Jules de Polignac
Jules de Polignac | |
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Prime Minister of France | |
In office 8 August 1829 – 29 July 1830 | |
Monarchs | Charles X Louis XIX Henry V |
Preceded by | Jean-Baptiste de Martignac |
Succeeded by | Jacques Laffitte |
French Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
In office 28 December 1822 – 4 January 1828 | |
Appointed by | Jean-Baptiste de Villèle |
Preceded by | François-René de Chateaubriand |
Succeeded by | Pierre de Montmorency-Laval |
Personal details | |
Born | Versailles,Île-de-France,Kingdom of France | 14 May 1780
Died | 2 March 1847 Saint-Germain-en-Laye,Yvelines,France | (aged 66)
Resting place | Picpus Cemetery |
Political party | Ultra-royalist |
Spouses | |
Children | Armand Seyna-Camille Alphonse Ludovic Yolande Camille Edmond |
Parent(s) | Jules, 1st Duke of Polignac Gabrielle de Polastron |
Signature | |
Jules Auguste Armand Marie de Polignac, Count of Polignac(French pronunciation:[ʒyldəpɔliɲak];14 May 1780 – 30 March 1847),[1]thenPrince of Polignac,and briefly3rd Duke of Polignacin 1847, was a French statesman andultra-royalistpolitician afterthe Revolution.He served as prime minister underCharles X,just before theJuly Revolutionin 1830 that overthrew the senior line of theHouse of Bourbon.
Early life[edit]
Born inVersailles,Jules was the younger son ofJules, 1st Duke of Polignac,andGabrielle de Polastron,a confidante and favourite of QueenMarie-Antoinette.Due to his mother's privileged position, the young Jules was raised in the environment of the court of Versailles, where his family occupied a luxurious suite of thirteen rooms. His sister,Aglaé,was married to the duc de Guîche at a young age, helping to cement the Polignac family's position as one of the leaders of high society at Versailles.
With the outbreak of theFrench Revolutionin 1789, Jules's mother and her circle were forced to flee abroad due to threats against their lives. She had been one of the most consistent supporters of absolutism, and she bequeathed these political sympathies to her son following her death in 1793.
Marriages and issue[edit]
Jules married twice. He was married firstly, in 1816, at London to Barbara Campbell (Ardneaves House, Islay 22 Aug. 1788 – Saint-Mandé 23 May 1819), a young Scotswoman, who later returned with him to France, with whom he had two children:
- Prince Armand (1817–1890), later 4th duc de Polignac;[citation needed]he has male-line descendants to date who bear the principal title.
- Princess Seyna-Camille (1818–1833)
After his first wife's death in 1819, he married in London, on 3 June 1824, Charlotte, comtesse de Choiseul, widow of comte Cesar de Choiseul (d. 1821),néetheHonourable(Maria) Charlotte Parkyns (St. Marylebone, 6 Jan. 1792 – 1/2 Sep. 1864). She was the youngest child (of six children) ofThomas Parkyns, 1st Baron Rancliffe(created 1795)[2]and his wife Elizabeth Anne James, and sister ofGeorge Augustus Anne Parkyns, Lord Rancliffe[3]andHenrietta, Lady Rumbold(1789–1833), wife ofSir William Rumbold, 3rd Bt.[4]He had met her while she was renewing her passport at the London embassy, where he was the Ambassador (1823–1829).[5]They had five children, two of whom were born while their father was in prison:
- Prince Alphonse(1826–1863), born during his father's ambassadorship in London. He enteredPolytechniquein 1849 and formulatedPolignac's conjecturethe same year. He married Jeanne Emilie Mirès (called Amelie by Kahan) and had one daughter. He died some time after a very public trial exonerated his father-in-lawJules Mirèsof embezzlement.[6]
- Prince Ludovicor "Louis" (1827–1904), born during his father's ambassadorship in London. He enteredPolytechniquein 1851 and pursued a military career. He married in 1874 Gabriele, Princess von Croy, with no issue.
- Princess Yolande (1830–1855), named after her grandmotherGabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac.She was born shortly before her father's incarceration as an Ultra.[7]In 1848, she marriedSosthène II de La Rochefoucauld,Duke of Doudeauville.
- Prince Camille(1832–1913), a major-general in theConfederate Armyduring theAmerican Civil War.He married twice: by his first marriage, he had one daughter; by his second marriage, he had two daughters and one son, Prince Victor de Polignac (1899–1998). He has issue and descendants through his eldest daughter.[8]
- Prince Edmond(1834–1901), later a noted musician and composer, who marriedWinnaretta Singerin a famousmariage blanc.
The couple's marriage was annulled by the French Chamber of Peers, but Jules and Charlotte went to England after his release in 1836, and they renewed their vows before the French consul in 1837.[9]
Career[edit]
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Returning to France, which was then ruled byNapoleon Bonaparte,Jules continued in his zealous loyalty to the exiled Royal Family. In 1804, a year after his sister's death, Jules was implicated in the conspiracy ofCadoudalandPichegruto assassinate Bonaparte, and was imprisoned until 1813. After the restoration of theBourbons,he was rewarded with various honours and positions. He held various offices, received from the Pope his title of "Prince," in 1820, and in 1823, KingLouis XVIIImade him ambassador to Great Britain. A year later, his mother's former friend ascended the throne as KingCharles X.Polignac's political sympathies did not alter, and he was one of the most conspicuousultra-royalistsduring the Restoration era.
