Gaston de Lorraine (born Gaston Jean Baptiste Charles; 7 February 1721 – 2 May 1743) was a French nobleman and member of a cadet branch of the

House of Lorraine The House of Lorraine () originated as a cadet branch of the House of Metz. It inherited the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after the death without a male heir of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine. By the marriage of Francis of Lorraine to Maria Ther ...

. He was the last . His wife was Marie Louise de Rohan.

Biography

The eldest son of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Charles Louis de Lorraine and his wife, Élisabeth de Roquelaure, he was one of four children. He bore the first names Gaston Jean Bapiste after his great-grandfather Gaston Jean Baptiste de Roquelaure, father of the Maréchal de Roquelaure. His father was known as the ''Prince de Pons'' and Gaston was styled the Count of Marsan (''comte de Marsan'') from birth. As a male line descendant of the House of Guise (cadet branch of the

) he was a

Foreign Prince Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

residing at the royal court 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 ...

and had the right to the style of

Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adjec ...

. His older sister Louise Henriette Gabrielle married into the prestigious

House of La Tour d'Auvergne A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, sovereigns of the

Duchy of Bouillon The Duchy of Bouillon () was a duchy comprising Bouillon and adjacent towns and villages in present-day Belgium. The state originated in the 10th century as property of the Lords of Bouillon, owners of Bouillon Castle. Crusader Godfrey of Bou ...

. At the age fifteen, he was married to Marie Louise de Rohan. Marie Louise was the daughter of Jules, Prince of Soubise and his wife Anne Julie de Melun. The only daughter of five children, her older brother was the Maréchal de Soubise. The couple were married on 4 June 1736. The wedding nuptials were carried out in the chapel of the ''Hôtel de Mayenne'' by her great-uncle, the

Cardinal de Soubise Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

. In 1736, the year of his marriage, Gaston was put on campaign as an aide-de-camp to his father. The previous year, he was given his own regiment, the ''Marsan regiment''. On 20 February 1743, he was created a

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

of the Kings armies. Some three months later he died 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 ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

leaving his childless wife a widow at the age of twenty two. He was buried in the

Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', ), also known as Strasbourg Minster (church), Minster (), is a Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of ...

. His wife never remarried and lived until 1801. She was later the Governess to the Children of France and, as such, the governess of the future

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- ...

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

and

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 ...

, the grandsons of

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 ...

. His wife's parents also died of smallpox within a week of each other in May 1724.

Ancestry

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaston Of Marsan 1721 births 1743 deaths 18th-century French people Counts of Marsan Deaths from smallpox in France House of Guise House of Lorraine Princes of Lorraine