Jules Auguste Armand Marie de Polignac, Count of Polignac (French:[ʒyldəpɔliɲak]; 14 May 1780–30 March 1847),[1] then Prince of Polignac, and briefly 3rd Duke of Polignac in 1847, was a French statesman and ultra-royalist politician after the Revolution. He served as prime minister under Charles X, just before the July Revolution in 1830 that overthrew the senior line of the House of Bourbon.
Portrait of Jules de Polignac during the First EmpireCoat of arms of the House of Polignac
Born in Versailles, Jules was the younger son of Jules, 1st Duke of Polignac, and Gabrielle de Polastron, a confidante and favourite of Queen Marie-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 the French Revolution in 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
Jules married twice. He was first married in London, in 1816, to Barbara Campbell (Ardneaves House, Islay 22 Aug. 1788 – Saint-Mandé 23 May 1819), a young Scotswoman. Barbara later returned with him to France, where they 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), née the Honourable (Maria) Charlotte Parkyns (St. Marylebone, 6 Jan. 1792 – 1/2 Sep. 1864). She was the youngest child (of six children) of Thomas Parkyns, 1st Baron Rancliffe (created 1795)[2] and his wife Elizabeth Anne James, and sister of George Augustus Anne Parkyns, Lord Rancliffe[3] and Henrietta, Lady Rumbold (1789–1833), wife of Sir 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 entered Polytechnique in 1849 and formulated Polignac's conjecture the 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-law Jules Mirès of embezzlement.[6]
Prince Ludovic or "Louis" (1827–1904), born during his father's ambassadorship in London. He entered Polytechnique in 1851 and pursued a military career. He married in 1874 Gabriele, Princess von Croy, with no issue.
Prince Camille (1832–1913), a major-general in the Confederate Army during the American 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]
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]
Returning to France, which was then ruled by Napoleon 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 of Cadoudal and Pichegru to assassinate Bonaparte, and was imprisoned until 1813. After the restoration of the Bourbons, 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, King Louis XVIII made him ambassador to Great Britain. A year later, his mother's former friend ascended the throne as King Charles X. Polignac's political sympathies did not alter, and he was one of the most conspicuous ultra-royalists during the Restoration era.
At the time, it was rumoured that Polignac supported ultra-royalist policies because he thought he was receiving inspiration from the Virgin 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 X appointed 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 the Four Ordinances, which were the immediate cause of the revolution of July 1830.
Upon the outbreak of revolt, he fled, wandering for some time among the wilds of Normandy before he was arrested at Granville. At his trial before the Chamber of Peers, he was condemned and sentenced to 'perpetual' imprisonment at the château in Ham. But he benefited by the amnesty of 1836, when his sentence was commuted to exile. During his captivity, he wrote Considerations 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 the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, de Polignac was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.8billion in 2024[10]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore, paid from the public budget (formally ending in 2015). de Polignac was associated with three different claims, he owned 628 slaves in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and received a £15,765 payment at the time (worth £1.89million 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 of Algeria; Prince Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac (1832–1913), a major-general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War; and Prince Edmond de Polignac (1834–1901), a composer, musical theorist and proponent of the octatonic 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 of Rainier III of Monaco and therefore an ancestor of the entire current princely family) is descended from a different and cadet branch of 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
Ancestors of Jules de Polignac
8. Scipion Sidoine Apolinaire Gaspard Armand (XX) de Polignac, Viscount Polignac, Marquis of Chalencon
4. Louis Héracle Armand (XXI) de Polastron, Viscount of Polignac
↑ He was son of Sir Thomas Parkyns, 4th Bt, and was created Baron Rancliffe in the Peerage 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.
Charles X was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother of reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Charles became the leader of the ultra-royalists, a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed absolute monarchy by divine right and opposed the constitutional monarchy concessions towards liberals and the guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of 1814. Charles gained influence within the French court after the assassination of his son Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, in 1820 and succeeded his brother Louis XVIII in 1824.
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France. She was considered one of the great beauties of pre-Revolutionary society, but her extravagance and exclusivity earned her many enemies.
Prince Edmond Melchior Jean Marie de Polignac was a French aristocrat and composer.
Louis Armand de Bourbon was Prince of Conti, from 1709 to his death, succeeding his father, François Louis de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang. His mother was Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, daughter of Henri Jules, Prince of Condé and granddaughter of Louis de Bourbon, le Grand Condé. He was nominated as the Prince of Orange by King Louis XIV of France in 1712.
Prince Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac was a French nobleman who served with the Confederates in the American Civil War, living on to become the last surviving Confederate major-general.
Héraclius de Gramont, 9th Duke of Gramont, 9th Duke of Gramont, Duke of Guiche, Prince of Bidache, etc. was a 19th-century French aristocratic Army general and courtier.
Philippe Jules Mancini, 8th Duke of Nevers (1641–1707) was the nephew of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France immediately after the death of King Louis XIII. He was the brother of the five famous Mancini sisters, who, along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of King Louis XIV of France as the Mazarinettes.
Marie Louise d’Esparbès de Lussan, by marriage vicomtesse then comtesse de Polastron was a French lady-in-waiting, known as the mistress of the comte d’Artois, who later reigned as Charles X of France.
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Hercule Mériadec de Rohan, styled Duke of Rohan-Rohan, was a member of the princely House of Rohan. He married twice and was the grandfather of the Maréchal de Soubise. His first wife was the daughter of Madame de Ventadour. He is known in contemporary texts as the prince de Rohan.
Hercule Mériadec de Rohan was a prince étranger and the sixth Duke of Montbazon in France, "Prince de Guéméne" being the title he bore prior to inheriting the dukedom.
Charles de Rohan was a French nobleman. His primary title was Duke of Montbazon, and before acceding to that title he was known by his other title, prince de Guéméné. He was the son of Charles de Rohan and Jeanne Armande de Schomberg.
Jules de Polignac, 1st Duke of Polignac was a French nobleman and the husband of Yolande de Polastron, a confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette. He became the first Duke of Polignac in 1780. He died at the age of 27 in Little Russia, where he was given a manor by Catherine the Great.
Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon was a French nobleman and member of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne, one of the most important families in France at the time. He married Marie Anne Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin and had seven children.
The title of Duke of Polignac is a French dukedom that is held by the Polignac family.
Aglaé Louise Françoise Gabrielle de Polignac was the daughter of Gabrielle de Polastron, the favourite and confidante of Marie Antoinette, and her husband, the 1st duc de Polignac.
Thomas Boothby Parkyns, 1st Baron Rancliffe was an English soldier, Member of Parliament and Irish peer.
The House of Polignac is the name of an ancient and historically powerful French noble family that took its name from the château de Polignac, of which they had been sieurs since Carolingian times. Agnatically, ruling family of Monaco represents the cadet branch of the House of Polignac.
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