was a grandfather of Prince Charles Auguste Armand d'Arenberg (1905–1967),3rd (French) Duke, who married American heiress Margaret (née Bedford) Bancroft in 1960. They were the parents of one son, Prince Pierre Frederick Henri d'Arenberg (b. 1961), 4th (French) Duke, before his death in 1967. She remarried to Emmanuel Jacques de Crussol, Duke d'Uzès.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auguste-Louis-Alberic, Prince Darenberg Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Arenberg, Auguste-Louis-Alberic, prince d' Auguste-Louis-Alberic, prince d' Auguste-Louis-Alberic Arenberg, Auguste-Louis-Alberic, prince d' Arenberg, Auguste-Louis-Alberic, prince d' Honorary Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India