Charles of Lorraine

Charles de Lorraine (22 February 1684 – 29 December 1751) was a member of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine. Succeeding his father as the Count of Armagnac, he also succeeded as Count of Brionne as well as the Grand Squire of France.

Biography Born to Louis de Lorraine, Count d'Armagnac and his wife Catherine de Neufville-Villeroy (1639-1707) in 1684, Charles de Lorraine was the couple's last child.

Charles' father, Louis, was the Grand Squire of France, one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France and a member of the king's household. The position was roughly equivalent to the United Kingdom positions of Master of the Horse and the Crown Equerry. This entitled his father to be addressed as Monsieur le Grand, a style which Charles would later use after succeeding his father in his posts. At Charles' death, it was given to Louis' grandson, Louis, Prince of Lambesc.

Charles' mother was Catherine de Neufville, youngest child of Nicolas de Neufville, Maréchal de Villeroy, governor of the young Louis XIV. Charles' uncle was the next Duke of Villeroy and the future governor of Louis XV.

Charles' sister, Marie, was the mother of Louise Hippolyte Grimaldi, the only Princess of Monaco to reign in her own right. His older brother, Henri, Count of Brionne, was expected to succeed to the Armagnac titles but died in 1713, five years before his father.

On 22 May 1717 during the Regency of Philippe II d'Orléans (1715–1723), Charles married Françoise Adélaide de Noailles, the eldest daughter of Adrien Maurice de Noailles, Duke de Noailles, and his wife Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné, the niece and heiress of Madame de Maintenon. The couple had no issue, and divorced in 1721.

Charles de Lorraine died in Paris in 1745 at 67 years old. He was buried at the Couvent des Capucines in Paris. With his death, the County of Armagnac reverted to the French crown, which had given it away to the Guise-Lorraine family in 1645.

Ancestry