At the time, it was rumoured that Polignac supported ultra-royalist policies because he thought he was receiving inspiration from theVirgin Mary.There is little historical evidence for this story, however. There is no mention of such motivation in Polignac's personal memoirs or in the memoirs of the Restoration court.
On 8 August 1829,Charles Xappointed him to the ministry of foreign affairs and in the following November, Polignac became president of the council, effectively the most powerful politician in France. His appointment was considered a step towards overthrowing the constitution and Polignac, with other ministers, was held responsible for the decision to issue theFour Ordinances,which were the immediate cause of therevolution of July 1830.
Upon the outbreak of revolt, he fled, wandering for some time among the wilds ofNormandybefore he was arrested atGranville.At his trial before the Chamber of Peers, he was condemned and sentenced to 'perpetual' imprisonment at the château inHam.But he benefited by the amnesty of 1836, when his sentence was commuted to exile. During his captivity, he wroteConsiderations politiques(1832). Afterwards, he spent several years in exile in England before being permitted to re-enter France, on condition that he never again take up his abode in Paris.
According to theLegacies of British Slave-Ownershipat theUniversity College London,de Polignac was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of theSlavery Abolition Act 1833with theSlave Compensation Act 1837.The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.8 billion in 2024[10]) with interest fromNathan Mayer RothschildandMoses Montefiorewhich was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). de Polignac was associated with three different claims, he owned 628 slaves inSaint Vincent and the Grenadinesand received a £15,765 payment at the time (worth £1.89 million in 2024[10]).[11]Although a French subject, de Polignac had connections in the British Empire due to his Scottish wife, Barbara Campbell (1788–1819), daughter of Duncan Campbell of Ardnave.
From his second marriage to Maria-Charlotte Parkyns, daughter of Lord Rancliffe, Jules de Polignac had fathered seven children, including Prince Ludovic de Polignac (1827–1904), a lieutenant-colonel in the French Army who participated in the colonization ofAlgeria;PrinceCamille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac(1832–1913), a major-general in theConfederate Armyduring theAmerican Civil War;andPrince Edmond de Polignac(1834–1901), a composer, musical theorist and proponent of theoctatonic scale.
Jules died at St. Germain in 1847 from the effects of his imprisonment.[12]About one month prior, he had assumed the title of duc de Polignac upon the death of his older brother, Armand, who had died without children.
Comte Pierre de Polignac,later Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois (father ofRainier III of Monacoand therefore an ancestor of the entire current princely family) is descended from a different andcadet branchof the Polignac family, which has the comital rank only. Pierre was the youngest son, descended from the youngest son of the first Duke of Polignac.[12]
Ancestry[edit]
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See also[edit]
Literature[edit]
- W. Schlésinger,Les femmes du XVIIIe siècle: La duchesse de Polignac et son temps(Paris, 1889)
- Michael St. John Packe, refers to Polignac as "rascally" in his "Life of John Stuart Mill".
Notes[edit]
- ^Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^He was son of Sir Thomas Parkyns, 4th Bt, and was created Baron Rancliffe in thePeerage of Ireland.He predeceased his father Sir Thomas Parkyns, 3rd Bt (1728–1806) and was succeeded in the barony of Rancliffe 1800 by his son George Augustus Anne, who became 4th Bt in 1806. The second Baron Rancliffe died 1850 without issue.
- ^"George Augustus Henry Anne PARKYNS".genealogy.links.org.Retrieved25 December2012.
- ^"Maria Charlotte Parkyns (Parkins) 1792 – post 1824"Genealogy of Charlotte de Polignac, nee Parkyns, retrieved 24 December 2012.
- ^Sylvia Kahan.In Search of New Scales: Prince Edmond De Polignac, Octatonic ExplorerUniversity of Rochester Press, 2009
- ^Kahan, p 26
- ^See Kahan p.11 According to Kahan, Jules was allowed conjugal visits from his wife, and thus his last two sons were conceived in prison.
- ^"Modern Day Line from Charles Allanson Knight and Jessie Anne Ramsey"Archived19 October 2013 at theWayback Machine.Retrieved 25 December 2012
- ^See Kahan p.13
- ^abUKRetail Price Indexinflation figures are based on data fromClark, Gregory (2017)."The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)".MeasuringWorth.Retrieved7 May2024.
- ^"Prince Auguste Jules Armand Marie de Polignac".University College London.Retrieved on 20 March 2019.
- ^ab"Jules-Armand, prince de Polignac | French statesman".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved25 June2021.
- ^The Life of John Stuart Mill, Michael St. John Packe, Capricorn Books Edition 1970, page 100
public domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Polignac".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the- 1780 births
- 1847 deaths
- People from Versailles
- Politicians from Île-de-France
- French Ultra-royalists
- Legitimists
- Prime ministers of France
- Government ministers of France
- Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration
- Dukes of Polignac
- Princes of Polignac
- Polignac family
- French slave owners
- Recipients of payments from the Slavery Abolition Act 1833