Charles de Rohan, 4th Prince of Soubise (16 July 17151 July 1787), Duke of Rohan-Rohan was a French aristocrat, soldier, and minister to kings

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

and

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

. He was the last male of his branch of the House of Rohan, and was great-grandfather to the Duke of Enghien, executed by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in 1804. Styled ''Prince d'Epinoy'' at birth, he became the Prince of Soubise after 1749.

Biography

Rohan was born at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

on 16 July 1715, the son of Jules, Prince of Soubise, lieutenant captain of the Gendarmes of the Royal Guard, and of Anne Julie Adélaïde de Melun. The eldest of five children, he was styled the Prince of Epinoy till his father's death in 1724. His parents died in Paris of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

in 1724, leaving him and his remaining siblings, including Marie Louise, orphans. His sister lost her husband to smallpox in 1743. He was entrusted to his grandfather Hercule Mériadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, who raised Soubise to the court, where he became the companion of Louis XV, who was the same age as he. One of his great grandmothers was Madame de Ventadour, via his paternal grandmother Anne Geneviève de Lévis; Madame de Ventadour, who died in 1744, was close to her great grandson. He accompanied

in the campaign of 1744–48 and attained high military rank, which owed more to his

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

ship than to his generalship. Soon after the beginning of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, through the influence of Madame de Pompadour, he was put in command of a corps of 24,000 men, and in November 1757 he sustained the crushing defeat of Rossbach. Along with the failure to hold

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

following the Invasion of Hanover (1757) this marked a dramatic turnaround for French fortunes as just months before they had seemed on the brink of victory in Europe. He was more fortunate, however, in his later military career, and continued in the service until the general peace of 1763, after which he lived the life of an ordinary courtier and man of fashion in Paris.

Marriages and issue

Charles married three times. His first marriage was in 1734 to Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (1722–1739), daughter of Emmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne and a granddaughter of the famous Marie Anne Mancini; Anne Marie Louise died in 1739 giving birth to a son, who died in 1742. They had one surviving child: * Charlotte Élisabeth Godefride de Rohan 1737–1760 known as Charlotte. She married Louis Joseph de Bourbon, a '' Prince du sang'' and descendant of

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

and Madame de Montespan. Charlotte was the paternal grandmother of the murdered '' Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien''. In 1741, he married Princess Anna Teresa of Savoy (1717–1745), a daughter of Victor Amadeus I, Prince of Carignano, and Maria Vittoria Francesca of Savoy (who in turn was an illegitimate daughter of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia). Anna Teresa (known as ''Anne Thérèse de Savoie'') gave birth to another daughter: * Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan (1743–1807); married Henri Louis Marie de Rohan, Prince of Guéménée, who was a cousin. Victoire was later the governess to the daughter of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

. After Anne Thérèse died in 1745, Charles married that same year Princess Anna Viktoria of Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg (1728–1792). They had no children. Charles also notably had relationships with Madeleine Guimard and Anne Victoire Dervieux.

Legacy

Soubise sauce, based on onion and béchamel, is said to have been named after him.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soubise, Charles, Prince Of 1715 births 1787 deaths Royalty from Versailles Charles de Rohan

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

Marshals of France

Counts of Saint-Pol People of the Silesian Wars Dukes of Ventadour